• U.S. urgently needs better bioterrorism, disease tracking system

    Nearly eleven years have passed since the fall 2001 bioterrorism-related anthrax attacks that shook the United States, killing five people and injuring seventeen, a leading bioterrorism expert says the country has still not learned its lesson; he says that current data mining approaches are passive and do not provide immediate solutions to the emergencies at hand, proposing instead an electronic, clinician-based reporting system which would have the capacity to limit the impact of a bioterrorism attack

  • Many Americans exposed to drinking water-related gastrointestinal illness

    More than 100 million people in the United States rely on water piped into homes, schools, and businesses from public water systems that get their water from wells, rather than lakes, rivers, and other above-ground sources; much of that water either is not disinfected at all or is not adequately disinfected to kill disease-causing viruses

  • Questions raised about cost, reliability of BioWatch upgrade

    One year ago, DHS said a new contract for Biowatch, a system for detecting biological attacks on the United States, would be awarded in May 2012 and would cost an estimated $3.1 billion during its initial five years of operation; now DHS has decided to postpone the plans due to concerns about cost and reliability

  • Near-instantaneous DNA analysis

    Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an indispensible technique allowing researchers and clinicians to produce millions of copies from a single piece of DNA or RNA for use in genome sequencing, gene analysis, inheritable disease diagnosis, paternity testing, forensic identification, and the detection of infectious diseases; PCR for point-of-care, emergency-response, or widespread monitoring applications needs to be very fast — on the order of a few minutes; this has now been achieved

  • Antibiotic residues in sausage meat may promote pathogen survival

    Antibiotic residues in uncured pepperoni or salami meat are potent enough to weaken helpful bacteria that processors add to acidify the sausage to make it safe for consumption; sausage manufacturers commonly inoculate sausage meat with lactic-acid-producing bacteria; by killing the bacteria that produce lactic acid, antibiotic residues can allow pathogenic bacteria to proliferate

  • DHS using Boston subway system to test new sensors for biological agents

    Bioterrorism is nothing new, and although medicines have made the world a safer place against a myriad of old scourges both natural and manmade, it still remains all too easy today to uncork a dangerous cloud of germs; DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) has scheduled a series of tests in the Boston subways to measure the real-world performance of new sensors recently developed to detect biological agents

  • Electronic nose detects airborne toxins down to the parts per billion level

    Research create an electronic nose device with applications in agriculture, industry, homeland security, and the military; the device can detect small quantities of harmful airborne substances

  • New technology combats global pandemic of drug counterfeiting

    Drug counterfeiting is so common in some developing countries – in some studies, 50 percent of the drug samples from Southeast Asia have been counterfeit — that patients with serious diseases are at risk of getting a poor-quality drug instead of one with ingredients that really treat their illness

  • New detection device for forensic and security applications

    A new biological sampling and detection device could soon be used by first responders in the forensic and security sectors; the patented technology allows for rapid sampling of up to eight targets simultaneously, testing powder, liquids, or surfaces directly and has applications across the forensic and security areas

  • Deadly E. coli strain decoded

    The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has been decoded; the deadliest E. coli outbreak ever, which caused fifty-four deaths and sickened more than 3,800 people, was traced to a particularly virulent strain that researchers had never seen in an outbreak before

  • New rapid diagnostic test for pathogens, contaminants developed

    Using nanoscale materials, researchers have developed a single-step method rapidly and accurately to detect viruses, bacteria, and chemical contaminants; the method could be used to detect pathogens and contaminants in biological mixtures such as food, blood, saliva, and urine

  • Northrop Grumman's biodetection solution completes field test

    Northrop Grumman says its Next Generation Automated Detection System (NG-ADS) for homeland defense applications has successfully completed a field test and is ready for the program’s next phase

  • Saab shows new CBRN detection system

    Saab introduces a new concept in CBRN detection: a CBRN detection and warning system designed for use by non-specialists in the field

  • Detecting biological terror agents

    PositiveID Corporation is testing its M-BAND bioagent detection system in preparation for DHS’s $3 billion BioWatch procurement; M-BAND can be remotely set to detect for DNA-based pathogens alone, with or without either RNA-based organisms or toxins, or for all three types of pathogens simultaneously at remotely programmable intervals

  • New biosensor checks for toxicity in real time

    Researchers have married biology and engineering to develop a biosensor – called Dip Chip – that can warn of toxicity in real time; one of the chip’s advantages is its ability to identify toxicity as a biological quality instead of specific toxic chemicals; because the chip measures general toxicity, it will pick up on any and all toxic materials — even those that have not been discovered or invented yet