A researcher working under an Office of Naval Research grant is just a couple of months away from completing a prototype detector designed to sound an alarm when airborne microbes such as anthrax are in the air.
Jeanne Small, a biophysicist and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., has designed a detector that continuously samples the air, offering analysis in under 30 minutes.
\Our research showed that common substances such as road dust and soot behaved differently than bacteria,"" Small said.
Small has successfully tested biological particles ranging in size from one to 10 microns by using lasers and acoustic sensors to detect and identify microbes. Laser pulses were used to excite light-absorbing substances that release energy as heat. Heat-induced solvent expansion generated sound waves, which were measured by an ultrasonic transducer.
