A critical issue for biodefense researchers is uncovering genetic keys distinctive to specific biological threat agents so that each bioorganism can be detected, identified, and repelled in the event of biological warfare.
For example, every threat pathogen or toxin has a unique protein signature. Certain proteins are linked with a given pathogen’s virulence, that is, its ability to attack and overcome human body defenses. In especially virulent—and potentially deadly—pathogens, these proteins occur in abundance, so identifying virulence-associated proteins is an important step in developing pathogen-detection methods.
Together with researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Sandia scientists are conducting research to determine the identity, abundance, and location of virulence-associated proteins in two potential bioterrorism candidates: Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for bubonic plague, and Francisella tularensis, the cause of multiple tularemia syndromes such as deer fly fever and rabbit fever.
Once these virulence-associated proteins have been located, researchers will provide their results to Sandia’s Protein Pipeline project.
The Molecular Recognition Assays for Virulence Factors project is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Biodetection Thrust Area.
