Realtime Detection And Identification Of Airborne Microorganisms Using Infrared Spectroscopy

The goal of this Phase I effort is to investigate the feasibility of extracting at least 1.0 microgram of bacillus spores from the environment and presenting these spores in real-time to an FTIR spectrometer for detection. The identification of bacterial spores using FTIR spectroscopy has been successful in classifying these microorganisms down to the genus and species level. Therefore the key enabler for using FTIR as the identification step is the interfacing of filtration and electrostatic collection techniques that will allow isolation of the microgram quantities needed for reliable detection. The main challenge in realizing an IR-based bioaerosol detection system is the coupling of these collection strategies with the optical requirements of a mid-IR spectrometer.