Mobile device for detection of biological threat

In the framework of the project SFORA in Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry was created a detector for the detection of biological threats. The main achievements of this project are development of a mobile device capable of analyzing the air for the presence of biological contamination and adapt it to work on the unmanned platform. The following presentation will show the results of work on the construction and development of the new type of detector for remote detection of biological hazards. The device is based on the analysis of fluorescence spectra of the sample and then comparing the resulting spectrogram database, which includes the standard curves obtained in the laboratory for selected bacteria. Currently, the device is able to recognize the 7 strains of pathogenic bacteria that can be used as a biological weapon (Bacillus anthracis, Brucella melitensis, Burkholderia mallei, Francisella tularensis, Yersinia pestis, Vibrio cholerae, Clostridium botulinum) and several popular harmless bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, etc., but it is possible to extend the list and adapting it for other purposes, eg. The detection of bacteria in hospitals. Samples can be automatically collected from the air or manually introduced into the device as a solution. The measurements provide information about the presence in the sample of bacteria and their approximate concentration. The detector has been designed for military purposes and that why its present form presents the results in three categories: the threat - the detection of pathogenic bacteria present in the database, a potential threat - if it is detected the bacteria, which the spectrogram is not stored in the database, or no risk - in the absence of signal or obtaining a signal from the harmless bacteria present in a database. Because the device is fully automatic, all spectra obtained during the operation are stored in the internal memory, or transmitted to the operator, which can be subjected to additional analysis. The spectra are collected at the different excitation wavelength, and the waveforms are specific for each of the strains. It also takes under analysis the signal intensities of the different spectra (not only shape a maximum of the peak) so it can be determined the concentration of bacteria in the sample under test. The device was tested in the laboratory in the range of concentration from 10² to 10⁶ CFU/mL. The detector can also distinguish between the vegetative forms of spores of the bacteria. The device has a system of pre-concentration, whose main element is a plate coated with a polymeric matrix that allows the subsequent acquisition of trapped bacteria and additional testing in the lab to verify the results.