Award Data

Protein manufacturing is of paramount importance to chemical and biological defense applications. High-throughput protein purification is a critical need for rapidly scaling the target protein product. Existing purification methods primarly rely on synthetic-resin based chromatography, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, expensive, and consequently, ill-suited for developing rapid countermea ...

Safe and efficient air ionization and filtration technology compatible to biodefense applications is of paramount importance. Current ionization methods are energy-intensive, costly, prone to ozone generation, or inefficient, and consequently ill-suited for building protection applications. To overcome these issues, we propose to develop and demonstrate a novel bioaerosol ionization and collection ...

Spectroscopic ellipsometry is recognized as the gold standard in noncontact characterization of the refractive index and thickness of a thin optical film or film stack on a substrate. However, it suffers from a number of shortcomings, perhaps the most important of which is the time required to perform a single measurement. Moreover, manufacturers are interested in comprehensive evaluation of thin ...

In Phase I, a novel porous electrode was designed to demonstrate a rapid, simple assay for the detection of domoic acid in marine samples. During Phase II, methods to manufacture porous electrodes will be improved to enable high volume production of low-cost biosensors that can be connected to a potentiostat. These biosensors will be incorporated into a portable test kit for the quantitation of do ...

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 ...

The pressing need exists within industry to accurately measure high aspect ratio microscale structures. For example, diesel injector nozzles are manufactured with microscale holes ranging from 50-200 micrometers in diameter and 3-5 mm depths. One fundamental challenge is to nondestrucvely measure these features in order to validate models, enhance manufacturing processes, and reduce fuel emissions ...

Manning Applied Technology proposes to develop a handheld infrared spectrometer, ideally suited to detection of airborne chemical agents at and below permissible exposure limits. This approach offers unmatched sensitivity and specificity for detection of all types of chemical vapors. The instrument is modular, rugged, compact and highly sensitive. Volume pricing will be less than $1000 each. ...

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 ...

To properly measure (and understand) the performance of a standoff detector, properties of the challenge cloud must be known. Meteorological models, such as HPAC and VLSTRACK, have proven to be reasonably good tools for predicting cloud properties. However, a problem with these tools is that they deliver ensemble averages and may not describe a specific cloud to the detail required. The Dugway ...

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 proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of building a data management system for DN ...