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    DUINS Fellow Funded to Bring Science to the Battlefield

    DUINS Fellow at NAMRU-Dayton

    Photo By Megan Mudersbach | Lt. Dan Xu (right), biochemist and full-time Duty Under Instruction (DUINS) Fellow...... read more read more

    WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH, UNITED STATES

    02.08.2021

    Story by Megan Mudersbach 

    Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton

    By Lt. Dan Xu, Biochemist
    --
    In October 2019, Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-Dayton) was selected as the sole command for a brand new Navy full-time Duty Under Instruction (DUINS) program for the Biochemistry Community for a Graduate level Toxicology Certificate Program. I had the privilege of being selected as the first trainee for this competitive one-year certificate program and in July 2020, I began my training here at the Environmental Health Effects Laboratory (EHEL) at NAMRU-Dayton.

    The Medical Service Corps provides the program as a way of preparing each officer to meet critical education and training needs and to enable them to fulfill the mission. In partnership with Wright State University (WSU), NAMRU-Dayton now has another STEM opportunity to equip our naval officers with professional knowledge to prepare them with a scientific foundation for the mission to which they are assigned.

    Besides taking courses in WSU’s Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, I am a principal investigator conducting toxicology research
    under the mentorship of Dr. Karen Mumy, Director of EHEL at NAMRU-Dayton.

    In a study funded by the Joint Program Committee-5/Military Operational Medicine Research Program (JPC-5/MOMRP), I am designing and using a system called “Circulated Multi-Tissue Organoid Platform (CMTOP)” to
    characterize toxicity and to identify biomarkers of diesel exhaust. CMTOP uses human pluripotent stem cell derived, three dimensional cultures to mimic human liver, lung and brain organs (which are called "organoids") and communication between them. Our military personnel can be regularly exposed to diesel exhaust from military vehicles and pollution in
    dense urban environments. Diesel exhaust is a highly complex mixture that contains particles as well as a variety of gaseous components of
    toxicological relevance and exposure can cause systemic inflammation and adverse effects on lung, liver and brain activities.

    My hope is that this research will pave the way for establishing a low cost, rapid, non-invasive in vitro test platform for military relevant occupational and environmental exposures and disease. If found to be successful, this system could serve as a less expensive and more rapid method to screen for toxicity of various exposures at multiple levels, while saving the more costly animal-based toxicological studies for exposure cases that require more in depth evaluation of health effects in living systems. Additionally, data may be used to develop an in silico model to provide information and
    recommendation (possible adverse effects, toxic component and exposure limits) during early stages of new chemical/material development/ acquisition process, as well as for risk assessment. Moreover, findings will contribute to developing medical countermeasures and to predict possible environmental pollution threats, all of which will benefit military personnel in combat and noncombat missions, particularly dense urban environments.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.08.2021
    Date Posted: 02.08.2021 09:59
    Story ID: 388594
    Location: WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH, US

    Web Views: 145
    Downloads: 0

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