Research
An Iowa State University research team is developing a new sensor capable of detecting Ebola in a single drop of blood while providing results in an hour.
Researchers indicated the sensor is based on DNA aptamers, described as short, single-stranded DNA molecules selectively bound to a specific... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Enalare Therapeutics partnered this week to reformulate the agnostic respiratory stimulant ENA-001 into an intramuscular, emergency treatment for opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD).
The action is being undertaken... Read More »
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate Center of Excellence’s (COE) Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute (BTI) announced the release of a report on cross-border e-commerce.
Working with the University of Houston, the report looked at... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) researchers are espousing the benefits of a device capable of detecting biothreats from samples such as blood, water, CSF, food, and animal samples.
The Portable EnGineered Analytic Sensor with aUtomated Sampling (PEGASUS) is a miniaturized waveguide-based... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced last week the U.S. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Review Act to demand a study of the nation’s reliance on foreign nations for the pharmaceutical supply chain.
The bill would require a study produced by the Federal Trade... Read More »
Hundreds of non-hospitalized volunteers are being enrolled in a Phase 2/3 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-run trial of the SAB Biotherapeutics, Inc. creation SAB-185, a polyclonal antibody therapeutic meant to counter COVID-19.
The trial is known as ACTIV-2, part of the Accelerating COVID-19... Read More »
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) have successfully designed and conducted a study to optimize methods for collecting and measure small amounts of the Ebola virus in... Read More »
Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers are espousing the benefits of a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of identifying COVID-19-related conspiracy theories on social media.
The AI models how the conspiracy theories evolved and how they could someday help public health officials... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded contracts to FLIR Systems, Leidos, and Charles River Analytics to create lightweight materials and more adaptable countermeasures for equipment protective against chemical and biological threats.
The problem is, while... Read More »
Several over-the-counter drugs could potentially find new lives treating COVID-19 symptoms, as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that $155 million would be invested into a phase three trial of up to seven self-administered medications to that end.
It will be a... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked last week the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the sole use of the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab against COVID-19.
“Based on its ongoing analysis of emerging scientific data, specifically the sustained increase of SARS-CoV-2... Read More »
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that there remains a relative dearth of antibacterial treatments in the pipeline, despite the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
The WHOʻs annual Antibacterial Pipeline Report found that of the 43 antibiotics that are currently in... Read More »
To provide real-time updates on federal actions that could help defend against biological threats, the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense has created an interactive recommendations tracker of completed, in-progress, and items of inaction.
“This new and interactive tracker will build on the... Read More »
Amid rising fears that variants of COVID-19 may already be reducing the efficacy of vaccines, INOVIO provided some good news last week, with news that its vaccine candidate produced neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses against all three major variant strains.
INO-4800, a DNA vaccine... Read More »
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office has found the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spent nearly $1 billion assessing whether other countries’ capacity to address infectious disease threats before the... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released new guidance this week to clarify how it will request and conduct remote interactive evaluations during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, noting how critical such evaluations will be to operations.
This was meant for any FDA-regulated facilities,... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will invest approximately $24 million into the first year of contracts for the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR) to aid a network of research sites investigating influenza.
These institutions cover... Read More »
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released the findings of its investigation on an incident that occurred in Saraqib, Syrian Arab Republic, on Feb. 4, 2018.
OPCW’s Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) is charged with identifying the perpetrators of the use... Read More »
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines recently spearheaded an effort in which Congress received a report assessing intelligence community threats.
The endeavor examined various threats against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, great power competition, and rapidly evolving... Read More »
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has utilized the BioFlash Biological Identifier created by Smiths Detection to successfully identify airborne traces of SARS-CoV-2 inside its campus in real-time.
BioFlash is a device that collects and analyses air samples, rapidly sifting... Read More »
A phase two trial sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has begun to investigate the safety and efficacy of IC14, a lab-created monoclonal antibody meant to treat the respiratory troubles of... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a recommendation to the Department of Homeland Security regarding its plan to improve border security, including the use of personnel, barriers, and technology.
The GAO indicated its assessment of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)... Read More »
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) engineers are espousing the benefits of a low-cost computer system connecting older public safety radios with the latest wireless communications networks.
“This NIST project aims to develop a prototype infrastructure that could be used by... Read More »
Specialty vaccine company Valneva SE has concluded recruitment of 4,131 adults for a phase three trial of VLA1553, a single-shot chikungunya vaccine candidate.
If approved, VLA1553 would be the first chikungunya vaccine to gain Biologics License Application. This would, in turn, earn its... Read More »
A mix of casirivimab and imdevimab, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s REGEN-COV, is now strongly recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for high risk COVID-19 patients that are non-hospitalized.
The drug was given a strong rate based on randomized trials, which involved more than... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced that it is expanding a pilot test of technology that improves the cybersecurity defenses for the country’s emergency communications infrastructure.
In a news release issued on Thursday, S&T said... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said a review of its March 2021 operational statistics showed a continued trend of increased encounters and arrests.
"We are committed to balancing the need to maintain border security, care for those in our custody and keep the American people and... Read More »
New research from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has found that the deactivating effects of heat and sunlight are consistent across different variants of the SARS-COV-2 virus – the virus that causes COVID-19.
In a report published in the... Read More »
Moderna, Inc. is trumpeting the interim results of a phase three trial of its COVID-19 vaccine, which have shown antibodies persisting for six months post-vaccination.
These results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, come with some caveats, though. While the results were founded... Read More »
An assessment by the COVID-19 subcommittee of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) has concluded that blood clots affiliated with the AstraZeneca vaccine are concerning but rare and require further study to determine a causal relationship.
All... Read More »
The specialty vaccine company Valneva SE has issued positive data for Part A of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001.
Officials noted subject to regulatory approval, the company plans to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial by the end of... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has earmarked funds to develop capabilities to monitor the current COVID-19 pandemic and other future biological events.
The agency has awarded $199,648 to Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Mesur.io Inc. for... Read More »
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials recently outlined the latest breakthrough regarding its Machine-assisted Analytic Rapid-repository System (MARS) initiative, touting efforts to provide strategic advantages.
The MARS initiative would aid military planners, senior leaders, and... Read More »
A new COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) began a phase one clinical trial this week, following positive preclinical showings against SARS-CoV-2, its variants, and SARS-CoV-1, as well.
"Even before recent COVID-19 variants were identified, our team... Read More »
An ongoing Phase 2a trial of a Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies-developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate has been expanded to include adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
While there are still no approved COVID-19 vaccines for children, cases of COVID-19 in children have generally been less... Read More »
