NIH-DOD Collaboration for Chemical Threats Affecting Cellular Respiration

Office Of The Director, National Institutes Of Health

Investigators

Abstract

The project under this IAA has been developed jointly by the NIAID/NIH CCRP and DoD/USAMRICD. Chemical Threats Affecting Cellular Respiration will be addressed under the scope of this IAA. This proposed Year 01 of 02 effort directly addresses the need to develop medical countermeasures against chemicals that have identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as threats to cellular respiration to include cyanide-based compounds. As such, the research purpose of this interagency agreement includes development of in vitro, in vivo, and/or ex vivo models of the acute and/or chronic long-term toxic effect of exposure to the chemical threats for the purpose of medical countermeasure development. Research under this IAA will focus on toxic chemicals specifically sodium fluoroacetate, cyanide, thallium, and phosphine. The rational development of the mature MCM product to be used as a therapeutic against chemicals affecting cellular respiration requires an understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity, a need which was specifically identified in the Report of the NIAID/NIH Expert Panel Workshop on Medical Countermeasures Against Cyanide (CN), January 25, 2005. This IAA may utilize state-of-the-art toxicological, biochemical, physiological, genomic and electron microscopic evaluation approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanism to support the efficacy testing.