Faster Method for Detecting Bioterror Threats

A new technique that screens for pairs of affinity reagents that bind with target bacteria, toxins, or viruses could speed up detection of bioterror threats and the application of countermeasures.

Developed by researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (San Antonio, USA), the mandate of the stopgap test was to be able to detect an unknown bioterror threat within 48 hours using inexpensive and widely-available laboratory reagents, using the Marburgvirus as a model target. The method was designed to serve as a possible response to an “Andromeda Strain” scenario, citing the Michael Crichton book and movie about a research team’s effort to rapidly investigate a deadly organism.

The new process screens for pairs of affinity reagents, molecular magnets that bind to and hold on to their targets. The pipeline was initially developed using llama antibodies as the affinity reagents to Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins. When the researchers were satisfied that the system was working, they created another stopgap test within days for Ebolavirus Zaire ebolavirus. Such rapid detection will enable countermeasures to be selected and utilized much faster than the current practice, which requires sophisticated, costly equipment to purify and analyze the affinity reagents that can take weeks to months. The new method was described in the November 5, 2012, issue of the Nature Publishing Group Scientific Reports.

“It had to be simple and self-contained as we eventually needed it to work in the spacesuit lab or hot zone. The great thing about this test pipeline is that it can be applied to almost any target of interest, including markers of diseases like cancer,” said coauthor Texas Biomed virologist Andrew Hayhurst, PhD. “Using crude extracts from E. coli, the workhorse bacterium of the biotechnology laboratory, the new route bypasses the need for purification and complex equipment, enabling screening to be performed in under an hour.”

C. botulinum neurotoxins and Ebolavirus are among a handful of threats now categorized as Tier 1 agents, presenting the greatest risk of deliberate misuse with the most significant potential for mass casualties or devastating effects to the economy, critical infrastructure, and public confidence.

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Texas Biomedical Research Institute