THE 2007 WISTAR INSTITUTE SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD
Award Presentation and Panel Discussion

The Bioterror Threat:
Preventing the Misuse of Biomedical Research

7 p.m. Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Wistar Institute, 3601 Spruce St., Philadelphia
Dessert reception to follow

Free, but registration required:
215-898-3790 or shurtz@wistar.org

“Tweaking the anthrax toxin to render experimental drugs ineffective. Turning a harmless rodent virus into a deadly pathogen. Enhancing the potency of botulinum toxins—already the most lethal poisons known. Transferring genes that help viruses evade the human immune system from one pathogen to another. These projects may sound like the clandestine activities of a hostile bioweapons program.  But in fact, all are in progress or being planned in U.S. academic laboratories.”
—“Friend or Foe?” by Peter Aldhous, October 14, 2006, New Scientist 

How should society regulate so-called dual-use biomedical research—researchintended to combat disease but which also could be misused by bioterrorists? An expert panel will discuss this question.

Peter Aldhous: Winner, 2007 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award; San Francisco bureau chief, New Scientist magazine

Joe Palca: Senior Science Correspondent, National Public Radio;
Co-chair, Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award Judging Committee

Stanley Plotkin, M.D.: Professor Emeritus, The Wistar Institute; Chair,
Wistar Institute Vaccine Center Scientific Advisory Board; developer of
vaccines against rubella and rotavirus; expert on anthrax

Harvey Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.: Director, Institute for Strategic Threat
Analysis and Response, University of Pennsylvania; Member, National
Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity