Innovations in Countermeasures and Toxicology Research

Project Summary Exposure to toxic compounds whether due to industrial accidents or mass casualty events involve contact with multiple tissue surface and organs that are detrimental to human health. A chemical compound will have varied acute and latent effects dependent on contact with the cornea, upper airways, or the skin. Exposure to nerve agents and opioids can produce a broad range of clinical manifestations, long term CNS damage, and death. Mere decontamination is not adequate for preserving human health in these exposures. Developing a comprehensive understanding of specific ‘perturbagens’ and their toxidrome effect will allow scientists to better develop first-line therapies to address acute and late complications which may have broad applications to related toxic agents. Medical countermeasures are effective when they can be rapidly and easily administered in a limited treatment window to large numbers of people and therefore requires a thoughtful integration of biology, chemistry, drug development, clinical medicine, and response coordination. The aim of this proposal is to seek funds to bring together leading scientists in toxicology with experts in drug development, countermeasures biology, and new investigators in related fields. The conference on ‘Innovations in Countermeasures and Toxicology Research’ has 11 planned scientific sessions to address several emerging topics in the biology of toxic chemical exposures as well as challenges for therapeutics development. The morning keynote sessions will be comprised of three 25-minute main talks followed by Q&A from experts in drug delivery, immunomodulation, non-invasive sensor technology, translation to industry, and clinical trials. Morning sessions are comprised of 5 plenary short-talks to the general audience across all disciplines selected based on abstracts scores, designed to foster cross-fertilization of research methodologies and a better understanding of related pathobiology mechanisms. The afternoon sessions will consist of dual concurrent symposia involving (1) exposure to epithelia (skin, eyes, and lungs) (2) exposure to neurological agents and ultra-potent synthetic opioid agents. To create networking opportunities a session is dedicated to fifteen 5-minute short-talks to the general audience given by trainees. The non-intimidating setting is an invitation to “come see my poster” for a robust poster session that follows. A noon workshop is planned for the entire audience on ‘Interprofessional Collaboration and Team Science’ lead by a renowned scientist in organizational behavior. To-date we have confirmed a group of 6 speakers, 7 abstract reviewer from academia and government. Speakers and symposium chairs are requested to stay for the entire meeting to encourage lively discussion throughout the conference. We will leverage our partner societies to attract new investigators to attend the conference. Early stage investigators and trainees will be a supported through our fundraising efforts to support meeting scholarships. We believe that our conference plans will be a means to attract scientists from related fields and for young scientists to meet and to ultimately enhance the Chemical Countermeasures Research Program (CCRP).