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The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) briefed the United Nations Security Council on issues related to Syria’s chemical weapons last week.
The UN officials expressed their support for the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the work of the... Read More »
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security has been designated as a Collaborating Center for Global Health Security by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Collaborating Centers are institutions that are selected to carry out activities and... Read More »
Techulon Inc. was awarded $785,000 to develop an antimicrobial that would kill drug-resistant bacteria by targeting specific genes critical to the bacteria’s survival.
The funding was from Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) – a global non-profit... Read More »
A study conducted by Stanford University under contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been expanded to include new technologies capable of identifying viral reservoirs for both Ebola and Zika infections.
The study is part of a larger international effort to research how... Read More »
Researchers from Kansas State University say that a new risk assessment model for Ebola transmission accurately predicted the disease’s spread into the Republic of Uganda, opening the possibility of a better means of predicting disease spread.
"This is a very new type of model," Caterina... Read More »
Industrial technology firm FLIR Systems has launched the latest version of its handheld explosives trace detector, maintaining the Fido X4 delivers sensitivity for a broad range of explosives.
“Our new Fido X4 is mission-ready for all critical security applications – from high-volume... Read More »
Twitter suspended content affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, following a request by members of Congress.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Max Rose (D-NY), sent a... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said an Austin, Texas-based start-up has secured funding designed to enhance security checkpoint operations.
S&T officials said the agency awarded $199,961.29 to Synthetik Applied Technologies to develop a... Read More »
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials said infrastructure owners and operators are urged to be alert in accordance with November being designated National Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month.
Critical infrastructure (CI) plays an essential role in... Read More »
With the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded still ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the nation has opened itself to a second, large-scale vaccine trial backed by a global consortium.
The new vaccine candidate was created by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies and... Read More »
Research efforts led by the Universities of Washington and Stanford have demonstrated that efficient tracking of widespread tropical disease spread could benefit from satellite images and drone photos.
"This is a game-changer for developing-country public health agencies because it will make it... Read More »
A new vaccine candidate -- MV-LASV -- for Lassa fever has started clinical trials, according to Themis Bioscience and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
A Phase 1 trial is currently underway, with the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers. The vaccine used comes... Read More »
Under a $36.7 million contract awarded to them by the U.S. Navy, BAE Systems intends to create a dual band Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD) system that will act as a countermeasure against threats to aircraft.
These FOTDs are radio-frequency and are intended to supplement any aircraft: fighters,... Read More »
A set of three antibodies, recently identified by researchers sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), hold the promise of better treatments and vaccines for the flu.
In a paper published in Science last week, the researchers noted that the antibodies... Read More »
Scientists are rushing to find a vaccine for Lassa fever, and their efforts may have borne fruit in the form of a measles-platform based concoction that they now intend to put through human clinical trials by the end of the year.
Lassa, which infects up to 300,000 people per year and kills... Read More »
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) have requested the intelligence community conduct an assessment of the potential national security risks from China-owned content platforms operating in the United States.
The formal request was sent to Acting Director... Read More »
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory won the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FluSight Challenge by providing the most accurate state, national, and regional flu forecasts in 2018.
The lab beat out 23 other teams with its probabilistic artificial intelligence computer... Read More »
Countries are not prepared for the possible international spread of new or emerging pathogens or for the deliberate or accidental release of dangerous agents, according to a new index that assesses the capabilities of 195 nations.
The Global Health Security Index is a joint project by the... Read More »
Under the terms of a seven-year contract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $60 million will be given to Dr. W. Henry Boom and a team of researchers from universities throughout the United States, in an effort to accelerate tuberculosis vaccine development.
The first year of the... Read More »
Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) microorganisms, also known as superbugs, increasingly threaten every person on Earth, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and national experts.
“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent health risks of our time and threatens to undo a... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently provided a three-year grant to Kansas State University (KSU) for the development of a tool used to assess infection risk and implementing prevention efforts.
Led by KSU professor Caterina Scoglio, PICTUREE: Predicting Insect Contact and Transmission... Read More »
The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the okay for a conditional marketing authorization for V920 Ebola Zaire vaccine developed by Merck.
If affirmed by the European Commission, the vaccine will be authorized under the brand name... Read More »
The ministries of health in Belize, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic announced the development of a surveillance network to identify and track acute febrile illnesses (AFIs), now with the assistance of experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and academic... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories researchers have embarked upon a seven-year campaign focusing upon developing the science, technology, and architecture to aid autonomous satellite protection initiatives.
STARCS (Science and Technology Advancing Resilience for Contested Space) will fund dozens of... Read More »
Tests conducted by National Institutes of Health scientists showed that a single dose of a highly diluted VSV-Ebola virus (EBOV) vaccine is fully protective against the disease in infected monkeys.
The dose is approximately one-millionth of what is in the vaccine being used to help control the... Read More »
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) officials recently joined global parliamentarians in discussing means of implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
During the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Belgrade, Serbia, parties met to exchange... Read More »
New cases in the ongoing Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ebola outbreak slowed in the 21 days from Sept. 23 to Oct. 13, 2019, a World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Committee heard this week.
While the epidemic is primarily concentrated on the Mandima health zone in the DRC, new... Read More »
The Department of Commerce has appointed Karima Holmes and Matt Slinkard to the First Responder Network Authority Board (FirstNet Authority).
The FirstNet Authority’s mission, per authorities, is to ensure the building, deployment, and operation of FirstNet, the nationwide broadband network... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said the agency is partnering with a firm to develop technology designed to prevent emergency responder collisions.
Chicago-based HAAS Alert is standardizing C-V2X cellular vehicle-to-everything technology... Read More »
Ways to develop effective vaccines for Lyme disease and the need to stop the infection were published Thursday in an issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The paper is based on highlights from a conference of industry, government, and academia experts earlier this year.
Lyme disease is caused... Read More »
Mathematical modelling could make efforts to predict and control disease outbreaks much easier and more reliable, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo, University of Maryland, and Yale's School of Public Health.
"Mathematical models of disease spread... Read More »
A new facility, or bank, opened that will deliver low enriched uranium (LEU) to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) facility in Kazakhstan.
“This is a historic achievement for the IAEA and the government of Kazakhstan, and I am grateful for the hard work and perseverance needed to... Read More »
Terrorist threats against the United States continue to grow and evolve, including the use of non-conventional weapons, begging the question of whether this country is well-equipped for such attacks.
The conclusion of experts who testified Thursday before the U.S. House Homeland Security... Read More »
The global nonprofit research and development organization Battelle won a two-year contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week, for research on vaccines for influenza strains.
Under the terms of the contract, Battelle will assist the CDC in expanding its vaccine... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced this week that it has partnered with the City of Houston and the Houston Airport System (HAS) as a means of combating human trafficking.
The effort stems from the Blue Lightning Initiative (BLI) program, officials said, which is an extension of the... Read More »
