IIa. CREATING A ROBUST STRATEGY FOR BIODEFENSE

Recent world events have highlighted the global need for an integrated and robust biological threats strategy. Government requirements for biodefense products present unique opportunities for the development of new technologies and companies. Experts will examine the nature of biological threats, laboratory and surveillance capacity to protect the nation, emergency response strategies, and implications for companies preparing to address biological threats in their business plans. Questions we will use to shape the panel dialogue include: Where are we now; are we better prepared in 2005 than we were in 2000 - if so, for what; is it ever possible to “be prepared?”; what is the level of investment to make it realistic; how important is technology in biodefense; sensor technology - how do we balance cost of specificity versus the cost of false positives; have the organisms of concern changed; is our approach to bioterrorism the correct one; do we prepare for what we have seen versus those that we have not seen?