According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly six million Americans are involved in a car accident annually, including 60,000 first responders. In an effort to reduce first responder related crashes, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is collaborating with “HAAS Alert,” a Chicago-based company developing and standardizing C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything) technology that enables emergency response vehicles to send real-time digital alerts to supplement their lights and sirens.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is proud to have established unique partnerships with industry that create solutions for the American people. By working together, they have earned their 50th and 51st U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals, licensures, and clearances in the past 12 years for products that address some of the nation’s most challenging health security threats.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed marketing of a rapid diagnostic test to detect Ebola virus antigens (proteins) in human blood from certain living individuals and samples from certain recently deceased individuals suspected to have died from Ebola. The OraQuick Ebola Rapid Antigen Test is the first rapid diagnostic test the FDA has allowed to be marketed in the United States for the Ebola Virus Disease.
In collaboration with state geological surveys and other federal agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey has compiled much of the existing landslide data into a searchable, web-based interactive map called the U.S. Landslide Inventory Map. Existing digital data on landslide occurrence are held by a range of federal, state, and local government agencies, and no central point of access has previously been available.
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) Program, managed by S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory, recently assessed three portable field Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometers (GC/MS) used for analyzing chemical samples. This assessment assists first responders to know which hazmat detectors suit both their needs and their budgets.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will support tests of organ-on-a-chip technology to determine how it can be used to understand injuries caused by inhaled chlorine gas, a potential national security threat, and to develop treatments for those injuries.
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, held every October, raises awareness of the importance of cybersecurity and encourages Americans to take steps to prevent cyber incidents at home and in the workplace. Whether you are updating your latest social media posts, surfing the web, or paying a bill, it is important that you take the necessary measures to protect your information.
In August 2019, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) National Urban Science and Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) conducted a System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) field assessment of in-suit communications equipment, which is the most common way for emergency responders to communicate with each other during an emergency scenario where personal protective equipment must be worn.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will support development of technology that, for the first time, could produce platelets outside the human body. If successful, the technology would improve U.S. emergency preparedness by making additional blood products available to save lives during a radiological or nuclear emergency.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will support the simultaneous development of individual vaccine candidates against Marburg virus and Sudan ebolavirus infections. Together, these vaccine candidates will represent key enhancements in the U.S. preparedness posture for the potential public health and biodefense threats posed by these viruses.
