Since the anthrax attacks of 2001, significant efforts have been taken to enhance the nation’s protection against bioterrorism. Dr. Ronald M. Atlas of the University of Louisville will discuss these steps in a free talk on Nov. 18 at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Atlas will present “Responding to the Threat of Bioterrorism,” at noon on Friday, Nov. 18, in Room 125 Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Building. The event, which is open to the public, is co-sponsored by the biological sciences department and the Environmental Research Center for Emerging Contaminants at UMR.

Atlas will discuss the threat of bioterrorism and the responses that are being taken, including the ethical issues of conducting biodefense research. He will also address the approaches for educating physicians and the biomedical community about how to recognize acts of bioterrorism, as well as the public health measures needed to contain biothreat diseases.

Atlas is graduate dean, professor of biology, and co-director of the Center for the Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University of Louisville. He is a former president of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and former co-chair of the ASM Task Force on Biological Weapons. Atlas regularly advises the U.S. government on policy issues related to the deterrence of bioterrorism, and he has also been interviewed by CNN and NPR on issues of bioterrorism and biowarfare.

For more information, contact Dr. Melanie Mormile, associate professor of biological sciences, at 341-6346 or email mmormile@mst.edu.