Bozeman, Mont. - Preventing bioterrorism and food-borne illness is on everyone's mind these days, and for good reason: it's hard to attack an enemy that's almost invisible. That's why the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center of Boston, Mass., and Rocky Mountain Resource Labs (RMR) of Jerome, Id., are deploying the latest technology to find pathogens hidden in food. Under a recently signed agreement, they will jointly evaluate a novel hand-held vacuum developed by RMR that can collect microscopic bacteria in very small quantities from any source to enable rapid testing.

The Natick Soldier Center (NSC) is a unit of the U.S. Army Soldier Biological Chemical Command, which is responsible for developing, testing, and evaluating new technologies that help support the quality of life and mission of U.S. soldiers. The research agreement, brokered by the MSU TechLink Center of Bozeman, Mont., and the Natick Business Development office, will give NSC an opportunity to test RMR Labs' novel Microbial-Vac™ (M-Vac™) in the laboratory. If the lab tests are successful, the M-Vac™ may be field-tested by the U.S. Army Veterinary Command, which has food safety inspection authority for military bases worldwide.

Because we all eat, food is an obvious vehicle for direct contamination. "An analysis of past CB documented incidents by Batelle showed that food or water was used in more than 60 percent of all occurrences as a means of infecting the target," said Dr. Andre Senecal of NSC. Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses cause food-borne illness, which has potentially costly and even deadly consequences for military and civilian populations. Medical costs, lost wages, productivity, and food recalls cost the U.S. more than $6.9 billion per year, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service.

The Natick Soldier Center is evaluating different types of food pathogen samplers and rapid detection technology as part of the Biosensors for Rapid Detection of Food Quality and Safety program. Natick is interested in the M-Vac™ as a device that can be used efficiently for sampling food pathogens under a variety of conditions. The small hand-held device operates like a wet vacuum on food, food preparation surfaces, and a range of other materials. The operator first applies a sterile rinse solution onto the suspect area with the M-Vac™. The fluid helps detach and lift microorganisms from cracks and crevices in the suspect area, and then is vacuumed into the collection unit. "This is an opportunity for RMR Labs to work in-house with some of the leading researchers in the world," said the inventor, Dr. Bruce Bradley, of RMR Labs. "The M-Vac method is highly effective for collecting organisms and allowing more accurate microbial counts, which are important for determining the type and extent of contamination. Traditional sponge and cotton swab techniques can smear organisms across the surface of the suspect area and push them deeper into cracks and crevices thus only collecting a portion of the total microbes present on a specific site," he said.

RMR Labs developed the technology through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Under the new joint research effort with the U.S. Army, the Natick Soldier Center will evaluate and support further development of the technology for sampling organisms on diverse surfaces.

TechLink is located at Montana State University in Bozeman and funded by the Department of Defense and NASA to link companies in Montana and the surrounding region with federal laboratories for joint research and technology transfer. Its overriding purpose is to contribute to the success of both technology-based companies and key resource-based industries in the state and region.

CONTACTS:
Dan Swanson
MSU TechLink
(406) 994-7736
dss@montana.edu

Dr. Bruce Bradley
Rocky Mountain Resource Labs
(208) 324-7522
rmrlabs@northrim.net

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