Paper Reveals New Way to Combat Bioterror Agents
Summary
Wynnewood, PA, August 22, 2008 --( BoNTs are a family of toxins that cause the disease botulism, but they can also be used as bioterror agents that cause paralysis when they poison the neurons that transmit the signals responsible for breathing and muscular movement.He also was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA, working in the laboratory of the internationally renowned cancer biologist, Dr. Robert Weinberg.In 2000, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, where he pursued research on the cloning of human antibodies and practiced oncology with a specialty in hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation.This is a previously undescribed way in which antibodies can neutralize the toxicity of BoNT.Sharad P. Adekar, MBBS, MD, recently completed his post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Dessain and joined LIMR in December 2007 as a Scientist.In 2000, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, where he pursued research on the cloning of human antibodies and practiced oncology with a specialty in hematologic malignancies and bone marrow transplantation.Dr.