• New book argues for change in biodefense policy

    The 2001 anthrax-letter mailings following presented Americans with an unsettling possibility: What if the resources spent to safeguard American citizens against terrorism have only made them more vulnerable?

  • Anticipating new diseases, bioterror methods

    The 150 researchers at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute work to anticipate and respond to new diseases and old ones — such as tuberculosis and cholera — that can turn into new threats or make a comeback

  • UIC to develop antibiotics against potential bioterrorism agents

    The University of Illinois at Chicago receives $4 million in stimulus package funds to develop new antibiotics to treat anthrax, tularemia and plague

  • Ricin antidote ready for production

    U.K. scientists develop the first antidote to ricin poisoning; security experts say ricin — roughly 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide — could be used in a bio-terror attack; what worries experts about ricin is not only its toxicity, but its ready availability: Ricin is extracted from castor beans, which are processed throughout the world to make castor oil; the toxin is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made

  • NIAID allocated $208 million to fight emerging infectious diseases from bioterrorism

    Using its own research funds, augmented by stimulus package money, NIH awarded $208 million to two programs that support research better to understand the human immune response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, including those that may be introduced into a community through acts of bioterrorism

  • SRI opens Virginia facility

    SRI International opened a new facility for its Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE); scientists at the new facility will work on developing vaccines, more quickly diagnosing infections, and developing new treatments

  • DHS supports research into Aussie horse and bat disease

    Hendra virus infects horses and bats — but the fatality rate among human beings coming into contact with the animals is high because there is no cure for it; the virus and its relative, the Nipah virus, are so lethal that the United States consider them a homeland security threat; there is fear that terrorists may infect bats and then release them near population centers

  • Kent State to train lab workers for biocontainment

    The increasing number of high-containment laboratories and the constant threat from emerging diseases and bioterrorism require more extensive biosafety training of the highest caliber, and more facilities in which to offer this training

  • New tool detects -- and neutralizes -- pathogens in mail

    Using the mail as a tool for bioterror attacks may or may not kill many people, but it will paralyze a company or an organization; the psychological damage is incalculable; new tool offers mail-room protection

  • DARPA seeking to improve bio-threat detectors

    The agency is requesting proposals for a device that would enable faster, more accurate detection of a broad range of biological agents; DARPA hopes to create a biosensor that would identify viral and bacterial threats, and do so using a natural first-line of defense: human antibodies

  • Kansas officials confident that BioLab project will not be derailed

    Congress has allocated $32 million for the design of the Manhattan, Kansas biolab which will replace the aging Plum Island facility; Congress conditioned the release of the rest of the money on the result of studies examining the risks involved in building a biolab in “Tornado alley”; other states that wanted the lab have been slow to give up the fight

  • Bipartisan WMD commission: U.S. failing to address urgent biothreat

    Interim report assesses progress in preventing WMD proliferation and terrorism

  • How prepared is the U.S. for a bioterror attack?

    The current U.S. bioterror detection program: A federally funded, locally run program with an $80 million annual budget, deploying a network of vacuum pumps that draw surrounding air through filters, sniffing for signs of biological agents

  • U.S. bioterrorism efforts criticized

    The task force criticized President Obama for requesting $305 million in 2010 for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which it called “insufficient by a factor of 10”