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By Category: Countermeasures

Navy Lab Refines Chem-Bio Sensor Tech

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory announced last week it has refined a potential chemical- and biological-weapon agent scanning system to spot and characterize minuscule amounts of warfare material (see GSN, Jan. 24). Scientists headed by Joshua Caldwell and Orest Glembocki discovered that specially engineered metal nanoparticles make “surface-enhanced Raman scattering” technology 108 million times more Read More »

February 14, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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Akonni Biosystems Signs License Pact with US Army Medical Research Institute

Akonni Biosystems signs license pact with US Army Medical Research Institute …pharmabiz.comThe new markets include global bio-security, where the rapid and low-cost detection of Category A bio-threat bacterial and viral agents is critical. …

February 13, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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U.S. Counterterror Chief: “Dirty Bomb” as Much a Risk as Biological Weapon

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said yesterday the risk of an attack against the nation using a “dirty bomb” might be as high as that of a potential terror strike involving a biological weapon. Police officers wearing hazard materials protection suits secure an area during a 2004 exercise simulating a radiological “dirty bomb” strike at Read More »

February 11, 2011
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, and Countermeasures
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Study Urges U.S. to Update Chem-Bio Defense Efforts

The U.S. Defense Department should revamp its chemical- and biological-weapon defense efforts in a bid to discourage antagonists from developing new lethal agents or employing such materials in a devastating attack, according to a newly published RAND Corp. report (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2010). “Given the inherent secrecy with which states and other actors will Read More »

January 25, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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Pentagon Funds Work on Faster Disease Countermeasure Development

The U.S. Defense Department has awarded $5.6 million for work toward a capability to develop disease treatments within one week (see GSN, Nov. 3, 2010). The project could ultimately yield countermeasures useful in responding to “known, unknown, naturally occurring or engineered disease-causing pathogens,” according to a press release from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which is Read More »