Recent News

By Region: North America

BU BioLab Triggers Community Concern

(BU Quad) According to the National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory's (NEIDL) website, there are four levels of increasing containment labeled Biosafety levels 1-4 (BSL-1 to BSL-4) within the facility. BSL-1 and BSL-2 labs are considered low-level …

October 18, 2011
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Tracking diseases from anthrax to cholera

(Science News) And some wondered whether the new cases could be linked to 1950s-era government biological weapons testing on the Scottish island of Gruinard. Comparing the strain found in the heroin users to the Arizona anthrax library revealed that it was very …

October 17, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, International, Public Health, and Research
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Lasers Could Quickly ID Bacterial Threats: Researcher

(GSN Daily News) A Canadian researcher said he has developed a system for using laser technology to quickly identify dangerous bacteria such as anthrax, Postmedia News reported on Thursday (see GSN, Feb. 14). “It’s just a completely different way of looking at how to identify bacteria,” said Steven Rehse, an assistant physics professor at the Read More »

October 17, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biotechnology, and Research
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NIH Supports Research on Multiuse Drugs For Biowarfare Agents

(GSN Daily News) The U.S. National Institutes of Health on Thursday said it had awarded millions of dollars in grant funding for four research projects aimed at developing medical countermeasures that could each be used against multiple potential biowarfare agents (see GSN, Sept. 8). The total worth of the four grants from the National Institute Read More »

October 17, 2011
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
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Despite Evidence of FBI Bungling, New Probe Into Anthrax Killings Unlikely

(ProPublica) Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said that it is unlikely that the Justice Department will reopen its investigation into the anthrax killings. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) A senior Republican senator says it would take a powerful grassroots movement or …