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June 25, 2003 BIODEFENSE PANEL TO CAST BIOTECH ON SHARKS, DIAGNOSTICS  WASHINGTON, D.C., BIO2003--Shark’s blood may one day help determine whether people have been exposed to the anthrax bacteria, according to researchers at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) on a select panel of bio-defense scientific experts here today.
Unlike mice and other mammals, sharks produce small, thermal stable antibodies. UMBI researchers are using the natural properties of shark antibodies to create highly stable, specific antibodies against antigens from Bacillus anthracis. Thus, raising an immune response in the shark may lead to reagents that will be useful for anthrax diagnostic tools. The shark study is among many innovative ways to meet urgent needs for bio-defense products that will be discussed by a panel of experts at 8:45 a.m., Wednesday, June 25 in room 146A, BIO2003 Convention, Washington, D.C. Convention Hall. Chaired by UMBI President Jennie Hunter-Cevera and Barbara Seiders of the National Security Directorate, Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the panel will address bio-terrorism and the role of biotechnology in detection, mitigation and response. Panelist Les Baillie, adjunct associate professor at UMBI’s Medical Biotechnology Center, conducted the shark study with collaborators Helen Dooley and Martin Flajnik of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland, Baltimore. Now also with the U.S. Navy Biological Defense Research Directorate, Baillie says the use of the shark antibodies B. anthracis could open up a whole new area of diagnostic technology for the detection of anthrax and other bio-defense agents. The expert panel will explore the status of solving such problems and present contexts of applying biotechnology to advances in recognition and response to bio-threats and the release of pathogens. Panelists will focus on aspects related to agents of concern, biopathogen detection, pathogenesis and the immune response, and vaccine development. For the shark work, Baillie adds, “We can now begin the construction of a library of antibodies derived from the immunized sharks. It is possible that resulting products will not only show high specificity for their targets but also high stability—people will be able to keep them available for when needed.” The researchers are trying to understand how the anthrax bacterium exists in the environment, how it causes disease, and what genes play a role in the agent’s infectivity and survival inside and outside the body. Also on the panel will be Maria Salvato, professor, Institute for Human Virology, UMBI; Cindy Bruckner-Lea, staff scientist V, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; and Jennifer Weeks-Sekowski, research molecular toxicologist, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, U.S. Army RD&E Command. Salvato, in collaboration with Marti Jett at Walter Reed Army Institute for Research, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is trying to develop diagnostic tools that can distinguish common flu-like viruses from biochemical warfare pathogens. The symptoms can be nearly identical. "By identifying the gene expression that corresponds to the most common strains of flu, we can more quickly discriminate a relatively common viral infection from a more serious threat," explains Salvato. At UMBI, she is exposing blood cell cultures to five different viruses that cause flu-like symptoms (influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, rhinovirus, and arenavirus) to determine which genes can discriminate between natural disease and biowarfare agents. A diagnostic tool, which could be available in as little as two years, would allow physicians the ability to determine within hours - potentially minutes -- whether a person has a common flu or has been exposed to more serious agents. (Media must register (free) to attend BIO2003, by clicking on: http://www.bio.org/events/2003/media) # # # The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute was mandated by the state of Maryland legislature in 1985 as “a new paradigm of state economic development in biotech-related sciences.” With five major research and education centers across Maryland, UMBI is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. The centers are the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville; Center for Biosystems Research in College Park; and Center of Marine Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology Center, and the Institute of Human Virology, all in Baltimore.
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