Genetic Tools for Detecting VHF Bioweapons

描述（由申请人提供）：最近在一次针对美国公民的袭击中使用了生物武器，这使得生物恐怖主义从可能的领域变成了实际的威胁。这一新认识将对快速、高通量诊断、治疗和疫苗接种的需求推到了风口浪尖。本应用集中于利用高致命性SNV（布尼亚病毒科：汉坦病毒）作为模式生物，开发高通量检测病毒性出血热活剂。此外，我们将在这笔资金下开发的技术也将具有相当大的价值，有助于推进与SNV相关的汉坦病毒肺综合征（HPS）的治疗。该应用程序将开发汉坦病毒的反向遗传技术，其最初目的是制备细胞报告者，当细胞暴露于活的、具有复制能力的SNV时产生绿色信号。这一进展将有相当大的潜力将该技术扩展到病毒性出血热的其他药物。我们有一个具体的计划，在这项申请资助的初步开发阶段之后进一步开发和商业化该产品，并将在两年的资助周期结束时寻求进一步的资助，以开发有关汉坦病毒复制的基本信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The recent deployment of a bioweapon in an attack on the citizens of the United States has moved bioterrorism from the realm of possible to actual threat. This new realization has brought the need for rapid, high-throughput diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination to the forefront. This application concentrates on development of high-throughput detection of live agents of viral hemorrhagic fever, using the highly lethal SNV (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus) as the model organism. Furthermore, the technology we will develop under this funding will also be of considerable value as facilitating the advancement of treatments for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), the disease associated with SNV. This application will develop reverse genetics technology for hantaviruses with the initial intent of preparation of cellular reporters that produce a green signal when the cells are exposed to live, replication-competent SNV. This development would have considerable potential for expanding the technology to other agents of viral hemorrhagic fever. We have a specific plan to further develop and commercialize the product after the initial development phase funded by this application and will seek further funding to develop basic information on the replication of hantaviruses at the end of the two-year funding cycle.