BiodetectionDetecting biological terror agents

PositiveID Corporation yesterday announced it has made significant progress in testing its M-BAND, Microfluidics-based Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector, in preparation for DHS’s $3 billion BioWatch procurement. The company’s M-BAND system detects five organisms on the CDC Select Agents List, which is a requirement for BioWatch.

M-BAND, developed under contract for DHS, is an early warning system designed to detect the intentional release of aerosolized biological agents. It runs autonomously for up to thirty days between service cycles, continuously analyzing air samples, typically in high-traffic areas, for the detection of bacteria, viruses, and toxins with results in as little as three hours. Results from individual M-BAND instruments are reported via a secure wireless network in real time to give an accurate status for fielded instruments in aggregate. M-BAND can be remotely set to detect for DNA-based pathogens alone, with or without either RNA-based organisms or toxins, or for all three types of pathogens simultaneously at remotely programmable intervals.

In addition to the BioWatch opportunity, the company has submitted or is in the process of submitting bids for other government contract opportunities totaling more than $16 million across six different government agencies for both its M-BAND and Dragonfly Rapid MDx cartridge-based diagnostic system.

William J. Caragol, chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, “As we prepare for the final request for proposal for BioWatch to be released from DHS, we have continued our internal testing of M-BAND. Our system is fully functional and, we believe, one of the only technologies capable of addressing the requirements of the BioWatch procurement. Furthermore, we believe our system not only performs better than the competition but also has a lower total cost of ownership.”