MELBOURNE, FLA. — Andrew Knight, Ph.D., Florida Tech associate professor of chemistry, has been awarded two contracts totaling $148,278 from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
His project involves designing novel metal-based drugs that will act as broad spectrum therapeutics to defend against biological warfare agents. These might include Ebola virus and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. Working with him are Florida Tech graduate students in chemistry Christa Simmers, Aaron Funk and Christian Agatemor; postdoctoral associate Ria Yngard; and undergraduate student Laura Congiardo. Collaborating with him is Edward Chang, Ph.D of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.
The research of Knight and his team centers around the interface of inorganic chemistry and other scientific sub-disciplines including catalysis and organic synthesis, nanoscale and layered materials, medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, biodefense and green chemistry. Knight earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah between 1990 and 1993.