FORT DETRICK, Md. – Two researchers from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense have been awarded the federal government’s highest honor for outstanding early career scientists and engineers.

Research chemist Dr. C. Linn Cadieux and research biochemist Dr. Bryan McCranor, both with USAMRICD’s Medical Toxicology Research Division, were among 400 people from 14 federal agencies who received the 2024 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, awarded by President Biden on Jan. 14. The annual award, established in 1996 and administered by the National Science and Technology Council, recognizes scientists and engineers who have made outstanding contributions to their chosen research fields while still at the outset of their careers.

Cadieux received the award for her efforts to improve how novel therapeutic drugs for treating exposure to chemical warfare nerve agents are discovered, developed, and tested. Her team developed an improved early development pipeline for testing countermeasure drugs, which to date has led to the screening of over 350 candidate drugs for federal, academic, and industry partners. She also developed a new model for testing nerve agent exposure and drug efficacy that more accurately replicates human responses to toxic substances. The model is being used in studies that will be submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of the approval process for the next generation of nerve agent countermeasures.

“It’s very gratifying to be recognized for the work that I’m doing but I’m not the only scientist here doing some really cool research,” says Cadieux, who has authored or co-authored 11 publications since joining USAMRICD. “We are a small organization, but we do a lot of amazing work.”

Cadieux’s award nomination cites her ability to develop strong customer relationships and to successfully secure funding for research in a highly competitive field of research. In 2023, she was named USAMRICD’s employee of the year, in part for securing over $10 million in funding for research that year.

McCranor’s award recognizes his research on medical countermeasures to health threats posed by opioids and respiratory toxins, as well as his work to improve techniques for decontaminating wounds and burns. Research conducted by McCranor and his colleagues has led to the development of the Rapid Opioid Countermeasure System, which is on track for receiving a New Drug Application from the FDA. He has been the principal investigator on research projects with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the National Institutes of Health, and his projects have received funding from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command’s Combat Casualty Care Research Program and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs’ Toxic Exposure Research Program.

“It feels good to be recognized for my accomplishments, but we don’t go into this kind of work thinking that we’re going to get accolades,” says McCranor, whose projects have received over $14 million in funding to date. “We show up every day to do research on behalf of the Warfighter, trying to get them the medical products and knowledge solutions they need.”

An engineered in-vitro dermal tissue model advanced by McCranor and his team served as an integral part of a new dermal decontamination pipeline that DTRA researchers are using to establish criteria for testing wound and burn decontamination products. This pipeline is part of the process for readying new products for review and approval by the FDA, so that they can someday be used in military and civilian applications.

As part of their work, both Cadieux and McCranor mentor future scientists who participate in USAMRICD’s Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education, or ORISE, internship program. Established in 1992 by the Department of Energy, the ORISE program offers recent STEM graduates the opportunity to pursue paid internships with federal science and biomedical agencies that allow them to participate in cutting-edge research under the guidance of career scientists.

Cadieux and McCranor describe their participation in USAMRICD’s ORISE program as a way for them to “pay it forward” to the next generation of scientists, as well as to the organization. For them, it’s personal – they both started their scientific careers at USAMRICD as ORISE interns. An important part of mentorship, says Cadieux, is conveying the value of effective communication. If stakeholders don’t understand what you’re doing and why it’s important to the mission, she explains, they will be less inclined to support it.

“I was lucky that, early in my career, I had mentors who put a lot of emphasis on communication,” says Cadieux, who also serves as USAMRICD’s ORISE program coordinator. “They explained to me that communicating the science is part of successfully conducting quality science. Hopefully I’ve been able to help others along in the same way.”

Both scientists describe their motivation as a combination of curiosity and passion for scientific research combined with the sense of purpose that comes from working for a greater good.

“I like doing scientific research, and I am always going to search out projects that sound exciting to me, even if they’re not necessarily a hundred percent within my comfort zone,” says McCranor. “It definitely is a good feeling when you’re able to get a scientific ‘win’ or advance a product because you know that you’re making a difference. The research we do here at USAMRICD isn’t basic research; we’re focused on giving Warfighters new medical tools and advising them how to better use the tools they already have. So, to see your research be applied to real world situations is always a good feeling.”