Bio-Agent Detection System (Anthrax) (US Patent 7,374,874 B2)
The system addresses 'speed of detection' (or lack thereof) in currently available bio-agent detectors. We take advantage of natural characteristics of viruses of bacteria (bacteriophages), to provide a FAST spore binding/detection event that can convey a signal within 30-60 seconds, indicating the presence of anthrax spores in an air sample. This detection speed is due to the rapidity with which bacteriophage proteins bind spores. We have carried out careful selections from soil ('biopanning') that have produces phages that work in our air sampler-detection system and can rapidly signal the presence of spores in a sample.Our system consists of 3 main components: an air sampler, an acoustic detection system (QCM) and a standard laptop PC. The system operates as follows: The air sampler draws air from a room or small enclosure through a standard microbial filter, which traps particles that are spore-sized or larger. Periodically the sampler back-flushes the filter with a liquid buffer, delivering the trapped particles to a very small 'test chamber' lined with selected phages that will bind to the spores. The phages themselves are already immobilized on a quartz crystal that is vibrating at about 5 million oscillations per second. The vibrations are controlled and monitored by an acoustic controller and a laptop PC. If the immobilized phages (on the vibrating crystal) bind to spores, the frequency of the crystal vibration changes instantly, which shows immediately on the laptop PC, thus indicating the presence of spores in the air sample. This system can be engineered to be portable.
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