Research
A model created by the University College London could be used to predict the next Ebola outbreak by tracking how changes to ecosystems combined with human societies affect the disease’s spread.
The model takes into account factors such as human population, land use, and the impact of climate.... Read More »
A team of scientists led by Dr. Florian Klein successfully showed how the human immune system responds to the Ebola vaccine currently being used to fight an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and create antibodies against the Ebola virus.
Involved in the study of the rVSV-ZEBOV... Read More »
Model-based predictions of mosquito species distribution need to be improved in many parts of the country, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found.
Researchers assessed and combined previously developed computational models to generate new predictions of where Aedes aegypti and... Read More »
Coppell, Texas-based QED Secure Solutions has secured $200,000 in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding to field test a secure trust anchor for the Internet of Things (IoT).
The funding allotment via DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is in conjunction with S&T’s Silicon... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) made $14 billion in funding commitments for the Global Fund, which was established to fight HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria.
The funding commitment, announced at the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Conference in Lyon, France, will be spread over three... Read More »
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) researchers are espousing the benefits of the latest version of the Survival Health Awareness Responders Kit (SHARK), noting it provides critically needed preventative care.
The SHARK 2.0 was recently delivered to instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp... Read More »
In an effort to enhance support for its development, the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) granted priority medicine (PRIME) designation in September to a new chikungunya virus vaccine candidate developed by Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
“Emergent is pleased to... Read More »
While the bacteria listeria and the associated infection known as listeriosis has been well known for decades, an international research team recently discovered the most virulent species to date, able to infect and kill humans and animals.
This discovery was isolated in China, by scientists... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is backing a new technology that will allow doctors to better understand injuries caused by inhaled chlorine gas.
The technology is referred to as lung-on-a-chip, developed by Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM). The... Read More »
In a survey published this week in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists concluded that the market has thus far failed to support new antibiotics for the increasing troubles of drug-resistant superbugs.
"New drugs against CRE... Read More »
Terrorist attacks have declined globally for the fourth consecutive year while in the United States they have reached their highest level since 1982, according to a report from the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).
The... Read More »
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on the opportunities and challenges related to hypersonic weapons.
Hypersonic weapons fly at least 3,800 miles per hour at lower altitudes than ballistic missiles and are highly maneuverable and may be able to change targets... Read More »
A U.S. tuberculosis vaccination trial utilizing edible sensor technology has reportedly cured 100 percent of participants, leading researchers to suggest that the technology could be a “game changer” in high-risk countries.
A part of Wirelessly Observed Therapy (WOT), the ingestible sensor... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) recently toured the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station mosquito lab to learn more about research into Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).
The lab tracks and researches vector-borne diseases, and in 2017, received a five-year, $10 million grant from the... Read More »
The National Threat Initiative (NTI) worked with hospitals, research universities, and other stakeholders to prepare a report with effective and secure solutions to support Congressional efforts to eliminate cesium-137 from facilities around the United States.
The report -- Preventing a Dirty... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Energy recently created a new research center to advance the study and development of artificial intelligence (AI).
Scientists from the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Georgia Institute of Technology will staff the new... Read More »
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials have appointed Dr. Alfonso Clavijo as director of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF).
The NBAF, which is currently under construction by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is a research and diagnostic facility designed to... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced intentions to enhance collective autonomous systems in a way that will support urban troop offensives, and to that end, are seeking proposals for operational swarm tactics and new technologies to integrate into these swarms.
It is... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute Inc. of Washington, D.C., with about $20.5 million to develop vaccines against Marburg virus and Sudan ebolavirus infections.
Both diseases are caused by the same family of viruses... Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has earmarked funds to aid the development of new technology that could bolster emergency preparedness by producing platelets outside the human body.
If the two-year, $4.9 million agreement between HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved Bavarian Nordic to market a new, alternative smallpox vaccine known as JYNNEOS.
JYNNEOS is a live, non-replicating vaccine specifically made for adults. It is an alternative to the existing ACAM2000, which though licensed, cannot be... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is launching a network of research centers that will work to develop better influenza vaccines.
NIAID – which is part of the National Institutes of Health -- will provide up to $51 million in funding for the initiative, called... Read More »
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 »
