Inderscience Publishers recently introduced a new scientific print and Web periodical, The Botulinum Journal, and Dr. Michael Adler, a research pharmacologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, has been appointed as one of the journal's two associate editors.
"The TBJ is devoted to reporting all aspects of botulinum toxin, a powerful bacterial neurotoxin, including state of the art laboratory research, tracking and investigation of outbreaks, and publication of editorials and policy papers to guide the development of small molecule therapeutics," said Adler, who has spent the last 16 years of his career at MRICD doing research to develop drugs to reverse the muscle paralysis that occurs in patients intoxicated with botulinum toxin.
"By this appointment, our institute is clearly recognized as an important center for botulinum toxin research," said Col. Harry Slife, MRICD's commander.
Adler and his team have made significant progress toward developing a treatment drug that is designed to inhibit the actions of botulinum neurotoxin inside the nerve endings that control voluntary muscles and restore normal muscle function.
Unlike the antitoxin that is the currently approved medication for botulism, the treatment being developed by Adler and his team would not have a time restriction for effectiveness.
As a result of his research efforts and collaborations, Adler has authored or coauthored 34 journal articles and book chapters on botulinum toxin. He is also active in the prestigious Interagency Botulism Research Coordinating Committee, where he chairs an annual symposia on small molecule therapeutic drugs.
Additionally, Adler is widely sought for his expertise by patients stricken with botulism, and he worked with the World Health Organization to identify sources of antitoxin for the victims of a large botulism outbreak in Thailand in 2006.
Inderscience promotes the journal on its Web site as "an international forum and refereed authoritative source of information...to disseminate knowledge, provide a learned reference in the field, and establish channels of communication" among researchers and professionals in government, academia and industry, and policy makers in biodefense, homeland security, public safety and regulatory compliance.
The journal will be published quarterly, and the first issue recently became available on line at www.inderscience.com/tbj. Serving on the editorial board are several other researchers from MRICD's sister laboratories within MRMC. They include Drs. Frank Lebeda and Leonard A. Smith, from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Lt. Col. Charles Millard of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Social Sharing