Integrating "Everyday" with "Maybe Someday"

The theme of the 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Chemical and Biological Terrorism Defense is Integrating "Everyday" with "Maybe Someday". There are numerous challenges in developing defenses, particularly medical countermeasures, or detection systems, to address biological or chemical threats. If the products or systems address only a particular agent, and have no other application, the cost of development and preparedness is enormously high relative to the perceived benefit of having these tools at hand. This Conference will focus on an array of topics in which new research has been focused on broad spectrum and platform technology approaches to discovering and developing defenses for biological and chemical threats that both leverage and integrate "everyday" applications. Major topic areas will include: broad spectrum approaches to antimicrobials and antiviral drugs; platform technologies for diagnostics; integration of chemical and biological detection into general use platforms; early host responses to biological and chemical agents; translational research: animals to people; "magic bullets": immunomodulators and immune enhancers; "OMICS" for biological and chemical agents; and screening strategies: targets and opportunities for intervention. The Conference will provide a forum for interaction of scientists from a variety of disciplines, and afford an opportunity for junior scientists and graduate students to contribute to a robust interdisciplinary discussion of the topics and challenges presented.