PANDEMIC RESPONSE


ADVANCES IN SCIENCE


Dan Angelini, Ph.D., a DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center research biologist, loads the Emulate lung chip into its medium supply system known as a "Pod." (Photo by Jack Bunja, U.S. Army DEVCOM)


with the coronavirus. According to the FDA website, such authority allows the FDA to help strengthen the nation’s public health protections against chem- ical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats by facilitating the availability and use of medical-countermeasure initiatives needed during public health emergen- cies. At the time and in response to the authorization, more than 70,000 Ameri- can patients who had recovered from the coronavirus donated plasma to help people who were sick with the coronavirus.


Researchers at the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL) teamed with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Houston Method- ist Medical, Penn State University and


the University of Texas at Austin to test ways to measure COVID-19 antibody levels for convalescent plasma therapy. Te researchers found that the enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test has an 80 percent or more probabil- ity of determining comparable antibody levels at or above the FDA-recommended levels necessary for COVID-19 conva- lescent plasma. Te team also concluded that convalescent plasma donors maintain high levels of immunity for many weeks; frequent plasma donations do not cause a significant decrease in antibody or virus neutralization levels. Twenty-seven asymp- tomatic individuals who were part of the surveillance cohort with high enough anti- bodies indicated that some asymptomatic individuals may have plasma suitable for


therapeutic use, and may have a degree of relative immunity against the coronavi- rus. Researchers also determined that the optimal window for donating convalescent plasma for COVID-19 immunotherapy is within the first 60 days after the donor has symptoms.


"I’m so proud of our DEVCOM team and all our partners. For ARL, as the Army's corporate research lab, we build forward-looking, strong partnerships across the foundational research ecosys- tem and across scientific disciplines," said Dr. Patrick J. Baker, ARL director. "Tis creates a scientific agility and responsive- ness that both prepares the Army for the future and allows us to pivot when needed to tackle new unknowns. Our ARL


https://asc.ar my.mil


25


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176