Rapid Microbial Detection and Monitoring Technology for Planetary Protection

HJ Science and Technology, Inc. seeks to develop a fully integrated and automated instrument for performing rapid detection and monitoring of microbes on surfaces and air environments. This technology supports NASArsquo;s Planetary Protection goals of protecting solar system bodies from biological contamination as well as protecting Earth from life forms possibly returned from those extraterrestrial bodies. Specifically, the proposed instrument autonomously and rapidly enumerates bioburden on surface and air environments in cleanrooms, spacecraft, and payload hardware. In addition to measuring the total number of microbes, the instrument distinguishes between microbe states such as viable organisms or spores relevant in Planetary Protection practices. This instrument stems from our novel ChargeSwitch Concentration and Purification (CSCP) technology that bridges the gap between large volume environmental sampling and small volume genomic detection without sacrificing cell capture efficiency. In Phase I, we have demonstrated the capability our CSCP technology to perform microbial detection and characterization with similar performance as that of NASArsquo;s culture-based Standard Assay. In Phase II, we will construct and deliver a microbial detection instrument by leveraging our CSCP technology to fully integrate three modules for large volume concentration, sample processing, and qPCR in an enclosed, compact, lightweight, and low power package.