Biofilm Capture of Chemical Warfare Agents

The potential use of biological and chemical warfare agents presents a threat to both military and civilian communities. Improved methods of capturing and detecting these agents are needed to increase public safety and protect military personnel.Biofilms may be one answer to this problem. Biofilms consist of microorganisms growing on a surface and enmeshed in a polymer matrix. Observations of many biofilms in a variety of environments suggest that they have a natural ability to bind a wide rangeof organic and inorganic substances from their surroundings. This property of biofilms may be exploited to improve the detection of chemical and biological warfare agents. The ability of biofilms to concentrate trace quantities of hazardous substanceswill result in improved detection techniques. The research proposed herein will evaluate the ability of biofilms to capture and concentrate potential chemical warfare agents. Recently there has been significant research into detection of biological and chemical warfare agents. However, much less effort has been put towards collection and concentration of these agents. This is the primary benefit of biofilm technology - aninexpensive collection system that uses a natural biofilm to collect a toxin or pathogen in quantities that can be readily measured. Rather that taking samples periodically, the biofilm capture system could be