Advanced Bioaerosol Samplers for Surveillance and Personal Monitoring

Many integrated biodetection systems require an aqueous sample, with the notable exception being those based on mass spectrometry which frequently uses a dry sample (MALDI or pyrolysis). The two proposed air sampling technologies to be developed are amenable to dry or nearly dry sample collection, but yet both can deliver a final sample in an aqueous format autonomously. Furthermore, both offer significant operating and cost advantages relative to more conventional wet-walled cyclones in use today for homeland security and military applications. Another common sampling technique in use today is dry filtering, but this approach is not amenable to fully-autonomous operation. The technologies to be developed by the proposed effort will result in samplers that can be integrated with a broad range of advanced biodetection technologies including mass spectrometry, microchip arrays, PCR and immunoassays.