biosecurity

Overbearing restrictions on research into toxins and pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 could undermine public health and security in the long run.

After a scientist at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg had a mental breakdown that may have contributed to her death in 2016, employees raise red flags about an unhealthy work environment.

The agency cites lapses in biosafety procedures at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland.

Agencies such as the NIH reward the discovery of vulnerabilities in their computer systems—before criminals can exploit them.

A security researcher found the email addresses and encrypted passwords of more than 92 million users of the genealogy site on a private server outside the company.

A Northwestern University plague researcher has been charged with a brutal murder. Here’s what we know about him.

A review of a 2014 incident in which mystery vials of smallpox were found at the NIH reveals security weaknesses, but also concludes the response was appropriate. 

As the world inches closer to polio eradication, laboratories studying the virus will have to bolster biosafety standards. Eventually, most will need to stop working with the pathogen entirely.

Federal officials suspend research on certain pathogens at Tulane University following the escape of potentially dangerous bacteria from a high-security lab.

In the wake of numerous biosafety breaches, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks to hire a chief of laboratory safety.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab mistakenly transferred the wrong Ebola samples—ones that may have contained live virus—to another agency lab.

The US government releases its policy on so-called dual-use research involving dangerous pathogens that could be used for biological terrorist attacks.

A high-security tuberculosis lab at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may return to transferring hazardous materials.

The former head of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention biosecurity lab has left his post amidst safety retooling at government labs.

After a string of incidents leading to lab closures and a moratorium on the transfer of select agents, US labs are reassessing safety threats within their own walls.

Some gain-of-function influenza research poses a significant public health threat and should be banned.

Researchers develop a new “molecular biocontainment” strategy for safely studying deadly flu viruses.

The US government has come out with new rules for life science research deemed risky.