Concerns about global nuclear war, less likely than in the past, have been replaced by the real potential of a terrorist strike using radiological weapons. The threat of such attacks has grown in recent years, with the increased activity of global terrorist organizations and a rise in illicit trafficking of radioactive materials. Unfortuntely, very few medical products exist to counter the variety of acute and long-term toxicities that can result from nuclear or radiological attacks. There remains a great need to expand the medical options available to prevent or treat radiation-induced injury. We have formed a consortium termed Radiation Countermeasures Centers of Research Excellence (RadCCORE) to collectively and collaboratively increase possible agents to detect, mitigate and treat those people exposed to deterministic doses of radiation (www.radccore.org/). Leading scientists in the area of radiation biology, health physics, stem cell biology/transplantation and immunology have come together to form one of the most comprehensive, inclusive, inter-institutional, and interdisciplinary Center for Medical Countermeasures Against Radiation (CMCR). RadCCORE is a network of academic medical centers: Duke University, University of North Carolina, and Wake Forest University and will consist of five research projects and four support cores. A major benefit of this group of investigators has been the dedication and strength of the individuals in the areas of normal tissue injury, radiation biology, physics, training and education. Given that most of our lead compounds have progressed through the development pipeline and are now externally funded, we have selected a new set of promising countermeasures but with all the original cores and core leaders intact. This arrangement brings novel investigators, increased basic and translational science knowledge and novel mitigators to our center. This network addresses broad areas of research and has made great strides in the development of new therapeutic products to prevent short- and long-term toxicities.
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