A mobile biosafety microanalysis system for infectious agents.

Daniel R Beniac,Tim F Booth,Cindi R Corbett,Shannon L Hiebert,Christine G Siemens

doi:10.1038/srep09505

Daniel R Beniac, Tim F Booth + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09505

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Abstract

Biological threats posed by pathogens such as Ebola virus must be quickly diagnosed, while protecting the safety of personnel. Scanning electron microscopy and microanalysis requires minimal specimen preparation and can help to identify hazardous agents or substances. Here we report a compact biosafety system for rapid imaging and elemental analysis of specimens, including powders, viruses and bacteria, which is easily transportable to the site of an incident.

Highlights

Biological threats posed by pathogens such as Ebola virus must be quickly diagnosed, while protecting the safety of personnel
We report a compact biosafety system for rapid imaging and elemental analysis of specimens, including powders, viruses and bacteria, which is transportable to the site of an incident
The cabinet is maintained under negative pressure, with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered exhaust and has a specimen pass-through air lock chamber and glove ports to allow specimen changing

Summary

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to

We report a compact biosafety system for rapid imaging and elemental analysis of specimens, including powders, viruses and bacteria, which is transportable to the site of an incident. Immunological detection and nucleic acid amplification capabilities are routinely deployed with mobile laboratories[3], imaging has the advantage that it can allow novel pathogens to be identified, often to genus, without the need for any prior knowledge of the type of agent present. The capability for operation at the site of incidents can help to avoid delays in transporting specimens to specialized high containment laboratories For this type of field operation, it is envisaged that the micoranalysis system would form part of a mobile laboratory setup including personal protective equipment and a portable negative air pressure isolation unit for collecting and processing samples[3,15]

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