[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 238 (Friday, December 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76995-76996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-31238]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Office of the Director, Office of Science Policy, Office of 
Biotechnology Activities; Notice of Meeting

    Pursuant to section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 
amended (5 U.S.C. App.), notice is hereby given of the meeting of the 
National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB).

    Name of Committee: National Science Advisory Board for 
Biosecurity.
    Date: January 7-8, 2016.
    Time: January 7, 2016, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Eastern; January 8, 
2016, 8:30 a.m. to adjournment.
    Agenda: Presentations and discussions regarding: (1) Preliminary 
findings of the NSABB Working Group on Evaluating the Risks and 
Benefits of Gain-of-Function (GOF) Studies; (2) the results of the 
risk-benefit assessment of GOF studies involving pathogens with 
pandemic potential; (3) ethical and policy issues relevant to the 
conduct and oversight of GOF studies; and (4) other business of the 
Board.
    Place: National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 31, C Wing, 6th 
Floor, Conference Room 6, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892.
    Contact Person: Christopher Viggiani, Ph.D., Executive Director, 
NSABB, NIH Office of Science Policy, 6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite 
750, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, (301) 496-9838, [email protected].

    Under authority 42 U.S.C. 217a, Section 222 of the Public Health 
Service Act, as amended, the Department of Health and Human Services 
established the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) 
to provide advice regarding federal oversight of dual use research--
defined as legitimate biological research that generates information 
and technologies that could be misused to pose a biological threat to 
public health and/or national security. The NSABB is currently charged 
with providing formal recommendations to the United States Government 
on a conceptual approach for the evaluation of proposed gain-of-
function studies.
    The meeting will be open to the public and will also be webcast as 
space will be limited. Persons planning to attend or view via the 
webcast may pre-register online using the link provided below or by 
calling Palladian Partners, Inc. (Contact: Ida Donner at 301-650-8660). 
Online and telephone registration will close at 12:00 p.m. Eastern on 
January 4, 2016. After that time, attendees may register onsite on the 
day of the meeting. Individuals who plan to attend and need special 
assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable 
accommodations, should indicate these requirements upon registration on 
or prior to January 4.
    Meeting materials: The meeting agenda and links to the online 
registration and webcast will be available at: http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/biosecurity/nsabb/nsabb-meetings-and-conferences. Preliminary findings of the NSABB working group as well as 
the results of the risk-benefit assessment,

[[Page 76996]]

performed by Gryphon Scientific, will be posted prior to the meeting. 
Please check this Web site for updates.
    Public Comments: Many presentations and panel discussions at the 
meeting will be accompanied by question and answer periods that are 
open to members of the public, time permitting. In addition, there will 
also be time allotted on the agenda for the presentation of public 
comments. Members of the public interested in presenting prepared 
comments relevant to the mission of the NSABB should indicate so upon 
registration. Sign-up for delivering prepared oral comments will be 
limited to one per person or organization representative per open 
comment period. Individual presentations will be time-limited to 
facilitate broad participation from multiple speakers. Participants 
viewing the meeting by webcast may submit questions and comments during 
the meeting via email sent to [email protected]. While time constraints 
and the volume of questions may not allow for all questions and 
comments submitted via email to be aired during the meeting, all 
relevant correspondence received will be relayed to the Board. Emailed 
correspondence should include the name, contact information, and when 
applicable, professional affiliation of the sender.
    In addition, interested persons may file written comments at any 
time with the Board via an email sent to [email protected] or by regular 
mail sent to the Contact Person listed on this notice. Written 
statements should include the name, contact information, and when 
applicable, the professional affiliation of the interested person. 
Written comments received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on December 31, 2015, 
will be relayed to the Board prior to the NSABB meeting. Any written 
comments received after this deadline will be provided to the Board 
either before or after the meeting, depending on the volume of comments 
received and the time required to process them in accordance with 
privacy regulations and other applicable Federal policies.

    Please Note: In the interest of security, NIH has instituted 
stringent procedures for entrance onto the NIH campus. All visitor 
vehicles, including taxis, hotel, and airport shuttles will be 
inspected before being allowed on campus. Visitors will be asked to 
show one form of identification (for example, a government-issued 
photo ID, driver's license, or passport) and to state the purpose of 
their visit. Please visit the NIH Visitor Security page for 
important security and campus access information.


    Dated: December 8, 2015.
David Clary,
Program Analyst, Office of Federal Advisory Committee Policy.
[FR Doc. 2015-31238 Filed 12-10-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P