The threat of bioterrorism has created new challenges for medicine and public health. Our nation’s ability to detect and respond to acts of bioterror requires new and improved countermeasures, including diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies. The development of countermeasures is driven by biomedical research on disease-causing microbes and on the immune system response to these pathogens. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIAID support much of this research.

As the lead agency at NIH for infectious diseases and immunology research, NIAID has developed:
The NIAID Strategic Plan for Biodefense Research was published in 2002 and was followed by two research agendas, one for Category A agents and another for Category B and C priority pathogens. This early plan focused on the importance of basic research, as well as applying that basic research to developing products such as diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. It also highlighted specific scientific gaps associated with priority pathogens. The plan and agendas acknowledged the importance of working with partners in the private and public sectors and collaborating with other agencies and organizations to ensure that the fruits of basic research would be rapidly translated into products. The principles on which these documents were based continue to hold true.