Biological Threats: Integrated Assessment of Risks (BIGAUGE)
The Interdisciplinary Research Group for the Analysis of Biological Risks (INFABRI) is leading the research project "Biological Threats: Integrated Assessment of Risks " (BIGAUGE).
Few biological threats manifest themselves as regularly as the annual flu epidemic. For most biological threats, on the other hand, it is difficult to predict the probability of their occurrence - and the damaging effects they will have in individual cases can hardly be estimated with the existing instruments, even for recurrent hazards.
This applies to biological threats and incidents of natural origin as well as to scenarios that are deliberately brought about or result from an accident. In many cases, the input parameters for the assessment of biological risks are not yet known: what influence do new, currently established technologies have in the life sciences; how does the social (disruptive) harmful effect change if it becomes known to the population that there is no natural cause of infection?
Therefore, the research group brings together researchers from different disciplines to develop a software-based method to support the responsible authorities in the evaluation and decision-making process in cases of exceptional biological threats or incident. For this purpose, a risk assessment of different scenarios from natural outbreaks to accidents in biotechnological plants and bioterrorist attacks is to be carried out and preventive options for action are to be identified.
The work areas of the BIGAUGE project:
Associated partners of the BIGAUGE project:
- Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)
- Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK)
- Jülich Research Centre
- Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH)
- Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research