The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, awarded Duke University researchers who are developing a blood test that can tell in just hours how much radiation a person has absorbed from a nuclear incident an additional $10.4 million contract to continue the program through early 2016, bringing total funding since 2009 to more than $43 million.
The multi-gene test, called a biodosimeter, comprises the work of scientists under the leadership of Nelson Chao, MD, MBA, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Hematological Malignancies and Cellular Therapy; Dr. Frederic Zenhausern, PhD, at the University of Arizona; and scientists at Thermo Fisher Scientific and DxTerity Diagnostics.