APHL Receives Funding to Strengthen Public Health Laboratory Systems to Improve Food Safety

Photo showing cups of beans and seeds for testing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bethesda, MD, February 8, 2024 — The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) recently received an award from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help build an integrated laboratory system to advance the safety of human and animal food.

The three-year grant will enable APHL to support the critical role of state public health and agriculture laboratories in identifying, containing and preventing hazards in the food supply. APHL’s work will include assessing national testing capability and capacity; developing best practices and other guidance manuals; and offering trainings, meetings and other educational resources. APHL will also support ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory accreditation to ensure laboratories have quality management systems and testing competencies in place and can produce defensible data for regulatory and public health action, among other activities.

“Public health and agricultural laboratories are on the front lines helping assure the safety of our nation’s food supply,” said Scott J. Becker, MS, chief executive officer of APHL. “They are essential to our nation’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness. We look forward to working with FDA, state laboratories and partners to strengthen our laboratory capacity to improve food safety.”

This project is supported 100% by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cooperative agreement Number 1U2FFD008200 totaling $1.8 million.

To learn more about APHL’s food safety work, visit www.aphl.org/foodsafety.

# # #

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the US and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats. Learn more at www.aphl.org.

Contact: Michelle Forman at 240.485.2793 or michelle.forman@aphl.org

The post APHL Receives Funding to Strengthen Public Health Laboratory Systems to Improve Food Safety appeared first on APHL Blog.

New Lab Matters now available: Unsustainable

According to data published by the advocacy group Trust for America’s Health, there is a $4.5 billion gap between current funding levels and what is needed to achieve “an adequate level of public health protection” nationwide. Even though budget news for FY2020 is better than it has been, it continues a worrying, long-term trend of public health underfunding and public health laboratories being forced to draw on short-term crisis funding to maintain day-to-day activities. In this issue’s feature article, we examine the challenges that public health laboratories face, especially during the COVID-19 response.

Here are a few of this issue’s highlights:

Read the full issue.

Subscribe and get Lab Matters delivered to your inbox, or read Lab Matters on your mobile device.

The post New Lab Matters now available: Unsustainable appeared first on APHL Lab Blog.

APHL Receives $7.5 Million Award to Strengthen Newborn Screening Systems

APHL Receives $7.5 Million Award to Strengthen Newborn Screening Systems | www.APHLblog.org

Congratulations to APHL’s Newborn Screening and Genetics team and the NewSTEPs team! Below is the official announcement of the award.

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) has been awarded a five-year cooperative agreement of up to $7.5 million by the Genetic Services Branch of the US Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to maintain and manage the Newborn Screening Technical assistance and Evaluation Program (NewSTEPs). A component of the APHL Newborn Screening and Genetics Program, NewSTEPs provides quality improvement initiatives to strengthen newborn screening systems, a data repository, technical assistance and resources to state newborn screening programs and stakeholders.

“We are honored to receive this award,” said Jelili Ojodu, director of APHL’s Newborn Screening and Genetics Program and director of NewSTEPs. “This funding will allow us to continue provide states with robust and comprehensive tools that will allow them to improve the efficiency of the services they provide to newborn babies.”

Named one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, newborn screening saves or improves the lives of more than 12,000 babies annually in the US. For babies who test positive for one of the genetic, metabolic, heart or hearing conditions, newborn screening can prevent serious health problems or even death.

NewSTEPs helps facilitate newborn screening initiatives and improve programmatic outcomes to enhance the quality of the newborn screening system through data driven quality improvements.

 

###

This project is 100% supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,500,000. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the US and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats.

The post APHL Receives $7.5 Million Award to Strengthen Newborn Screening Systems appeared first on APHL Lab Blog.

The Trouble with Transparency

Last week we posted an article by two journalists, Paul D. Thacker and Charles Seife, who argued that the integrity of the scientific and medical literature depends on protecting tools that ensure greater transparency about financial ties to industry that … Continue reading »

The post The Trouble with Transparency appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.

The Fight Over Transparency: Round Two

By Paul D. Thacker and Charles Seife The backlash against transparency is now underway. The battles being waged are likely to leave their mark over how to perform — and how to interpret — the medical and scientific literature for … Continue reading »

The post The Fight Over Transparency: Round Two appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.

New Charges of Climate Skeptic’s Undisclosed Ties to Energy Industry Highlight Journals’ Role as Gatekeeper

In theory, it shouldn’t matter where authors of scientific papers get their research funding, a longtime journal editor once told me. Papers should be judged on their own merits, not based on who funded the scientists who collected and analyzed the … Continue reading »

The post New Charges of Climate Skeptic’s Undisclosed Ties to Energy Industry Highlight Journals’ Role as Gatekeeper appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.

Fun(d) with Science

Many researchers will tell you that financing their work–writing grants, securing funding, and budgeting for varying funding levels year to year–is the least rewarding part of life in academia, but there’s no escaping the simple fact that science costs money. … Continue reading »

The post Fun(d) with Science appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.

Bang for Our Buck in Research

In his weekly column at Pacific Standard, our Mike White discusses the importance of basic science for productive science:

…Congress wants to know: Are we getting the most out of our research dollars?…the National Academy of Sciences…came back with its answer…If you care about the economic returns of research, don’t focus too much on the economic returns of research. Focus instead on cultivating a world-class basic research community, and the economic returns will come.
-Mike White


Filed under: Follies of the Human Condition Tagged: funding, Linkonomicon, Mike White, Pacific Standard, Research

Reach out and grab some cash

512px-Left_Hand_-_Kolkata_2011-04-20_2350I use twitter primarily to keep up with what’s new and newsworthy in science and science communication. It’s a great tool to quickly catch up on new discoveries or  controversies. It also can expose opportunities you had no idea existed. The other day I saw a tweet about small grants to fund science outreach projects. So cool! I didn’t realize these small scale funding mechanisms existed to help encourage scientific outreach.

The program is the COMPASS outreach award through the American Society of Cell Biology. Society members can apply for grants for up to $1000 to fund outreach projects. For example, bring a bus load of kids into your lab and show them what scientists look like, sponsor a prize at a local science fair, or plan another event in your community (like walking into a bar!). Priority is given to students and post-docs, so this is a great opportunity to build your resume. The soonest deadline is only days away, but there is another in July so you have time to craft a plan for your science outreach event. One interesting aspect of the application is you must talk about how you will document your outreach event so ASCB can show it off. Educating other scientists and educators about the outreach going on across the country could inspire many more to get involved.

It would be exciting if more of the major scientific societies instituted competitive small grant programs like these. Here’s looking at you Society for Neuroscience!


Filed under: Follies of the Human Condition Tagged: funding, Grants, Science Communication, science outreach