The development of broad-spectrum antiviral medical countermeasures to treat viral hemorrhagic fevers caused by natural or weaponized virus infections.

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) began development of a broad-spectrum antiviral countermeasure against deliberate use of high-consequence viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) in 2016. The effort featured comprehensive preclinical research, including laboratory testing and rapid advancement of lead molecules into nonhuman primate (NHP) models of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Remdesivir (GS-5734, Veklury, Gilead Sciences) was the first small molecule therapeutic to successfully emerge from this effort.

Co-administration of tecovirimat and ACAM2000™ in non-human primates: Effect of tecovirimat treatment on ACAM2000 immunogenicity and efficacy versus lethal monkeypox virus challenge.

Naturally occurring smallpox has been eradicated but research stocks of variola virus (VARV), the causative agent of smallpox, still exist in secure laboratories. Clandestine stores of the virus or resurrection of VARV via synthetic biology are possible and have led to concerns that VARV could be used as a biological weapon. The US government has prepared for such an event by stockpiling smallpox vaccines and TPOXX®, SIGA Technologies' smallpox antiviral drug.

Bacterial Adhesion on Soft Materials: Passive Physicochemical Interactions or Active Bacterial Mechanosensing?

The influence of mechanical stiffness of biomaterials on bacterial adhesion is only sparsely studied and the mechanism behind this influence remains unclear. Here, bacterial adhesion on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samples, having four different degrees of stiffness with Young's modulus ranging from 0.06 to 4.

Identification of unstimulated constitutive immunocytes, by enzyme histochemistry, in the coenenchyme of the octocoral Swiftia exserta.

Most animals rely on circulating hemocytes as cellular effectors of immunity. These cells traditionally have been characterized by morphology, function, and cellular contents. Morphological descriptions use granule differences and cell shapes; functional descriptions rely on phagocytic ability and oxygen transport; and cellular content descriptions include cytochemical features and key enzymes.

Histology and ultrastructure of the coenenchyme of the octocoral Swiftia exserta, a model organism for innate immunity/graft rejection.

The octocoral Swiftia exserta has been utilized extensively in our laboratory to study innate immune reactions in Cnidaria such as wound healing, auto- and allo-graft reactions, and for some classical "foreign body" phagocytosis experiments. All of these reactions occur in the coenenchyme of the animal, the colonial tissue surrounding the axial skeleton in which the polyps are embedded, and do not rely on nematocysts or directly involve the polyps. In order to better understand some of the cellular reactions occurring in the coenenchyme, the present study employed several cytochemical methods (periodic acid-Schiff reaction, Mallory's aniline blue collagen stain, and Gomori's trichrome stain) and correlated the observed structures with electron microscopy (both scanning and transmission).