The "BioBriefcase" is intended to thwart terrorists. It uses microfluidic technology to sample the air around the carrier to quickly detect, analyze and warn of airborne biological terror attacks. It can also monitor hospitals and livestock for the spread disease causing bacteria and viruses.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s "BioBriefcase" is a compact and portable instrument capable of autonomously detecting the full spectrum of bioagents, including bacteria, viruses and toxins in the air. It uses the state of art technologies to collect, process, and analyze samples to detect, and identify genetic and protein signatures of bioagents.
There is a critical need for distributed biothreat agent sensor networks that can operate in civilian applications. These platforms need to have several key properties: 1) they need to be capable of detecting pathogens within 1 to 2 hours, allowing for enough time to respond to an event; 2) they need to be extremely low cost to maintain, since continuous monitoring is essential for many applications; and 3) they need to have sufficient sensitivity to cover a broad geographical area; and 4) they need to have sufficient selectivity to virtually eliminate false positives. Currently available bio-weapons detection systems are designed primarily for military use. These military systems are expensive to deploy and ultimately unsuited for civilian protection
The term "biobriefcase" is intended to mean any device or system for monitoring airborne biological agents in a compact size, according to inventors Perry M. Bell, Allen T. Christian, Christopher G. Bailey, Ladona Willis, Donald A. Masquelier and Shanavaz L. Nasarabadi.
The biobriefcase provides a system for sampling air and collecting particles entrained in the air. The particles potentially include bioagents. The system comprises a receiving surface, a liquid input that directs liquid to the receiving surface and produces a liquid surface, an air input that directs the air so that the air with particles entrained in the air impact the liquid surface, and an electrostatic contact connected to the liquid that imparts an electric charge to the liquid.
The particles potentially including bioagents become captured in the liquid by the air with particles entrained in the air impacting the liquid surface. The electrostatic contact connected to the liquid imparts an electric charge to the liquid. Collection efficiency is improved by the electrostatic contact electrically charging the liquid. The effects of impaction and adhesion due to electrically charging the liquid allows a unique combination in a particle capture medium that has a low fluid consumption rate while maintaining high efficiency.
Organisms that can be collected by biobriefcase include protein toxins, bacteria, viruses, and chemicals. The biobriefcase can be used to limit or prevent civilian exposure to biological pathogens, and initiate early treatment for those exposed; thereby decreasing mortality and morbidity from bioterrorism events.
Organisms that can be collected by biobriefcase include protein toxins, bacteria, viruses, and chemicals. The biobriefcase can be used to limit or prevent civilian exposure to biological pathogens, and initiate early treatment for those exposed; thereby decreasing mortality and morbidity from bioterrorism events.
The biobriefcase also has use in medical facilities and research and development facilities. There are a variety of medical applications where monitoring for biological pathogens is useful. A good example of this is monitoring in hospitals and clinics for highly infectious agents such as tuberculosis or nosocomial diseases that can threaten the well being of patients and health care professionals.
The biobriefcase also has use in environmental monitoring, that is any application that would benefit from environmental monitoring of biological species. One example is continuous aerosol monitoring of bacterial and other pathogens that could affect the health of livestock (such as the recent hoof and mouth disease outbreak).
One biobriefcase device or system is described in the Sandia National Laboratories Chem/Bio Programs website as follows: "There is a serious need for broad-spectrum bioagent detection. Toward that end, the BioBriefcase project has been undertaken as a joint collaboration between Sandia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the Department of Homeland Security. It calls for a broad-spectrum bioagent detector that is briefcase-sized and features dramatically reduced reagent consumption, improved sensitivity and rapid response time.
It is an ideal instrument for monitoring bioagents in the environment, such as in open space, inside a building or in a transit system, when quick and accurate detection is required. It is also a useful tool for defense, first responders, homeland security applications, agriculture, or environmental monitoring in factories or buildings. A simple redesign may convert it to a bench top instrument for medical diagnosis and scientific research with autonomous sampling and processing of biological samples for simultaneously measuring or identifying specific DNA/RNA or protein signatures.
Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (Livermore, CA) holds the rights to the biobriefcase under U.S. Patent 7,503,229 and a technology license is available from the Industrial Partnerships Office (Internal ID: 12606).
The University of California has operated the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory continuously since the laboratory's inception in 1952 and has extensive experience and resources in biology, chemistry, engineering, and computations. This gives the University of California and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory unique ability to tackle the problems of chemical and biological weapons proliferation and terrorist activities.
Licensing contact:
Licensing contact:
Internal ID: 12606
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