57267 event 1274792180 1475891344 <![CDATA[INTA Professor Kosal to attend Synthetic Smallpox Workshop]]> Due to the stock for the smallpox virus being inaccessible to all but a handful of authorized personnel in the US and Russia, the threat of smallpox as a biological weapon has seemed remote. However, current cutting-edge biotechnology has made the de novo (from scratch) synthesis of smallpox and potentially any virus a possibility that requires further research.

Professor Margaret Kosal will join a team of experts at an invitation-only workshop this June entitled, Over the Horizon Synthetic Smallpox: Now What? The workshop is sponsored by ASCO, the Advanced Systems & Concepts Office of the Defense Threat Research Agency, and will include representatives from US government agencies and laboratories,the World Health Organization, Interpol, and the World Bank.

Topics to be considered include the role for deterrence, current international and global security arrangements, the role of the US government is guiding the discussion, and possible paths forward to close gaps in the current countermeasures.

]]> Angela Levin
CISTP
Contact Angela Levin
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