Expansion of a Universal Biological Sample Preparation Module

Microchip Biotechnologies, Inc. has addressed critical military needs for biological sample preparation by undertaking the development of disposable plastic cartridges that interface with compact, automated hardware intended to directly interface with a variety of downstream analytical platforms. For nucleic acid purification, the systems will capture cells and viral targets using specific antibodies bound to paramagnetic beads, which concentrate and purify targets in a single step. Cells and viruses are then disrupted, and nucleic acids are isolated using a second set of magnetic beads. Currently, MBI is awaiting funding ($625K) awarded by the Army Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP) to improve the current system to achieve a pre-production prototype that will include the above-stated workflow. Here, we propose to assess the feasibility of further improving this developing system to address a wider array of sample types, namely human tissue swabs and sputum, to monitor human infection of biothreat agents. Expanding the current and developing systems will not only leverage Army funding for the USPM, but also allow eventual surveillance of personnel, in addition to having potential for intelligence gathering.