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Researchers at Colorado State University were awarded a $1.2 million subcontract from the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle for immunology research to accelerate progress in tuberculosis vaccine development.
The institute is part of the National Institutes of Health, which gave a... Read More »
A pair of lawmakers have introduced a measure extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program for seven years.
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Tina Smith (D-MN), proponents of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019, said the 2020 RNC and DNC Conventions, NASCAR, the NFL and... Read More »
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week issued final guidance for developing smallpox treatment studies, providing clarity to drug manufacturers.
“Despite recent advances in developing an effective treatment for smallpox, drug developers still face challenges in bringing... Read More »
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials are espousing the potential benefits of new technology to quickly address endemic, emerging and engineered pathogenic threats.
The organization’s newest biotechnology funding opportunity, the Detect It with Gene Editing Technologies... Read More »
Bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate was introduced to improve the hiring and retention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers.
U.S. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and John Hoeven (R-ND) said the CBP Hiring and Retention Innovation Act, S. 2813, creates a Customs and... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate awarded $199,984 to Digital Bazaar, a company based in Blacksburg, Va., to develop blockchain security technology.
The award was made by S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP). The Phase 1 award... Read More »
Integral Molecular won a $5.5 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) contract last week that will, over the next five years, fund efforts to define antibody responses to various pathogenic viruses and advance along the path to making vaccines for them.
"Our nearly... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded a $6 million contract to Burlingame, Calif.-based Inflammatix Inc. to develop a new testing technology that reads gene expression patterns in the immune system.
The innovative technology, known as host-response testing,... Read More »
An online platform launched earlier this year crowdsources intelligence to predict the outcomes of disease outbreak.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security implemented its publicly available disease prediction policy dashboard 10 months ago, and officials hope forecasting efforts might... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) issued a statement related to the U.S. State Department's response to his request to designate violent white nationalist extremist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Rose was among 40 members of Congress who called upon the State Department to designate... Read More »
The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) released a report assessing the five new nuclear weapon systems announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Based on its analysis, NTI called for an extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or START Treaty.
The report, called Russia’s New... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) released the Antibiotic Resistance Threats Report this week, showcasing the effects recent federal investments have had in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
Since 2013, the annual number of antibiotic resistant infections in the... Read More »
The European Commission granted marketing authorization to Merck for a vaccine to immunize adults against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) caused by the Zaire Ebola virus.
The vaccine, called ERVEBO, can be marketed in the 28 countries that are members of the European Union, as well as European... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently awarded Transmute Industries, an Austin, Texas-based company, a $198,642 Phase 1 award to develop a proof-of-concept application for Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The application must support... Read More »
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced last week the Stadiums Operating under New Guidance (SONG) Act, which empowers the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue temporary flight restrictions for stadium concerts and other events.
“Whether... Read More »
Looking for ways to diagnose and treat infectious diseases in regions with limits health care and laboratories can yield some interesting results, but researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working on the development of a lab-on-a-smartphone to help expand the currently... Read More »
A bill advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee seeks to reauthorize and increase funding for the northern United States border’s Operation Stonegarden program for the next five years, injecting $110 million into border security operations.
U.S. Sen. Jon... Read More »
A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently extended praise to the FBI for stopping an attempted synagogue bombing in Colorado.
Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Kay Granger (R-TX), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Randy Weber (R-TX), and Brian Fitzpatrick... Read More »
Lockheed Martin recently demonstrated its ATHENA laser weapon system for the U.S. Air Force at the government test range at Fort Sill, Okla.
ATHENA, which stands for Advanced Test High Energy Asset, is a high-energy, transportable laser system designed to provide a cost-effective, anti-drone... Read More »
The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) briefed the United Nations Security Council on issues related to Syria’s chemical weapons last week.
The UN officials expressed their support for the objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the work of the... Read More »
Techulon Inc. was awarded $785,000 to develop an antimicrobial that would kill drug-resistant bacteria by targeting specific genes critical to the bacteria’s survival.
The funding was from Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) – a global non-profit... Read More »
Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced Wednesday a bill to protect firefighters from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in firefighting foams.
The Protecting Firefighters from Adverse Substances (PFAS) Act of 2019 has... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently introduced a measure designed to address criminal and terrorist organizations’ use of the illegal tobacco trade to fund activities.
The Combating the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products Act, which authorizes the executive branch to deny development and security... Read More »
A study conducted by Stanford University under contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been expanded to include new technologies capable of identifying viral reservoirs for both Ebola and Zika infections.
The study is part of a larger international effort to research how... Read More »
Researchers from Kansas State University say that a new risk assessment model for Ebola transmission accurately predicted the disease’s spread into the Republic of Uganda, opening the possibility of a better means of predicting disease spread.
"This is a very new type of model," Caterina... Read More »
Port of Savannah, Georgia, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recently seized a port-record 2,133-pounds of cocaine via scrap aluminum and copper being shipped from South America to Europe.
“Drug Trafficking Organizations are relentless in their attempts to smuggle drugs into the... Read More »
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee recently held a hearing on the importance of the Department of Homeland Security actively combating the influx of deadly drugs across the Southwest border.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), a committee member, recently introduced new... Read More »
More than 40 experts from nine Central African nations met in October at an event hosted by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advance biosafety and biosecurity in the region.
The event, held in Libreville, Gabon, was the... Read More »
A bipartisan bill designed to bolster science education and cybersecurity programs within various federal agencies was introduced in the U.S. Senate this week.
The Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education (HACKED) Act Incentivize recruitment of cybersecurity educators... Read More »
Twitter suspended content affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, following a request by members of Congress.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Reed (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), and Max Rose (D-NY), sent a... Read More »
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) blasted the decision by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to approve the exemption of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station from the regulations for emergency planning and preparedness.
Markey, who serves on the committee, wrote to the Nuclear... Read More »
The Department of Interior recently decided to halt the use of non-essential Chinese-made drones or drones made from Chinese components pending a review of the program.
The exception would be drones used for emergency purposes.
All of the department’s 810 drones have Chinese hardware, and... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) officials said an Austin, Texas-based start-up has secured funding designed to enhance security checkpoint operations.
S&T officials said the agency awarded $199,961.29 to Synthetik Applied Technologies to develop a... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agreed to 11 tentative, reimbursable services agreements this week to boost cross-border trade and travel.
The agreements are an expansion of the Reimbursable Services Program that has been in place since 2013. All are public-private partnerships that... Read More »
This month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will deploy biometric facial comparison technology at three of the 22 pedestrian lanes through the Laredo Port of Entry.
The remaining lanes will have the technology installed during the first week of December.
The technology works by... Read More »
