As diseases spread faster across borders, a team of scientists, engineers and public health experts launched a first-of-its-kind, open-source global surveillance platform to detect emerging biothreats. The Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network, or BEACON, officially launched April 24 during an introductory conference at Boston University Center for Computing and Data Sciences. The platform is based at Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases and developed in partnership with the Hariri Institute for Computing and Data Sciences at BU and HealthMap at Boston Children’s Hospital.