Bacteriophages

Have you ever swabbed inside your nose and used that sample to help diagnose if you have the flu or COVID-19? Or maybe you peed on a pregnancy test. The technology that makes those and other diagnostic tests like them possible is rooted in chemistry. Dr. Karen Peltier shares with us how the pandemic helped improve access to diagnostics and the chemistry that provides you an accurate diagnosis.

Picture this: a toolkit of standardized genetic components, a canvas of principles borrowed from engineering, and the artistry of constructing biological systems with unprecedented functions. Molecular biologist Richard Winegar, Ph.D., shares expertise on synthetic biology, the diseases it may help defeat, and how it is changing the landscape of diagnostics, biosecurity, and food security.

On the warfront or home front, chemical weapons are a threat. Working with government and commercial customers, we specialize in evaluating equipment to detect, decontaminate, and mitigate these threats. Our Cristina Youngren tells us about her interest in Novichok, what SLUDGEM means, and why it’s so important to do our job well. 

You are host to the deadliest viruses in the world. Researcher Kristin Bates offers insight into bacteriophages, how they are such effective killers of bacteria, why they could be so effective in field-forward settings, and how they could one day serve as an alternative or complementary treatment to antibiotics.

Gene therapies, immune modulators, cell therapies and monoclonal antibodies, and even some vaccines are biologics. They are critically important in treating diseases that presently have no other treatments available. As an analytical chemist, Dr. Rachel Ginther oversees drug product development and has a personal interest in these targeted treatment approaches

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis was the leading infectious disease killer in the world. The pandemic then had a devastating impact on the diagnosis, treatment, and research of tuberculosis. And through it all, Erin Merritt and her team continue leading efforts to eradicate this disease.

Live attenuated vaccines, a technology that has existed for more than 100 years, can be uniquely suited to protect against particular diseases. Virologist and immunologist Dr. Christopher Weiss shares his expertise on why diseases like COVID-19 and chikungunya are good candidates for this vaccine technology and how it can help strengthen a future pandemic response.

Vaccines are developed and administered to prime an immune response that either prevents or lessens disease severity when a microorganism is encountered in the future. As a virologist and immunologist, Dr. Christopher Weiss offers insight into the benefits of live attenuated vaccines, which generate a long-lasting response in combatting today's recurrent and emerging disease threats.

Before therapeutic pharmaceuticals go into clinical trial to ensure their safety, they must be received from the manufacturer and precisely stored and managed and then shipped to their destination for use in that trial. As director of pharmaceutical sciences at MRIGlobal, Dr. Jon White leads a team that facilitates this critical step of the supply chain.

Dr. Luca Popescu is a veterinarian turned global infectious disease expert who is focused on testing medical countermeasures like vaccines and therapeutics in response to infectious diseases. We spoke with him about the history of MRNA vaccines, why they've been so critically important to the COVID response, and what's next for their use in supporting global health.