Weapons detector

Researchers at Griffith University are developing a hand-held device that can rapidly detect viruses and bacteria ranging from biological weapons to bird flu in a matter of hours.

Led by Associate Professor Igor Agranovski, of the Griffith School of Engineering, the project uses a belt-mounted sampler about the size of a personal stereo in combination with DNA/RNA fingerprinting lab technology.

This reduces the time to detect and identify airborne biological agents from around two to five days to just two hours.

The researchers' next goal is to speed-up the detection process even further, by miniaturising the technology so primary detection could be rapidly carried out on the spot inside the pocket-sized device.

Various device development stages were funded by the Australian Research Council, National Institute of Health (USA) and National Security Science and Technology Unit (Australian Government).

The engineering team worked with microbiologists in Queensland and Russia to refine the device. Recent findings have just been published in the most recent International Journal of Environmental Microbiology.