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By Category: Research

The Risk of Engineering a Highly Transmissible H5N1 Virus

(Editorial by Thomas V. Inglesby, Anita Cicero, and D. A. Henderson) Over the past 8 years, H5N1 avian influenza has sickened 571 people, killing 59% of them. To give some perspective, the fatality rate of the virus that caused the 1918 Great Pandemic was 2%, and that pandemic killed on the order of 50 million Read More »

December 19, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Biosafety, Biotechnology, Public Health, and Research
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Soligenix, Harvard University commence anthrax vaccine development

(Pharmaceutical Business Review) Soligenix, a biopharmaceutical company, has commenced a next generation anthrax vaccine development project under the agreement with Harvard University. The company entered a field-exclusive option agreement with Harvard University to negotiate a …

December 19, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Research
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Kansas leaders approve bonds for bio lab facility

(CanadianBusiness.com) Kansas officials authorized issuing $45.4 million in bonds on Wednesday for the next phase of construction on the $650 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan. Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders who comprise the state finance council approved the bonds during a brief meeting at the Statehouse. Of the total bonds issued, Read More »

December 16, 2011
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, and Research
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US cell-based flu vaccine plant open for business

(Nature News Blog) Americans may soon be getting flu jabs made with cells and not eggs. The drug company Novartis opened a first-of-its kind facility in the US to produce influenza vaccines using mammalian cells, Novartis and US government officials announced 13 December. The approach is an alternative to conventional vaccine manufacturing, which relies on Read More »

December 16, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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DNA2.0 Integrates Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) Into Gene Designer

(PR Web) DNA2.0 announces the integration of the first standardized information exchange framework for synthetic biology into the company’s breakthrough gene design and assembly application. Gene built with BIOFAB parts in Gene Designer, Diagram view. …