Research
A long-acting therapy to prevent malaria could supplant the current daily oral dosing regimen that is susceptible to non-adherence, researchers at the University of Liverpool and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found.
Researchers set out to manipulate the molecular makeup... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories announced Tuesday that a recent program to develop computer modeling and simulation methods for how blasts on the battlefield cause injury could help improve designs for helmets and body armor.
The project focuses on improving understanding of how impacts from... Read More »
Mice immunized by a synthetic horsepox virus show promise in the development of an alternative smallpox vaccine, outside the boundaries of existing--often troublesome--vaccinia virus use.
In a study published in the Open Access journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the University of Alberta,... Read More »
A monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria probably originated from within the country recently highlighted the need for local surveillance and advanced genetic characterizations to help pinpoint the origins of outbreaks, a team of multinational researchers said.
From Sept. 4 to Dec. 9, 61 cases of... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently called on senators to take a series of steps in reauthorizing the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) to ensure that states, local communities, and medical providers can protect against threats to public health.
IDSA’s... Read More »
Researchers recently tested a millimeter wave imager designed to discreetly scan for potential threat items at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s (MBTA) emergency training center in Boston.
In partnership with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology... Read More »
Though the discovery comes with some worrisome caveats, researchers have begun the journey to reversing the memory loss effects of West Nile virus through the use of a drug.
In a study focused on mice, scientists identified the potential cause of the neurological issues: unresolved inflammation... Read More »
Through genome analysis and chemogenetics, researchers at the University of California (UC) San Diego School of Medicine, along with national and international associates, have confirmed genetic modifications that have led to malaria’s drug resistance and revealed new drug targets contained... Read More »
Regents of the University of Michigan (U-M) and the Duke University Hospital now share a distinction among infectious disease and antimicrobial experts with their recent designation of Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
The... Read More »
Duke University researchers recently conducted a study that showed how the Dengue virus reproduces in an infected individual without triggering the body’s normal defense mechanisms.
According to the study, the virus slowly takes over the endoplasmic reticulum, an accordion-shaped structure in... Read More »
A five-year partnership agreement has been reached between the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), representing a $28 million investment in the fight against viral outbreaks.
DARPA’s Pandemic Protection Platform will be... Read More »
Sandia National Laboratories geophysicist Danny Bowman recently presented at the American Geophysical Union conference the results of an experiment in which he launched a fleet of five solar-powered balloons he built to detect the infrasound from a test explosion.
The results, which could have... Read More »
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists recently conducted a small clinical trial at the NIH Clinical Center of an experimental treatment for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus infection in which the treatment was well tolerated by healthy volunteers.
SAB Biotherapeutics... Read More »
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) recently gleaned new understanding into how an antibody neutralizes the Marburg virus, a pathogen with no known treatment that holds the same pandemic potential as the Ebola virus.
Previous research indicated that an antibody known as MR191... Read More »
The government’s Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) recently awarded a contract to Battelle to develop software to evaluate threats posed by the creation of dangerous organisms through synthetic biology and genetic engineering.
Thanks to recent advances in biotechnology,... Read More »
During a visit to the plague-shaken nation of Madagascar, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), called for a $4 million investment to effectively combat the biological threat.
The most recent outbreak of pneumonic and bubonic plague in-country left... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) selected Tucson-based Raytheon Company Monday to complete development of software that enables unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to leverage collaborative autonomy to perform long-distance engagements in contested battle spaces.
After successful flight... Read More »
A request for innovators (RFI) has been released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), officially beginning the search for partners on emergency response technology development by 2020.
There are three projects on which the department is... Read More »
Researchers at the University of Queensland recently “supercharged” an old antibiotic by modifying its membrane-binding properties to successfully attack deadly antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, or superbugs.
Mark Blaskovich and Matt Cooper of the University of Queensland’s... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a new program last week that aims to predict and prevent cross-species transmission of viral diseases to bolster military readiness.
The program, called Preventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats (PREEMPT), will explore how pathogens... Read More »
Scientists at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have developed predictive, end-to-end modeling capabilities that can differentiate between conventional high explosives weapons tests and non-nuclear explosives tests that are part of a nuclear weapons program.
Developed by the... Read More »
The parasite Leishmania may be getting aided by viruses in its infection of invertebrates, as well as causing significantly worse disease than those without, according to a new evolutionary study.
The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, comes from the head of... Read More »
An enzyme that makes pandemic cholera resistant to last-line antibiotics acts on a different mechanism than similar proteins in bacteria, researchers at the University of Georgia reported last month.
Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs), which naturally produced by both bacteria and human... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently prequalified the first typhoid conjugate vaccine on Wednesday that’s been shown to boost immune response typhoid in infants as young as six months old.
Prequalification of the typhoid conjugate vaccine, called Typbar-TCV, allows procurement... Read More »
The ability of the Ebola virus to copy itself and spread through hosts can be “switched off” by manipulating a host factor enzyme, according to a recent study by European researchers.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Phillips Universität Marburg in Germany discovered that... Read More »
Twenty-two districts in Uganda were recently identified by researchers as cholera “hotspots” that should be targeted by cholera control programs in the country and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health identified the areas as high-risk... Read More »
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Lockheed Martin a $110 million contract on Wednesday to develop a low-cost, subsonic cruise missile with swarming capabilities, known as the Gray Wolf.
Lockheed Martin was awarded a five-year, phase 1 contract to develop and demonstrate the Gray... Read More »
Washington State University (WSU) students taking part in a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) internship program that promotes the development of equipment for nonproliferation research and training recently developed new technology that addresses safeguards research engineering... Read More »
Though scientists have been working steadily toward understanding and prevention of Zika since 2016, a recent report published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases makes it clear that many questions remain.
For one thing, scientists cannot yet say that another Zika pandemic will not re-emerge,... Read More »
Ten analytical chemists who work in laboratories that support or have plans to support customs services around the world recently completed an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) training course in the Netherlands.
The inaugural training course, which was held from Dec.... Read More »
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) program recently developed a reusable Aircraft Explosive Testing Simulator to support the testing of explosive vulnerabilities in new generation commercial aircraft.
S&T’s Commercial Aircraft Vulnerability and... Read More »
Operating under the requirements of the FDA “Animal Rule,” the biopharmaceutical company Soligenix, Inc. has identified biomarkers for ricin toxin vaccine (RiVax) testing.
Though RiVax was originally invented at the University of Texas Southwestern, Soligenix has seen a number of... Read More »
Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia and China’s ZhuJiang Hospital recently led a study that identified an antibody that binds to and kills all four types of dengue virus, which could lead to improved vaccines and drug therapies.
The researchers also exposed the... Read More »
A nine-member team of scientists from the University of Oregon is now looking into the ability to genetically deactivate mosquito bites--and disease spreading that results--from mosquito desires for blood.
The team has already made the important step: isolation and sorting of 902 genes linked... Read More »
A new chip designed by scientists by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could revolutionize the way testing is handled for biological and chemical agents, disease and pharmaceutical drugs.
Called “brain-on-a-chip,” the device allows scientists to simulate the central nervous system... Read More »
