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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 »
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 »
A panel of public health experts and U.S. senators agreed on several steps Congress should take to prevent or remediate the next pandemic, basing their proposals on lessons learned during the 14 months working to resolve the COVID-19 health crisis.
Among their recommendations, aired during a... Read More »
FLIR Systems, Inc. announced Monday that it had won a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop new fabrics embedded with catalysts and chemical agents that can fight and reduce chemical and biological threats on contact.
The fabrics will be incorporated... 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 »
According to a new study from the Galveston National Laboratory, published last week in Nature Communications, combining monoclonal antibodies and the antiviral remdesivir can make for a potent defense against the lethal Marburg virus (MARV).
Conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch... Read More »
Cipla Therapeutics, and SIGA Technologies, Inc, announced Tuesday that they would be entering into a strategic partnership to deliver innovation and access to novel antibacterial drugs, particularly to fight biothreats.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anti-microbial resistance... Read More »
A Stewardship and Access Plan Development Guide for countering the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs was developed and released this week by CARB-X, some of its leading funders and major antibacterial researchers.
The Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator... Read More »
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Munich Security Conference (MSC) personnel recently collaborated to convene 19 current and former global leaders and experts to address reducing high-consequence biological threats.
The endeavor was offered in conjunction with the MSC’s “Beyond... Read More »
Warning that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest public health threats of the age, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and several partner organizations wrote to House leaders last week urging them to create a comprehensive One Health approach to counter the rising... Read More »
The BioWatch Program, established by Congress in 2003, transferred to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) office in 2018 with a whopping budget averaging $76 million per fiscal year from 2018 to 2020.
According to BioWatch officials, the... Read More »
According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of Utah, the costs of antibiotic resistance among diseases are growing, leading to billions of dollars in health care costs and increasing rates of infections.
According to “National... Read More »
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) officials indicated its recent Global Biosecurity Dialogue resulted in participants pledging to take 12 specific actions to advance global biosecurity along with eight jointly developed priority areas.
More than 170 government officials, health and biosecurity... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Luminex Corporation announced a collaboration on advanced development support of a single test to rapidly detect and differentiate between COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Prevalent pathogens all,... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $1.4 million grant to scientists at West Virginia University (WVU) to develop therapeutics to treat infections prone to antibiotic resistance.
Mariette Barbier of the WVU School of Medicine will lead the research effort. Barbier and her team will present... Read More »
The former Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration, Donna Shalala, has been appointed to the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
Shalala had been a founding member of the commission, established in 2014. She left two years ago to serve in the Congress from Florida... Read More »
Avails Medical, a Menlo Park, California diagnostics company, has secured an award worth up to $2.5 million from CARB-X to develop an electronic antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) device.
The innovation would expedite healthcare providers’ ability to determine the most effective... Read More »
Even with the rollout of mass vaccination worldwide, COVID-19’s spread is nowhere near an immediate end.
So, it might seem perplexing when biosecurity researchers appear optimistic about a future without pandemics.
That reality is exactly what a new report has outlined. Released this week... Read More »
Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB-X) awarded $5.3 million to Lumen Bioscience to develop a new immunotherapy to prevent diarrheal diseases caused by two specific pathogens -- Campylobacter jejuni and enterotoxigenic E. coli.
Diarrheal diseases are intestinal infections caused by... Read More »
The Oklahoma Pandemic Center for Innovation and Excellence (OPCIE) officially opened in Stillwater, Okla., this week, presenting a new lab, genetic biorepository, and science lab to address public health concerns.
The facility is meant to serve as a frontline of defense against future... Read More »
Chalmers University of Technology researchers have determined that significant genetic transfer between bacteria in our ecosystems and humans may be linked to pathogenic bacteria in humans developing resistance to antibiotics.
"In recent years, we've seen that resistance genes spread to human... Read More »
President Joe Biden has returned the United States to the fold of the World Health Organization (WHO), dispatching his Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, to address the body and make that return official.
“I am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World... Read More »
U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and John Katko (R-NY) introduced a bill to enhance the nation’s readiness to prepare for and respond to public safety and national security threats – including pandemics.
Their bill -- the Analyzing Disaster Vulnerabilities and Applicable National... Read More »
In the United States, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur annually, killing some 35,000 people, yet scant financial incentives exist to develop drugs that could treat many of these infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In response,... Read More »
The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has awarded $14.4 million to states, universities, and other partners with projects addressing livestock biosecurity.
The funding allotment would aid 76 projects seeking to strengthen animal health... Read More »
In tests conducted on mice, the ricin toxin vaccine RiVax -- developed by Soligenix, Inc. -- provided at least a full year’s worth of protection against the deadly agent.
Ricin is a lethal plant-derived toxin feared for its potential use as a bioterrorism and chemical warfare agent. Highly... Read More »
Valneva SE, a biotech company headquartered in France, on Wednesday announced plans to accelerate the pediatric development of its Lyme disease vaccine candidate, VLA15, which is being co-developed with Pfizer Inc.
“We are pleased that Pfizer and Valneva have decided to accelerate this... Read More »
Public trust must be maintained in preparing for and responding to another large-scale biological event like the ongoing novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a former Trump administration emergency management expert told the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense on Monday.
Tom Bossert,... Read More »
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest global public health concerns and is projected to be so for the next three decades. In the United States alone, 2.8 million people contract an antibiotic-resistant infection, killing more than 35,000 people each year.
Approximately 15 percent of... Read More »
Pennsylvania state officials are encouraging the poultry industry to expedite biosecurity practices in the wake of East Asia and Europe reporting Highly-Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) cases.
"Written biosecurity plans are good, but they are only effective when deliberately acted upon day in... Read More »
While Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan implemented aggressive testing strategies and infrastructure during the early spread of SARS-CoV-2, the United States failed to develop and distribute reliable diagnostic tests when the pandemic initially hit the country, according to a new report.
This... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded ReVector program Phase 1 contracts to Stanford University and Ginkgo Bioworks to initiate microbiome modification initiatives in order to reduce mosquito-transmitted diseases.
DARPA maintains mosquitos are of concern to the... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) began this month soliciting support for repurposing therapeutics into medical countermeasures against chemical threats.
The organization is now accepting abstract submissions for potential funding through its Division of... Read More »
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) SIGMA+ program conducted a test of advanced chemical and biological sensing systems in the Indianapolis area this past August.
DARPA collected more than 250 hours of daily life background atmospheric data in the city that helped train... Read More »
