Epidemic Control On the Double

Courtesy Photo | Nanotrap® particles broadly capture Ebola, Marburg, and other filoviruses thereby increasing diagnostic assay sensitivity. (Images courtesy of USAMRIID)  

FORT BELVOIR, VA, UNITED STATES

12.12.2017

Courtesy Story

Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

Diseases such as Ebola and the bird flu threaten the world, and specifically, warfighters and civilians in remote regions. When an outbreak occurs, obtaining information rapidly is essential to protect against an epidemic. To counter this threat, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Chemical and Biological Technologies Department, in partnership with Tasso, Inc., Ceres Nanosciences, George Mason University (GMU) and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), is developing a reliable, safe and simple universal surveillance platform to provide early outbreak warnings.

Analyzing clinical samples from infected patients is one of the best ways to get the information needed to control an outbreak. This development effort will integrate Ceres Nanotrap® particle technology, which can capture, concentrate and preserve pathogens and other biomolecules, into Tasso’s HemoLink™ device for simple and painless collection of large-volume capillary blood samples in remote environments.

Ceres' Nanotrap® has demonstrated that particles can be used to enrich pathogens such as influenza from biological samples and stabilize them for improved downstream analysis. The goal is to apply that same approach to enrich and stabilize a wide range of host biomarkers along with viral and bacterial pathogens that pose a risk to the Department of Defense.

“Infectious diseases remain one of the main causes of death worldwide and a significant threat to national security,” said Kylene Kehn-Hall, Ph.D., associate professor at GMU. “In just the last five years, for example, epidemics of Ebola, Chikungunya and Zika viruses, usually restricted to tropical climates, have reached the United States.”

Tasso and Ceres will work in close collaboration with infectious disease experts and advanced biodefense laboratories at GMU and USAMRIID to develop the platform which can be rapidly deployed in the field, operated by untrained users and improve early response times. The technology will safely and reproducibly collect, preserve and transport blood-borne pathogens.

By making it easier to collect and analyze pathogens in blood samples, DTRA CB is enabling early warning capabilities to more effectively protect our warfighters and our allies.

POC: Kristen O'Connor, Ph.D.; [e-mail]

• Date Taken: 12.12.2017
• Date Posted: 12.12.2017 11:48
• Story ID: 258406
• Location: FORT BELVOIR, VA, US