http://www.boston.com/dailynews/012/world/From_bison_disease_to_PCB_eati:.shtml

From bison disease to PCB-eating microbes, Russian biological laboratory has technology to sell

By Judith Ingram, Associated Press, 1/12/2002 12:08

SERPUKHOV, Russia (AP) A fuzzy toy buffalo occupies the top spot in the glass case displaying souvenirs from Roman Borovick's foreign collaborators.

It's a symbol of his institute's efforts to promote a new vaccine against the brucellosis that infects close to half the 300,000 bison in the Yellowstone Park area. The disease, which causes females to abort fetuses, can be passed to cattle.

As Russia and the United States look for new areas of cooperation in biodefense, Borovick and his team say they have plenty to offer, including a new method for quick detection and identification of airborne diseases.

''This is already a direct contribution to the battle against biological terrorism,'' Borovick said.

But his Research Center for Toxicology and Hygienic Regulation of Biopreprations also is putting its expertise to nonweapons-related work.

It conducted preclinical trials that opened the way for the Russian-developed vaccine for brucellosis. The new variant would overcome the biggest problem associated with the current vaccine: the impossibility of distinguishing sick animals from those that have been vaccinated.

Borovick also wants to make it safer for the people who vaccinate bison. His solution is an aerosol vaccine that could be applied as beasts are run through a chute.

''We think that in the future, aerosol vaccinations will be considered the most efficient, most reliable method'' for both animals and people, Borovick said.

He knows his idea will be a tough sell. While many scientists praise the possibilities of aerosol vaccines, some fear that perfecting the technology might provide a new weapon for potential bioterrorists.

Such fears are among the many hurdles faced by Borovick's institute, which is staffed mainly by veterans of the former Soviet biological weapons program.

Western companies ''may be wary of working with scientists who used to be doing weapons work,'' said Amy Smithson, an expert on chemical and biological weapons control at the Henry Stimson Center in Washington. ''But there are a number of very good reasons for them to become engaged. To begin with, the expertise is mind-boggling.''

The Serpukhov institute grew out of the nearby Obolensk biological laboratory, inheriting dozens of its scientists and the aerosol chambers developed there to carry out germ warfare experiments using such pathogens as anthrax, plague and tularemia. The scientists say this particular equipment was used only for peaceful purposes.

''The equipment was ordered in 1988, but it wasn't put to use until 1994,'' said Konstantin Soloviev, head of the Division of Aerosol Toxicometry. That would be two years after then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced that the Soviet biological weapons program had been closed.

Today, the eight glass-and-metal chambers, each of which can hold up to 140 laboratory rats or mice, are used to test medicines, pesticides and factory emissions.

Borovick's institute, about 60 miles south of Moscow, has attracted more than $800,000 from the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow. One of the center's goals is to find foreign collaborators that can help finance research and develop openness.

In addition to the proposal on vaccinating Yellowstone's 300,000 bison, the Serpukhov Institute is trying to find a U.S. partner for its patented method of using microbes to clean soil of highly toxic PCBs, which were once used insulation in electrical equipment.

It has also been working since the middle of last year with the U.S. Army's biodefense laboratory in Fort Detrick, Md., to develop a vaccine against hantavirus. The respiratory illness, spread throughout North America by deer mice, has killed more than 100 people since its discovery in 1993.

The institute has also proposed a project to improve security at the collections of botanical pathogens stored in Russia, Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary.

''They need to be looked after because they could fall into the wrong hands,'' Borovick said.

-- Anonymous, January 12, 2002