# Wake Forest University Vesicant Exposure Resource and Coordination Core

> **NIH NIH U2C** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $630,131

## Abstract

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.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10937789
- **Project number:** 1U2CEY036984-01
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick Michael McNutt
- **Activity code:** U2C (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $630,131
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10937789

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10937789, Wake Forest University Vesicant Exposure Resource and Coordination Core (1U2CEY036984-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10937789. Licensed CC0.

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