ASM Biothreats 2017

GMU Biodefense sent four graduate students to give you a “boots-on-the-ground” viewpoint for the 2017 ASM Biothreats conference. In our special edition post we have a full range of coverage for this three-day conference on biological threats and safety.

Zach Goble is looking at international collaboration against biological threats and the importance of recognizing foreign organizations for their help in aiding research endeavors. Next, he looks to the symposium on national bioterrorism emergency response. Pointing to the work done by different states and the proposed model by David Ladd, he emphasizes that these are definite steps in the right direction, but will need continued work.

Greg Mercer reviews the panel session “Predicting Emergence by Understanding the Past: Methods that Move Us Towards Predictive Biology“. In his overview of this panel on efforts to get ahead of the evolutionary curve, Greg discusses each speaker and their contributions to the field, as well as where they think the future will take us.

Stephen B. Taylor covers Dr. Fauci’s talk on pandemic preparedness and his experience throughout the years. In this overview, Dr. Fauci points to the unique challenges that followed each health crisis and how certain administrations responded. Stephen also takes us through the melioidosis panel regarding this neglected tropical disease. He notes the high cost of treatment and the inability for most endemic countries to support response and prevention efforts.

HyunJung (Henry) Kim– takes us on a journey through the FDA Animal Rule and its path to success. Henry uses this plenary sessions to discuss the PEP, PrEP, and Passive Transfer aspects of animal modeling.