U.S. Government to Conduct Sweeping Review of Biosecurity Policy Frameworks
The Biden Administration and National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials have initiated a review of the scope and effectiveness of ...
Tag: Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC)
Building Safeguards for Genetically Engineered Microbes
To reduce the risk of unintended ecological consequences from environmentally deployed, genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMS), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and ...
State Department: Reducing Revisionist State Biological and Chemical Weapons Threats
The Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (ISN/CTR) is funding cooperative agreements ...
Why Is a U.S. Biotech Making Synthetic Vaccinia Virus?
When the American biotech company Tonix Pharmaceuticals announced this January that it had successfully synthesized vaccinia, no one seemed to ...
Scientists Call for More Transparency from Federal Government on ‘Risky Pathogen’ Research
U.S. officials are weighing the benefits and risks of proposed experiments that might make a dangerous pathogen even worse — ...
DNA Synthesis Risk Reduction: New Report Outlines Framework for Global Safeguards
In 2019, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the World Economic Forum organized an international expert Working Group on Preventing Illicit ...
Is There a Role For the BWC in Oversight of Lab-Created Potential Pandemic Pathogens?
Research by Ron Fouchier in the Netherlands and Yoshihiro Kawaoka in Madison, Wisconsin marked the beginning of a "gain-of-function" research, ...
DNA Screening System Helps Companies Detect and Characterize Biosecurity Threats
The dual-use nature of emerging biotechnology necessitates biosecurity measures in industry, particularly for the gene synthesis sector which produces DNA ...
Happening This Week: ASM Biothreats
The American Society for Microbiology’s ASM Biothreats 2018 meeting is taking place February 12-14, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. ASM Biothreats ...
Arizona Biosecurity Workshop Forges International Collaboration
Biosecurity professionals from across the U.S. and Mexico gathered on Arizona State University's Tempe campus Dec. 7 and 8 to ...
Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of States Parties 2017
In accordance with the decision of the Eighth Review Conference (RevCon), the 2017 Meeting of States Parties of the Biological ...
DARPA Awards ‘Safe Genes’ Contract to Mass Gen
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a cooperative agreement to Massachusetts General Hospital for research and development ...
Regulatory Agencies Need Better Preparation for Next-Generation Biotechnologies
A profusion of biotechnology products is expected over the next five to 10 years, and the number and diversity of ...
NSABB Meeting to Review Dual Use Research of Concern Oversight, NIH Variola Incident
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) will convene this week on Nov. 4 in Bethesda, Maryland. The meeting ...
Nominations Sought for Synthetic Biology National Academies Committee
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is seeking nominations for a new consensus study being conducted at the ...
Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will assess the changing nature of the biodefense threat in the age of synthetic ...
Gain-of-Function Research Symposium Summary
Research involving pathogens provides insight into the fundamental nature of human-pathogen interactions, enables the assessment of the pandemic potential of ...
New Vaccine Technology from Flu Study Halted by Government
Vaccines to protect against an avian influenza pandemic as well as seasonal flu may be mass produced more quickly and ...
Disagreement Among Experts Over Bioweapons Threat
Amid continued difficulties around assessing “dual-use” research and bioweapons threats, especially given limited empirical data, some researchers took another route ...
BAA – Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD
The U.S. Department of Defense Naval Supply Systems Command has issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to support research in ...
