Browse by Category
Browse by Location
Search
Tag Cloud
anthrax Strategic National Stockpile Training exercise Bioterror Biomagnetics National Research Council Homeland Security Biodefense lab Army Medical Research Institute antibiotics Emergency preparedness research Bioweapons NIAID smallpox Detection technology CDC TSA Defense Dept IAEM FEMA immunization Ebola Ricin Hendra Plague treaty West Nile Camouflage Paint Marburg antidote weapons destruction Sarin VHF viruses chemical disposal dna technology prevention Robotics Technology research grants tularemia weapons control foot and mouth disease decontamination E. coli Iraq missile defense Bio-Rescue Dengue fever Botulinum toxin antiviral molecular diagnostics Infectious diseaseSubscribe to our newsletter
RSS Feed
Sonic tweezers could be the future of bioterror analysis
by Nick Rees on January 28, 2010
Bruce Drinkwater
Sonotweezers, a device being developed by a collaborative research team with partners from Bristol, Dundee, Southampton and Glasgow Universities, may soon allow first responders to detect bioterror agents with a tweezer-like device that utilizes ultrasonics.
When a potential anthrax mix is placed inside the sonotweezers, an ultrasonic force field will be generated onto the sample by an array of piezoelectric transducers. Differences in compressibility and density would then allow security officials to detect anthrax.
The researchers developing the sonotweezers received a $6.4 million grant from the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to complete research into the device by 2013. It is believed that the tweezers could provide a variety of uses for homeland security.
The tweezers are based on a silicon chip with an integrated cavity filled with an array of piezoelectric transducers. When a sample is placed inside this cavity, integrated transducers with varying voltage levels, phase and pulse shape will generate an ultrasonic force field onto the sample. From that force field, anthrax would be detected based on compressibility and density.
“The different compressibility of powder relative to the cell means the force is different so you are able to differentiate them,” Bruce Drinkwater, professor of ultrasonics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Bristol and team leader for the project, told HomelandSecurityNewswire.com.
More News
- Indian navy to develop NBC training facility
- Report says Iran in possession of chemical warheads
- English man pleads guilty to ricin possession
- Burbank, California purchases biodetection equipment
- Dr. Andres Braun joins TrovaGene, Inc.
- Emergency responders should be immunized against anthrax
- UPMC releases assessment of health preparedness
- Missouri National Guard receives biothreat training
- Program for international biodetection conference announced
- Teledyne receives DoD contract to aid nation's CBRN responders
Read all news