Centers for Disease Control

New H7 bird flu strain hikes risk of pandemic

John Carroll — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:16:40 -0400

A strain of bird flu has adapted to create a new version which increases the chances of a human pandemic, according to scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The adaptation was found in a strain of H7N2, which can now spread more easily among mammals. The change allowed the virus to thrive in the sugars of the human throat, a key flash point for researchers studying mutations that could lead to an epidemic.

Most of the research in the field has centered on the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain, which has yet to mutate into a virus that can be easily transmitted among humans. But H7 strains also have the potential to spark an epidemic.

"The finding underscores the necessity for continued surveillance and study of these viruses as they continue to resemble viruses with pandemic potential," said Dr Terrence Tumpey, a microbiologist with the CDC.

- read the article from The Times
- check out the report from The Telegraph

Burgeoning biotech demanding more lab space

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

A growing demand for new biotech and lab space is forcing up rents in the Washington DC area as vacancies decline. Rockville, MD-based Scheer Partners expects vacancies to drop from 8 percent this year to 5 percent next year and three percent the following year. As a result, rents are projected to shoot up from $27 to $36 per square foot. Developers say more speculative lab space is likely to come on the market soon.

"Before, there was a lag period between mature companies and companies still rising," Pete Briskman, a vice president of The Staubach Co., told the Washington Business Journal. "We're seeing that lag being filled now by mid-stage companies."

- read the report on the Washington Business Journal

Related Article:
CDC lab inspection process under scrutiny. Report

Concerns grow as biohazard research field booms

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

Before the 2001 anthrax attacks, the U.S. had only two biosafety level 4 (BSL4) labs, which conduct research involving the world's deadliest pathogens. Since then, however, spending in the area has increased tenfold, growing to $2 billion in 2006 at more than a dozen different facilities. And a new BSL4 lab is about to open in Boston. But the field has experienced some growing pains as new facilities open up. Once restricted to secure government facilities operating behind barbed wire, the work has spread to a host of locations.

Edward Hammond, who runs Project Sunshine, says that more than 200 research groups are studying anthrax alone. And as the money has flowed into the research field, there has been a spike in troubling incidents. Three mice infected with the plague escaped from a New Jersey lab, anthrax-causing bacteria was found on a freezer at a military lab, and research personnel have been bitten by animals infected with bird flu.

- check out the article from Newsweek

Related Article:
CDC lab inspection process under scrutiny. Report
Foot-and-mouth outbreak linked to research lab. Report

CDC lab inspection process under scrutiny

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Over the course of three years, inspectors from the CDC found a raft of problems at Texas A&M's biodefense laboratory. Lethal agents and infected animals weren't properly guarded, unauthorized employees had access to infectious diseases and security measures were deemed inadequate. What they didn't find was evidence that workers had been exposed to Brucella, with one employee home sick during the 2006 CDC inspection. No one at the university alerted them to it, either. Those problems were exposed by an activist group, the Sunshine Project, raising questions about the effectiveness of the CDC's inspection process for the 350 labs it inspects throughout the U.S.

- see the findings from the Sunshine Project
- read the report from The Dallas Morning News

Research lab blamed for foot-and-mouth outbreak

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK has been contained after a government report pinned the blame for the outbreak on leaky pipes at the Institute for Animal Health's Pirbright site. Officials had known for years that the drains under the lab were faulty, but they had never been fixed due to a dispute with the nearby Merial Animal Health lab over who was responsible for paying for the repairs. The virus probably leaked through the pipes and into the soil, and was then carried to the surface after the area was hit by heavy rains. Building contractors then unwittingly spread the virus to nearby farms, concludes the report. Merial has refused to accept any responsibility for the biosecurity breach and the issue is probably headed to court. Nevertheless, the scandal has focused a spotlight on security measures in the country's labs.

- see the final report on the findings

ALSO: The CDC won't lift an order for Texas A&M to suspend work at its biodefense lab until the university corrects several shortcomings. In the meantime, an activist group has unveiled new evidence of a researcher being accidentally infected and that a biodefense research building was flooded last February. Report

Related Article:
Foot-and-mouth outbreak linked to research lab. Report

ALSO NOTED: Researchers find mechanism in hemorrhagic fevers; Wine compound protects against stroke damage; Scientists decipher

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:01:38 -0400

More Research

In a discovery expected to lead to new drugs to treat hemorrhagic fevers, researchers at the CDC say they have found the mechanism by which Ebola and Marburg viruses cause disease. Report

Adding further evidence of the tonic qualities provided by moderate amounts of red wine, researchers have determined that one of the compounds in wine may help protect against the physical damage of a stroke. Report

Researchers from the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of an insulin-degrading enzyme, a promising target for new drugs because it breaks down not only insulin but also the amyloid-beta protein, which has been linked to Alzheimer's. Report

The Australian government is defending its record under a four-year-old law that restricts embryonic stem cell research to the surplus embryos from fertilization procedures. Report

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that intra-cellular trafficking is tightly coordinated for maximum flow through cellular compartments, much as vehicles on a crowded road are allowed to pass quickly through a succession of green traffic lights. Release

A study by a Montana State University researcher suggests a new avenue for developing a vaccine against genital herpes and other diseases caused by herpes simplex viruses. Release

A new study questions two-year-old recommendations by a government panel that outline specific low levels of LDL cholesterol. Report

After studying a group of blind people, a group of researchers have concluded that facial expressions have a genetic link. Release

The University of Liverpool, the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology are combining their cancer resources and facilities to enable international clinical trials of new cancer therapies. Release

Scientists from Japan and the U.S. have redefined the minimum number of genes needed to sustain life. They found a tiny bacterium, psyllids, that have 182 genes. Researchers had estimated the minimum at 300 before this new work lowered the bar. Humans have about 23,000 genes. Report

The cornea expresses a receptor that prevents factors that spur the development of vision-obstructing blood vessels, researchers led by the Medical College of Georgia and University of Kentucky say. Release

Neuroscientists at Duke University Medical Center have found that in Parkinson's cases critical nerve cells fire continuously, overwhelming the body's ability to control its movements. The research contradicts an earlier conclusion that the symptoms of Parkinson's related to a decreased number of firings in a section of the brain. Release

Researchers at Johns Hopkins grafted stem cells into rats' spinal columns and found that the process delayed the start of nerve cell damage associated with Lou Gehrig's disease. The animal study suggests stem cells could be used to replace cord and brain cells to treat motor neuron disease. Release

Scientists at The Forsyth Institute have found that Prozac, a drug used in the treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders, increases bone mass. Release

New HIV research shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS. The study employs a computer model of simultaneous virus and immune system evolution. It also suggests a new strategy for vaccinating against the virus--a strategy that the computer simulations suggest may prevent the final onset of AIDS. Release

Researchers have identified how the body's own immune system contributes to the nerve fiber damage caused by multiple sclerosis, a finding that can potentially aid earlier diagnosis and improved treatment for this chronic disease. The study reveals how immune system B-cells damage axons during MS attacks by inhibiting energy production in these nerve fiber cells, ultimately causing them to degenerate and die. Release

Clinicians at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have successfully demonstrated an improved technique for blood stem cell transplantations in children that shows promise for those most likely to fail standard treatment for leukemia. Release

Deals and Dollars

The NIH has chosen Georgia Tech to host a $10 million nanomedicine center. Georgis Tech is already building a $90 million nanomedicine center and has been funded for a nanocardiology lab. Report

Two Boston University biomedical engineers are among the researchers who have won grants from the National Institutes of Health to pursue their work in reducing the cost of sequencing individual human genomes to $1,000. Release

Darwin's Menzies School of Health Research has been awarded $4.6 million in funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Report

Janet V. Cross, assistant professor of pathology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and her colleague Dennis J. Templeton, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the UVa Department of Pathology, have received a $1.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study how specific nutrients in healthy vegetables like broccoli work to prevent cancer. Release

As part of the new Exposure Biology Program, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health, today announced $74 million in grant opportunities for the development of new technologies that will improve the measurement of environmental exposures that contribute to human disease. Release

The German Research Foundation has approved €175 million in research grants to 22 institutions. Release

Tools & Technology

Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have developed a new type of miniature endoscope that produces three-dimensional, high-definition images, which may greatly expand the application of minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Release

Cutting-edge computer technology designed for use in game consoles like the PlayStation 3 will power complex research software at The University of Manchester. Academics in several scientific and engineering fields will use IBM's latest powerful hardware to run a range of scientific and engineering programs. Release

Invitrogen has released ChargeSwitch-Pro Plasmid Miniprep kits. The kits apply ChargeSwitch Technology, the latest generation in nucleic acid purification chemistry, into the spin column format. Release

New research from Frost & Sullivan suggests that bioinformatics is poised for rapid growth over the next few years as developers rely on it to streamline the development process. Report

CDC posts virus sequences in campaign for access

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:01:39 -0400

In a move clearly designed to put pressure on Asian countries to release the sequences of lethal H5N1 viruses, the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. has posted some 650 flu virus sequences on a public database. That U.S. database included only the seasonal and animal viruses identified inside the U.S. The CDC wants Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China to follow suit with public postings of their own. Indonesia recently agreed to disseminate sequencing data. So far, the sequences are held by the World Health Organization, which in turn considers the data to belong to the countries. Some of the countries say they resent the fact that if they make the sequences available, the information can be used by private drug developers to create new vaccines that can then be sold to them. Individual researchers, meanwhile, have been accused of hoarding sequencing data until they can publish their own work on the different strains of H5N1 that have appeared.

- here's the article on bird flu from The New York Times

PLUS: A group of top flu experts have joined to call for the creation of a new database on bird flu that would promote research efforts everywhere. Article (WSJ sub. req.)

Avian flu: Research finds virus won't mutate easily

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Scientists at the CDC reported a project failure late last week that many researchers in the field were only too happy to see. They engineered genetic changes to see if they could make the deadly A-H5N1 virus more easily transmittable among people. It didn't work. That doesn't mean that the virus, which has claimed 134 lives, can't mutate into a virus that could trigger a human pandemic. But it does mean that a mutation probably won't happen easily.

Undertaking their work in a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory, the researchers set to work to determine if they could replicate a nightmare scenario in which someone with the human flu virus swaps genes with the avian flu virus and creates a lethal new disease that could wipe out millions of people. They created a hybrid virus with A-H3N2 and exposed ferrets--which are highly susceptible to human viruses--to the hybrid. That virus was not transmitted quickly among the animals. Scientists cautioned that while the research shows that any deadly mutations won't occur easily, many more hybrids need to be created in order to fully test the potential of a lethal mutation that could affect humans.

Catch up on avian flu issues:
- read this article in The New York Times