Albany State University received more than $1.1 million in research funding, over three years, from the U.S. Department of Defense to protect public health and U.S. military troops against the threat of a bioterrorist attack.

A research team in the Department of Natural and Forensic Sciences, led by Professor Seong Seo, Associate Professor ByungHoon Kim, Assistant Professor Yong Jin Lee, and Assistant Professor Shayla Williams, will conduct research that aims to study the toxic effect of organophosphate compounds in different types of cells.

The project will employ a multidisciplinary approach to develop a method to screen organophosphate compounds that have been used as chemical-warfare agents and also to detect highly toxic pesticides.

OPCs present a big threat to human safety and health. The OPChip that will be developed in this study will provide a new platform for screening toxicity in a fast and accurate manner, which will not only save time and money, but eliminate or reduce the number of animals used for toxicity training.

Funding for this project was received through the Minority Serving Institutions Science, Technology, and Engineering & Mathematics Research & Development Consortium.