PNNL

Abstract

The potential use of chemicals, biotoxins and biological pathogens are a threat to military and police forces as well as the general public. Rapid identification of these agents is made difficult due to the noisy nature of the signal that can be obtained from portable, in-field sensors. In previously published articles, we created a flowchart that illustrated a method for triaging bacterial identification by combining standard statistical techniques for discrimination and identification with mid-infrared spectroscopic data. The present work documents the process of characterizing and eliminating the sources of the noise and outlines how multidisciplinary teams are necessary to accomplish that goal.