See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the Zika funding fight, improving U.S. biosurveillance capabilities, and the Army’s MERS vaccine clinical trial.
BIODEFENSE POLICY & PRACTICES
- White House, House Republicans spar over Zika, Ebola funding (Reuters)
- Sen. Jack Reed, staff visit Fort Detrick (FD Standard)
- 3 ways to move the conversation on public health forward (Brookings)
- Zika virus: Pentagon will relocate at-risk family members (Alamogordo News)
- Former Ebola czar on Zika, pandemics and right way to respond (STAT News)
- Bioweapons… for dummies? Evaluating the threat of rogue biohacking (CNS)
- WHO seeks 56M for plan to combat Zika virus (Reuters)
SELECT AGENTS
- Could soldiers wear an anthrax-proof “second skin”? (Popular Mechanics)
- Ebola has been contained but we must prepare for the next pandemic (The Conversation)
- Toxicant penetration, scavenging study key to ion channels blocking therapies (DB)
- Enzyme inhibitors block Ebola (C&EN)
- Isolation of potent neutralizing antibodies an Ebola survivor (Science)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- NIH officials accelerate timeline for human trials of Zika vaccine (WaPo)
- New anti-biofilm compounds show promise against drug-resistant bacteria (ICT)
- Matt Dawson reveals ‘two weeks of hell’ over son’s meningitis (BBC)
- This mosquito likes us too much for our own good (NPR)
- Striking MRSA where it hides (Genentech)
- As antibiotics fail, we need more vaccines (NatGeo)
- F.D.A. issues Zika virus guidelines for blood supply (NY Times)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- How scientists misread the threat of Zika virus (NPR)
- Experts question assumption that Zika sickens just 1 out of 5 (Reuters)
- Did a pesticide cause microcephaly in Brazil? unlikely, say experts (NPR)
- Dengue could be the surprise culprit making Zika worse, researchers say (STAT)
- Let’s just say they’re all Zika virus related because…belief? (VDU Blog)
INDUSTRY NEWS
- Nanomedical Diagnostics launches a new graphene biosensor (PRWeb)
- Thousands of goats and rabbits vanish from major biotech lab (Nature)
- New CRISPR patent issued to Caribou Biosciences (The Scientist)
- Health Navigator updates diagnostic platform to address Zika virus (PRWeb)
- Zika vaccine shows promise in mice, lifting maker Inovio (Reuters)
- Horizon Discovery: Capitalizing on CRISPR (The Scientist)
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
- Portable diagnostic instrument checks on astronauts during space trips (MDT)
- New microfluidic device may speed up DNA insertion in bacteria (MIT News)
- Researchers collaborate to develop handheld Zika detection device (MDT)
- Transgenic crops: The MIDAS touch for rapid protein detection (Spectroscopy Now)
- Biologists steal nanospear technology from bacteria (The Atlantic)
- What makes a bacterium turn into a pathogen? (STAT News)
CHEMICAL THREATS
- How Pentagon geeks & Russian generals plotted take away Assad’s WMD (Daily Beast)
- A brief history of chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria (Vocative)
- Corporate industry hiring ‘white coats’ to defend dangerous chemicals (Chem.info)
- US military burn pits built on chemical weapons facilities tied to soldiers’ illness (Guardian)
- UN to probe 5 serious cases of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria (VOA)
- Canada contributes 2.5M to support OPCW work in Syria (OPCW)
- Pentagon chief: We watch ISIS’s chemical weapons capability ‘very closely’ (The Hill)
- U.S. troops in Iraq move into region where ISIS just used mustard gas (Military Times)
RADIOLOGICAL & NUCLEAR THREATS
- IAEA says Iraq informed it of theft of radiography device (Reuters)
- Radioactive material stolen in Iraq raises security fears (The Guardian)
- First chemical weapons, now radioactive WMDs for ISIS? (Fiscal Times)