A story you might find of interest.
The Scientist 16[15]:13, Jul. 22, 2002
Sensing Evil
Despite US funding hikes to counter bioterrorism, stubborn problems remain in biosensor research
By Steve Bunk
Worst-case scenarios don't come much uglier than the plume of an aerosolized biowarfare agent infiltrating a city. What happens then? Do alarms ring, evacuations and vaccinations begin? Or will anyone even know what the cloud contains? The answer could depend on efforts to improve molecular recognition systems that identify biowarfare agents in the air, water, or food. Problems of accuracy and efficiency that have dogged such technologies for decades are approaching resolution, but even then, the real test will remain: to expose a given threat with such speed that "detect-to-treat" becomes "detect-to-warn."
The devices are known as biosensors, a term with many uses in the past. Nowadays, it refers to sensors that are capable of yielding extremely sensitive and specific measurements of contamination by incorporating a biological constituent, such as an antibody, enzyme, nucleic acid, even single or multiple cells. The constituent binds to a given analyte--in this case, a biowarfare agent--and a fluorescent dye is often used for detection. Simultaneous processing of multiple, different analytes has already been achieved, and within a year or two, biosensors might be miniaturized to hand-held size. Ultimately, air quality sensors might even be pinned on a lapel.
But the technology is still far from perfected, and the economic argument for civilian applications of it might not be strong enough to warrant big spending increases in the private sector. Nor does next year's flurry of counterbioterrorism funding by the US government demonstrate faith in quick solutions to the shortcomings of biosensors.
Under President George W. Bush's proposed 2003 budget, the Department of Defense's (DoD) Chemical and Biological Defense Program will receive $933 million (US), an almost 85% increase. But its biosensor funding will rise by just 7%, to $34.3 million. The other DoD group that funds military biosensor research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will get a $433 million boost to $2.68 billion. Yet its biosensor dollars will decrease by $5 million, to $25 million. This failure to greatly escalate biosensor spending reflects the unlikelihood that sensors will soon be perfected to continuously monitor air quality and to identify, with few false alarms, any of the growing array of biowarfare agents that could occupy an approaching particulate cloud. Unfortunately, without such capabilities, even a visible cloud's threat will remain unconfirmed until the damage has begun. ..........
the-scientist.com
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