February 17, 2009: Luna Innovations Inc., of Roanoke, Va., is working with a team at Virginia Tech to see if buckyballs can be used to help protect people from the deadly affects of nerve gases like sarin and VX.

Marion Ehrich, co-director of Virginia Tech’s Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies will spend three years working with fullerenes — hollow, caged molecules commonly referred to as buckyballs — provided by Luna Innovations to develop novel methods for delivering chemical antidotes.

The company and Ehrich will use buckyballs that have been modified to enhance their water solubility and catalytic and antioxidant properties.

“Organophosphorous compounds represent a class of extremely potent chemical warfare agents that can cause incapacitation and death within minutes of exposure,” Ehrich said in a news release.

The 1994 and 1995 Japanese subway attacks conducted by terrorists using sarin gas and the attacks on the northern Iraqi Kurds perpetrated by former dictator Saddam Hussein are both examples of chemical terrorism and warfare using organophosphate compounds.

“The water-soluble fullerenes developed by Luna Innovations are an absolutely critical part of this novel approach to developing better counter-measures,” said Ehrich. “We’re delighted to be collaborating with them.”

Helping to pay for the research is a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.