Project Summary – Research Support Core. The overall goal of the Research Support Core (RSC) is to support the Vesicant ExRC by providing standardized exposure and analytical assistance to CCRP-funded investigators. The RSC will identify and implement new methods to characterize injury manifestations at cellular, molecular and tissue levels, and provide training to visiting scientists and educational fellows. The RSC team will be led by a PhD-level Scientific Program Manager (SPM) under the guidance of the Vesicant ExRC Director. The SPM will be responsible for coordinating with the Administrative Core and Coordinating Core, developing budgets for reimbursable operations, ensuring Animal Use Protocols are submitted or amended, complying with Institutional and Animal Care and Use and Environmental Health & Safety policies, engaging with the Wake Forest Animal Research Program for animal handling, scheduling operations, and managing technical personnel. The RSC will build upon existing institutional expertise in studying tissue responses to vesicant exposure in vivo and ex vivo, as well as in human microphysiological models of upper airway and skin. The RSC will operate with the following five specific aims: 1) develop and standardize exposure procedures in mice and rabbits for vesicants identified in CCRP-funded studies; 2) develop and standardize in vitro studies for liquid or vapor challenge of human microphysiological models; 3) develop new analytical methods to characterize tissue responses to vesicant exposure; 4) conduct exposures, sample collection and data analysis; and 5) provide technical assistance and training to CCRP-funded investigators and educational fellows. The RSC builds on pioneering work by Dr. McNutt, Dr. Atala and Dr. Murphy to establish relevant models of vesicant injury, study fundamental aspects of injury progression, and develop innovative approaches to test medical countermeasures. The RSC will use analytical methods that are currently employed for CDMRP-funded, NIH-funded and DoD- funded vesicant-based projects, to include high-resolution imaging, metabolomics, lipidomics, transcriptomics, mitochondrial substrate utilization, and proteomics. The RSC will continue to develop new and improved methods to characterize and study injury progression in order to serve as a source of innovation for the CCRP community.