Threat-agnostic medicines are critical when dealing with unknowns such as COVID-19. Image credit: Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus Illustration is by Kateryna Kon, who also holds the copyright. Chikungunya More
Spc. Keegan Carlson, a civil affairs specialist with the 440th Civil Affairs Battalion in Colorado Springs, Colo., pulls an improvised litter during the reacting to a chemical environment evaluation as part of More
Two-dimensional far-field intensity distribution (normalized) of the tapered QCL with plasmonic collimator, measured using a mid-infrared microbolometer array (160 x 120 pixels) with no optics placed directly i More
The figure above depicts the mechanism of actions of Insulin Growth factor -1 (IGF -1), a biological treatment for growth retardation in standard medical use. IGF -1 and other growth factors directly effect mul More
Active site gorge of hAChE phosphonylated by aged soman. The figure was made from a model of aged hAChE–soman conjugate. The ligands are represented as balls and sticks and key active site residues are represen More
A schematic showing the fluorescent signal obtained from the RNA of the MERS coronavirus using DTRA-developed technology that combines point-ofsampling amplification of the RNA and a signaling beacon made out o More
A scientist from the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) separates metal-organic framework (MOF) material from an aluminum surface after electrospinning it. Electrospinning turns a liquid polymer solutio More
Current BSVE applications. Public domain photograph of train tracks, railroad works, free to use, no copyright restrictions image - Picryl description
By combining freeze-dried, cell-free (FD-CF) reaction pellets with DNA instructions for protein synthesis, therapeutics and other molecular tools can be manufactured on-site, on-demand with the simple addition More
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), or the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication previously used to treat them, is a growing threat to both public health and the warfighter.
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center Acting Director Eric Moore, Ph.D., (left) and Michael Feasel, Ph.D., discuss carfentanil exposure effects and their relation to warfighters. (Official ECBC photo)
Stock image for JSTO in the News.
(A) Schematic of the confocal laser beam trap (B) The laser profile of the trapping hollow cone (C) A particle is trapped at the focal point Figure courtesy of Optics Letters.
Representation of the Burkholderia pan-genome and sub-components. The purple circle represents the number of unique genes found within the genus Burkholderia; the red circle represents the genes shared among B. More
Chemical distribution profiles in stratum corneum (SC) after 15 and 60 min of exposure on normal skin. High concentration of chemical remained in 2 μm thickness to the skin surface within 60 minutes of exposure More
Member of the Special Response Team conducting a Sensitive Site Assessment Mission wearing a CB Lightweight Integrated Thermal Ensemble (CB Lite) Suit. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Research, Development and Eng More
Enzymes counter chemical threats
Increased local substrate concentrations in enzyme-DNA nanostructures as a result of engineered substrate-DNA interactions. Left: The DNA structures used here to investigate the effects of substrate-DNA binding More
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department will host the 2017 Chemical and Biological Defense Science & Technology (CBD S&T) Conference Nov. 28-30, 2017, in Long Beach, Calif.
Schematic of integrated liver, heart and lung models interconnected by microfluidic devices that simulate the human circulatory system. (Graphic courtesy of Dr. Anthony Atala, Wake Forest Institute for Regenera More
CANDO has a convenient web browser/Jupyter notebook interface that allows computational chemists to write programs to construct molecules. It also supports graphical tools for visualizing and drawing molecules. More
The analyte (red) potentially in a complex matrix such as blood and urine. The paper itself could be used to directly collect samples from the air. (Graphic courtesy of Trevor Glaros, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center)
Starting challenge was 1 g/m^2, so approximately 2 mg. test conditions were 60 min age, 30 min dwell time for the decontaminants, passive water rinse to remove the decontaminants and a 60 min solvent extraction More
Amy Shurtleff, Ph.D., works in a biosafety level 4 laboratory at USAMRIID. Shurtleff is part of a team that evaluated the protective efficacy of Merck's EBOV vaccine, V920. (Image courtesy of USAMRIID)
Notional image illustrating how light reflected from butterfly wing scales results in unique data when in the presence of different vapors. Experimental data is shown for dichloropentane (orange), a mustard gas More
A single dose of Cyto-111 provides protection in mice at times refractory to antitoxin treatment. Mice lethally intoxicated with 2x LD50 BoNT/A become symptomatic between 6-8 hours after intoxication. Treatment More
Loading TECAN: Researchers remove a sample plate from the robotic handler. With 384 sample spots (including several for calibration/calibration check), a vast number of permutations and combinations of glycosyl More
The Climate SOM Process within SAHARA, including mapping and training phases. The training phase includes interim steps which feedback to themselves iteratively; the iteration count is a tuning parameter. The m More
Image courtesy of U.S. Army RDECOM
A number of DNA vaccine delivery devices are in commercial development which have the potential to overcome these logistical burdens. Several of them will be evaluated by medical personnel at the Delivery of Nu More
When Ebola virus disease (EVD) reared its head in May in the Congo, the world was armed with the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine thanks to interagency collaboration efforts by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Chemical More
Porton Man is a sensor-equipped mannequin capable of detecting and evaluating the impact of chemical and biological agents on warfighter uniforms, gloves and other outerwear. (Photo courtesy of Terrence D’Onofrio, Ph.D.)
Proposed list of EpiGrid diseases and release schedule.
Collaboration between Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Chemical and Biological Technologies Department and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine resulted in developing organ-on-a-chip technology. The More
CBART test fixture and its 10 identical test cells. (Image courtesy of Dr. Bruce D. McVeety, Battelle)
High school students gain an appreciation for the difficulties of working in a contaminated environment by first conducting a chemical experiment in simple lab coats (foreground) and then conducting the same ex More
Image related to December JSTO in the News article
When a cargo plane saves lives: DTRA ensures that Ebola vaccine material arrives on time via USAF airlifter.
Photo courtesy of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department.
A DNA technician, with the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System DoD DNA Operations, prepares DNA for extraction. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army. Photo by Sgt. Sarah D. Williams.
Chambers of the Captive Aerosol Growth and Evolution System (CAGES) at the Albuquerque, New Mexico, test site. Through CAGES, scientists examine how simulants of biological threat agents decay upon interacting More
DTRA CB is learning why one stubborn bacterium just loves humans so much. Graphic courtesy of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department.
Many illnesses have the same symptoms; diagnostic tools can beat the guessing game.
Adaptive Trials test multiple treatments against the Standard of Care (SOC) simultaneously. If one treatment performs well it can become the new SOC and future treatments are evaluated against it. If a treatmen More
Schematic of prototype multicatalyst composite film for capture and detoxification of chemical warfare agents. Image courtesy of Alex Neimark, Rutgers University developed under DTRA contract.
The rapid design, assembly and validation of paper-based biomolecular sensors for the portable detection of Zika virus is shown here. Using sequence information from online databases, primers for isothermal RNA More
Chlorine is expelled from a tank during the 2016 Jack Rabbit II field trials. Infrared image of a chlorine release during the field trials. Official U.S. Department of Homeland Security Images.
Dr. Hann, Director of the Joint Science and Technology Office at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, examines the liver module of the XCEL project at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Michael Feasel, Ph.D., ECBC, studies the metabolic effects of carfentanil. (Official ECBC photo)
Confocal microscope image of a tissue-engineered microvessel formed from human brain microvascular endothelial cells in a 3D matrix. Image courtesy of Prof. Peter Searson, Johns Hopkins University.
Members of the Virginia Army National Guard's 34th Civil Support Team provide feedback to members of the Tactical All-Hazards Ensemble program team. (Official DTRA photo)
A U.S. Army soldier wears the DTRA-funded CBLITE uniform during an October 2016 demonstration. Official DTRA Photo.
Global distribution of Burkholderia pseudomallei.
A researcher demonstrates how the RSDL medical countermeasure is applied ot the skin.
Geographical distribution of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as of June 2017. Graphic courtesy of World Health Organization.
Three protein biomarkers that fluctuate differently in bacterial and viral infections. (Image courtesy of PLOS ONE.)
Continuous electrical sensing during bacterial culture. (Image courtesy of GE Global Research)
Empowering the Development of Genomics Expertise (EDGE) offers a suite of analytical tools to assist with mission and threat analysis of biological threats for operational utility. (Graphics by DTRA)
Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) Process. Microneedle patches of virtually any design are produced within two to 10 minutes. (Image courtesy of Shaomin Tian, Ph.D., and Sue Mecham, Ph.D.)
Sample to Sequence
Official DTRA graphics
Marburg virus particles (in blue) and sperm originating from the seminiferous tubule, a site of immune privilege and sperm production in the testes, of a non-human primate that survived Marburg virus infection. More
Pioneering the Data Frontier: Digital Battlespace Management
Marines monitoring mission progress inside the representative Combat Operations Center (COC). (Jason Hudson, Global Systems Engineering)
Scene from a Scientist in the Foxhole event in 2019
Tony Buhr, Ph.D., a biologist at NSWCDD, works at a biological safety cabinet on DTRA-funded work on biological warfare agents.
High school students participating in the Joint Science and Technology Institute (JSTI) event at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque listen to instructors and take notes prior to chemical experiments. T More
Image associated with article in December JSTO in the News: Forging the chain: destroying chemical warfare agents by polymerization
Applications of Next Generation Sequencing Technologies. Listed are some of the different applications possible on a single NGS sequencing machine which span across the central dogma of molecular biology (‘DNA More
The powdery dust next to the penny is 2mg of fentanyl. Just 2mg can be lethal to people. Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Fentanyl. DEA website. https://www.dea.gov/galleries/drug-images/fent More
A new blood-draw device is quick and simple to use on the battlefield.
JBADS-Lite connected to a C-17A Globemaster for decontamination of the aircraft’s interior at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on May 2020. Photo courtesy of Dr. Tony Buhr, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division.
Incorporation of flexible electronics into a human-derived blood-brain barrier model for real-time tracking of transport phenomena. Image courtesy of Bradley Ringeisen, Naval Research Laboratory, developed unde More
Schematic of platelet membrane-coated nanoparticles (PNPs) for the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP). (A) To fabricate PNPs, the plasma membrane from fresh platelets is derived and then coated More
This chart shows VX dose lethality curves in animals decontaminated with either RSDL or Veriox two minutes after cutaneous exposure.
Prophylactic activity of engineered EcN against P. aeruginosa infection. (a) Scheme for pre colonization of EcN in the GI tract followed by P. aeruginosa infection. (b) Colonization of EcN was assessed by fecal More
Heatmaps representing the members of the top set of genes in I interferon (IFN) induction (left), IFN response (middle) and antioxidative response (right) signalling pathways in A549 cells 96 h.p.i. with hRSV N More
Integrated Early Warning includes a family of chemical and biological defense systems. A fixed site example is depicted above. (Official DTRA image)
Schematic representation of a CNT membrane functionalized with chemical-threat-responsive polymers. In a safe environment the responsive polymer chains are extended and the material allows rapid transport of wa More
Comparison of protection levels provided by two different garments. Garment (1) front and back performance map. Garment (2) front and back performance map.(Courtesy image from Dstl)
Journal of Chemical and Biological Defense
Using Sprayable Slurry, warfighters recently demonstrated CWA vehicle decontamination (using a HUMVEE with simulated contamination) during hands-on, operationally relevant training scenarios at Joint Base Lewis More
Courtesy photo
A few of the 34 high school students participating in the Joint Science and Technology Institute (JSTI) event at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque try their hand performing an experiment while wearing More
Medics and physician assistants evaluating nucleic acid-based vaccine administration devices at the User Feedback Event in Camp Bullis, Texas. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Medical Department Board. Image ass More
Image courtesy of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department.
The auto-inductive cascade for the detection of nerve agent surrogate, DFP, through fluoride (signal) amplification. Figure courtesy of Chemistry - A European Journal
An array of blue light-emitting diodes (LED) and a time-gated specialized camera are used to collect whole body image data from a test mannequin. (Image courtesy of Howard J. Walls, Ph.D., Aerosol Control Group More