National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Science Needs for
Microbial Forensics

DEVELOPING INITIAL INTERNATIONAL
RESEARCH PRIORITIES

Committee on Science Needs for Microbial Forensics:
Developing an Initial International Roadmap

Board on Life Sciences

Division on Earth and Life Studies

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
                          OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

In cooperation with
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The U.K. Royal Society and
The International Union of Microbiological Societies

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS     500 Fifth Street, NW     Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Contract No. 10001173 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Navy, by purchase order SAQMMA13M2120 from the U.S. Department of State to the National Academy of Sciences, and by internal support from the National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE NEEDS FOR MICROBIAL FORENSICS: DEVELOPING AN INITIAL INTERNATIONAL ROADMAP

Members

JOHN D. CLEMENTS (Chair), Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

MUNIRUL ALAM, International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh

BRUCE BUDOWLE, Institute of Applied Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth

JONGSIK CHUN, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

RITA R. COLWELL, University of Maryland, College Park

NANCY D. CONNELL, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, Newark

PAUL KEIM, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

JUNCAI MA, WFCC-MIRCEN World Data Center of Microorganisms (WDCM), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

ALEMKA MARKOTIĆ, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia

GEOFFREY SMITH, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Staff

FRANCES E. SHARPLES, Study Director and Director, Board on Life Sciences

JO L. HUSBANDS, Scholar/Senior Project Director, Board on Life Sciences

CARL ANDERSON, Program Associate, Board on Life Sciences

JENNA OGILVIE, Senior Program Assistant, Board on Life Sciences

BENJAMIN RUSEK, Program Officer, Committee on International Security and Arms Control

KRISTIN WHITE, Consultant Writer

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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BOARD ON LIFE SCIENCES

Members

JAMES P. COLLINS (Chair), Arizona State University, Tempe

ENRIQUETA C. BOND, Burroughs Wellcome Fund (retired), Marshall, Virginia

ROGER D. CONE, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

SEAN EDDY, HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, Virginia

SARAH C. R. ELGIN, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri

DAVID R. FRANZ, Former Cdr USAMRIID; Consultant, Frederick, Maryland

LOUIS J. GROSS, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

ELIZABETH HEITMAN, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

JOHN G. HILDEBRAND, University of Arizona, Tucson

RICHARD A. JOHNSON, Arnold & Porter, LLC, Washington, D.C.

JUDITH KIMBLE, University of Wisconsin, Madison

CATO T. LAURENCIN, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington

ALAN I. LESHNER, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C.

KAREN E. NELSON, J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland

ROBERT M. NEREM, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

CAMILLE PARMESAN, University of Texas, Austin

ALISON G. POWER, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

MARGARET RILEY, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

JANIS C. WEEKS, University of Oregon, Eugene

MARY WOOLLEY, Research!America, Alexandria, Virginia

Staff

FRANCES E. SHARPLES, Director

JO L. HUSBANDS, Scholar/Senior Project Director

JAY B. LABOV, Senior Scientist/Program Director for Biology Education

KATHERINE W. BOWMAN, Senior Program Officer

INDIA HOOK-BARNARD, Senior Program Officer

MARILEE K. SHELTON-DAVENPORT, Senior Program Officer

KEEGAN SAWYER, Program Officer

BETHELHEM MEKASHA, Financial Associate

ANGELA KOLESNIKOVA, Administrative Assistant

JENNA OGILVIE, Senior Project Assistant

LAUREN SONI, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Preface

In September 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, someone placed letters containing Bacillus anthracis spores into a mailbox in Trenton, New Jersey. Those letters were addressed to several media outlets, including ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Post, and American Media, Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida. The recipients of one of the letters, Mr. Robert Stevens, was the first person to die in what has become known as the anthrax letters attack and designated as the “Amerithrax” investigation by the FBI. At first, diagnosis of Mr. Stevens’ illness was complicated by the absence of any suspicion that would make anthrax part of the differential diagnosis for a 63-year-old man in Boca Raton. Once a diagnosis of anthrax was made, health care workers and epidemiologists began trying to understand how an office worker could come in contact with B. anthracis, the causative agent of the disease anthrax. One possible, though unlikely, scenario that was widely touted at the time was that he had come across an infected animal, perhaps a beaver, while on a recent hiking trip. The receipt of an array of letters filled with white powder soon confirmed that this was a bioterrorist attack and not a natural occurrence. In early October, the perpetrator mailed a second set of letters containing a more highly refined preparation of spores, this time addressed to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. Once it was clear that there was an ongoing threat, extensive efforts were begun to identify the source and characteristics of the material used in the attack. What became immediately clear in the midst of heroic efforts to discern the cause and source of the anthrax mailings

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was that we were unprepared to analyze the microbial forensic evidence associated with this attack.

At the time, most diagnostic and epidemiological characterizations of infectious diseases were based on illness, culture, serology, physical characteristics, and metabolic profiles of infectious organisms—processes that take time and require pure cultures of viable microorganisms. There was a nascent field of microbial forensics, which had begun in the United States in the preceding decade with the formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hazardous Materials Response Unit. The Unit was created in part to support suspected or known bioterrorism investigations by providing investigative leads and supporting prosecutions or exonerations with scientific evidence. The Unit was a law enforcement operation designed to employ forensic science principles and practices to produce evidence that would be admissible in court according to U.S. legal requirements and standards. The Amerithrax investigation accelerated the development of the field of microbial forensics, resulting in remarkable development and applications of new techniques and approaches for using laboratory tools to pinpoint the identity of a microbial agent. Microbial forensics became an essential part of the scientific investigation, which was combined with physicochemical analyses as well as other nonscientific types of evidence to narrow the search for the source of the B. anthracis used in the attacks.

Today we find ourselves with a complex infrastructure of government agencies, Select Agent registries, regulated research, environmental monitoring in designated cities, federal and state regulations—all resulting from one more or less successful biological attack on the United States. The Amerithrax attack with highly refined material produced by a knowledgeable expert (presumably in a U.S. bioweapons laboratory) resulted in 22 illnesses and 5 deaths. Approximately 4 g of material were used in the Amerithrax attack. At that time, the United States planned and prepared as best it could for an attack involving 50 kg of weaponized anthrax spores released on a city with a population of 500,000, anticipating 125,000 casualties. However, it is unlikely that a nonstate entity would be able to produce that quality or quantity of material undetected. Moreover, aside from B. anthracis, there are few (if any) biological agents that can be grown in quantity, viably maintained, stabilized, processed to the appropriate size, and delivered in an aerosolizable form except by a few specialized bioweapons facilities and certainly not by terrorists in a garage or cave. Most exotic microorganisms are just too difficult to grow and keep alive, even in the most sophisticated facility. In addition, the technology involved in weaponizing biological materials is complex, demanding, and requires substantial expertise. The more likely scenario is someone having access to a small amount of unrefined material that he/she uses to make

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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a few individuals ill (causing perhaps a few deaths), the consequence of which will be a nation paralyzed with fear, not illness.

In that context, microbial forensics becomes more important than ever. How does one differentiate a natural outbreak from an accidental release from a legitimate laboratory, or the use of biological material to commit a crime, bioterrorism, and all-out biological warfare? How can this be accomplished quickly enough to inform law enforcement, the intelligence community, policy makers, and the public in a timely fashion? The traditional clinical laboratory sciences of culture identification, serology, etc. are inadequate for these purposes. It was with this background that the workshop in Zagreb, Croatia, was held in October 2013 with the intent to identify the scientific challenges that must be met to improve the capability of microbial forensics to investigate suspected outbreaks and to provide evidence of sufficient quality to support responses, legal proceedings, and the development of government policies. The workshop also was designed to increase awareness of microbial forensics among the members of the larger international scientific communities and to engage these communities in the development of a plan on how to address scientific challenges.

One of the more important concepts discussed during the workshop was that the techniques of microbial forensics could aid not only law enforcement and policy makers, but also public health workers, in trying to identify the existence and source of natural outbreaks. Indeed, as we saw in the Amerithrax attack, the public health system will likely be the first to encounter and the first line of defense against a biological attack. Most infectious diseases develop gradually, with individual patients seeking medical care through their local health care providers. People vary in their susceptibility to infectious diseases, and subtle clues may signal an attack, such as an increase in frequency of a naturally occurring infectious disease, unusual seasonality, unexpected resistance to antimicrobials, or unusual age distribution. These features are likely to be recognized first in the public health arena, and the more common the tools and techniques are between law enforcement and public health, the more likely that a true attack will be identified early, perhaps in time to administer prophylactic antibiotics or vaccines or prevent a second release. Moreover, the further we get from an actual attack, the less inclined policy makers are to provide financial support for continuing the research necessary to prepare for an attack. As noted in the 2013 President’s Report for the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 2013):

Many of the capabilities required for detecting and responding to the whole spectrum of natural, intentional, and man-made events are essentially the same. Systems and networks that might be created for rare

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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events will atrophy through lack of use, whereas systems created for addressing natural, man-made and accidental outbreaks of infectious disease are likely to be used frequently. Relying on tools and systems that are compatible with both rare and common occurrences means that in an instance of a rare event, detection and response will not be delayed by lack of familiarity with the tools or systems of reporting.

On behalf of the entire committee, I wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the excellent staff at the National Academies. It is because of the dedication and extraordinary efforts of Fran Sharples, Director of the Board on Life Sciences at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), that we were able to complete this ambitious task in so short a time. The committee also wishes to thank Jo Husbands from the NAS staff and our colleagues at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Jelena Dukic, the Director of International Cooperation, and Ninja Ivanus from her staff, for their outstanding contributions to the design and organization of the workshop. Our colleagues from the U.K. Royal Society and the International Union of Microbiological Societies provided important support and ideas throughout the process. I also want to thank my fellow committee members for their commitment that made the workshop and writing of this report an enjoyable and rewarding opportunity.

John D. Clements, Chair

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Acknowledgments

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.

We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Kenneth Berns, University of Florida

Aaron Darling, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Sean Eddy, HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus

Jens Kuhn, Integrated Research Facility, Fort Detrick, National Institutes of Health

Ian Lipkin, Columbia University

Stephen Morse, Columbia University

Karen Nelson, J. Craig Venter Institute

Tom Slezak, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Tim Trevan, International Council for the Life Sciences

David Walt, Tufts University

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the committee’s conclusions, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Ronald S. Brookmeyer, University of California, Los Angeles, and Ronald M. Atlas, University of Louisville. Appointed by the National Academies, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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List of Acronyms and Initialisms

AAM

American Academy of Microbiology

ABC

American Broadcasting Company

ABC

Analyzer of Bio-resource Citations

ACD

Advisory Committee to the Director

AMD

advanced molecular detection

ANI

Average Nucleotide Identity

ASM

American Society for Microbiology

ASPR

Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response

ATCC

American Type Culture Collection

ATM

atomic force microscopy

AWS

Amazon Web Services

BEAST

Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees

BfR

Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (Federal Institute of Risk Assessment, Germany)

BGI

Beijing Genomics Institute (People’s Republic of China)

BLAST

Basic Local Alignment Search Tool

BSL

biosafety level

BWC

Biological Weapons Convention

canSNP

canonical single-nucleotide polymorphism

CAP

College of American Pathologists

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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CAP

Certified Authorization Professional

CBRND

chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense

CBS

Columbia Broadcasting System (now operating as CBS Broadcasting, Inc.)

CCINFO

World Directory of Culture Collections

CDC

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CEO

chief executive officer

CLIA

Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments

CODATA

Committee on Data for Science and Technology

CODIS

Combined DNA Index System

COMCOFs

committees, commissions, and federations

CPU

central processing unit

DGA

French Ministry of Defense

DHHS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

DNA

deoxyribonucleic acid

dNTP

deoxynucleotide triphosphates

DOE

U.S. Department of Energy

DTRA

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (part of the U.S. Department of Defense)

EAEC

enteroaggregative Escherichia coli

EBI

European Bioinformatics Institute

ECL

electrochemiluminescence

EDA

Economic Development Administration

EDC

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (Sweden)

EHEC

enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli

ELISA

enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

EM

electron microscopy

ENCODE

Encyclopedia of DNA Elements

env

HIV retrovirus envelope gene

EPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

ESI

electrospray ionization

EU

European Union

FAO

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization

FAZD

National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense

FBI

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation

FCA

Fellow of the Croatian Academy

FDA

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2014. Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18737.
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FEMA

U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency

FOI

Swedish Defense Research Agency

GAO

U.S. Government Accountability Office

GCM

Global Catalogue of Microorganisms

GHDP

genomically highly diversified pathogen

GIDP

genomically intermediately diversified pathogen

GISAID

Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data

GLEWS

Global Early Warning System for Major Animal Diseases, Including Zoonoses

GMMP

genomically monomorphic pathogen

GOARN

Global Alert and Response Network

GPHIN

Global Public Health Intelligence Network

GPU

graphics processing unit

HAZMAT

hazardous materials and items

HCV

hepatitis C virus

HFRS

hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome

HHMI

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

HIV-1

human immunodeficiency virus 1

HMM

Hidden Markov Model

HMRU

Hazardous Materials Response Unit

HPA

Health Protection Agency (United Kingdom)

HPS

hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

HSPD

Homeland Security Presidential Directive

HUS

hemolytic uremic syndrome

HVAC

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

HVR

hypervariable region

IAEA

International Atomic Energy Agency

IBD-BIOM

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Biomarkers Program

iBOL

International Barcode of Life Project

ICDDRB

International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh

ICFMH-WPCM

Working Party on Culture Media of the International Committee on Food Microbiology and Hygiene

ICRC

International Committee for the Red Cross

ICSU

International Council of Science

IDA

Institute for Defense Analyses

IHR

International Health Regulations

IMCAS

Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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IMG

Integrated Microbial Genomes

INTERPOL

International Criminal Police Organization

IOM

Institute of Medicine

ISABS

International Society of Applied Biological Sciences

ISO

International Organization for Standardization

IT

information technology

IUBS

International Union of Biological Sciences

IUMS

International Union of Microbiological Societies

IV

intravenous

JAMA

Journal of the American Medical Association

JGI

Joint Genome Institute (U.S. Department of Energy)

LPSN

List of Prokaryotic Names with Standing in Nomenclature

LRN

Laboratory Response Network

LT

Life Technologies Group

MALDI-TOF

matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight

Mb

megabyte

MDS

minimum datasets

MERS

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome

MGIT

mycobacterial growth indicator tube

MG-RAST

Metagenomics Rapid Annotations using Subsystems Technology

MiSeq

benchtop NGS instrument manufactured by Illumina

MLST

multilocus sequence typing

MLST+

core-genome MLST

MLVA

multilocus VNTR analysis

MPS

massively parallel sequencing

MRCA

most recent common ancestor

MRSA

methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

NAS

U.S. National Academy of Sciences

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NAU

Northern Arizona University

NBACC

National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center

NBAS

National Biosurveillance Advisory Committee

NBC

National Broadcasting Company

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NBFAC

National BioForensic Analysis Center

NBTCC

National Biological Threat Characterization Center

NCBI

National Center for Biotechnology Information

NeCTAR

National eResearch Tools and Resources

NGO

nongovernmental organization

NGS

next-generation gene sequencing

NIAID

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

NIH

National Institutes of Health

NIST

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NRC

National Research Council

NSTC

National Science and Technology Council

OIE

World Organization for Animal Health

OPCW

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

PATH

Program for Appropriate Technology in Health

PC

personal computer

PCR

polymerase chain reaction

PFGE

pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

PGM

Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine™

PHEIC

Public Health Emergency of International Concern

PI

principal investigator

PIXE

particle-induced X-ray emission

PLOS

Public Library of Science

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Pol

HIV retrovirus polymerase gene

PPE

personal protective equipment

PS

presumed source

PUUV

Puumala virus

QA/QC

quality assurance and quality control

qPCR

quantitative PCR

RAPD

random amplified polymorphic DNA

RDS

recommended datasets

RFLP

restriction fragment length polymorphism

RIPL

Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory

RIVM

Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

RKI

Robert Koch Institute (Germany)

rMLST

ribosomal MLST

RNA

ribonucleic acid

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RNJMS

Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

rRNA

ribosomal RNA

R&D

research and development

SARS

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

SEM

scanning electron microscope

SIMS

secondary ion mass spectroscopy

SMRT

single-molecule real time

SNP

single-nucleotide polymorphism

SOAP

Short Oligonucleotide Analysis Package

SOP

standard operating protocols (or procedures)

SRM

Standard Reference Materials

SSD

solid-state disk

S&T

science and technology

TB

terabyte

TEM

transmission electron microscope

TGen

Translational Genomics Research Institute

TIGR

The Institute for Genomic Research

TTP

thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

UHID

University Hospital for Infectious Diseases

U.K.

United Kingdom

UKM

University Hospital Muenster (Germany)

U.N.

United Nations

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICRI

U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute

UNIDIR

U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research

U.S.

United States of America

USAMRIID

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases

USDA

U.S. Department of Agriculture

VNTR

variable number tandem repeat

WDCM

World Data Center of Microorganisms

WFCC-MIRCEN

World Federation for Culture Collections—Microbial Resources Centers Network

WGS

whole-genome sequencing

WHO

World Health Organization

WIPO

World Intellectual Property Organization

WMD

weapons of mass destruction

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Microbial forensics is a scientific discipline dedicated to analyzing evidence from a bioterrorism act, biocrime, or inadvertent microorganism or toxin release for attribution purposes. This emerging discipline seeks to offer investigators the tools and techniques to support efforts to identify the source of a biological threat agent and attribute a biothreat act to a particular person or group. Microbial forensics is still in the early stages of development and faces substantial scientific challenges to continue to build capacity.

The unlawful use of biological agents poses substantial dangers to individuals, public health, the environment, the economies of nations, and global peace. It also is likely that scientific, political, and media-based controversy will surround any investigation of the alleged use of a biological agent, and can be expected to affect significantly the role that scientific information or evidence can play. For these reasons, building awareness of and capacity in microbial forensics can assist in our understanding of what may have occurred during a biothreat event, and international collaborations that engage the broader scientific and policy-making communities are likely to strengthen our microbial forensics capabilities. One goal would be to create a shared technical understanding of the possibilities - and limitations - of the scientific bases for microbial forensics analysis.

Science Needs for Microbial Forensics: Developing Initial International Research Priorities, based partly on a workshop held in Zabgreb, Croatia in 2013, identifies scientific needs that must be addressed to improve the capabilities of microbial forensics to investigate infectious disease outbreaks and provide evidence of sufficient quality to support legal proceedings and the development of government policies. This report discusses issues of sampling, validation, data sharing, reference collection, research priorities, global disease monitoring, and training and education to promote international collaboration and further advance the field.

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