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Llama Blood Could Help Develop Bioagent Sensors
A researcher at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in Texas has discovered that the blood of llamas, sharks and camels contain an antibody that could be used to detect biological agents, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday (see GSN, March 3). Andrew Hayhurst said small devices could be coated with these antibodies, then set to continuously take air samples to determine the presence of anthrax, smallpox or other biological agents. “I like to call it a bionic tongue,” Hayhurst said. “We're talking about a fusion of biology and mechanics.” Hayhurst and Ellen Goldman at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. have received $150,000 for a two-year project to develop the sensors. The sensors are expected to last longer and be more stable than existing detection methods, Hayhurst said. Scientists are working to make sensors more efficient and able to detect a range of biological agents, said Jean Patterson, Southwest Foundation virology chairwoman. “We always need increased sensitivity and specificity. We need sensors that can deal with anything that could be out there, not just an anthrax machine or tularemia machine, but anything that could be out there,” Patterson said (Cindy Tumiel, San Antonio Express-News, June 21).
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