Pandora Report: 6.28.2019

Summer Workshop – Early Registration Discount Ends Soon
Just a few more days to get your early registration discount and we’ve only got a few spots left – make sure to grab yours! We’re excited to have top professionals and researchers in the health security field speak to the biological threats we’re facing- from securing the bioeconomy to vaccine development and pandemic preparedness, you’ll want to be there for the 3.5 days of all things pandemics, bioterrorism, and global health security.

Re-thinking Biological Arms Control for the 21st Century
Dr. Filippa Lentzos discusses the challenges of biological arms control in the face of synthetic biology and technological advances. “Innovations in biotechnology are expanding the toolbox to modify genes and organisms at a stagger- ing pace, making it easier to produce increasingly dangerous pathogens. Disease-causing organisms can now be modified to increase their virulence, expand their host range, increase their transmissibility, or enhance their resistance to therapeutic interventions. Scientific advances are also making it theoretically possible to create entirely novel biological weapons, by synthetically creating known or extinct pathogens or entirely new pathogens. Scientists could potentially enlarge the target of bioweapons from the immune system to the nervous system, genome, or microbiome, or they could weaponize ‘gene drives’ that would rapidly and cheaply spread harmful genes through animal and plant populations.” Lentos notes that “The political backdrop to these technical advances in biotechnologies and other emerging technologies is also important. There is increased worldwide militarization, with global military spending at an all-time high since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unrestrained military procurement and modernization is creating distrust and ex- acerbating tensions. In the biological field, the proliferation of increasingly sophisticated biodefense capacities, within and among states, can lead to nations doubting one another’s intentions.”

GAO – Biodefense: The Nation Faces Long-Standing Challenges Related to Defending Against Biological Threats
The GAO testified before a House committee on their efforts to identify and strengthen U.S. biodefense and here are their overall findings in a report. Despite President Trump signing off on the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovations Act (PAHPA) on Monday, there is still a lot of work to be done. “Catastrophic biological events have the potential to cause loss of life, and sustained damage to the economy, societal stability, and global security. The biodefense enterprise is the whole combination of systems at every level of government and the private sector that contribute to protecting the nation and its citizens from potentially catastrophic effects of a biological event. Since 2009, GAO has identified cross-cutting issues in federal leadership, coordination, and collaboration that arise from working across the complex interagency, intergovernmental, and intersectoral biodefense enterprise. In 2011, GAO reported that there was no broad, integrated national strategy that encompassed all stakeholders with biodefense responsibilities and called for the development of a national biodefense strategy. In September 2018, the White House released a National Biodefense Strategy. This statement discusses GAO reports issued from December 2009 through March 2019 on various biological threats and biodefense efforts, and selected updates to BioWatch recommendations made in 2015. To conduct prior work, GAO reviewed biodefense reports, relevant presidential directives, laws, regulations, policies, strategic plans; surveyed states; and interviewed federal, state, and industry officials, among others.” GAO identified several challenges in the ability for the U.S. to defend against biological threats: “Assessing enterprise-wide threats. In October 2017, GAO found there was no existing mechanism across the federal government that could leverage threat awareness information to direct resources and set budgetary priorities across all agencies for biodefense. GAO said at the time that the pending biodefense strategy may address this. Situational awareness and data integration. GAO reported in 2009 and 2015 that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC)—created to integrate data across the federal government to enhance detection and situational awareness of biological events—has suffered from longstanding challenges related to its clarity of purpose and collaboration with other agencies. DHS implemented GAO’s 2009 recommendation to develop a strategy, but in 2015 GAO found NBIC continued to face challenges, such as limited partner participation in the center’s activities. Biodetection technologies. DHS has faced challenges in clearly justifying the need for and establishing the capabilities of the BioWatch program—a system designed to detect an aerosolized biological terrorist attack. In October 2015, GAO recommended that DHS not pursue upgrades until it takes steps to establish BioWatch’s technical capabilites. While DHS agreed and described a series of tests to establish capabilities, it continued to pursue upgrades. Biological laboratory safety and security. Since 2008, GAO has identified challenges and areas for improvement related to the safety, security, and oversight of high-containment laboratories, which, among other things, conduct research on hazardous pathogens—such as the Ebola virus. GAO recommended that agencies take actions to avoid safety and security lapses at laboratories, such as better assessing risks, coordinating inspections, and reporting inspection results. Many recommendations have been addressed, but others remain open, such as finalizing guidance on documenting the shipment of dangerous biological material.”

ABSA 1st International Biosecurity Symposium Call for Papers
“You are now able to submit papers for ABSA’s 1st International Biosecurity Symposium. The symposium will take place May 12-15, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We anticipate having attendees from all over the world and approximately 20 commercial exhibits. The professional development courses will take place Tuesday, May 12, 2020. The symposium presentations (platform/poster) will take place Wednesday, May 13 to Friday, May 15, 2020. The Call for Platform/Posters Abstract submission deadline is July 31, 2019 at 5pm Central.”

Blue Ribbon Panel – U.S. Is Not Prepared for Biological Incidents – Testimony
June 26th- “Dr. Asha George, Executive Director of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, served as an expert witness this afternoon before the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security. Chaired by Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA), the Subcommittee is evaluating the readiness of the U.S. government and healthcare system, including hospital and emergency professionals, to respond to naturally occurring pandemics and biological attacks that could be perpetrated by state and non-state actors. The Subcommittee also is investigating the growing threat of antimicrobial-resistance, as well as the implications of this challenge for U.S. national security. ‘Our Panel has assessed and continues to assess the state of our country’s biodefense. We scrutinize the status of prevention, deterrence, preparedness, detection, response, attribution, recovery, and mitigation – the spectrum of activities necessary for biodefense,’ said Dr. George. ‘As expected, we found both strengths and weaknesses, including serious gaps that four years after the release of our Panel’s Blueprint for Biodefense in 2015 continue to make the nation vulnerable. In short, the nation is not prepared for biological outbreaks, bioterrorist attacks, biological warfare, or accidental releases with catastrophic consequences’.” This is especially relevant as many are wondering what Congress is doing to respond to health security threats.

Ebola Outbreak – Updates
As of Wednesday, the outbreak has reached 2,277 cases and security threats are increasingly making response efforts challenging. “In its weekly situation report on the outbreak, the WHO said Ebola activity continues with steady and sustained intensity, with security incidents returning to Beni—one of the outbreak’s former major hot spots—and armed group movements in Musienene and Manguredjipa impeding access to a health area next to Mabalako’s hardest-hit area. Another concern it aired is a tense security situation in neighboring Ituri province cities Bunia and Komanda in the wake of attacks in early June. Over the past few weeks, indicators show hints of easing transmission intensity in the two biggest recent epicenters, Katwa and Butembo. However, the optimism is offset by new cases in previously affected areas, including Komanda, Lubero, and Rwampara. For example, over the past week, Komanda reported its first case after going 11 days without one.”

A Dose of Inner Strength to Survive and Recover from Potentially Lethal Health Threats
“Breakthroughs in the science of programmable gene expression inspired DARPA to establish the PReemptive Expression of Protective Alleles and Response Elements (PREPARE) program with the goal of delivering powerful new defenses against public health and national security threats. DARPA has now selected five teams to develop a range of new medical interventions that temporarily and reversibly modulate the expression of protective genes to guard against acute threats from influenza and ionizing radiation, which could be encountered naturally, occupationally, or through a national security event. The program builds from the understanding that the human body has innate defenses against many types of health threats, but that the body does not always activate these defenses quickly or robustly enough to block the worst damage. To augment existing physiological responses, PREPARE technologies would provide a programmable capability to up- or down-regulate gene expression on demand, providing timely, scalable defenses that are proportional to anticipated threats. Service members and first responders could administer these interventions prior to threat exposure or therapeutically after exposure to mitigate the risk of harm or death.”

Global Community Bio Summit 3.0
From October 11-13, you can attend this community biotechnology initiative at MIT Media Lab. “The Community Biotechnology Initiative at the MIT Media Lab is organizing the third annual Global Summit on Community Biotechnology this October 11 to 13, 2019! Our goal is to provide a space for the global community of DIY biologists / community biologists / biohackers / biomakers and members of independent and community laboratories to convene, plan, build fellowship, and continue the evolution of our movement. You can learn more about last year’s Summit, including our program, here. While all are welcome, space is limited, so we are prioritizing active practitioners in the community with an emphasis on diversity across geographic, cultural, ethnic, gender, and creative backgrounds. We will add accepted participants to the directory on a rolling basis with the goal of accepting everyone interested in joining.”

Stories You May Have Missed:

• Tackling Dirty Sinks – Did you ever think your hospital sink could be a disease reservoir? “Earlier this year, there were studies that identified sink proximity to toilets as a risk factor for contamination. Bugs like Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing organisms tend to be prolific in moist environments and are often pervasive in intensive care unit sinks and drains. Researchers found that sinks near toilets were 4-times more likely to host the organisms than those further from toilets. More and more, infection prevention is having to look at hospital faucets and sinks for their role in hosting microbial growth. This was also a topic of interest at last week’s annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC 2019). Investigators with the University of Michigan Health System discussed how they worked to identify vulnerabilities and potential sink designs that might contribute to bioburden and biofilm in hospital faucets. Assessing 8 different designs across 4 intensive care units, the research team ultimately found that those sinks with a more shallow depth tended to allow higher rates of contamination (ie, splash of dirty water) onto equipment, surfaces, and patient care areas. In some instances, the splash of contaminated water could be found up to 4 feet from the sink.”