UNC studies nerve gas treatments

A federal defense agency has given UNC scientists a $4.47 million grant to develop a streamlined method for treating people to exposed chemical nerve agent.

The five-year project was conceived late last year, but it comes amid Western efforts to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles in response to August’s poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians.

The research team, headed by UNC chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone, is working to incorporate microscopic needles into a patch that can deliver a life-saving antidote. The concept is similar to nicotine patches, except the technique would breach the skin.

DeSimone said compared to hypodermic needles, the patches are painless and easier to ship, distribute and administer.

“Now we have a really easy-to-apply, anybody-can-do-it kind of technology that still affords very fast absorption into the circulation system,” he said.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, requested ideas late last year to better administer such antidotes, DeSimone said.

His team had been exploring potential applications for microneedle technology for some time and applied for the agency’s grant. UNC announced the award in mid-September.

While DeSimone’s team pioneers a solution to save lives in potential chemical attacks, a separate yet related project is unfolding in Winston-Salem.

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, heads a group trying to build a “body on a chip” – a miniaturized system of human organs that mimics the body’s response to harmful chemical and biological agents.

Atala said in an email the chip will be more accurate than animal testing because it uses human cells.

Dr. Clint Florence, acting branch chief of vaccines within the Translational Medical Division at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said in a statement the program could decrease the time and costs associated with testing potential therapies.

“(That) would have a direct and positive effect on the ability of the United States government to respond to a chemical or biological attack,” he said.

The $24 million federally-funded effort plans to create tiny organ-like structures that mimic the function of the heart, liver, lung and blood vessels, Atala said.

While the UNC and Wake Forest projects have similar intent, they are not collaborating.

“The products are not connected beyond the fact that they are both efforts to improve response to biological and chemical agents,” Atala said.

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