Rapid Detection Nano-Sensors for Biological Warfare Agents in Buildings and HVAC Systems

Currently there is no real-time technology to detect airborne biological warfare agents (BWAs). Conventional technologies require 30 minutes to 1 hour. We propose to design, fabricate and test user-friendly, low-logistical-load biosensors capable of the real-time (~ 30 s. or less) detection and identification of airborne BWAs with high sensitivity and specificity for all classes of bioagents – bacterial spores, viruses, vegetative bacteria, and bacterial toxins – and many chemical agents. The biosensors developed will be easily used within building infrastructures, in particular HVAC systems. They will be user-friendly, have low-logistical-loads (i.e., reagents and consumables), and will allow the quantification of the density of airborne BWAs. They will allow automated remote response and the automated refreshing of antibodies and filters. They will utilize standard biofluidic techniques augmented with quantum-dot technology and optoelectronic techniques. They will incorporate two, or possibly three, different techniques for the detection and identification of BWAs: (1) the localization of antigens on grids having different pore sizes, (2) the tagging of these antigens with antibody-QD complexes and the observation of photoluminescence from the QDs bound to the localized antigens, and (3) for chemical agents and possibly small antigens, observing FRET between QDs and dies bound to the same antigen.