ECBC researchers developing systems to identify biological threats in food and water sources

A research team at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) recently began work on a system that will utilize portable analytical equipment to help detect food and water contaminants.

ECBC said that the system, called the Agents of Biological Origin Identifier (ABOid), could help eliminate factors that need to be overcome in dealing with any contamination threats, notably the location of samples and the wait time for results. Contemporary techniques take days for results, whereas ABOid could cut the wait time down to a matter of minutes.

ABOid is an algorithm developed by ECBC’s Detection Spectrometry Branch in 2012. The system is intended for use with a biological mass spectrometer, which is used to identify fragments in samples.

“The goal is to make ABOid available to food companies for screening in order to prevent food poisoning,” Dr. Mary Wade, chief of the Detection Spectrometry Branch at ECBC, said.

Both the ECBC and the Public Health Command are pushing the system into a new category of research with the Environmental BioSurveillance (EBS) project, where the ECBC team is using ABOid to test water samples from around the world.

“A terrorist could pollute small or large drinking water supplies,” Wade said. “ABOid could be used to quickly spot these potentially harmful agents and mitigate risks towards warfighters and civilians.”