The Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency recently awarded UNMC researchers $1.9 million to develop a therapy to protect against nerve agents.
Dr. Steven Hinrichs, professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology, says he and his research partner, Dr. Oksana Lockridge are working on an idea about how to take an enzyme and convert it to a form that can be carried onto the battlefield and administered by soldiers to protect themselves.
He says the molecule would capture the nerve agent in the blood before it gets to the nervous system.
"The biggest step we’ve already addressed is improving the ability to concentrate the enzyme. As it stands now, the concentration it can be used is very low and we have to develop the process to concentrate the enzyme to a much higher level. And we have to get it four times more concentrated than it’s ever been concentrated before.”
Hinrichs says concentrating the enzyme should take about three months. He says soldiers in the field would carry the powder in a vial in their knapsacks and reconstitute it with water before injecting it to protect against nerve agents.
Hinrichs says he believes the treatment will be ready to go in the next two years.