Building Europe's Biotoxin Preparedness Network: EMBRACE at Arcachon
The Arcachon CBRNe Research Conference, which was held in Arcachon, France, from 19 to 21 May, provided an important opportunity for the EMBRACE project and the Biotoxin Task Force (BTF) to engage with current European thinking on CBRNe preparedness, capability development, operational response and translational science. Across many of the sessions, a recurring theme emerged: while scientific progress in the CBRNe domain is accelerating rapidly, significant challenges remain in ensuring that advances are translated effectively into operational practice and preparedness capability.
Early plenary sessions led by F Dorandeau, Giannis Skiadaresis, Monique Idiri and Isabelle Daoust-Maleval highlighted evolving European strategies relating to both civilian protection and military preparedness for CBRNe threats. These strategic discussions were reinforced by a presentation from Camille Lanet on the RADAR strategic foresight initiative, which specifically identified biotoxins as an area of capability vulnerability and future concern.
These themes aligned closely with keynote presentations from Stephanie Simon and Veronique Julliard, who provided an update on RICIMED — now licensed in France as the first therapeutic treatment for ricin intoxication. The emergence of a licensed countermeasure for one of the most severe biotoxin threats demonstrated how scientific innovation is beginning to respond directly to strategic preparedness imperatives. Similarly, Pierre-Olivier Vidalain introduced work on a new class of antivirals targeting biological threat agents, further illustrating the pace of scientific advancement in this sector.
A particularly significant scientific contribution was presented by Andreas Rummel, who examined new methodologies for assessing the potency of botulism antitoxins. The work represents a major advance in determining the quantity of antitoxin required to neutralise specific quantities of botulinum toxin variants including BoNT/A1, B1, F1 and BoNT/E1. Such developments have important implications for future clinical and operational response planning.
Operational resilience and hybrid threats were another prominent theme throughout the conference. Genny Dimitrakopoulou highlighted the growing risk of hybrid attacks in which an initial CBRN or hazardous materials incident is compounded by secondary cyber-attacks targeting emergency response systems, healthcare infrastructure or critical utilities. Particular attention was drawn to the vulnerability of water treatment systems, referencing incidents such as the Oldsmar water treatment cyberattack, where cyber activity had the potential to create a hazardous contamination event.
A further recurring discussion point concerned the “valley of death” between research and operational uptake. Multiple sessions recognised that many promising innovations fail to transition successfully from high Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) into fielded operational capability. The DIREKTION Innovation Highway approach was presented as one potential solution, using a five-phase pathway spanning idea generation, development, integration, validation and uptake. These discussions reinforced the perceived value of the Biotoxin Task Force as a mechanism capable of connecting emerging technical expertise more directly with operational communities, ensuring that current scientific understanding can better inform preparedness, response planning and capability development.
This perspective was reinforced during Wednesday morning workshop discussions examining methods for accelerating the initial response to CBRN incidents. Sessions explored the use of AI-supported systems to assist emergency call handlers in identifying critical indicators and triaging incidents more effectively. A key conclusion emerging from these discussions was that many response systems still depend heavily upon generalists — call handlers or frontline responders — recognising the right indicators, asking appropriate questions, and possessing sufficient cross-disciplinary awareness to identify potential CBRN or toxicological issues. AI systems capable of identifying cues, symptoms and behavioural indicators may help bridge some of these gaps, but the discussions also highlighted the continuing challenge of translating specialist knowledge into frontline operational environments.
Important debate also emerged regarding decontamination doctrine and the gap between current scientific evidence and operational practice. One workshop presentation recommended soap and water for emergency decontamination of organophosphorus nerve agents (OPNAs), based on the ORCHIDS protocols developed for mass decontamination. Questions were raised regarding the scientific basis for this recommendation given evidence suggesting that wet decontamination may increase dermal absorption through “wash-in” effects. This concern was subsequently reinforced by presentations from Lina Thors, who presented comparative data on sulphur mustard decontamination approaches. The findings indicated a measurable absorption spike associated with wet-only decontamination, a phenomenon not observed with dry decontamination, combined dry-and-wet approaches, or RSDL methodologies. These sessions collectively demonstrated that scientific understanding in some areas may now be progressing more rapidly than operational doctrine and field guidance.
The conference also provided valuable insight into wider EU Horizon activity and stakeholder engagement approaches through presentations delivered by Olga Vybornova and others. While scheduling conflicts limited full participation in some sessions, themes included improving collaboration between first responders, public authorities and citizens, as well as strengthening mechanisms for knowledge exchange and operational uptake.
Finally, broader discussions on CBRN education and training highlighted the continuing challenge of ensuring specialist knowledge reaches those who require it operationally. Presentations led by Ladislava Navratilova examined international perspectives on CBRN education and implementation of recommendations emerging from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons temporary working group discussions. Although much of the discussion remained heavily chemically focused, questions were raised concerning inclusion of biotoxin preparedness within future training systems. The overall conclusion from these sessions was clear: while training systems can evolve to include biotoxin-related content where operational requirements are recognised, it remains unrealistic to expect generalist responders to become specialists across the full CBRNe spectrum. This further reinforces the importance of mechanisms such as the Biotoxin Task Force that can provide timely access to specialist expertise and support informed operational decision-making.
Overall, participation in the Arcachon conference strongly reinforced the strategic relevance of the EMBRACE project, the Biotoxin Task Force and the BRSH. The event demonstrated both the pace of scientific and technological advancement in the biotoxin and broader CBRNe sectors, and the continuing need for structures capable of translating emerging expertise into practical preparedness and operational capability.