Eye of the TIGER: Biosensor Development
A man dripping sweat staggers toward the baggage carousel at a major U.S. airport. As his scab-encrusted arm reaches for a leather valise, the man coughs a river of blood and collapses.
None of the doctors who see the man can treat him effectively because they are dealing with an unknown pathogen — perhaps a natural mutation or bioengineered agent.
To help provide answers in a scenario such as this, SAIC is helping DARPA SPO (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — Special Projects Office) develop a biosensor that combines advanced genomic and signal processing techniques to identify all known, newly emergent, and bioengineered pathogens (including all viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa).
Known as TIGER (triangulation identification for genetic evaluation of risks), the biosensor uses mass spectrometry to determine the mass of core genetic material selectively extracted from a pathogen. Because it is difficult to distinguish genetic material from thousands of specimens in complex environments (such as a ball of dirt), TIGER uses SAIC-developed signal processing algorithms to read a pathogen's genetic "signature."
TIGER then checks the pathogen's mass against the masses of known pathogens in its database. If there is no match — because it is a newly evolved strain or it has been bioengineered — TIGER can tell researchers if the pathogen is similar to any known pathogen.
SAIC's system differs in this regard from most biosensors, whose antibody-based components cannot detect unknown or bioengineered pathogens.
In addition, TIGER has a fast turnaround — tens of minutes — and has extremely low false alerts. It is important to avoid a false alarm to prevent putting the population on antibiotics unnecessarily.
Besides helping health care workers determine the cause of many illnesses, a TIGER biosensor could help detect biological warfare attacks on high-value installations. This is especially important as biological terrorism ranks as a strategic threat to the U.S. Not only do biological agents represent the highest lethality density of any of the major weapons of mass destruction, they are fairly simple to produce and can be deadly at doses as small as .00000001 milligrams (a paper clip weighs about 500 milligrams).
Related Information
Inside SAIC Magazine
The following articles are featured in the Winter/Spring 2003 issue of SAIC Magazine.
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