Research
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded a $67 million contract to BioFactura for the advanced development of its Smallpox Biodefense Therapeutic to treat smallpox.
While smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, the threat of bioterrorism remains. To fill the... Read More »
Under a $30 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), three institutions have been selected to create new centers of immunology research to advance tuberculosis (TB) vaccine development.
The three... Read More »
Scientists may have changed the way Chikungunya vaccines can be designed, produced, and stored, with the creation of a new type of synthetic vaccine that can be stored at warmer temperatures without the need for refrigeration.
The results of the vaccine study, published in Science Advances... Read More »
The Department of Defense’s Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC) awarded $20 million to Emergent BioSolutions Inc. for the development of an auto-injector to treat nerve agent-induced seizures.
The device, which will contain diazepam (5 mg/mL), is being designed for intramuscular... Read More »
Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) leaders are expressing support for a recently signed public health order focusing on vaccine technology development, prioritization, and emphasizing vaccination importance.
President Donald Trump announced the executive order in advance of what is... Read More »
One of the largest research contracts ever awarded to the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was announced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) this week, to the potential tune of more than $200 million over the next seven years.
Initially, the... Read More »
The Sept. 14 gas explosion that stoked a fire at a Russian bioweapons facility in Siberia where viruses and bacteria including smallpox, Ebola and anthrax are stored reminded the world that humans are only one catastrophic biological event away from a pandemic that could kill tens of millions of... Read More »
President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directs the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense to propose a plan and budget to modernize the development of flu vaccines.
The plan must be submitted within 120 days. The goal is to improve preparedness for... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) intends to provide $14 million and expertise support for the advanced development of an investigational Ebola treatment being pursued by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami.
Ridgeback is manufacturing the therapeutic drug known as... Read More »
There’s a new word on the street that packs a lot of punch: cyberbiosecurity, which is introducing a host of new multilayered threats to biodefense.
Members of the newly named Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense — formerly the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense — last week sought a... Read More »
Despite the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recommendations -- since 2013 -- that a single dose of yellow fever vaccine will protect people for a lifetime, new research shows that might not hold true for the youngest among the populace.
The aforementioned WHO recommendation was based on... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense recently awarded Virginia Tech a $7.5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant to study information latency, the measure of how quickly or slowly networked devices transmit information.
Virginia Tech will receive the funds over five years.... Read More »
BAE Systems has secured a $318 million Army contract to upgrade M88 recovery vehicles to an M88A3 configuration designed for single-vehicle recovery of the latest version Abrams tank.
“As the U.S. Army’s primary recovery vehicle, the M88 plays a critical role in the Army’s Armored Brigade... Read More »
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and state forensic lab researchers in Maryland and Vermont have developed a new technique designed to improve drug evidence testing safety.
Lab researchers have demonstrated a process allowing police to test whether a baggie or other package... Read More »
A Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security report commissioned by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) released this week showed the foundations for responding to a high-impact respiratory pathogen pandemic could use some work the world over.
A high-impact respiratory pathogen... Read More »
U.S.-based white supremacists have dramatically increased their coordination and information sharing which has led to a spike in right-wing extremist violence in the United States and Europe over the past decade, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League and five European organizations.... Read More »
Opioid vaccines hold the potential to counteract the plague of opioid-affiliated deaths that have swept the United States in recent years, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
While clinical trials have begun, numerous barriers remain to use.
The matter of what exactly is... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) through the U.S. Air Force Space Command recently awarded Iridium Communications a $738.5 million, seven-year, fixed-price contract to provide the agency with unlimited satellite services from its unique Low Earth Orbit constellation.
Iridium will provide... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will add five accelerators to its network to enhance biotechnology innovates with technical and entrepreneurial support.
The new accelerators include Emory University & Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; the Plug and Play Tech... Read More »
Raytheon Company officials said the defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions firm is developing a new medium-range, air-launched weapon to combat drones, manned aircraft, and cruise missiles.
The Peregrine missile is half the size and cost of current air-to-air missiles while... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office recommends two agencies be more transparent about technology’s capabilities.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are agencies that research, develop, and test... Read More »
Joined to fight the threat of malaria, the governments of Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi have launched a landmark vaccine pilot program known as RTS,S.
Malaria is estimated to kill a child every two minutes and is a leading killer of children in Kenya. As such, a major goal of the new vaccine is its... Read More »
The U.S. Navy is working on adding 20 new guided missile frigates to its fleet, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended they provide Congress with an independent cost estimate before awarding any contracts.
Currently, the cost is estimated at around $20 billion. GAO... Read More »
A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal concluded that Ebola patients might face an increased risk of death for an entire year after being released from the hospital.
Conducted on 1,130 members of the Guinean populace that survived the 2013-2016 West African Ebola... Read More »
Under threat from its worst recorded outbreak of dengue since 2000, Bangladesh has turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organization (WHO) to help outline a plan to test a nuclear technique to combat mosquitoes spreading the disease.
More than 38,000 have been... Read More »
A cyber threats report generated by the computer security software firm McAfee determined ransomware attacks grew by 118 percent in the first quarter of this year.
The McAfee Labs Threats Report also revealed the detection of new ransomware families and the implementation of innovative attack... Read More »
Raytheon has secured a $190 million low-rate Navy contract to produce ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles) Block 2 units featuring a guidance system with dual mode active and semi-active radar.
“ESSM plays a critical role in protecting Navy sailors worldwide and our international partners share... Read More »
Human behavior lies at the heart of fighting mosquito-transmitted diseases, according to a new study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
How humans commute and what their living habits are is key in mosquito mitigation planning, the report says, because, without such considerations,... Read More »
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials said the agency is using artificial intelligence (AI) to address the opioid epidemic, one of the nation’s leading health challenges.
The recent DIA DoDIIS Worldwide Conference in Florida served as the backdrop for Brian Drake, the DIA’s Science and... Read More »
Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney in Australia have created and tested a new vaccine type that provides substantial protection against tuberculosis (TB), following more than five years of work and research.
The test was a preclinical run using mouse models... Read More »
Defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions firm Raytheon has committed to building a 200,000-square-foot facility supporting new high-tech jobs at its Space and Airborne Systems headquarters in McKinney, Texas.
Once the construction project is completed in late 2020, the facility will... Read More »
A genomics study undertaken by Scripps Research recently uncovered a previously undiscovered and underreported outbreak of the Zika virus that hit Cuba in 2017, prompting scientists to call on health, academia, and government organizations to step up efforts to share and coordinate... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has earmarked $23 million to support the manufacturing of an investigational Ebola vaccine as a means of addressing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) virus outbreak.
The effort will also meet domestic biodefense goals. The HHS... Read More »
A growing lack of vaccination among Texas youth is leaving schools and the cities that house them increasingly at risk to measles outbreaks, according to new findings published by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
The findings were published in the journal JAMA... Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has contracted with a firm to aid a burn imaging device’s development.
The two-year, $27.3 million contract with SpectralMD, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, advances the... Read More »
