Virtual Biosecurity Center

The eighth wonder: developments in synthetic biology

(ScienceOmega) The UK life science industry has become a significant focus area for research and development in recent years, which is hardly surprising given that the industry generates a turnover of just over £50bn. Recognising the significance of the sector, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) published the ‘Strategy for UK Life Sciences’ in December 2011, setting out a series of directives aimed at advancing life sciences. A progress report released a year later showed that in 12 months £1bn in revenue had been generated through industry and private sector investment,2 further highlighting the importance of life sciences to the Read More »
- June 14, 2013 |
- Filed Under Biotechnology, Research
University of Toronto breakthrough allows fast, reliable pathogen identification

(EurekAlert) Life-threatening bacterial infections cause tens of thousands of deaths every year in North America. Increasingly, many infections are resistant to first-line antibiotics. Unfortunately, current methods of culturing bacteria in the lab can take days to report the specific source of the infection, and even longer to pinpoint the right antibiotic that will clear the infection. There remains an urgent, unmet need for technologies that can allow bacterial infections to be rapidly and specifically diagnosed.
- June 13, 2013 |
- Filed Under Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, Public Health, Research
Ebola’s secret weapon revealed

(VirtualMedicalCentre) Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind one of the Ebola virus’ most dangerous attributes: its ability to disarm the adaptive immune system. University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston scientists determined that Ebola short-circuits the immune system using proteins that work together to shut down cellular signaling related to interferon. Disruption of this activity, the researchers found, allows Ebola to prevent the full development of dendritic cells that would otherwise trigger an immune response to the virus.
- May 30, 2013 |
- Filed Under Agents & Toxins, International, Public Health, Research
Op-Ed – Improving Intelligence on Emerging Bioweapons Threats: New Engagements Needed Between Intelligence and Academia

Kathleen M. Vogel, Associate Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies and the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Cornell University Since the end of the Cold War and the rise of asymmetric security threats, the U.S intelligence and policy communities have been increasingly concerned about new types of bioweapons attacks that might arise from a spectrum of state and non-state actors. In a 1995 U.S. Senate hearing, CIA official Gordon Oehler lamented that, “the increasingly troubled post–Cold War world has, in a curious way, made us yearn for the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s when we knew Read More »
- January 16, 2013 |
- Filed Under Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives
Op-Ed – With the Changing Biological threat…smart international engagement policy would lower cost and increase national security.

David R. Franz, DVM, Ph.D. Former Commander US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases “There is no technical solution…”: In 1998, after we understood the enormity of the Soviet offensive program and the potential of the Iraqi one to disrupt, Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg said, “There is no technical solution to this problem of biological warfare. It needs an ethical, human and moral solution, if it’s going to happen at all….” Then he paused and said, “But would an ethical or moral solution appeal to a sociopath?” The early days of the biological Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program were similar Read More »
- November 13, 2012 |
- Filed Under Biological Weapons, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives

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University of Maryland School of Medicine finds gut bacteria play key role in vaccination

(EurekAlert) The bacteria that live in the human gut may play an important role in immune response to vaccines and infection by wild-type enteric organisms, according to two recent studies resulting from a collaborative effort between the University of Maryland School of Medicine Institute for Genome Sciences and the Center for Read More »

June 6, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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World Health Agency Gets a Grip on Its Budget

(ScientificAmerican) Just three years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) was in deep financial trouble, with a US$300-million deficit. Today the agency’s future looks healthier. Last week, the World Health Assembly — the annual gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, of health ministers of the WHO’s 194 governing member states — voted in Read More »

June 5, 2013
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

(WHO) The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has notified WHO of an additional laboratory-confirmed case with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The patient is a 14-year-old girl with underlying medical conditions who became ill on 29 May 2013. She is reported from the Eastern region, but not from Al-Ahsa Read More »

June 5, 2013
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, International, and Public Health
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Of Mosquitoes And Men: Scientists Discover How Disease-carrying Vectors Are Attracted To Humans

(Science2.0) Female mosquitoes are predators of mammalian blood, relying on blood proteins to lay their eggs. While certain mosquito species are attracted to mammals by their emission of body heat and carbon dioxide, other species, such as Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti, have evolved a strong lust for the smell of Read More »

June 5, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Public Health, and Research
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Not too early to vaccinate for anthrax

(BovineVeterinarian) Now is the time for livestock producers to get their animals vaccinated against anthrax. “Conditions this year are conducive to the development of anthrax,” warns Charlie Stoltenow, North Dakota State University Extension Service veterinarian. Those conditions include the heavy rainfall most of North Dakota is experiencing this spring. Anthrax spores Read More »