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By Category: Agents & Toxins

UM Researchers Identify Potential Target for Anthrax Drug

(eNews Park Forest) Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified new targets for drugs that could potentially treat anthrax, the deadly infection caused by Bacillus anthracis. The team, led by David Sherman, a faculty member at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and a professor in the departments of medicinal chemistry, chemistry, and microbiology and Read More »

May 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Exercises …

(PRNewswire) Pfenex Inc. today announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), has exercised its option associated with the existing Pfenex contractual relationship begun in July, 2010. This extends the contract supporting the development of a robust Pf?nex Expression Technology™ based production strain and Read More »

May 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Atypical BSE Has Never Led To Human vCJD – But Could It?

(Food Safety News) There is good news and bad news about the “L-type” atypical mad cow phenotype, found in the nearly 11-year-old, dead dairy cow discovered two weeks ago in California. The good news is no human has ever contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (vCJD) disease from cattle infected with atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

May 8, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, and Public Health
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Behold The Forbidden Flu: A Loom Explainer

(Discover Magazine) Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a very important part of a very special flu virus. It may look like an ordinary protein, but in fact it’s been at the center of a blazing debate about whether our increasing power to experiment on life could lead to a disaster. Not that long ago, Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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New Mad-Cow Discovery Stirs Fears

(The Wall Street Journal) The U.S. Agriculture Department said Tuesday that a California dairy cow tested positive for mad-cow disease, the first appearance of the brain-wasting illness in the U.S. since 2006. Agency officials said the finding didn’t pose any immediate threat to the safety of the food supply. They said no meat from the Read More »