International Biosecurity Project

The National Academies: Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

This is a micrograph of a blood smear containing Yersinia pestis plague bacteria. Note the characteristic bipolar, "safety-pin"-like appearance of the Y. pestis organisms. People usually get plague from being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium, or by handling an infected animal. Content provider: CDC/Dr. Jack Poland

This 2005 photograph of the CDC’s Dr. Terrence Tumpey, one of the organization’s staff microbiologists and a member of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), showed him examining reconstructed 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus inside a specimen vial containing an orange-colored supernatant culture medium. Content provider: CDC. Photo Credit: James Gathany

This picture is a photomicrograph of mild meningitis along with hemorrhage and the presence of Bacillus anthracis in a case of fatal human anthrax. Content provided: CDC/Dr. Marshal Fox

This is a picture of Brucella melitensis colonies. Content provider: CDC/ Courtesy of Larry Stauffer, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory

This is a photograph of Arnold Steigerwalt, a research chemist with the CDC’s Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch (MSPB) in the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), shown here as he was performing a DNA-DNA hybridization analysis in one of the CDC’s laboratories. Content provider: CDC/ Maryam I. Daneshvar, Ph.D. Photo Credit: James Gathany

This photomicrograph shows hepatitis caused by the Lassa virus, using toluidine-blue azure II stain. Content provider: CDC/Dr. W. Winn

The International Biosecurity Project
Development, Security and Cooperation

The International Biosecurity Project (IBP) works to promote implementation of the international recommendations of the National Academies report Biotechnology Research in an Age of Terrorism. A collaboration among several units at The National Academies, the project’s overarching goal is to develop and promote more effective international strategies to reduce the risk that advances in life sciences research could be misused. A key element involves working with international partners – other academies and international scientific organizations, as well as a wide range of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Selected activities included:

The Second International Forum on Biosecurity in March/April 2008.

In August 2007 the Biosecurity Working Group produced and distributed an informational paper, “Resources to promote regional and sub-regional cooperation on implementation of the BWC”, to inform the discussion for the 2007 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) meeting of experts.

Supporting a workshop co-sponsored by the Royal Society, ICSU, and the IAP in September 2006 on trends in life sciences research and technology relevant to the Biological Weapons Convention.

Participating in the IAP Biosecurity Working Group, which developed a statement of principles on biosecurity that was endorsed by the NAS and 69 other Academies and released in December 2005.

The First International Forum on Biosecurity in March 2005.

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