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news.Microfluidic Systems or MFSI has signed agreements with two scientific technology leaders, Applied Biosystems, an Applera business, and Hamilton Sundstrand, a United Technologies business, for the continued development and production of MFSI's Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector or BAND.
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Under the agreement between MFSI and Applied Biosystems, Applied Biosystems will provide manufacturing of TaqMan assays, which are chemistry reagents that can detect harmful pathogens. The new systems in development are intended to improve the detection of airborne pathogens that could contaminate the air in a city or large region.
The US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate has been funding BAND development for the past three years through Phases I-III of the BAND program, which is a government program dedicated to monitoring air quality, particularly focused on biosecurity threats, such as anthrax, plague and smallpox. MFSI is a prime contractor receiving funding to develop an improved, more cost-effective autonomous airborne pathogen detection and identification system.
Leonard Klevan, president of applied markets division at Applied Biosystems, said: “Environmental surveillance requires reliable and scalable solutions that stay ahead of existing and emerging biosecurity threats.”