Research Description

Development of a Rapid Point-Of-Care Diagnostic for Sulfur Mustard Exposure

Sulfur Mustard (SM) is a very reactive alkylating reagent. As it is inexpensive, easy to synthesize and readily weaponized, SM poses a major threat as a potential chemical weapon for terrorists. SM is nearly odorless and does not generate pain during exposure. First clinical signs of SM exposure typically begin to appear several hours after exposure, with a redness of skin that leads to large blister formation after about 24 hours. The aim of this project is to create a rapid, point-of-care detector system that can determine the level of SM exposure in individual persons. To accomplish this, two target molecules common throughout the body, human serum albumin (HSA) and glutathione (GSH), were reacted with 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) and SM to determine the alkylation reaction sites, which will be used ultimately to generate specific ligands that will determine the level of SM exposure in persons.