Award Data

Extremely Efficient Nebulizer for Intranasal Vaccination. Specifically the nasal delivery device could reduce health care associated infections by providing a needle-free method of delivery of vaccines and therapeutics which are currently delivered by injection with all the attendant risks of transmission of blood borne disease through needle-stick injury and unsafe needle practices. One of the m ...

Current high-throughput platforms rely on labeled substrates that produce detectable spectroscopic signals upon reaction for monitoring enzyme catalytic activity. Add to that the high price tag for these instruments, ranging from several hundred thousand to millions of dollars, and there is a clear need for alternate solutions for a label-free, low-cost, high-throughput enzyme screening platform. ...

Current drug discovery and development efforts are severely limited by expensive animal trials and oversimplified in vitro models. Results obtained from in vitro models are not predictive of in vivo toxicity owing to significant difference from the in vivo physiological conditions. In this context, we propose to develop and demonstrate a novel microfluidic device that reproduces the physiological ...

Increases in amount and diversity of high-throughput data presents tremendous organizational and analysis challenges to researchers. Our objective in this effort is to address these challenges by designing and implementing a database management system (cipherDB) for the storage, management, analysis, and visualization of diverse biological data types. The Phase I design and implementation of ciphe ...

A personal air ventilation system (PAVS) can dramatically improve the environment inside chemical/biological protective clothing, protecting the health and safety of soldiers and enabling peak physical/mental performance for long periods. However, existing air blowers that can produce the flow rate and pressure drop needed for a PAVS are too heavy, inefficient, and noisy for a man-portable system ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this project is to design, fabricate, and test co-located earphones/microphones for use in in- ear, active noise reduction (ANR) systems. Our innovation is based on a micromachined membrane that serves as both the sensing element for a microphone and simultaneously the actuation surface for the earphone. By collocating the earphone and microph ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent tragedies at the Sago Mine, the Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1, and the Darby Mine No. 1 have focused renewed attention on an old problem: situational awareness in mine emergencies. Improved communication is a partial, but not complete, solution to the problem. Mine emergencies often involve dense smoke and dust that impair visibility and disorient even those ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Summary: A laser-based acoustic emission (AE) detection device is proposed for work site structural stability assessment. This new device will take advantage of innovations in laser ultrasonics, artificial intelligence (Al) and advanced acoustic emission technology to provide mine workers with a unique instant, real time stability assessment of immediate rock ...

Manning Applied Technology proposes development of the MP-100 handheld FT-infrared photoacoustic chemical agent detector, following a highly successful Phase I effort. Chemical attacks and accidents can be mitigated partially by cost-effective sensors. High priority programs will benefit from a sensor compliant to Joint Warning & Reporting Network (JWARN) standards. The device is ideally suited to ...

In this Phase II SBIR project for the Army CBD, Torch Technologies of Huntsville, AL, will develop and demonstrate a fully operational prototype of its Advanced Chemical Release Evaluation System for fusing measurements of the concentration of clouds resulting from chemical releases. The ability to evaluate the performance of a stand-off detector during development depends on the ability to accura ...