Official website of the Department of Homeland Security
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is harnessing the knowledge of its experts to help in response to COVID-19. It has focused its efforts on laboratory research and providing valuable resources to inform the broader response community and help keep front line responders safe.
As the president’s September 2018 National Biodefense Strategy states, “Health security means taking care of the American people in the face of biological threats to our homeland and to our interests abroad.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen released a statement in support of President Trump’s National Biodefense Strategy.
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced the grand prize winner of its $300,000 Hidden Signal Challenge.
Issued by DHS S&T, and in collaboration with the Office of Health Affairs National Biosurveillance Integration Center, the challenge called for the design of an early warning system that uses existing data to uncover emerging biothreats.
S&T recently launched the Hidden Signals Challenge, a prize competition calling upon data innovators to develop concepts for novel uses of existing data that will identify signals and achieve timelier alerts for biothreats in our cities and communities.
In October, S&T launched the Hidden Signals Challenge, a prize competition calling upon data innovators— from data science, to civic tech, to epidemiology— to develop concepts for novel uses of existing data that would identify signals and achieve timelier alerts for biothreats in our cities and communities.
This Directive and the accompanying Instruction establish the authorities,responsibilities, requirements, and procedures for Biosafety in all activities conducted or sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (OHS). This Directive adopts the principles of the current edition of the U.S. Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories and its recommendations for standards, practices, equipment, and facilities for biological laboratory activities, as well as the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules (NIH Guidelines) and other related guidance listed in Part Ill.
DHS S&T recently filed five patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and provided the funding for research performed by collaborating federal scientists to file five additional patent applications to provide powerful new tools to combat Foreign Animal Diseases (FADs), specifically Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and African Swine Fever.
In the summer of 2014, lapses in biosafety practices in Federal laboratories served as a reminder of the importance of constant vigilance over the implementation of biosafety standards.
