Progress in rapid detection and identification of unknown human and agricultural pathogens

The medical industry is driving pathogen detection technology from its present characteristics of 50/sample, 100 sample capability systems, with several day time responses, having several percent error rates in reported outcomes. The systems described above are capable of providing samples at < 5/test, managing several million samples, &lt; 1-hour cycle times, (or just minutes in some cases) and &lt; 0.1% error rates. Because of their importance to the medical and agricultural communities, all ''important'' pathogens will have detection kits available (within air transport times, anywhere in the world) by 2020, and the most well known pathogens will have kits available within a few years. Many are available now. Because of the importance of the food supply to modern nations, these technologies will be employed everywhere in this industry. For example, the United States imports 30 B tons of food a year, but inspects &lt; 1%. Portable inspection systems will make it possible to test for dangerous pathogens in feed lots, food processing plants, markets, and points of use. Outbreaks of animal or plant disease will be immediately detectable using field instrumentation, and more complex samples can be sent to central testing laboratories where more sophisticated test systems will be available. Unusual pathogens either naturally or purposefully selected or developed, will require special attention because there is not a commercial economic driver for the development of detection systems and curative agents. Their development, and production for sufficient availability, will require significant investments by the world community. The strategy and costs for developing vaccines or curative drugs will be very expensive and will need special attention. However it is important that attention be directed to these problems because such attention has a strong deterrent effect on potential developers or users. The capacity to use the full information content contained in pathogen systems, such as their full genomic information, can be very helpful in identifying malevolent users. In addition, it is undoubtedly true that an understanding of replication and human or other sensitivity to pathogens will improve our medical understanding of human health in general

Pre-symptomatic Prediction of Illness in Mice Inoculated with Cowpox

We describe here research directed towards early (presyndromic) diagnosis of infection. By using a mouse model and a multi-component blood protein diagnostic tool we detected cowpox infection several days in advance of overt symptoms with high accuracy. We provide details of the experimental design and measurement technique and elaborate on the long-range implication of these results

Production and preliminary testing of multianalyte imaging sensor arrays

This report covers the production and preliminary testing of fiber optic sensors that contain a discrete array of analyte specific sensors on their distal ends. The development of the chemistries associated with this technology is covered elsewhere

Pathomics: Final Report

Pathomics is a research project to explore the feasibility for developing biosignatures for early infectious disease detection in humans, particularly those that represent a threat from bioterrorism. Our goal is to use a science-based approach to better understand the underlying molecular basis of disease and to find sensitive, robust, and specific combinations of biological molecules (biosignatures) in the host that will indicate the presence of developing infection prior to overt symptoms (pre-syndromic). The ultimate goal is develop a national surveillance system for monitoring for the release and managing the consequences of a biothreat agent or an emerging disease. Developing the science for a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular basis of infectious disease and the development of biosignature-based diagnostics could help detect both emerging and engineered treats to humans

Measurements Of Optical Loss In Transparent Solids Using A Novel Spectrometer Based On Optical Cavity Decay

Recent advances in High Average Power (HAP) solid state lasers and the development of new concept lasers with the potential of ultra- high average power output have put increasing demands on the transparency of optical window materials. To gain a better understanding of the current status of window materials and to direct research toward more nearly transparent materials, we have constructed an optical characterization facility with the purpose of making quantitative optical loss measurements in the sensitivity range of 10/sup /minus/3/ to 10/sup /minus/6/ cm/sup /minus/1/. The cornerstone of this facility is a scanning optical lossmeter in which loss is determined by comparing the decay time of an optical cavity with and without a transparent solid present. The lossmeter has been successfully applied to measurements of the optical loss of witness samples of highly transparent fused silica. A description of the lossmeter and a compilation of preliminary loss measurements are presented here. 3 refs

Final Report for the PolyHANAA

The PolyHanaa is a 24 chamber thermal cycling instrument designed to perform rapid, real-time optical detection of biological agents using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process with TaqMan{trademark} reagents. Liquid samples are pipetted into small, disposable polypropylene tubes that are then inserted into the chambers. The 24 duplex chambers are divided into 6 independent groups and run information is presented simultaneously, in real time, for all groups