OO - Press Release

Operation Outbreak Powers Biosecurity Simulation, Research Study at Georgetown University

info@operationoutbreak.org (Operation Outbreak Team) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. — Nearly 100 students, academics, and professionals participated in an immersive biosecurity simulation powered by Operation Outbreak’s technology platform Friday, as part of a conference and research study event hosted at Georgetown University.

The event, entitled “Operation Outbreak: An Epidemic Simulation in the DC Metro Area,” was organized as part of a graduate capstone project led by Curtis Hoffmann, a master’s candidate in Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University and Biosecurity Education Lead at Operation Outbreak.

Simulation participants were assigned to role play either as members of the general public, or as responders in specific institutions—including government, public health, healthcare, biomedical research, finance, and the media—and were tasked with mitigating the impact of a simulated measles outbreak. Local socioeconomic and behavioral data was used to inform the personas and profiles that participants took on.

The program also featured student, faculty, and professional speakers, including former National Security Council official and Brown University professor Dr. Elizabeth Cameron, Gravitas Strategies CEO Chad Gorman, medical anthropologist and Georgetown professor Dr. Emily Mendenhall, and DARPA Biological Technologies Office Director Dr. Michael Koeris.

The simulation was facilitated by Operation Outbreak’s technology platform, which uses real-time, Bluetooth-based proximity tracking to simulate disease transmission, and provides interactive web portals for simulating institutional functions and decisions like countermeasure deployment, commerce, government funding, and vaccine development.

Operation Outbreak’s platform also captures anonymized behavioral and interaction data, offering a moment-by-moment window into system function during an outbreak.

The simulation formed the centerpiece of Hoffmann’s capstone research project, an IRB-approved observational study investigating how high-fidelity simulations can serve as proxies for real-world outbreak science. The study aims to analyze communication, coordination, and decision-making across sectors during a public health emergency, with findings intended to inform future preparedness strategies and policy development.

The initiative highlights Operation Outbreak’s capabilities for advancing experiential biosecurity education and research. By partnering with academic institutions, the organization continues to equip students and professionals with the tools and insights needed to navigate increasingly complex global health threats.

Media Contact:
Sellers Hill
+1 (857) 858-5798
sellers@operationoutbreak.org
www.operationoutbreak.org

About Operation Outbreak, Inc.
Operation Outbreak is a nonprofit organization that uses experiential learning and outbreak simulations to build practical outbreak preparedness skills among students, professionals, and policymakers worldwide.

Operation Outbreak Facilitates Biosecurity Training with ICGEB in Trieste, Italy

info@operationoutbreak.org (Operation Outbreak Team) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

The Operation Outbreak team facilitated a dynamic tabletop exercise on biosecurity last month in Trieste, Italy, as part of a training course on pathogen detection and biosecurity for 18 early- and mid-career scientists from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

From February 23–27, Operation Outbreak’s Kian Sani and Sellers Hill participated in the Training Course on Pathogen Detection and Biosecurity, hosted at the headquarters of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste. The program was co-organized by ICGEB and the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit, and supported by Norway and the United Kingdom.

Over the course of the five-day program, participants received hands-on laboratory training in molecular detection tools including qRT-PCR and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), as well as instruction in genomic surveillance and bioinformatic analysis used in outbreak response.

Operation Outbreak led a scenario-based tabletop exercise on the final day of the training, which simulated outbreak response and decision-making in a fictional middle-income nation. Participants were tasked with interpreting evolving epidemiological data and coordinating response strategies in response to an evolving biosecurity threat.

The training, which leveraged Operation Outbreak’s Bluetooth-based outbreak simulation technology to generate real-time epidemiological data, was designed to strengthen regional expertise in outbreak detection, laboratory biosecurity, and the governance of dual-use research of concern.

Experts from international organizations and research institutions—including the World Health Organization, The World Academy of Sciences, and laboratories across Europe and Asia—also contributed lectures and technical sessions throughout the week.

Media Contact:
Sellers Hill
+1 (857) 858-5798
sellers@operationoutbreak.org
www.operationoutbreak.org

Operation Outbreak Expands Biosecurity Engagement at Global Events

info@operationoutbreak.org (Operation Outbreak Team) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Members of the Operation Outbreak team traveled to Cape Town and Geneva this month to facilitate several collaborative biosecurity education initiatives as part of the nonprofit’s expanding portfolio in the biosecurity space.

While its tools were developed primarily for classroom use beginning in 2017, Operation Outbreak’s dynamic simulation outputs are increasingly being leveraged by biosecurity professionals in training and conference settings.

In early December, Operation Outbreak COO Kian Sani and Chief of Staff Sellers Hill traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to facilitate a tabletop exercise on outbreak detection and response for 15 early-career scientists from the Global South.

The training, which combined traditional tabletop elements with dynamic epidemiological outputs generated by the Operation Outbreak app, took place on the final day of the Training Course in Pathogen Detection and Biosecurity — a program organized by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit and funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The exercise simulated a suspected deliberate exposure event and challenged participants to craft a response strategy as a real-time fictional outbreak unfolded in the room.

The following week, the team traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the Seventh Session of the UN Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention, an international gathering at the Palace of Nations dedicated to bolstering global biological security cooperation.

There, they delivered an overview of the organization’s work during an NGO roundtable session for recipients of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs Young Women for Biosecurity Fellowship and the Nuclear Threat Initiative Next Generation Delegation.

They also appeared on a panel as part of a side event focused on biosecurity education entitled “Advances in Biosecurity Education and Capacity Building Through Simulation, Networking, Scenarios and Hands-On Training.”

Other session speakers included Oscar Meless, Dr. Alessandro Marcello, Dr. Lijun Shang and Daniel Feakes, chief of the UN BWC Implementation Support Unit. Whitney Bowman-Zatzkin, director of the Bioeconomy Information Sharing and Analysis Center, also spoke on the panel.

The panel event ran concurrently with a simulated measles outbreak through the Operation Outbreak app and included the participation of more than 75 diplomats and organizational representatives.

These engagements reflect Operation Outbreak’s growing role at the intersection of science education and biosecurity, where simulation-based learning is helping practitioners test response strategies, strengthen collaboration, and build preparedness for emerging biological threats.

Media Contact:
Sellers Hill
+1 (857) 858-5798
sellers@operationoutbreak.org
www.operationoutbreak.org