Research

The Federation of American Scientists has just released its latest tool to improve energy efficiency, sustainability, healthfulness, and safety in the affordable housing market.

In cooperation with six Habitat for Humanity affiliates from all over the U.S. and experts at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), FAS has created The High Performance Building Guide for Habitat for Humanity Affiliates.  Funded by the Building Technologies Program at the U.S. Department of Energy, the goal of this Guide is to provide Habitat’s construction partners (called affiliates) with the knowledge, resources, and basic background to make educated decisions about improving their building practices, materials and technology choices, and decision-making and planning processes.

Targeted to the needs of the Habitat for Humanity building community, this Guide features profiles and case studies of excellent Habitat affiliates, practical recommendations and steps for improving building practices and decisions, and guidance on obtaining the partners, education, and resources necessary to make the transition to higher performing housing.

Get the High Performance Building Guide on the FAS website here.

To learn more about the Guide and to read a synopsis of its contents, check out the new Earth Systems Program blog.

BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently awarded four contracts for the research and development of innovative platform technologies in medical countermeasure development.

BARDA was established within HHS to manage the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tools, for biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear agents, as well as for other public health emergencies, such as pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases. BARDA’s Strategic Science and Technology Division identifies and selectively funds research and technology that will improve the effectiveness and shorten the time and cost of medical countermeasure development. The innovative technologies awarded have all demonstrated success in late-stage clinical development for countermeasures against pandemic influenza and anthrax, two prevalent diseases of concern in public health and biosecurity.

Contracts were awarded to the following organizations to continue development: the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) in Seattle, VaxDesign Corp. in Orlando and Pfenex Inc. in San Diego. A collective total of $24.6 million is allotted for initial phases and up to $53.6 million over three years.

Our complete coverage of the Biotechnology Industry Organization(BIO)’s 2010 Biosecurity Conference, which occurred in Chicago on May 5-6th, can be found in the FAS Biosecurity Blog archives at: http://fas.org/blog/bio/tag/bio2010

Several recurring themes emerged in the presentations by the world’s experts in fields like public health, national security, food defense, biological weapons, and new advances in research.  Here is our analysis of some of the trends observed at the conference.

Tim Hortons @ BIO Canada (Credit: Allen Dodson)

The 2010 Biosecurity convention concluded with a round table discussion of the dual use risks associated with novel technologies, such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology.

Our complete coverage of the convention here at the FAS Biosecurity blog can be found at:
http://fas.org/blog/bio/tag/bio2010

In the interest of full disclosure, the Biosecurity blog acknowledges the free Tim Horton’s coffee shop, imported by the BIO Canada pavilion on the exhibition floor; this generous caffeinated support has been instrumental in ensuring the quality of our coverage of the convention.

Without further ado, the summary of the final panel follows:

Personnel reliability refers to programs intended to reduce the “insider threat”; the prospect that researchers who are permitted to work on hazardous biological agents might misuse that access.  This has been a major topic in biosecurity since the 2001 Anthrax attacks, which have been attributed to a researcher at Fort Detrick.  They were also the focus of a 2009 NSABB report, which did not recommend that a formal personnel reliability program be instituted for research.  This panel sought to evaluate whether these measures are sufficient.