Develop Therapeutics as Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats

NIAID  July 20, 2022 NIAID and its partners under the Chemical Countermeasures Research Program (CCRP) invite applications for the early-stage development of therapeutics and medical countermeasures (MCMs) to mitigate the adverse health effects resulting from toxic chemical exposure, including validation of therapeutic targets and preclinical characterization of lead compounds. Through the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) CCRP Initiative: Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Therapeutics Discovery and Early-Stage Development (UG3/UH3, Clinical Trial Not Allowed), the ultimate aim is to generate well-characterized therapeutic candidates that may one day advance the nation’s medical and public health preparedness for, response to, and recovery from chemical-related […]

Protein that could prevent chemical warfare attack created

Phys.org  September 1, 2022 The creation of proteins that use specific, sensitive, real-time biological recognition detection methods for VX neurotoxin using directed evolution or library screening methods has been hampered because its toxicity makes laboratory experimentation extraordinarily expensive. A team of researchers in the US (the City College of New York, the State University of New Jersey, Clarkson University) designed the protein to have a cavity at its center that matched the precise shape and chemical composition of VX. The protein underwent a dramatic shape change, burying VX in the cavity. The shape change is the signal which could be […]

Send in the Blow Flies: Using Insects to Sample Areas for Chemical Warfare Agents

Global Biodefense  April 11, 2022 Blow flies sample the environment as they search for water and food sources and can be trapped from kilometers away using baited traps. Under a program sponsored by DARPA a team of researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University investigated blow flies as environmental chemical sample collectors following a chemical warfare attack (CWA). They exposed three species of blow flies to CWA simulants dimethyl methylphosphonate and diethyl phosphoramidate as well as the pesticide dichlorvos, followed by treatment-dependent temperature and humidity conditions to determine the persistence and detectability of these compounds under varying environmental conditions. Flies were sacrificed […]

Researchers develop a tool to neutralize chemical weapons using rare-earth elements

Phys.org November 3, 2021 An international team of researchers (Canada, USA – industry) designed and synthesized a new MOF composed of the rare-earth metals yttrium and terbium, bound with an organic linker. They named the structure RE-CU-10 (RE = rare-earth, CU = Concordia University). According to the researchers the linker, a rectangular tetratopic pyrene-based ligand, has a particular core that interacts with ultraviolet light, producing an exceptionally reactive, though short-lived, oxygen species that causes a change in the chemical warfare agent sulfur mustard. In tests they found that the MOF effectively oxidized—and thereby detoxified—the chemical warfare agent simulant. The process […]

Countries convene to update chemical weapons prohibitions

Chemical and Engineering News  November 16, 2018 According to researchers in the UK, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) must decide how best to evolve to prevent the reemergence of chemical weapons in a period of rapid scientific change and unstable international security. Among the key issues facing OPCW going forward are the development and use of riot-control agents, such as tear gas, and delivery systems for such agents. The nature of law-enforcement activities allowed under the treaty must be clarified. They also advocate for strengthening OPCW’s Technical Secretariat to better monitor science and technology advances and forecast […]

Trapping toxic compounds with ‘molecular baskets’

Phys.org  October 9, 2018 Researchers at Ohio State University created molecular baskets with amino acids around the rims. The amino acids helped find simulated nerve agents in a liquid environment and direct them into the basket. They started a chemical reaction by shining a light with a particular wavelength on the baskets which caused the amino acids to shed a carbon dioxide molecule, effectively trapped the nerve agents inside the baskets. The new molecule complex, no longer soluble in water, precipitates from the liquid and becomes a solid which can be filtered out. It is possible to develop baskets that […]