Research
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued the Department of Defense (DOD) a series of recommendations regarding F-35 aircraft fleet sustainment.
The GAO review stems from the DOD's plan to acquire nearly 2,500 F-35 aircraft for about $400 billion and project expenditures totaling an... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program announced last week that it is seeking information in three topic areas to support component technology needs.
“DHS SBIR is uniquely positioned to support DHS’s broad mission by finding ways to... Read More »
A nationwide study from the University of Utah found that those who receive mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are 91 percent less likely to develop the disease than those who are unvaccinated.
This news came from the RECOVER (Research on the Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Essential Response Personnel)... Read More »
As part of its Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing Initiative, the National Institutes of Health funded five additional research projects last week to investigate ways of safely returning people to in-person learning in areas with vulnerable and underserved populations.
Up to $15 million... Read More »
In an effort to keep transportation safe without slowing the flow of traffic, the New York City subway system, together with a series of collaborators in the federal, academic, and private sectors, is rolling out a testbed and series of biosensors to scan for chemical and biological threats.... Read More »
Looking to address a medical need and reduce development and preparedness costs for taxpayers, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has purchased and begun accepting the Paratek Pharmaceuticals antibiotic NUZYRA for use on anthrax infections.
The contract could... Read More »
By the end of 2021, the terms of a new supply agreement will see Dynavax Technologies Corporation deliver its CpG 1018 adjuvant to Clover Biopharmaceuticals for use in its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, SCB-2019.
SCB-2019 is a protein-based vaccine that, pending regulatory approvals, is expected to... Read More »
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported this week that a COVAXIN adjuvant they funded, Alhydroxiquim-II, is actively aiding the COVID-19 response efforts in India, boosting the COVAXIN vaccine’s efficacy among the millions who have taken it.
Alhydroxiquim-II was originally... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. released a clinical update of a small Phase 1 trial this week evaluating the performance of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine against three of the ever-multiplying strains of the disease, including the worrisome Delta variant.
Based on serum samples from eight vaccinated participants,... Read More »
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded $2.99 million in grant funding for new interoperable public safety communication systems.
Initially funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology... Read More »
A new policy brief released this week by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) assessed the role of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) during the COVID-19 pandemic and concluded that reforms are necessary both within the agency and beyond to improve federal pandemic... Read More »
Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), based in Andover, Mass., and Alakai Defense Systems, Inc. (Alakai), based in Largo, Fla., recently announced that they have secured funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
The businesses, which... Read More »
A small, veteran-owned business in Florida, Bloodstone Division, LLC, earned a $105,877 award from the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to fund the development of an antiviral disinfectant for COVID-19 and beyond.
Traditional disinfecting... Read More »
University of North Carolina (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers are exploring the potential of a universal vaccine protecting mice against other coronaviruses and variants.
Scientists noted coronaviruses continue to be a threat after causing the SARS outbreak 18 years ago,... Read More »
A new report from the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a first of its kind known as the AMR Preparedness Index, provides an evaluation and roadmap for the 11 largest global economies and their efforts to tackle rising cases of antimicrobial... Read More »
Under an expanded agreement with Moderna, Inc., the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced this week that it will provide program management support and up to $144 million for the Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine on children.
Also known as... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that the Biden Administration would invest more than $3 billion from the American Rescue Plan to discover, develop, and manufacture antiviral COVID-19 medicines.
The investment is part of the administration’s “whole of... Read More »
A new phase one clinical trial kicked off this week for an mRNA-based vaccine against seasonal influenza -- specifically the A/H3N2 strain -- cooperatively developed by Sanofi Pasteur and Translate Bio.
With interim data expected by the end of the year, the trial will chart both safety and... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVAX partners announced they are working with a South African consortium to establish a COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub.
The consortium, comprising Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of African universities, and the Africa... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials are espousing the benefits of a four-part virtual content series highlighting research and threat preparation collaboration.
The Virtual Whole-of-Government R&D Showcase focuses on efforts to mobilize... Read More »
As a result of phase three COMET-ICE trial data, GlaxoSmithKline plc and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced this week that they will push forward with sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody treatment for SARS-CoV-2.
Primary efficacy analysis of 1,057 patients who participated in the... Read More »
A combined supplement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week spread $200 million among 59 jurisdiction public health programs to expand the disease intervention specialists (DIS) workforce.
This funding is... Read More »
A novel mRNA vaccine developed to protect against malaria has demonstrated full defense against the disease in mice, according to the latest research published in npj Vaccines.
Developed by joint efforts from Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), the Naval Medical Research Center, the... Read More »
The results of a Johns Hopkins-led study into the potential causes of increased transmission among certain SARS-CoV-2 variants has determined that at least two of these variants showed no evidence of higher viral loads but less likelihood of carriers presenting as asymptomatic.
Utilizing whole... Read More »
Stratatech Corporation and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) achieved major milestones this week with the announcement of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for StrataGraft, a treatment for adults with thermal burns.
Stratagraft is specifically... Read More »
A new antibody testing study conducted by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program has just altered the timeline for SARS-CoV-2 growth in the United States, revealing the viral cause of COVID-19 may have been in-country nearly a month earlier than established.
Until... Read More »
With $2.38 million in grant support from a new contract with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and a National Institute of General Medical Sciences supplement, LSU Health New Orleans intends to form partnerships to sequence SARS-CoV-2 variants.
A team led by Dr. Lucio Miele, professor and... Read More »
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti toured Thursday the Los Angeles Cyber Lab to receive a briefing on its operational capabilities.
The lab, funded by public-private partnerships, was established in 2017 by the Mayor’s office to better... Read More »
A fourth strong contender appears to have emerged for COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, as this week’s results from the Phase 3 PREVENT-19 trial of the Novavax, Inc. COVID-19 demonstrated a 90 percent overall efficacy against the disease.
The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine fully protected against... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced Thursday that it had successfully tested early wildfire detection technology prototypes this week in California.
Conducted during a controlled, prescribed burn at the Dye Creek Preserve near Red... Read More »
Following positive test results, Moderna, Inc. filed last week with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the scope of its COVID-19 vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) to include adolescents between 12 and 18 years old.
This expansion push follows the results of a... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will provide $706,534 in funding for Dascena, Inc. to further its COViage system, potentially expanding its machine learning capabilities to predict deteriorating health among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Hospitalized COVID-19... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) gained more than 3 million lab-confirmed infection case reports in response -- a record figure -- in response to a call issued last year for input into the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS).
These country-by-country reports... Read More »
A new agreement struck between the Biden administration and Merck & Co. will provide the U.S. government with 1.7 million courses of the company’s investigational COVID-19 antiviral treatment, molnupiravir.
This agreement is contingent upon either emergency use authorization (EUA) or approval... Read More »
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) demonstrated continuing good news for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, crediting them with reducing the risk of infection by 91 percent for those fully vaccinated by either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
While previous... Read More »
