Promoting Dual-Benefit Solutions ANSER pursues a research agenda that focuses on “dual-benefit solutions”--those that enhance the security of our nation while advancing some other public good. As part of our effort to build the intellectual framework for homeland security in the global community, the Institute has added a new weekly section to our newsletter to highlight solutions that promote the idea of dual benefit. We invite readers to email ANSER with news about dual-benefit solutions. If you or your organization are working on dual-benefit security issues, send us an email and we may include them in an upcoming issue. [Email ANSER]

Targeting Appendicitis, a New Tool Offers Wider Promise (Philadelphia Inquirer) “Researchers [on Wednesday] announced government approval of a novel method to quickly diagnose appendicitis using technology that may soon help doctors detect dangerous, hidden infections ranging from abscesses to anthrax,” reports the Inquirer. “The new method tags the patient’s own infection-fighting blood cells with a radioactive marker, turning them into tiny spotlights that illuminate an inflamed appendix for an imaging machine. The development of NeutroSpec spanned 30 years, and included decades of arcane laboratory research at Thomas Jefferson University and the Wistar Institute before it was licensed to Palatin Technologies, a Cranbury, N.J., biotech company founded in 1995.” [View article]

Hi-tech Rays to Aid Terror Fight (BBC News) “Airport security has become big business following the terrorist attacks in the US. A system that detects both metal and non-metallic weapons using terahertz light has been developed by technology firm TeraView. It could make passenger screening at airports more effective and quicker, say experts,” reports BBC News. [View article]

3-D Structure of Anthrax Toxin Complex Solved Scientists have determined a three-dimensional molecular image of how anthrax toxin enters human cells, giving scientists more potential targets for blocking the toxin, the lethal part of anthrax bacteria. The finding also points to a possible way to design anthrax toxin molecules that selectively attack tumor cells, as described in the journal Nature published online on 4 July. The study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, was led by Robert C. Liddington, Ph.D., of the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA. “This elegant work provides important new leads for the development of novel antitoxins to protect people from anthrax, a dangerous and serious bioterror threat,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “It also leads us closer to therapies that could save lives late in the disease when large amounts of toxin are present and antibiotics are less effective.” [View press release]

Allied Defense Group Gets $5 Million Army Security Contract (PRNewswire) The Allied Defense Group’s California-based microwave security unit, NS Microwave, has been awarded a U.S. Army contract for approximately $5 million. The contract calls for NS Microwave to design, build, and install an integrated surveillance system to support ground force operations, providing a robust capability consisting of fixed and mobile surveillance systems for ground and aerial (both airplane and helicopter) platforms to enhance the Army’s capacity to observe threatening activity in critical areas and, in conjunction with existing theater capabilities, improve the overall security posture. [View press release]

National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center Expands Its Reach In a boost for homeland security, the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center will soon be able to track and predict the movement of chemical and biological agents and other hazardous material indoors as well as outdoors. The expanded capability is the result of a two-year collaboration between the center, based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and a team from the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center “is a widely used tool for pre-event emergency planning,” said Ashok Gadgil, project leader at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “but planners currently only have information about outdoor concentrations. This new capability will give planners and emergency commanders access to accurate, real-time estimates of indoor and outdoor toxics concentrations, which provide a basis for informed evacuation decisions.” [View press release]

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