Award Data

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 thousa ...

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 ...

THERE IS LITTLE DATA CONCERNING WATER CONSUMPTION BY INDIVIDUAL FARM ANIMALS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO DESIGN AND CONSTRUCT A PROTOTYPE WATERING SYSTEM WHICH CAN MEASURE AND RECORD INDIVIDUAL WATER CONSUMPTION IN GROUP-FED ANIMALS. A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE WATERER WILL BE ADAPTED OR A NEW WATERER DEVELOPED FOR THE SYSTEM TO PROVIDETHE NEEDED ACCURACY, FILL RATE AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL ...

The pulp and paper industry require the removal or bleaching of lignin as an important manufacturing step for many of their products. Chemical bleaching is the preferred current process for whitening because of its relatively low cost. The bleaching process uses large amounts of chlorinated and caustic chemicals to brighten raw pulp which is brown in color due to the presence of residual lignin. D ...

THE U.S. POULTRY INDUSTRY ADMINISTERS ABOUT 21 BILLION DOSE UNITS OF VACCINES YEARLY. THESE VACCINATIONS ARE GIVEN TO TO DAY-OLD BIRDS FOR SEVERAL VIRAL AND BACTERIAL DISEASES, AND SUBSEQUENT VACCINATIONS TO GROWING AND ADULT CHICKENS ANAND TURKEYS. ADDITIONALLY, 170 MILLION TURKEY EMBRYOS R RECEIVE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT. THE WORLDWIDE POULTRY DRUG VACCINE MARKET REPRESENTS OVER $500 MILLION PR YEA ...

Approximately 5% of hatchlings do not survive the critical post-hatch period because of limited body reserves. Many survivors exhibit stunted growth, leg problems, inefficient feed utilization, reduced disease resistance, or poor meat yield. This poult quality problem has been calculated to be worth approximately $71 million and $142 million annually to the US and global turkey industry respective ...

Cultivation of Echinacea has gained worldwide interest in recent years due to its non-specific immunomodulatory activity in humans. However, Echinacea species have not been genetically improved for medicinal use. This project is to develop genetically improved Echinacea cultivars for medicinal use. The new cultivars will produce higher yield of biomass and bioactive phytochemicals than the types c ...

Low molecular weight metabolites produced by the rust mycoparasite, Aphanocladium album, can convert infective urediniospores to non-infective teliospores. The teliospore-inducing factor (TIF) has been isolated, identified and demonstrated in proof-of concept experiments to convert infective urediniospores to non-infective teliospores of the oat rust fungus, Puccinia coronata. During Phase II, we ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We have developed a new dialdehyde based cold high-level disinfection/sterilization product for treatment of medical instruments specially heat sensitive fiberoptic endoscopes and have demonstrated that it is 100% e ffective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in less than 30 minutes at 20 degree Celcius at a concentration of as low as 0.5%. Our formulations ...