Fort Detrick, MD. – Two researchers from the American medical army medical research institute received the highest distinction from the federal government for exceptional scientists and engineers at the start of their career.
The research chemist, Dr. C. Linn Cadieux, and the research biochemist, Dr. Bryan McCranor, both of the USAMRICD medical research division, were part of 400 people from 14 federal agencies that received the prize for the first presidential career in 2024 for scientists and engineers, awarded by President Biden on January 14. The annual prize, created in 1996 and administered by the National Science and Technology Council, recognizes scientists and engineers who have made exceptional contributions to their selected research areas while being at the start of their careers.
Cadieux received the prize for its efforts to improve the way in which new therapeutic drugs to deal with exposure to nervous agents of chemical war are discovered, developed and tested. His team has developed an improved early development pipeline to test counter-measurement medicines, which has to date dedicated more than 350 candidate drugs for federal, academic and industrial partners. It has also developed a new model to test exposure to nervous agents and the effectiveness of the drug which more precisely reproduces human responses to toxic substances. The model is used in studies that will be submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration as part of the approval process for the next generation of nervous agent countermeasures.
“It is very rewarding to be recognized for the work I do, but I am not the only scientist here to do really cool research,” explains Cadieux, who wrote or co-written 11 publications since he has Joined Usamricd. “We are a small organization, but we do a lot of incredible work.”
The appointment of prices of Cadieux cites its ability to develop solid relations with customers and to obtain funding successfully for research in a highly competitive field of research. In 2023, she was appointed employee of the year of the USAMRICD, in part to obtain more than $ 10 million research funding that year.
McCranor’s price recognizes its research on medical countermeasures with health threats posed by opioids and respiratory toxins, as well as its work to improve techniques to decontaminate injuries and burns. Research carried out by McCranor and his colleagues have led to the development of the fast opioid counter-effects system, which is on the right track to receive a new FDA medication application. He was the main investigator on research projects with the Defense Threat Reducy Agency and the National Institutes of Health, and his projects received funding from the Research Program on Combat Care for Medical Research and Development of the American army and medical research programs led by Congress. Toxic exhibition research program.
“It is good to be recognized for my achievements, but we do not enter into this kind of work by thinking that we are going to get distinctions,” explains McCranor, whose projects have received more than $ 14 million in funding to date. “We present ourselves every day to do research on behalf of the Warfighter, trying to get them the solutions for medical products and knowledge they need.”
A dermal fabric model ingested in the vitro put forward by McCranor and his team have been an integral part of a new dermal decontamination pipeline that DTRA researchers use to establish criteria to test the decontamination products for injuries and burns. This pipeline is part of the process of preparing new products for examination and approval by the FDA, so that they can one day be used in military and civil applications.
As part of their work, Cadieux and McCranor mentor the future scientists who participate in the OAK Ridge Institute of Science and Education of USAMRICD, or Orise, an internship program. Created in 1992 by the Ministry of Energy, the Orise Program offers recent STEM graduates the possibility of pursuing paid internships with federal sciences and biomedical agencies which allow them to participate in advanced research under the direction of scientists of career.
Cadieux and McCranor describe their participation in the Oise program of Usamricd as a means for them to “pay” for the next generation of scientists, as well as to the organization. For them, it is personal – they both started their scientific career in Usamricd as an Orise trainees. An important part of mentorship, known as Cadieux, is to transmit the value of effective communication. If stakeholders do not understand what you are doing and why it is important for the mission, she explains, they will be less inclined to support him.
“I was lucky that, at the start of my career, I had mentors who focus a lot on communication,” explains Cadieux, who is also coordinator of the Oise program in Usamricd. “They explained to me that the communication of science is part of the successful conduct of quality science. I hope I was able to help others the same way.
The two scientists describe their motivation as a combination of curiosity and passion for combined scientific research in the sense of the objective that comes from work for a greater good.
“I like to do scientific research, and I will always seek projects that seem exciting to me, even if they are not necessarily a hundred percent in my comfort zone,” explains McCranor. “It is certainly a good feeling when you can get a scientific” victory “or advance a product because you know you make a difference. The research we do here in Usamricd is not a basic research; We focused on driving new medical tools and advising them how to better use the tools they already have. Thus, seeing your research being applied to real situations of the world is always a good feeling. »»