This week is another mixed bagged, covering updates on several different topics, including the recently acknowledged Enzo Biochem ransomware attack. Several recent publications, write-ups of recent events, and multiple upcoming events are also covered.
Stimson Center Releases The Nonproliferation Cheminformatics Compliance Tool (NCCT) Proof-of-Concept
The Stemson Center recently released this complete proof of concept for a low-cost and accessible tool for front-line customs officers to identify controlled chemicals. The Center explained in this recent post “Frontline officers for border security and trade controls must quickly determine whether chemicals declared for export can be utilized as a chemical warfare agent or precursor. A proposed web-based Nonproliferation Compliance Cheminformatics Tool (NCCT) would digitize and automate this complex and time-consuming task and address vulnerabilities to the CW nonproliferation regime caused by manual cross referencing of chemical export declarations with lists of chemicals of proliferation concern.”
Dr. Gregory Koblentz, Director of George Mason’s Biodefense Graduate Program, serves as a consultant on the project. Learn more about it here.
DHS Completes Construction, Commissioning of National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility
From DHS: “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has completed the construction and commissioning of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. NBAF is the first U.S. laboratory with biosafety level-4 containment, capable of housing large livestock animals; and one of only a few facilities in the world with these capabilities. With contract administration support from DHS’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) managed and completed the project under the $1.25 billion budget for the construction and commissioning effort, which spanned 17 years from initial planning to completion.”
“DHS is preparing to formally transfer ownership of the NBAF site to USDA in the coming weeks as the final step of a unique phased transition of operations that began in April 2021. Full mission transfer from the PIADC to NBAF is projected to take a couple of years…While the completion of construction and commissioning ends DHS’s responsibility for NBAF, DHS and USDA will maintain a strategic partnership by utilizing this national security asset to successfully execute their joint mission to protect the nation’s food supply, agriculture economy, and public health.”
Read more about this facility here.
Proliferation Security Initiative Celebrates 20th Anniversary
The US State Department’s Proliferation Security Initiative is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. “Launched on May 31, 2003, the Proliferation Security Initiative is an enduring global effort that aims to stop trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. PSI is a key part of the foundation of the global WMD nonproliferation regime and has maintained strong support as a Presidential priority in each of the U.S. Administrations since its inception.”
ShareAmerica wrote in a recent post, ‘“It’s very important we work together to make sure that the proliferators out there have no safe harbor,” Thomas Zarzecki, director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counterproliferation Initiatives, told ShareAmerica.”
The same post explained that “On May 30, the Republic of Korea will host the fourth High-Level Political Meeting of nations that have joined the PSI by endorsing its Statement of Interdiction Principles. Countries that endorse the PSI commit to:
- Interdict WMD transfers consistent with their capabilities and national and international authorities.
- Develop procedures for quickly sharing information with other countries.
- Strengthen laws and policies to combat WMD proliferation.”
2.5 Million Patient’s Data Exposed in Enzo Biochem Ransomware Attack
New York-based biotech company Enzo Biochem announced this week it experienced a ransomware attack that exposed the information from clinical tests of nearly 2.5 million patients. Yahoo News reports that “Enzo, which manufactures and sells DNA-based tests to detect viral and bacterial diseases, including COVID-19 and cancer, confirmed in an SEC filing this week that it experienced a ransomware attack on April 6. While it was able to remain operational by disconnecting its systems from the internet, Enzo said it discovered on April 11 that hackers were able to access and exfiltrate sensitive data from the company’s systems…This includes clinical test information of 2,470,000 individuals and approximately 600,000 Social Security numbers, according to Enzo. The company added that it continues to investigate whether its employees’ information may have also been accessed.”
“Enzo Biochem is the latest in a long line of medical companies to experience a breach of sensitive data in recent months. PharMerica, one of the largest pharmacy service providers in the United States, confirmed in May that hackers had stolen the personal data of 5.8 million current and deceased individuals, including Social Security numbers and medication and health insurance information.”
“Field Research Is Essential to Counter Virological Threats”
In this article in the Journal of Virology, Runstadler et al. argue “The interface between humans and wildlife is changing and, with it, the potential for pathogen introduction into humans has increased. Avian influenza is a prominent example, with an ongoing outbreak showing the unprecedented expansion of both geographic and host ranges. Research in the field is essential to understand this and other zoonotic threats. Only by monitoring dynamic viral populations and defining their biology in situ can we gather the information needed to ensure effective pandemic preparation.”
“Why the World Needs More Transparency on the Origins of Novel Pathogens”
Dr. Marietjie Venter discusses this issue in a commentary piece for Nature. She writes in part “Understanding the origins of novel pathogens that could result in major outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics is essential to prepare for the next emerging disease. In recognition of this, the WHO established the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) in 2021. The 27 members of our group, from 27 countries, include specialists in epidemiology, virology, human and animal infectious diseases, ecology, genomics, and biosafety and biosecurity…The effectiveness of our ongoing efforts to guide investigations into the origins of high-risk pathogens, however, depends on robust science following key principles of outbreak investigation, as well as collaboration, transparency and trust among all stakeholders. To minimize the risk of further disruptive outbreaks, and their associated mortality and burdens on health and economics, various groups must come together — including scientists, public-health officials, governments and global health agencies.”
“Dangerous Lab Leaks Happen Far More Often Than the Public is Aware”
Allison Young, author of the recently released book, Pandora’s Gamble, recently published this opinion piece with The Guardian. In her introduction she writes, “At biological research facilities across the United States and around the world, hundreds of safety breaches happen every year at labs experimenting with dangerous pathogens. Scientists and other lab workers are bitten by infected animals, stuck by contaminated needles and splashed with infectious fluids. They are put at risk of exposures when their protective gear malfunctions or critical building biosafety systems fail.”
“And, like all humans, the people working in laboratories make mistakes and they sometimes cut corners or ignore safety procedures – even when working with pathogens that have the potential to cause a global pandemic.”
“Yet the public rarely learns about these incidents, which tend to be shrouded in secrecy by labs and the government officials whose agencies often both fund and oversee the research. My new book, Pandora’s Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk, reveals how these and other kinds of lab accidents have happened with alarming frequency and how the lack of stringent, mandatory and transparent biosafety oversight and incident reporting is putting all of us at risk.”
“Preparing for Pandemic Preparedness Legislation”
The Institute for Progress submitted a letter to the Senate HELP Committee in late March, offering nine recommendations for improving US biosecurity. The letter’s introduction explains “Over the past few years it has become increasingly clear that strong and agile preparedness and response capabilities for biological threats are crucial for the safety and security of our nation. In response to this pressing need, the reauthorization of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) presents a timely opportunity to reassess and fortify our national biosecurity apparatus. The evolving nature of biological threats, which now encompass not only known pathogens but also unknown, accidental, engineered, and natural hazards, necessitates a comprehensive and flexible approach to preparedness and response.”
“To address these challenges, we have identified nine core recommendations aimed at enhancing the United States’ ability to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. These recommendations focus on broadening the scope of key agencies and initiatives, such as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), as well as increasing transparency in the decision-making processes of the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE). In the face of an ever-changing biothreat landscape, these recommendations seek to ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of pandemic preparedness and innovation.”
“Ignoring Red Lines: Violence Against Health Care in Conflict 2022”
Safeguarding Health in Conflict recently released this report discussing the more than 1,900 documented cases of violence against health care in war or situations of political unrest that occurred in 2022. More than 1,000 of these occurred in Ukraine according to the WHO. The report summary explains “In 2022, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) documented 1,989 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in conflicts across 32 countries and territories. Incidents increased by 45% in 2022 compared to 2021 and marked the highest annual number of incidents that the SHCC has recorded since it began tracking such violence. Violent acts included the deliberate targeting of health facilities with explosive weapons; the burning down and looting of clinics and hospitals; the indiscriminate shelling and bombing of areas where health facilities were located; arrests and kidnapping of and threats against health workers; and the deliberate obstructing of patients’ access to health care. This alarming upsurge occurred at a time when tens of millions of people in conflict-affected countries and territories already suffered war, displacement, and staggering deprivation of food and other basic needs.”
“Paranoia and Poison — the Kremlin Panics Over Exiles”
Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan discuss Russia’s targeting of exiles in this piece for CEPA. They explain, “Many Russian political activists, opposition politicians, and journalists in exile are well aware that they are the targets of Putin’s security services. Some emigrants have noticed in recent months that they are being openly followed. The exile network has also become aware of several attempts at penetration by FSB agents sent to infiltrate Russian groups.”
“The reason for that is quite clear — despite multiple mistakes and faux pas throughout 2022 and 2023, Russian political emigration has established itself as an agile and resourceful community. It draws on the millions of Russians who left the country even before the all-out invasion of Ukraine, and has been replenished by the multiple hundreds of thousands or perhaps 1 million who have left since. They are not all political dissidents, but the sheer size of the Russian diaspora is enormous.”
“Long Shot Research Won’t Fix What Ails US Health Care”
John Alic discusses challenges the newly-formed ARPA-H faces in this piece for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He explains in part “In recent decades, attempts to mimic DARPA’s approach have arisen in intelligence (the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity), energy (ARPA-E, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), and now health. Congress gave the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) an initial $1 billion appropriation for fiscal 2022 and in September of that year President Joe Biden appointed the agency’s first director. Congress followed up with $1.5 billion for 2023 and ARPA-H is seeking $2.5 billion for 2024. This is over half of DARPA’s 2024 request and nearly four times that of ARPA-E, both of which are established agencies, while ARPA-H is still in the start-up and planning stages. The size of ARPA-H appropriations underscores the high expectations of Congress and the White House.”
“ARPA-H will find itself in a very different institutional setting than its forbearer DARPA. In the case of latter, its goal is to develop new technologies for incorporation in fielded military systems. In the case of ARPA-H, however, it sits attached to a massive research agency that is removed from the actual business of delivering health care.”
“Big Hairy Armadillos and COVID: A Warning from the Animal Kingdom About Our Pandemic Future”
Dr. Georgios Pappas discusses viral circulation among animals in this piece for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He writes in part, “All these cases outline how humanity fails to view the whole picture: that the pandemic is an environment-wide event that affects vastly different ecosystems. Presumably zoonotic in origin, SARS-CoV-2 keeps spilling over back outside the human population, finding viral reservoirs or cryptic viral mutational niches. And these new variants emerging in animal species, after they were initially infected by humans, may then go on to infect humans. After all, one of the theories about the origin of the omicron variant, was that it emerged from mice, or other rodents: Human sources (possibly wastewater for example), served as the origin of the animal infection. Although this theory may not be the probable explanation—among other hypotheses, one is that omicron could also have emerged in a chronically infected person—one gets the point: Humans, potentially to their detriment, simply are not aware about the viral circulation, apart from the one among themselves.”
ICYMI
Event Summary: Reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act
From CSR: “On May 12th, the Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) hosted an event with former leaders from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) on reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA). The event held in the Rayburn House Office Building gave Congressional staffers the unique opportunity to hear the experienced perspectives brought to the discussion by Dr. Craig Vanderwagen, Dr. Robert Kadlec, Dr. Gerald W. Parker Jr., and Dr. Kevin Yeskey. Panelists discussed opportunities for the nation to enhance preparedness for and prevention of biological events, especially in light of evolving threats the world faces.”
Soft Launch Of The Biological Weapons Convention National Implementation Measures Database
“The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) National Implementation Measures Database is a searchable, publicly accessible database containing information about the national implementation measures undertaken by BWC States Parties. The database is designed to strengthen the implementation of the BWC, allowing States Parties, Signatories, and other stakeholders to better understand different approaches to national implementation from around the world and identify possible gaps and limitations in BWC implementation.”
“As part of the development of the database, UNIDIR’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures Programme organised an online event to introduce the tool and showcase its structure and functions.”
“A recording of the event is available on UNIDIR’s YouTube Channel or below.“
NEW: Intelligent Immunity – Drawing from Innate Immune Mechanisms to Design Pathogen-agnostic Diagnostics for Emerging Threats
From PNNL: “Join us as we welcome Harshini Mukundan, program manager for the chemical and biological technologies at the Office of National Homeland Security (OHNS), and scientist in the biosciences area. Her talk, titled “Intelligent Immunity – Drawing from Innate Immune Mechanisms to Design Pathogen-agnostic Diagnostics for Emerging Threats” will be Thursday, June 15, at noon PT.“
“The human innate immune system is a classic example of a pathogen agnostic diagnostic and therapeutic system. Mimicking innate immunity in the laboratory can allow for the universal identification of emerging threats, increasing our preparedness against future pandemics and biowarfare events. We have been working on understanding core principles guiding host-pathogen interactions and adapting them to design tailored assays for the direct detection of pathogen signatures in complex clinical samples. A snapshot of design to deployment of this approach – including preliminary clinical studies in blinded cohorts will be presented. Finally, we will touch on current work intended to expand the scale of this understanding in order to achieve a machine learning model of innate immunity that is truly agnostic.”
Register here.
Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance with Vaccine Innovation: Obstacles & Insights
“The discovery of antibiotics was one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in the 20th century and has since become a key part of modern medicine. However, with the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, officials have cited the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a major public health concern. According to recent studies, resistant bacterial infections cause almost 5 million deaths a year, with over 1.2 million deaths being correlated to AMR”
“To address AMR, the biotech industry needs to put more focus on vaccine innovation. Vaccines have the potential to not only prevent infection, but also to reduce the need for antibiotics; a key driver of AMR. Out of the top bacterial pathogens that are most responsible for AMR related deaths, there is only one – pneumococcal disease – that has vaccines available.”
“What are some of the challenges being faced in vaccine innovation and development? How can the biotech industry come together to bring innovative AMR-relevant vaccines to the market?”
This event will be moderated by Dr. Jomana Musmar, a Biodefense PhD Program alumna and a senior advisor and DFO and the US Department of Health and Human Services. It will take place on June 7 at 1:45 pm. Learn more and register here.
CSWMD 2023 Annual Symposium: WMD in the Decisive Decade
“The National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD) invites you to join us on 14 June 2023 for the virtual Annual CSWMD Symposium, titled WMD in the Decisive Decade.”
“This year’s symposium will explore the cognitive impacts WMD has on strategic decision making and the challenges associated with operating in an environment where WMD has been employed. It will be an opportunity for the WMD community to engage with officials and thought leaders on current WMD challenges at the unclassified level, including keynote addresses by Richard Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and CWMD Policy and Rebecca Hersman, Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.”
“For more information and to register for this event click here. Please RSVP by 9 JUNE 2023.”
“We look forward to hosting you for the event. For more information about the WMD Center and reference our research, please visit our website at https://wmdcenter.ndu.edu/ and follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.”
Biorisks, Biosecurity And Biological Disarmament Conference
“Advances in science and technology are taking place at an unprecedented rate, making vital contributions to addressing major societal challenges. Yet, transformative developments in a wide range of fields can also pose risks to society. As such, it has become more important than ever to monitor opportunities and risks posed by advances in science and technology for the biosecurity regime. This cannot be done by any one actor alone, rather it will require collaborative efforts by states and stakeholders from civil society, academia and industry, along with other actors.”
“In order to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement around biological security and biological disarmament, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are co-organizing a stakeholder conference designed to bring together actors from civil society, academia and industry, along with diplomats, to stimulate the exchange of ideas and thinking around how to build biosecurity and bolster biological disarmament. The event will provide an opportunity to discuss ongoing diplomatic processes and current and upcoming issues in the areas of biorisk, biosecurity and biological disarmament.”
This hybrid event will take place July 4-5. Learn more and register here.
Gordon Research Conference: Cross-Cutting Science Facilitating Collaboration Across the Threat-Science Research Community
“The Nonproliferation, Counterproliferation and Disarmament Science GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes a diverse range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.”
This conference will take place July 9-14 in Ventura, CA. Learn more and register here.
UNODA Announces Youth for Biosecurity Fellows
From UNODA: “We are excited to announce the 2023 cohort of the Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship!”
“The 20 fellows portrayed below were selected through a competitive process after more than 800 applications from over 80 countries were received. We are grateful to the 2023 Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship Jury Panel for supporting the selection process. The Jury Panel was composed of eight experienced young professionals in biosecurity policy.”
“The Fellowship will take the 20 talented early-career scientists listed below, who represent 17 countries from the Global South, through a three-month learning journey featuring an online Biosecurity Diplomacy Workshop followed by an in-person visit to Geneva during the meeting of the BWC Working Group on the Strengthening of the Convention in August 2023.”
“Through this programme, UNODA expects to create space for dialogue between young scientists and BWC practitioners. UNODA aims at providing fellows with the knowledge, skills, and network to advance the next generation aspirations for global biosecurity in the margins of BWC official meetings.”
Read more and learn about each of the fellows here.
Weekly Trivia Question
You read the Pandora Report every week and now it’s time for you to show off what you know! The first person to send the correct answer to biodefense@gmu.edu will get a shout out in the following issue (first name last initial). Our question this week is: In what year did routine smallpox vaccination end for the US public?
Our question last week was “In 1968, the so-called “Hong Kong flu” killed an estimated one million people globally. What strain of Influenza A caused this pandemic?” The answer is H3N2.
The Pandora Report 