Research
Hologic, Inc., entered into an agreement on Tuesday worth $4.1 million with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistance Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to advance the development of a blood screening test that will detect Zika virus.
The one... Read More »
A major gap in international standards for biosafety in laboratories handling contagious pathogens potentially increases the risk that an accident could result in a disease outbreak that threatens global security, according to a recent study by the UPMC Center for Health Security.
The year-long... Read More »
A team of researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently developed a flexible material that is both highly breathable and protective from various biological agents that soldiers may come into contact with.
The material is the first key component of a new type of... Read More »
Deep Red, Raytheon Company’s team of cyber experts, is one of the featured teams competing in the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Cyber Grand Challenge finals during the DEF CON conference this week.
DARPA began the Cyber Grand Challenge as a computer security tournament... Read More »
Altimmune, Inc., and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) are set to advance the first clinical trial later this month of an anthrax vaccine that could be administered in a single dose.
The trial was initiated from a two-year, $14 million contract between BARDA and... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded a $5.1 million, two-year contract to InBios International, Inc., on Monday for a newer, faster Zika virus diagnostic blood test.
InBios’ test may have the... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a clinical trial this week for an experimental vaccine to prevent Zika virus infections, an effort that comes after local transmission of the virus hit a neighborhood in Florida.
“Given the Zika situation internationally and in the United... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will host the world’s first all-machine hacking tournament this week.
The Cyber Grand Challenge marks the culmination of an ambitious three-year effort to develop advanced, autonomous systems that can detect, evaluate and patch software... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday urged President Obama to use unspent funds from other programs to combat the emerging threat of Zika virus in the United States.
Rubio sent a letter to the president, citing specific examples of unused funds that could be reallocated in an expedited... Read More »
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), released a study on Wednesday that found six Zika virus antibodies, including four that neutralize African, Asian and American strains of the virus.
Dr. Michael S.... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY) on Tuesday decried actions by his congressional colleagues for jeopardizing the development of a vaccine for the Zika virus.
Donovan’s statement came in the wake of three different companies threatening to halt their developments due to funding uncertainty.... Read More »
Soligenix released positive preliminary proof-of-concept results on Monday from its collaboration with Axel Lehrer to develop a heat-stable subunit Ebola virus vaccine.
Lehrer is a doctor in the Department of Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology at the John A. Burns School of... Read More »
Researchers at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) and CBI Polymer recently explored how a HydroGel can be modified to decontaminate surfaces contaminated with harmful biological agents, such as the anthrax-inducing Bacillus anthracis.
HydroGel is a biosynthetic polymer that can be... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began a series of actions this week designed to combat the emerging threat of Zika virus and to mitigate its spread throughout the U.S. and the world.
The FDA began with important steps to help protect the safety of the blood supply. One of the first... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provided BioCryst Pharmaceuticals with additional funding on Monday for efficacy studies of BCX4430 in non-human primates to further assist effective dose regimens.
BCX4430 is a broad-spectrum antiviral that is advancing toward... Read More »
An independent panel of public health, emergency response and communication experts issued a report on Friday on the Ebola epidemic of 2014, identifying recommendations to improve the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) response to urgent public health threats.
Concerns... Read More »
The Partnership for Research on Ebola virus in Liberia (PREVAIL) on Monday opened PREVAIL IV, a treatment trial for men who have survived Ebola virus disease (EVD) but continue to have evidence of Ebola virus genetic material - RNA - in their semen.
The trial is sponsored by the National... Read More »
A coalition of research institutions published a report in the Clinical Infectious Disease Journal on Wednesday that analyzed the immune responses of Ebola patients treated in the United States.
The coalition includes the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control (CDC), the Emory University School... Read More »
The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) released a report on Tuesday detailing how a single dose of either of two experimental Zika vaccines protected mice infected with the virus for four to eight weeks after receiving the inoculations.
NIAID said that this... Read More »
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) presented data on Monday regarding gene sequences and the global variations in malaria parasites.
NIAID researchers determined the genomes of approximately 200 P. vivax strains that recently infected people in... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) received a task order on Monday valued at up to $21.9 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to develop and manufacture a Zika vaccine.
Three cGMP lots... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with the scientific research organization Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, began a multi-country study on Tuesday to evaluate the magnitude of the health risks that Zika virus infection poses on pregnant women and their developing fetuses and infants.... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed its Pre-Approval Inspection (PAI) of Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s Building 55 for the large-scale manufacturing of BioThrax (anthrax vaccine adsorbed).
Following the PAI’s conclusion, Emergent BioSolutions received a No Action Indicated... Read More »
Emergent BioSolutions, Inc.’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) seeking approval for the manufacture of BioThrax (anthrax vaccine adsorbed) at the company’s Building 55 was accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week.
“Emergent’s... Read More »
The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing on Tuesday concerning the U.S. public health response to antibiotic resistant bacteria, otherwise known as “superbugs.”
The hearing was initiated after the discovery of the MCR-1 gene in a Pennsylvania woman who contracted... Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted orphan drug status to Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., on Wednesday for BioThrax (anthrax vaccine adsorbed) for post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax disease from suspected or confirmed exposure to Bacillus anthraces.
BioThrax is the only... Read More »
The Los Alamos National Laboratory is holding its annual Robot Rodeo, a competition that tests the abilities of bomb disposal robots from companies throughout the southwest, this week.
“The Robot Rodeo gives bomb-squad teams the opportunity to practice and hone their skills in a lively but... Read More »
Chimerix’s President and CEO M. Michelle Berrey participated in a panel focused on North Carolina’s role in biodefense preparation at the recent “Medical, Biomedical and Biodefense: Support to the Warfighter Symposium.”
"In the event of a smallpox bioweapon event or accidental release,... Read More »
Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) researchers took to the New York City subway system last month to aid in conducting a series of tests on how a biological agent, such as anthrax, might disperse throughout the rapid transit system as a result of a bioterrorism attack or accidental release.... Read More »
Science Applications International Corp. (SIAC) was awarded a five-year, multiple-award, indefinite deliver, indefinite quantity contract worth up to $460 million on Wednesday from the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Systems Integration and Management (FEDSIM) and U.S. Cyber Command... Read More »
With the world’s volume of stored data doubling each year, an opportunity exists for organizations across the globe to analyze that data and use it to add business value, particularly as it relates to defense and cybersecurity, according to Matthew Kuckuk, CGI Group’s data analytics global... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) on Monday agreed to sponsor a new point-of-care anthrax diagnostic test.
The 18-month, $2.5 million agreement is through ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a sponsored study on Tuesday that found that up to 99 percent of chemical contamination can be removed by carefully removing clothes and wiping skin with a paper towel or dry wipe.
The study was sponsored by HHS’s Office of the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday that one of the nation’s Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) will support the development of NasoShield, a second-generation anthrax vaccine.
“Anthrax remains a material threat to... Read More »
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported on Monday that an experimental malaria vaccine protected a small number of healthy, malaria-naïve adults from infection for more than one year after immunization.
The... Read More »
