WEBVTT

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^- Yeah, Dave's right, those lights are super bright.

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^Hello everybody, my name is Brandi Vann.

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^I am the division chief

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^for the Advanced and Emerging Threats Division.

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I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about what we do.

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As you already heard this morning,

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The WMD is a continue concern to our war fighters

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and in the frame of protecting our nation.

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Our adversaries will continue to look at chem and bio agents

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for future conflicts and our jobs here at DTRA Chem Bio

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is to focus on the protection of the war fighter

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and protect the nation against those threats.

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How does my division do this?

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It is, here we go.

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The role of the Advanced and Emerging Threats Division

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is really to watch the horizon,

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the technology horizon, technology convergence,

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and try to do an assessment of what future technologies

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or what future threats might impact our war fighter.

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We really try to bridge the gaps

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between the scientific community

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and the war fighter community

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to try to inform capability development, risk assessments,

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and operational decision making that helps inform

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our war fighters on the field

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and also the decision makers back home.

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We also work to provide medical interventions

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from chemical assaults.

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What we do in our division,

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especially in the threat agent science,

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really informs the rest of the CBDP enterprise.

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The base science that,

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or fundamental science that we develop and we

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work on in the threat agent science portfolio

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really fills into the other division,

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so Rich Ho-sky and the senescence division,

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some of the characterization

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that we do there feeds into that.

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The protection division that you'll hear about in a moment

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from Chuck Bass, and so on and so forth.

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The threat agent science portfolio also helps up inform

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our medical countermeasure portfolio that we have.

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We have a large portfolio in toxicity

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that I'll get to a little bit in a minute.

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The threat agent science portfolio,

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what we're really doing there is trying to characterize

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the hazards posed by chemical and biological threats.

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We are trying to get the knowledge generated

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from that portfolio into the larger CBDP enterprise.

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What exactly are the hazards?

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What are the portfolios in that, that we're looking at?

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Really we're looking at environmental fate,

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so agent fate of chemical and biological materials.

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We're looking at capability assessments.

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What are the properties that we need to be looking at,

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or that need to be required, I should say,

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to protect against the threats that are posed,

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both current and in the future?

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We also look a lot at toxicological and host response.

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We want to know, if something does in fact impact

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our war fighter, how impactful is that to our

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war fighters when they are exposed?

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There's actually a really good talk,

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or session I should say, that's being run later on

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this week, talking about predicting acute systemic toxicity.

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I highly encourage, if people are interested in that

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focus area, to go to that session.

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The chemical medical countermeasures portfolio

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really seeks to identify and develop drugs

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to counter the affects of chemical agents.

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The main parts of this portfolio are therapeutics.

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And, Dave, I will say prophylaxis.

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And all the supporting and enabling science

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that's needed to develop and assess

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effective counter measures.

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In that part, so I'll give a plug to some of the talks

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that are coming up as well later on this week.

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On Wednesday we have a session on understanding

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the blood-brain barrier, and the neurological effects

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of chemical exposure.

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We also have a talk on Wednesday about novel approaches

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to chemical medical counter measures as well.

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On Thursday, we have a focus area on animal models

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for CW toxicity, and then also on Thursday,

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using synthetic biology to develop novel therapeutics

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for chemical exposures.

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What are we really wanting to talk to you guys about?

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In the threat agent science area

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one of the things that's really crucial is addressing

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the threats, both of today and of tomorrow,

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and being able to quickly assess those threats

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as they emerge.

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To give you an idea of some of the problems

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that we face, right now there are 130 million

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CAS registered chemical compounds.

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There's an additional 15,000 compounds being added

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on a daily basis.

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Our ability to rapidly assess 130 million compounds,

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plus 15,000 compounds being added daily, is quite difficult.

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In other words, every single day we are falling

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further and further behind in understanding

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the full scope of the threat that chemical agents

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would pose to our war fighter,

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both from an environmental fate,

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as well as from a toxicity perspective.

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I'll add that the ability to character all those

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potential biological threats that exist,

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and that are emerging, are similarly limited.

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What we really need and what we wanna talk to you about is

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better, improved, and more efficient methods

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to be able to characterize the threat rapidly.

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We also, as we heard earlier, we need to be doing so

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in thinking in a fiscally responsible manner.

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It would be great to be able to assess potential threats

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rapidly, or some other questions are

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how do we prioritize the potential threats that we have,

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so that we can characterize the things that we

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are known to have a potential hazard.

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We know that all 130 million CAS registered compounds

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are not gonna be a threat.

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How do we appropriately prioritize those

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so that we can assess those

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that really pose a risk for the war fighter?

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Another question is, how do we actually predict

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the behavior of agents so that we can limit

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the amount of actual laboratory

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or field testing we have to do?

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Finally, how do we actually minimize

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the usage of in vivo testing?

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In vivo testing is very expensive.

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It takes a long time.

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Are there ways that we can develop a testing protocol

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so that we can scan all these threats and be able to do so

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without having to run through the in vivo test

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that are time consuming and costly?

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Those are the things that the threat agent science portfolio

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really want to focus on.

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The chemical medical countermeasures.

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What we're focused on there is the development of improved

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countermeasures for chemical agents that might,

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the war fighter might encounter in the battlefield.

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Just as in the threat agent science portfolio,

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we're really trying to get ahead of the threat.

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We are, in that portfolio, looking for specific things.

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First, is our countermeasure effective and safe?

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Can our countermeasure work and be safe to the war fighters

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when we're giving them to them?

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We also are always trying to focus

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on low operational burden.

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Is the countermeasure that's being developed easy to use

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and does it fit into our current tactics,

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techniques, and procedures?

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Also, how can we get to a low logistics burden

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for our war fighter?

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Can this technology or this medical countermeasure

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that we're developing go into the field

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or is it going to require special handling requirements

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such that it won't really be effective

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when it's urgently needed in the field?

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We're really trying to push into that focus area.

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I guess, finally, can we leverage,

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much like in the CVM division,

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can we leverage existing medicines,

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FDA cleared products, for the war fighter use?

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Thusly it would be providing the war fighter

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with more an efficient response,

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and something we could get out much quicker

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than having to develop something from scratch.

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Our reaction time

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for chemical medical countermeasures empowerment.

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We are continually looking for ways

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to be much more responsive to the threats as they emerge,

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and reducing the time in developing those countermeasures

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against such threats that emerge.

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That is--

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^I've got 50 seconds left.

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^That is it for our division,

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^but before I actually get off the stage,

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^I'm gonna make my CBS team stand up.

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^I know a bunch of your guys are in the back.

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^This team, we have an amazing team of enthusiastic

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^and dedicated STEMS and contractor personnel that are here.

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^They're excited about talking to you guys.

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^I highly encourage you, go to their sessions.

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^You reach out, you talk to them.

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^We're very interested in talking to the folks

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about the areas that we discussed today.

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Thank you so much and have a wonderful week.

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(audience applauding)