Portable System for Sample Preparation and Differentiation of Pathogens at Strain Level

Many believe the greatest threat to our troops and homeland security are attacks using biological weapons. Recent developments of biological warfare agents parallel advances in microbiology, viruses and bacteria can be rendered more lethal through genetic engineering, and many toxins can be mass-produced. However, detecting biological agents is difficult and time consuming because there are thousands of different pathogenic microorganisms. Distinguishing the biological agents, from myriads of similar naturally occurring microorganisms, makes this task daunting. In Phase I, we created a method capable of rapidly detecting microorganisms, and discriminating species at strain level more quickly than conventional methods. The technology uses the unique optical properties of quantum dots to fingerprint specific gene sequences, directly identifying the microorganism in question. This technology is highly versatile, the same technique can be used to fingerprint a common E. coli species and differentiate between Bacillus subtilis (non pathogenic anthrax) and Bacillus anthracis (pathogenic anthrax). This technology is also compatible with other peripheral technologies Lynntech is developing, including miniature thermal cyclers for PCR, sampling systems and cellular processing units. Phase II will expand upon Phase I, by building and delivering a demonstration unit to the Technical Monitor at Edgewood Biological Center for army specific evaluation.