Abstracts

Biomedical (Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Devices)

• The Hearing Pill - American Biohealth Group (learn more)
• SERS Based Sensors to Detect Chemical Agents - SPAWAR
• Innovative Trap To Manage Vectors Of Disease - ISCA Technologies, Inc. (learn more)
• Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technique to Detect Biothreat Pathogen - Ionian Technologies (learn more)
• Body Mass Index for People Portal - EMIT Technologies LLC (learn more)
• Biotesting/Capabilities Extension of High Efficiency Biosamples - InnovaTech, Inc. (learn more)
• Automated Aerosol Exposure System - BiaeraTechnologies (learn more)
• Handheld Apparatus for Multipurpose Sample Collection & Registration - Los Alamos National Laboratory (learn more)
• Non-Invasive Testing System for Glucose and Other Important Analytes - Oculir, Inc. (learn more)
• Hydrophobic Hydrophilic Filters Enhanced with Nanoparticles - Emergency Filtration Products, Inc. (learn more)

ISCA Technologies, Inc.

Technology: Innovative Trap to Manager Vectors of Diseases

CCAT Award: Market Study and Prototype Development

Mosquitoes are nuisance pests for humans and livestock. Mosquitoes can transmit bacterial and viral borne (vector borne) diseases, thus causing tremendous human suffering and hampering economic development in many parts of the world. Malaria is the most devastating human vector-borne disease: 40 percent of the world's population is at risk of contracting malaria, and 2.5 million succumb each year to the disease. Another worldwide vector borne disease is the global prevalence of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever which have grown dramatically in recent decades, spreading from 9 to some 40 countries.

The mission of ISCA Technologies, Inc. (Riverside, CA) is to provide environmentally friendly and economical pest control strategies for the agricultural and urban markets. To this end, the company has developed the ISCA Mosquito Trap which is a non-toxic, outdoor and indoor mosquito control device. In preliminary laboratory studies, a single ISCA Mosquito Trap in a medium-sized bedroom captured all 100 released mosquitoes in as little as 8 minutes, a rate significantly higher than other commercially available mosquito traps. Interestingly, the ISCA Mosquito Trap is not only more effective, but it also has the potential of lasting three times longer than other commercially available mosquito traps. ISCA mosquito attractant is uniquely different from other lures in that it mimics odors that are released from the skin of people. Furthermore, the lines of ISCA attractants are species specific, meaning they are designed to attract a targeted group of insect species without harming other non-target species

The ISCA Mosquito Trap is anticipated to be an improvement compared to current commercially available mosquito traps in all the dimensions of ease of use, size and weight, and portability. In addition, ISCA's economic feasibility assessment of the new mosquito trap indicates that it can be manufactured at a cost substantially lower than current mosquito traps.

Upon successful development, the mosquito trap will be marketed to governmental agencies (e.g. ministries of health) and vector control entities. As an indoor mosquito control device, the trap will be marketed directly to consumers, both in the United States and abroad. With Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTC) funding, ISCA Technologies aims to improve the ISCA Mosquito Trap to serve both as a light-weight, rugged field trap for risk evaluation of biting insects for public health agencies and vector control entities; and an effective, inexpensive, and easy to use trap to monitor and mitigate urban mosquitoes for homeowners.

top of page

Ionian Technologies

Technology: Isothermal Nucleic Acid Amplification Technique to Detect Biothreat Pathogen - Ionian Technologies

CCAT Award: Market Study and Prototype Development

Bioterrorism remains a definite threat to our nation's military and civilian personnel. Members of the military as well as first responders, environmental surveyors, healthcare workers and others all may be faced with situations where testing the immediate environment for pathogenic microorganisms, such as anthrax, will be critically important to protecting military personnel or the general public. Current technologies fall short of offering customers the rapid and accurate answers they need. Speed is a necessity in biothreat detection as military and civilian customers require rapid answers when testing perceived dangerous pathogens in the field. Current DNA based amplification and detection methods require up to two hours to perform and rather sophisticated temperature cycling equipment. Current techniques may allow for detection of a few organisms but none have the capability of detecting an array of organisms in such a rapid fashion

Ionian Technologies (Upland, CA) was founded in 2000 by David Galas and Jeff Van Ness as the first spin-out of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences (KGI) in Claremont, CA. Ionian will commercially develop a new method for DNA amplification and detection (EXPAR), a technology discovered at KGI in the Galas Laboratory. This new technology offers substantial benefits over current DNA amplification technologies. The Galas Lab at KGI secured a DARPA contract of $500,000 for initial feasibility studies, and Ionian has received a contract to develop, with Northrop-Grumman, a prototype handheld detector.

Under the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTC) grant, Ionian Technologies will develop a rapid detection method for Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t), a close relative to Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) that is often used as a model system. Ionian will optimize its novel and rapid DNA amplification technology, EXPAR, to detect the model organism in less than 10 minutes. EXPAR is an isothermal analysis that does not require temperature cycling, therefore does not require substantial energy sources. EXPAR is simple to perform and will not require end users to be highly skilled nor will it involve multiple steps from sample collection to pathogen detection. EXPAR has an ability to amplify and detect multiple pathogenic agents simultaneously, so that it could detect a wide range of pathogens simultaneously in one reaction. EXPAR's versatility is also demonstrated by sample type in that the reaction can amplify nucleic acids both DNA and RNA gleaned from a variety of sources. This is a particularly advantageous feature in the field when it is not always known whether the sample will be tissue, bodily fluid, environmental (e.g., soil, air) or some other form including such things as anthrax spores.

Rapid reaction times enable customers to process more samples per day (high throughput) which is especially advantageous in the clinical setting where laboratories are reimbursed on a per test basis. The multiplexing capabilities offer cost savings to customers because a single reaction provides multiple results, thus saving customers time, reagent use, and expense. As well, the advantages in specificity and sensitivity enable the detection of different strains of the same organism and therefore it will be possible to identify pathogens with known antibiotic resistance which will assist first responders and physicians in assigning appropriate therapeutics. Ionian and KGI have filed over 20 patent applications protecting the amplification and detection technology.

top of page

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Technology: Handheld Apparatus for Multipurpose Sample Collection and Registration

CCAT Award: Market Study and Prototype Development

After a release of a potential bio-agent in a building has been detected, first responder units (such as the FBI's Hazardous Materials Response Team) are called in to collect samples/evidence. Currently, sample collection and registration tend to be time-consuming and error-prone. Sample collectors need different sampling equipment, supplies, and protocols, depending on whether they are sampling solids, liquids, and/or gases. Direct contact and cross contamination occur commonly, as current sampling and registration procedures require collectors to handle samples manually. Sample collectors manually record sample-related information such as sampling location and identification of the sample storage container. This process tends to be done with a notebook and pencil/pen and is time-consuming. Conventional sampling techniques tend to be error-prone and usually require that collectors manually re-enter data recorded in the field about the samples onto forms that laboratories require to analyze samples. Furthermore, traditional sampling and registration procedures are not well suited for rapid, high-volume, sampling operations (e.g., a terrorism-related disaster event).

A new technology has been invented to address many of the current problems in sampling and registration. The project leader and inventor of this patent-pending technology is Torsten Staab. Mr. Staab is a Technical Staff Member in the Automation & Robotics team at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, located in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The technology is a handheld, multipurpose sample collection and registration device that can be used for rapid, automated, cross contamination-free, indoor and outdoor sample collection and registration of solid, liquid, and gas samples. Besides supporting a wide variety of commonly used sample collection media such as filter papers or contact plates, the device also automatically records and tracks sampling-related data such as time and date, operator identification, sample type, and sampling location. Due to its flexibility in handling and tracking samples, the device has various applications in the private and government sectors; e.g., first responders, law enforcement forensics units, health care providers, doping inspectors, U.S. Customs, supply chain safety inspectors, public and private environmental monitoring organizations, U.S. Military, FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), etc.

The handheld device provides the following features and benefits:

• A universal sample media adapter and sample media loading/unloading mechanism that enables the operator to use the device with virtually any type of sample collection media (e.g., swabs, vials, contact plates, filters, ghost swipes, etc.)
• A hands-off sample loading/unloading mechanism that eliminates direct contact between the sample collector and the sample. This prevents human exposure and sample cross contamination, which is crucial for applications such as forensic evidence collection
• Built-in electronic data acquisition capabilities that eliminate the need for time-consuming and error-prone, manual record keeping in the field. The device automatically records sampling-related information such as 3D coordinates of the sampling location, voice-based sample annotations by the user, sample storage container ID, information about the sampling protocol, and video images of sampling location and objects.
• Automated data tracking capabilities that significantly simplify the sample collection-related data management and sample chain-of-custody. The device generates one unified, multi-media (for example: voice, video, text), electronic data record for each sample it collects. During or after sample collection, these electronic, multi-media sample records can be easily uploaded into a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for subsequent sample processing and analysis, thus eliminating the need for manual, time-consuming, and error-prone data re-entry into other systems
• Potential savings in labor costs, as one operator can collect samples, as well as accurately and quickly record information about them

top of page