{"id":46969,"date":"2003-05-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-05-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/05\/09\/sen-nelson-secures-5-million-for-unmc-bioterrorismlab-in-department-of-defense-budget-authorization\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:44:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:44:41","slug":"sen-nelson-secures-5-million-for-unmc-bioterrorismlab-in-department-of-defense-budget-authorization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2003\/05\/09\/sen-nelson-secures-5-million-for-unmc-bioterrorismlab-in-department-of-defense-budget-authorization\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Nelson secures $5 million for UNMC bioterrorism\n\nlab in Department of Defense budget authorization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has secured $5 million from the Department<\/p>\n

of Defense budget authorization and will earmark the money as a building<\/p>\n

block for UNMCs goal to establish a national bioterrorism center on campus.<\/p>\n

In a news release issued by Sen. Nelsons office on Friday, Nelson said<\/p>\n

UNMC is the only higher education institution in North America that has<\/p>\n

developed comprehensive clinical laboratory automation technology, and<\/p>\n

he hopes UNMC can use the Department of Defense money as a first “building<\/p>\n

block” to take that technology to the next level.<\/p>\n

The money will be used to develop portable and networked automation<\/p>\n

testing technology to efficiently and rapidly process specimens to detect<\/p>\n

the existence of biological agents in the event of a biological attack.<\/p>\n

“UNMC is leading the way in developing technology to detect and react<\/p>\n

to a biological attack,” Nelson said. “Securing authorization for $5 million<\/p>\n

is the first building block to making it a reality. I am proud to have<\/p>\n

been able to include this important program in this legislation, and I<\/p>\n

am pleased to assist UNMC’s continued excellence in this area of expertise.”<\/p>\n

Rodney S. Markin, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of University Medical<\/p>\n

Associates, the UNMC physician practice group, associate dean for clinical<\/p>\n

affairs in the UNMC College of Medicine, and chairman of the board of LAB-InterLink,<\/p>\n

a UNMC technology transfer company that makes automated laboratory technology,<\/p>\n

said, “This funding will enable UNMC to develop the technology to enhance<\/p>\n

our country’s Homeland Security as well as the safety of our troops in<\/p>\n

battlefield conditions.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Markin said the automated laboratory technology provides UNMC with<\/p>\n

the tools it needs to perform mass screenings of people in the event of<\/p>\n

a bioterrorism incident.<\/p>\n

We can do these screenings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Dr. Markin<\/p>\n

said. The system is capable of testing 1000 specimens per hour, so that<\/p>\n

means we can do up to 24,000 specimens in a day.<\/p>\n

Dr. Markin said the automated laboratory technology is similar to the<\/p>\n

unit that was used in a demonstration in the Durham Outpatient Center last<\/p>\n

November when Gov. Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania and advisor<\/p>\n

for the Office of Homeland Security, visited UNMC.<\/p>\n

Dr. Markin said in the event of a bioterrorism event, such as the release<\/p>\n

of the smallpox virus, the automated laboratory technology could be put<\/p>\n

on a truck, a ship or plane and within hours be at the site of incident.<\/p>\n

We would package it in some sort of isolated shipping container, and<\/p>\n

it would be anchored to the floor of the container, he said. Once we<\/p>\n

delivered the equipment to the site of the incident, all we would need<\/p>\n

to start running specimen tests is electricity and a connection to the<\/p>\n

Internet.<\/p>\n

In essence, with the Internet connection, you can run the system and<\/p>\n

monitor it by remote control from Omaha. This minimizes the potential exposure<\/p>\n

to any harmful agents and creates a level of bio-safety that you wouldnt<\/p>\n

have with other laboratory systems.<\/p>\n

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said: “UNMC is especially grateful<\/p>\n

to learn of this development. We appreciate Sen. Nelson’s assistance in<\/p>\n

securing this critical funding which will strengthen our efforts to become<\/p>\n

a national bioterrorism center.”<\/p>\n

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), of which Nelson is a member,<\/p>\n

has oversight responsibilities for the Department of Defense. Each year,<\/p>\n

the SASC develops the legislation that authorizes the Defense budget. The<\/p>\n

committee completed its work on the fiscal year 2004 Department of Defense<\/p>\n

Authorization Act last Thursday. The bill now moves to the floor of the<\/p>\n

Senate.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has secured $5 million from the Department of Defense budget authorization and will earmark the money as a building block for UNMCs goal to establish a national bioterrorism center on campus. In a news release issued by Sen. Nelsons office on Friday, Nelson said UNMC is the only higher education institution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nSen. 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