Award Data

The preponderance of biosensors under development today rely on labeling reagents such as fluorescent, radioisotopic or enzymatic tags. As a result, the added complexity of these reagents and their incorporation into the detection system has resulted in designs that are difficult to implement or that require significant sample preparation steps before introduction into the detection instrument. ...

Current geopolitical strategies require effective warfare countermeasures to protect U.S. forces against biological and chemical threats. Today's molecular biology and immunological detection technologies cannot be used to produce automated biodetectors useable in the battlefield. New, improved detection technologies are needed to minimize the impact of chemical and biological weapons on Army per ...

Chem-bio attacks are a threat to U.S. military personnel and civilians. While there exist field detection assays and associated mobile readers, it remains imperative to develop next-generation readers that are location-aware, multi-format, and cellular-capable. A compelling platform that has already led to several next-generation readers is smartphones and tablets. These devices provide key elemen ...

We will continue developing a plasmonic metamaterial with strong absorption within a narrow band that is dynamically tunable over the 8-10 micron range. A metamaterial consisting of one or more bi-layers of thin metal and dielectric films will trap, concentrate and absorb a narrow frequency band while strongly reflecting out-of-band light. Tuning the frequency of the absorption band may be achiev ...

We propose an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) spectropolarimetric imaging system for enhanced standoff chemical detection in the Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) wavelength region. The AOTF has no moving parts, making it a rugged and reliable device, and it provides polarimetric imaging capabilities, which enhances its chemical detection capabilities. We have been actively researching suitable mater ...

We propose to develop low cost LWIR FPAs using colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) of II-VI semi-metallic compounds. Brimrose has experience in the area of II-VI semiconductor QD synthesis and LWIR detector fabrication using narrow band gap semiconductor materials. Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in NC has experience in building FPAs using CQDs, and to the best of our knowledge is the only institute ...

Recently we have observed a massive outbreak of Ebola virus. This family of virus causes a significant bioterrorism threat due to the high levelof mortality, rate of transmissibility and the lack of an approved vaccine or therapy directed against it. The goal of this proposal is to develop,optimize and scale-up a mammalian cell culture-based bioprocess for the rapid manufacture of an antibody-base ...

Respiratory equipment has always required the use of a face seal or neck dam to provide good levels of protection. Although proven to beeffective, this approach is constraining when conceiving future integrated systems and can heavily burden the wearer. The development of anew device for lower threat environments, now provides the opportunity to finally remove the rubber off the face. This program ...

The skin is the first line of defense against chemical warfare agents including nerve agents and toxic industrial chemicals, providing a possible barrier or delay to systemic distribution. Some chemicals also can act directly on the skin including the vesicants sulfur mustard and lewisite. Early and rapid skin decontamination is extremely important following exposure to CWAs and TICs because it de ...