Expanded Bioaerosol Facility Provides Means to Study Respirable Agents of Disease and Health

Completion of a new bioaerosol challenge facility will expand IITRI's capabilities to study respirable pathogens, pulmonary diseases, and the mechanisms through which disease is spread through inhalation. "This approach is becoming an important piece of how to solve the problem of infectious disease," said Robert L. Sherwood, Ph.D., manager of IITRI's Microbiology and Molecular Biology Division.

	"Very few labs can generate a respirable aerosol of disease-causing pathogens like B. anthracis," which is necessary to study how humans contract the inhaled form of anthrax. Robert L. Sherwood, Ph.D., Manager Microbiology and Molecular Biology

The new facility is part of an ongoing 2,900-square-foot expansion of IITRI's Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory. Designed for the safe containment and study of highly infectious pathogens, the expanded BSL-3 laboratory will include three new animal rooms and two microbiology laboratories. IITRI is certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is registered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the possession and use of highly pathogenic microbes.

Using a controlled laboratory setting to recreate respiratory exposures to pathogens provides the necessary environment in which to perform studies supporting the development of preventive and/or curative agents. A laboratory such as IITRI's bioaerosol facility provides an essential resource to examine the mechanisms of infectious respirable diseases such as influenza, inhalation anthrax and pneumonic plague. "Very few labs can generate a respirable aerosol of disease-causing pathogens like B. anthracis," which is necessary to study how humans contract the inhaled form of anthrax, stated Dr. Sherwood.

Studies Support Development of Aerosol Drugs

In addition to studying disease-causing pathogens, IITRI scientists also will study inhalation administration of aerosol drugs in the bioaerosol challenge facility. "Many companies are developing aerosol delivery of drugs because drugs are rapidly absorbed and distributed throughout the body using this route," Dr. Sherwood said. Developing an aerosol drug that is both respirable and effective is where the challenge comes in. "The difficulty is in formulating the substance so that it is bioavailable."

	"We'll be looking at particle sizes and other factors necessary to provide a respirable aerosol to the test system." Narayanan Rajendran, Ph.D. Manager, Inhalation Toxicology

Once the target concentration of the drug is achieved in the test atmosphere, exposure of infected test animals can begin. Through controlled exposures of the test animals, the curative (and/or potentially toxic) properties of the drug can be determined by examination of biological endpoints.

Experts Create Controlled Test Environment

IITRI's inhalation toxicology experts, led by Narayanan Rajendran, Ph.D., manager of the Inhalation Toxicology Division, are responsible for generating bioaerosol test atmospheres suitable for exposing specific animal models. "We'll be looking at particle sizes and other factors necessary to provide a respirable aerosol to the test system," Dr. Rajendran said.

Preparation for a bioaerosol challenge involves establishing a stable and reproducible test atmosphere containing viable aerosol at target concentrations. "Factors that differentiate IITRI are our ability to generate and control test atmospheres consistently at the appropriate concentration, and our expertise in aerosol science to solve problems associated with the dissemination of difficult materials," said Dr. Rajendran.

Vaccine Development Takes on Bioterrorism

With the BSL-3 laboratory expansion, IITRI is also better equipped to assist pharmaceutical companies and government agencies in developing new vaccines to protect the population from the threat of bioterrorism.

"It's clear that with concerns over bioterrorism there are definite needs for new vaccines," Dr. Sherwood said. "With those needs comes the need for facilities that can work both with vaccines and with pathogenic agents. We fill that very important need."

IITRI scientists are also working to develop better animal infectious disease models (primarily in mice and rats), which will lead to more effective tests to support the development of preventive and curative drugs.

Perfecting vaccines for bioterrorism agents is a long-term endeavor. "It's an evolutionary process, as we improve our animal models and our knowledge of how vaccines work in animal models," said Dr. Sherwood. The ultimate goal is to develop vaccines that will render potentially pathogenic agents useless for the purposes of bioterrorism.