February 21, 2017
Public Health & Healthcare Preparedness
REPORT
Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.  Often called "the voice of CDC," the MMWR  series is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations.  (CDC, 2/17/17)
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Strengthening Global Public Health Workforce Capacity in Partnership with Academia.  By promoting the pre-professional development of students, graduates and emerging health professionals, this FOA prepares a competent and experienced workforce through work experience gained through internship/fellowship programs.  (Grants.gov, 2/16/17)
 
BLOG
Cooperating, Communication, Coordination and Collaboration: Non-Profit and Faith-Based Organizations Work Together to Improve Disaster Health.  Partnerships among community, volunteer and faith-based organizations create strong new ties in a community that can deliver real value for building national health security.  (ASPR, 2/16/17)
 
NEWS
Emergent BioSolutions to Develop Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Therapeutics Under BARDA Contract.  Using monoclonal antibodies from Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., the company will conduct technology transfer of process materials and information, perform process and analytical method development, execute small-scale production runs, and perform cGMP cell banking leading to cGMP manufacture of bulk drug substance. (Global Biodefense, 2/16/17)
 
BLOG
Global Rapid Responders - Our Boots on the Ground Defense.  CDC's experience with the Ebola response highlighted the challenges of addressing global health emergencies. Given the number, scale, and intensity of current global health emergencies, CDC continues to build its capacity to respond quickly and sustainably to global health threats.  (CDC, 2/15/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
Experimental Malaria Vaccine Plus Chloroquine Protects Against Controlled Infection, Study Finds.  An experimental malaria vaccine strategy known as PfSPZ-CVac, together with antimalarial medication, protected all nine clinical trial volunteers given three high-dose vaccinations, according to study results published today in Nature.  (NIAID, 2/15/17)

See also: Sterile Protection Against Human Malaria by Chemoattenuated PfSPZ Vaccine (Nature, 2/15/17)

NEWS
US Healthcare Costs to Escalate Over Next Decade: Government Agency.  The cost of medical care in the United States is expected to grow at a faster clip over the next decade and overall health spending growth will outpace that of the gross domestic product,the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said on Wednesday.  (Reuters, 2/15/17) 

See also:  2016-2025 Projections of National Health Expenditures Data Released (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2/15/17)

RESEARCH
Outbreaks of Disease Associated with Food Imported into the United States, 1996-2014. CDC researchers i dentified a small but increasing number of foodborne disease outbreaks associated with imported foods, most commonly fish and produce. New outbreak investigation tools and federal regulatory authority are key to maintaining food safety.  (Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2/15/17)
 
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Building Capacity of the Public Health System to Improve Population Health through National, Nonprofit Organizations.  This supplemental funding opportunity permits awardees to strengthen the public health infrastructure and improve the performance of governmental and nongovernmental components of the public health system.  (Grants.gov, 2/15/17)
 

BLOG
Naval Research Lab Works to Put a Stop to Pandemic Disease. Scientists at the US Naval Research Laboratory are studying how to stop the spread of pandemic disease and infection. Using network science and numerous mathematical computations, the study observes how social behaviors can enhance or even reduce the transmission of disease in a population. (Armed with Science, 2/14/17)

 
BLOG
Behind the Clipboard: Adventures of a Lab Inspector.  Lab inspectors are tasked with keeping tabs on some of the nation's most critical research laboratories - those that are registered to handle many of the world's deadliest pathogens and poisons, like anthrax, plague, smallpox, and ricin.  (CDC, 2/13/17)
 
BLOG
Care and Prepare: Little Things Count.  Disasters and public health emergencies come in many varieties. They can occur anywhere and anytime. Yet, disaster preparedness can be one of those things that we just don't like to think about. We don't like to think about making a plan or building kit because we don't want to think about bad things affecting our families or communities.  (ASPR, 2/11/17)
 
NOTICE
Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act for Zika Virus Vaccines.  The Acting Secretary is issuing a Declaration pursuant to the Public Health Service Act to provide liability immunity protection for activities related to Zika Virus vaccines consistent with the terms of the Declaration.   (Federal Register, 2/10/17)
 
BLOG
Public Health and Business Team Up for Health Security: The Miami-Dade Business Recovery Program.  Realizing how critical community businesses can be during and after a disaster, experts at Florida International University, working closely with FEMA, began developing unique programs that help businesses prepare for and recover from disasters.  (ASPR, 2/10/17)
 
BLOG
Next-Generation Burn Care Products and Strategies Draw on Innovative Ideas.  Within ASPR, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) makes available vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for naturally emerging and intentional health threats, including those that cause thermal burns.  The novel products under development are being designed to find uses in routine clinical burn care and would also help in response to a mass casualty incident.  (ASPR, 2/6/17)
 
REPORT
Project BioShield and the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority: A Ten Year Progress Report on Meeting US Preparedness Objectives for Threat Agents.  Since its inception in 2006, BARDA has played a critical role in partnering with industry to advance candidates in development towards FDA approval and then procuring them for potential use in a public health emergency. A decade into its existence, we now reflect on how BARDA is improved the preparedness posture of the United States against CBRN threat agents.  (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2/4/17)
 
WEBINAR
Highly Infectious Disease Exercise Planning Tools.  The National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) and ASPR's Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (ASPR TRACIE) are partnering on a webinar featuring jurisdictions with first-hand experience developing special pathogen exercise materials and executing related exercises. The webinar will take place on March 7, 2017, 2-3 PM EST.  (Department of Health & Human Services, 2/17)
 
EVENT
Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) East Coast Proposers Day.  DARPA's Biological Technologies Office is hosting a Proposers Day meeting to provide information to potential applicants on the structure and objectives of the new Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program. P3 aims to develop an integrated, end-to-end platform that uses nucleic acid sequences to halt the spread of viral infections in 60 days or less. The event will take place on February 22, 2017, in McLean, VA.  (DARPA, 2/17)
 
Homeland Security & Disaster Preparedness
NEWS
SOCOM Will Soon Lead the Pentagon's Anti-WMD Efforts. Here's What It Still Needs.  The challenge will be to elevate nonproliferation, counter-proliferation, and consequence management synchronization activities for disparate risks - think Fukishima nuclear disaster, Ebola public health emergency, Syria chemical weapons destruction and loose nukes - in a single command that is already engaged with a global counterterrorism campaign.   (Defense One, 2/10/17)
 
PRESS RELEASE
USDA Reminds Individuals and Small Businesses in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming that USDA Offers Disaster Assistance Programs to Help.  The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds farmers and ranchers, families and small businesses that could potentially be affected by the recent storms that USDA has several programs that provide assistance before, during and after disasters.  (USDA, 2/10/17)

See also:  USDA Reminds Individuals and Small Businesses in Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi that USDA Offers Disaster Assistance Programs to Help (USDA, 2/8/17)

REPORT
Federal Disaster Assistance: FEMA's Progress in Aiding Individuals with Disabilities Could Be Further Enhanced.  This report assesses the extent to which FEMA and other entities provide disaster services to individuals with disabilities, individuals with limited English proficiency, and children in need of family reunification.  (GAO, 2/7/17)
 
Radiological & Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
GUIDANCE
Radiation Hazard Scale: A Tool for Communication in Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies. The Radiation Hazard Scale is intended to communicate relative hazards to populations under emergency conditions when exact radiation exposure parameters for specific individuals are not available .  (CDC, 2/7/17)
 
Science & Technology Policy
NEWS
Here's Why NASA is Sending a Superbug Into Space. I t's a development straight off the pages of a science fiction film script - on Saturday, NASA will fire a superbug up into the sky toward the International Space Station.  (STAT, 2/17/17)
 
NEWS
Broad Institute Prevails in Heated Dispute Over CRISPR Patents. The US patent office ruled on Wednesday that hotly disputed patents on the revolutionary genome-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 belong to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, dealing a blow to the University of California in its efforts to overturn those patents .  (STAT, 2/15/17)
 
NEWS
US Science Advisers Outline Path to Genetically Modified Babies.  Scientists should be permitted to modify human embryos destined for implantation in the womb to eliminate devastating genetic diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia or cystic fibrosis - once gene-editing techniques advance sufficiently for use in people and proper restrictions are in place. That's the conclusion of a 14 February report from the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.  (Nature, 2/14/17)

See also: Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance (National Academies, 2/17)

BLOG
FDA Drug Trials Snapshots and Diversity When Testing New Drugs.  Over the past two years, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) approved 67 novel drugs. So it's no surprise that in recent years, representation in clinical trials of certain subgroups, such as people of different ages, races, ethnic groups, and genders, has become of growing interest.  (FDA, 2/13/17)
 
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