BIOTERRORISM: tool to detect viruses and bacteria

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has announced a new tool that will aid law enforcement in detecting and identifying the agents of a bioterrorism attack.
The Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA), developed between October 2007 and February 2008, detects viruses and bacteria using 388,000 probes arranged in a checkerboard pattern in the middle of a one-inch-wide by three-inch-long glass slide. The current version contains probes that can detect more than 2,000 viruses and about 900 bacteria within a 24-hour period.
“The ability to detect the major bacterial and viral components of any sample can be used in countless different ways,” said Tom Slezak, the program’s associate leader for informatics. “This is important because it fills a cost-performance gap that is relevant to many missions: biodefense, public health and product safety.”
“The LLMDA allows us to not only identify the biological pathogens on a priority screening list, but also any other already-sequenced bacteria or virus in a sample that you might not have been expecting to find, including possible novel or emerging pathogens,” he added.
The team is already testing a next-generation LLMDA with 2.1 million probes and they plan to update probes with new sequences of bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms every year.
The detection array will be evaluated for operational bio-forensic use at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Maryland.
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/article/20722/national_lab_has_victory_fight_against_bioterroris

BIOTERRORISM: Iowa lab

Researchers and scientists at the State Hygienic Laboratory are preparing to move into a new building in Coralville. Lab director Christopher Atchison says the current facility is a converted tuberculosis hospital which opened in 1917.
“We need a more secure and flexible facility than the space we’re in now,” Atchison said. Employees will move into the new facility on the University of Iowa’s Oakdale campus sometime in June.
The new $38-million lab features open architecture with plenty of space for testing disease outbreaks. “Additionally, we know the threat of bioterrorism remains a real possibility. This laboratory provides additional security so we can not only follow up on any specimen that is submitted to us, but frankly, it’ll be a safer place for our employees to work,” Atchison said.

http://www.radioiowa.com/2010/05/05/state-dedicates-new-hygienic-lab-building/