Private
DataRobot received Monday a $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to begin testing a machine learning platform for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Travel Assessment System.
DataRobot, based in Tysons Corner, Va.,... Read More »
Following an announcement this month that a company called Defense Distributed would begin publishing blueprints for 3D printable firearms online, a group of Democratic senators are urging tech companies to ban publication of firearm blueprints on their platforms.
While the opponents in court... Read More »
Over the last 40 years, the parasite-driven disease Chagas has breached the borders of what was once its traditional territory, spreading from Latin America into the United States and Europe, according to a new report from the American Heart Association (AHA).
There are an estimated 300,000... Read More »
AT&T has been actively deploying Band 14 spectrum as part of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) build, bringing a much-needed technology upgrade to the public safety network.
Band 14 is nationwide, high-quality spectrum set aside by the federal government for FirstNet that will... Read More »
Boeing announced last week that it will acquire Millenium Space Systems as a means of expanding its satellite and space portfolio, talent, and capabilities.
Boeing said the El Segundo, California-based provider of flight-proven small-satellite solutions had developed high-performance satellites... Read More »
A new trial underway from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is currently working towards a universal vaccine that would target both Zika and Dengue viruses.
The trial will consist of 28 non-pregnant adults between 18... Read More »
Profectus BioSciences, Inc. and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. acquired a contract for up to $36 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) this week to drive the creation of a Lassa virus vaccine.
The three parties are operating under a Framework Partnering Agreement... Read More »
Experts in the fields of biological weapons and related security, along with government officials from around the world, gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, this week for the 2018 Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of Experts.
Their attentions were focused on evolving global preparedness and... Read More »
Tuberculosis (TB) is becoming more resistant to antibiotics over time through genetic changes, but researchers at Colorado State University have discovered that a single mutation may affect strains of TB bacteria in different ways.
Specifically, this applies to isoniazid, one of the first-line... Read More »
The First Responder Network Authority’s board of directors, an independent authority within the U.S. Department of Commerce, recently approved an $81 million budget for operations in fiscal year 2019.
The budget will be used for the focus on the deployment of the nationwide public safety... Read More »
As the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to spread, with a total of 48 cases, including 38 killed, as of Aug. 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now calling for greater access to affected populations.
This outbreak marks the country’s 10th, but it... Read More »
In an article published in The Lancet, experts from an international Ebola research consortium known as the Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccination (PREVAC) have assessed the current Ebola vaccine candidates across the world, and what remains to be achieved for viability.
PREVAC is... Read More »
The Swedish government signed an agreement last week to purchase Raytheon's Patriot air and missile defense system from the U.S. Army.
Raytheon's Global Patriot Solutions system is a missile defense system that consists of radars and command-and-control technology. The system also includes... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions said on Thursday it would expand its reach in the public health threats market by acquiring PaxVax, a company that develops specialty vaccines that protect against infectious diseases, including typhoid fever and cholera.
Included in the purchase will be the typhoid fever... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently selected five university-industry teams for the Defense Enterprise Science Initiative (DESI).
The initiative’s goals are to identify technological gaps and apply new discoveries and knowledge on existing capabilities and to accelerate the basic... Read More »
The University of São Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute has created a line of genetically modified male mosquitoes with defective sperm, which could see deployment in the next year.
By deploying these lab creations en masse, scientists are hopeful they could help control outbreaks of dengue... Read More »
Raytheon announced Monday the opening of a new facility designed to solely focus upon radar testing and integration, with an overarching goal of developing manufacturing innovations.
The $72 million, 30,000 square-foot facility, based in Andover, Mass., is the primary location for testing and... Read More »
In a new study conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University, an experimental Zika virus vaccine has shown promise in mice with the potential of treating human patients infected with the disease.
"In this study, the vaccine was potent, safe and highly effective, at least in the short... Read More »
The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced last week that tests of cases in the country’s North Kivu province by the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) revealed Ebola in patients.
Though the news came just over a week after the Ministry of Health... Read More »
Lockheed Martin has chosen WAV4M to serve as its exclusive reseller for the Universal Communications Platform (UCP) to address a potential $14 billion critical communications market.
“There’s been an ongoing industry debate between traditional land mobile radio versus mission critical... Read More »
Two national organizations that represent biopharmaceutical and business interests have penned a letter to each member of the U.S. House of Representatives urging lawmakers to approve the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018, H.R. 6378, before critical public... Read More »
Last year marked the third consecutive year the number of terrorist attacks and resulting deaths have decreased worldwide, but global terrorist events remain historically high, according to recent data released by the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and... Read More »
The global spread of a deadly disease outbreak during a biological attack would impact far more than U.S. government financial resources, former federal lawmakers say, and could crash the coffers of local and state budgets just as severely.
“We know unequivocally that terrorists have the... Read More »
The Air Force has awarded a $96.1 million contract to Raytheon to produce 250 Miniature Air- Launched Decoy (MALD) missiles.
Officials said the MALD system is an air-launched missile with both decoy and jamming capabilities, possessing the ability to stimulate and neutralize enemy air defense... Read More »
BAE Systems recently was awarded a U.S. Army contract to provide 250 touchscreen computer display units (CDU) on Black Hawk helicopters, the army’s primary medium-lift transport aircraft.
The CDUs are an upgrade to BAE’s ASN-128 Doppler GPS Navigation System.
The ASN-128 operates on more... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. said on Tuesday it began the first phase of a clinical study for its anti-Zika virus immune globulin, known as ZIKV-IG, which was fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017.
Concern over Zika virus disease, transmitted by mosquitoes, has risen... Read More »
Two businesses owned by Textron Inc., a multi-industry aircraft, defense, industrial and finance company, successfully integrated and demonstrated Textron’s Synturian software and a Scorpion jet Monday.
Textron Systems and Textron Aviation Defense installed the software into the jet’s... Read More »
Developing drugs for rapid response to treat emerging infectious diseases requires overcoming numerous hurdles.
For a start, there are few large-scale pharmaceutical campaigns. The reality is quite the opposite, as it can be a challenge for the government to convince pharmaceutical companies to... Read More »
Global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin will helm a U.S. Army project to develop an unmanned convoy system in combat environments over the next three years.
"We are leveraging 15 years of experience in developing autonomous capabilities for our customers," said Gaylia Campbell,... Read More »
Georgia State University researchers maintain a new peptides-based vaccine protects mice against influenza A virus.
Investigators said the double-layered nanoparticle vaccine was developed using peptides, compounds consisting of two or more amino acids linked in a chain because they are much... Read More »
While the inherent danger of antimicrobial resistance is growing, increasing the threat of a global public health crisis, a new national institute to address the threat has been created through a partnership between universities in Nebraska and Iowa.
The new Institute for Antimicrobial... Read More »
The spread of tickborne infections has risen significantly in the past decade, with the upward trend likely to continue, according to a recent report by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Lyme disease represents the majority of tickborne infections in the United... Read More »
KBRwyle, a subsidiary of professional services and technology provider KBR, Inc., has been awarded a $36.5 million Air Force Installation Contracting Agency (AFICA) missiles system contract.
Officials said KBRwyle would provide sustainment engineering support to the 414th Supply Chain Management... Read More »
An updated database released this week has identified more than 170 incidents of nuclear and radioactive material trafficking across 14 countries in 2017.
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) officials said the Global Incidents and Trafficking Database, produced for NTI by the Center for... Read More »
In a massive study that examined data from 76 countries collected from 1959 to 2009, analysts from the University of Illinois have found that outbreaks of chikungunya and dengue fever -- both linked to mosquitoes -- are most affected by population density and proximity to a country already... Read More »
