PNNL

Abstract

A fully integrated pathogen detection system based on nucleic acid identification, requires several sample preparation functions, including spore/cell lysis, DNA isolation, concentration and purification. There are now a multitude of nucleic acid isolation and purification techniques available for processing samples recovered from any source, some of which have been adapted for manual implementation in the feild. Many of these techniques, however, still require significant manual intervention (e.g. bead-mill homogenization, centrifugation, pipeting, vortexing, precipitation, filtration) and consumables, practical limitations that are especially relevant for the unattended, timely detection of biological warfare agents (or other microorganisms) in complex genetic and chemical backgrounds. With technologies under continued development for microbial and nucleic acid separation and detection in soils, wastewater, sediments, food, sludge, and other environmental matrices, the primary technology gaps remaining for integrated biodetection devices that can interface with large volume (solid, liquid, or gaseous) environmental samples are automated sample acquisition, cell concentration and cell lysis from solid and aqueous samples.