Award Data

This project is a unique metagenomic evaluation of under-studied extremophilic microbiome natural products (NPs), with the goal of discovering novel antibiotic biowarfare agent (BWA) countermeasures. A metagenomic biosynthetic gene cluster library from extremophilic sources was created, sequenced, analyzed, and exploited to produce several broad-spectrum antibiotic extracts during the Phase I effo ...

Typical procedures for respirator masks sizing and protective fit test are time-consuming and user intensive, requiring taking anthropometricmeasurements of the wearer, sampling the wearers breathing zone and the use of specialized tools and equipment. The proposed softwareapp aims to quickly, accurately and automatically perform respirator mask sizing and predict protective fit using only 2D imag ...

Vadum will develop Chemical, Heterogeneous sensor fusion Incident awareness Module (CHIME)asoftware module that will ingest data from a large number of asynchronous, heterogeneous and multi-tiered sensors to automate the process of estimating the source attributes of a chemical or biological release. CHIME generates estimates from a continuous stream of raw sensor data with successive estimates al ...

Aflatoxins B1 (AFB1) are fungal produced mycotoxins that are present in food supplies and are strongly associated with increased risk for thedevelopment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there are no known countermeasures to selectively mitigate AFB1 toxicity. To meet thischallenge, we successfully validated a Phase I proof-of-concept study to harness the microbiome extracts of scavenging ma ...

DNA microarray technology, in combination with statistical and predictive modeling tools, could be used to evaluate thousands of genes against distinct gene expression patterns induced by chemical/biological agents to provide early identification and speed therapeutic intervention. The overall objective of this Phase II effort is to leverage existing public domain resources and commercial tools t ...

Effective collective protection fabrics must have a reliable closure system. During our Phase I Work Plan, Sigma-K began developing a Hermetic Textile Closure Hardware (HATCH) system. The HATCH combines both a magnetic and geometric self locking mechanism that will provide a hermetic seal when closed. Our current Phase I successes include developing self closing samples that can provide a hermetic ...

The current methodology for testing the penetration resistance of textile materials to various chemical agents has a number of drawbacks, including significant uncertainties in the resulting data, inefficiency and expense, risk to test personnel, and limited range of test conditions. The objective of the proposed work is to apply unique computer models for textiles with accompanying experimental ...

This Phase II SBIR proposal is for the development of a miniaturized real-time visible/UV spectrometer prototype based on micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) technology. Use of MOEMS technology enables orders of magnitude reductions in size, we

In the wake of the September 11th attacks and subsequent Anthrax scares, researchers worldwide are working to expand our ability to rapidly assess what poses a terrorism threat to the public. The rapid detection of specific pathogens is required for biod