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How Chemistry Changed World War

June 12, 2018

Autopsies of people who died of mustard gas poisoning during WWI showed low white blood cell counts. Researchers then thought, “Hmm, if mustard gas kills white blood cells, could it can treat cancers that affect immune cells, such as leukemia?” At a cellular level, mustard gas and nitrogen mustard form intermediates that bind to DNA’s two helical strands, locking them together. Because the strands can’t pull apart during cell division, the cells die. After the war, researchers developed nitrogen mustard into one of the first cancer chemotherapy drugs called mustine. It wasn’t the best drug ever, but mustine paved the way for treating cancer with chemicals, or cancer chemotherapy.

Spotlight

Moderna Therapeutics

Moderna is a clinical stage pioneer of messenger RNA Therapeutics™, an entirely new in vivo drug technology that produces human proteins, antibodies and entirely novel protein constructs inside patient cells, which are in turn secreted or active intracellularly. This breakthrough platform addresses currently undruggable targets and offers a superior alternative to existing drug modalities for a wide range of diseases and conditions. Moderna is developing and plans to commercialize its innovative mRNA drugs through its own ventures and its strategic relationships with established pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Its current ventures are: Onkaido, focused on oncology, Valera, focused on infectious diseases, Elpidera, focused on rare diseases, and Caperna, focused on personalized cancer vaccines. Cambridge-based Moderna is privately held and currently has strategic agreements with AstraZeneca, Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Merck.

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U.S. Chemical Weapons Elimination Program's Key Successes

Infographic | February 28, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) oversees the U.S. chemical weapons elimination program. We've worked for over 30 years to keep Americans safe from dangerous chemicals in warfare materials by monitoring the process for safely destroying them and making sure workers and nearby communities stay safe and healthy.

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Infographic | December 4, 2019

100% of ACC’s Plastics Division’s U.S. manufacturing sites participate in Operation Clean Sweep-Blue by 2020, with all North American sites by 2022 Founding member of Global Declaration, which today includes 75 plastics organizations in 40 countries that have pledged to develop and track programs to help keep plastics out of our oceans

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PFAS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Infographic | December 28, 2019

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How Chemistry Changed World War