Oksana Lockridge, PhD, is a professor in the UNMC Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases. She also holds courtesy appointments in the UNMC departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Environmental Health and Toxicology.

The Lockridge Lab has developed methods to identify protein modifications resulting from exposure to organophosphorus pesticides and nerve agents. These poisons make adducts not only on acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, but also on albumin. The information gained from studying protein adducts is useful for proving exposure and for identifying the type of poison. Low doses that cause no symptoms can nevertheless be detected by analyzing blood samples. 

In collaboration with Dr. Steven Hinrichs in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Dr. Lockridge leads UNMC's human butyrylcholinesterase facility, which produces a bioscavenger protein for research that protects from nerve agent toxicity. Pretreatment with the bioscavenger protein, called butyrylcholinesterase, gives complete protection from nerve agents. A dose has a half-life of about two weeks.