The U.S. joint forces serve around the world in various environments, some may be more susceptible to certain diseases and threats than the general population. Keeping them protected and equipped to safely operate in any biologically compromised environment across the world is at the heart of the Nation’s biological defense mission.
The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) Joint Project Lead for CBRND Enabling Biotechnologies (JPL CBRND EB) is teaming with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to rapidly develop antibodies to defend against critical biological threats in the United States and abroad as a part of JPEO-CBRND’s Medical Countermeasures Platform Technologies (MCMPT) Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program. Under this contract, Vanderbilt will be performing antibody sprints. The sprint utilizes an existing mature platform to initiate the MCM development cycle on different biological threats to test the speed and breadth of their platform.
“These types of sprints are the start of EB’s systems of systems approach that takes us from threat identification to MCM fielding. This phase of MCM development cycle allows the community to understand the various threats before they occur by identifying candidate MCMs which leads to improved warfighter readiness,” said David Bailey, Acting Director for Advanced Technology Platforms, JPL CBRND EB.
The program first began as a P3 program lead by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and then transitioned to JPL CBRND EB’s MCMPT P3 program in 2023. The current program seeks to answer the question, “how fast can we discover antibodies and how can we increase their breadth of coverage?”
The team began a single cell sprint at VUMC to optimize and mature the antibodies to increase the speed and ability to find highly potent antibodies. The result of these sprints are critical data packages that will be included as a part of the Rapid Access to Products in Development (RAPID) database with the option of additional development depending on service demand. RAPID is a JPEO-CBRND program that provides information on the availability, location, and maturity of a medical countermeasure (MCM) to the joint force informing the prioritization of future MCM development efforts. By having a product (or products) discovered and on the shelf for various threats, it puts us in a better preparedness posture than if we had to start from scratch.
“Time is a critical component of defense,” said Bailey. “If we can generate data faster that means we can provide that data to the joint force when they need it, giving them access to more information to make informed decisions on their requirements for MCMs. By performing these sprints with VUMC, we are strengthening that capability by testing its limits to see how fast we can get the data we need.”
Vanderbilt began the first sprint in June 2024 using Hantavirus as its first target. Hantavirus is a viral disease found in Europe and Asia. It is a base for many viruses including “Rat Virus,” which is currently circulating in Eastern Europe. Hantaviruses is a severe upper respiratory disease spread rapidly and have a high mortality rate of up to 40 percent. These factors make Hantavirus a strong initial target to a single cell sprint as its data is operationally relevant and could inform other similar viral families.
“The Hantavirus Sprint allows us to tackle a threat early on that is bound to become a bigger issue in the future,” said Chris Spiridon, Acting Deputy Director for Advanced Technology Platforms, JPL CBRND EB.
Though the spring is only a month underway, it has already made progress. JPL CBRND EB’s partners at VUMC will be posting real time project progress to their X (formerly Twitter) page. Follow along to keep up with the sprint at the hashtag: #VVCHantaSprint or the @VUMC_Vaccines page. Stay tuned for more news about how the JPEO-CBRND and our JPL CBRND EB team is advancing the speed of bio-preparedness and response for our warfighters and the Nation.