Global Biodefense June 14, 2022 The NIH will hold a virtual stakeholder engagement meeting on the United States government’s policies for the oversight of life sciences dual use research of concern (DURC) on June 29, 2022. DURC provides knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security. USG Policy for Oversight aims to preserve the benefits of life sciences research while minimizing the risk that the knowledge, information, products, or technologies generated by […]
Tag Archives: NIH
NIH Awards $3M Grant to Albany Med for Plague Vaccine Development
Global Biodefense April 8, 2022 Under a five-year grant from NIAID researchers at Albany Medical College are working to develop a vaccine that could protect against plague. Bubonic plague is the most common naturally occurring form of the three main types of plague, which also include pneumonic plague and septicemic plague. In the U.S., plague is most common in rural areas of the southwest, particularly New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. It is treated with antibiotics. There is no vaccine currently available that provides long-term defense against it. While plague in humans is relatively rare, there strains that are resistant to […]
Licensing Opportunity: Virus-Like Particle Technology for Universal Flu Vaccine
Global Biodefense July 13, 2021 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a Technology Transfer opportunity available for a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology for influenza viruses, based on a mixture of VLPs expressing the hemagglutinin protein or the neuraminidase protein from influenza virus strains belonging to different virus subtypes. The technology has demonstrated broad protection against lethal challenge in mice with various influenza virus strains and virus subtypes. Results from ferret and mouse studies demonstrate broad heterosubtypic protection against various influenza virus subtypes, further supporting and strengthening the proposed application of this technology as a universal influenza virus vaccine…read […]
Foreign Interference in NIH Research: Policy Implications
Global Biodefense January 12, 2020 An NIH investigation, conducted in partnership with FBI uncovered numerous potential violations of laws and policies (some confirmed, others subject to ongoing investigation), including: Scientists involved in the NIH peer review process sharing details of research proposals with foreign entities; Failure of scientists to disclose foreign ties or funding from foreign governments; and Research fraud, involving scientists signing employment contracts and earning salary from both U.S. and foreign institutions for concurrent positions. The focus of current concern was China—but this issue is not unique to China. NIH highlighted the Thousand Talents recruitment program, which encourages […]