The long-term objective of this project is to develop a fieldable biosensor system composed of an aerosol air sampler and pre-sample preparation module or liquid sampler. A cyclone air collector samples an unknown biological aerosol. The air sample takes a defined particle size distribution and concentrates it into a water sample. This water sample, or any aqueous sample, is then introduced into a Luminex LabMAP(TM) System that then performs a multiplex assay for the pathogenicity island sequences. Once a pathogenic """"""""fingerprint"""""""" is identified, an alarm is transmitted to an end user that includes military, health providers, and other government agencies. The proposed system has commercial applications in office health monitoring, hospital infectious disease detection, environmental and agricultural pathogen monitoring, and food-borne pathogen monitoring. To realize this long-term objective, we are proposing to perform a proof-of-concept demonstration of the combined use of pathogenicity island sequences with a multiplexed assay platform to develop a rapid, extensive infectious pathogen biosensor. This biosensor will be based upon the Luminex LabMAP(TM) System, a multiplexed assay platform that combines high sample throughput (up to 600 samples/hour) with high information content per sample (up to 100 parameters tested simultaneously per sample). Pathogenicity islands are DNA sequences that directly relate the infectious properties of an organism to its host. By quickly screening for multiple pathogenicity island sequences, end-users will have the capability to detect the first signs of a bioattack without requiring a prior prejudicial choice of screening for one or more organisms. Upon completion of this demonstration, we intend to continue with a follow-on program to integrate this biosensor to a cyclone air collector and pre-sample module resulting in a completely fieldable system for both government and commercial use.
