PositiveID has recently declared that the company along with its M-BAND System for biothreat detection has been featured in an article in the current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.
The article features that the U.S. DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has purchased the $5.7 B worth BioWatch. BioWatch is a nationwide bio-surveillance system developed to detect the intentional release of certain aerosolized biological agents.
The development of PositiveID's M-BAND, Microfluidics-based Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector was carried out as part of DHS’s contract. Designed to be an early warning system, M-BAND can effectively detect the intended release of aerosolized biological agents. It can autonomously and steadily operate for up to a month service cycles. It is capable of analyzing air samples in high-traffic areas and ensures rapid detection of toxins as well as bacteria, and viruses. The individual M-BAND instruments provide results that can be reported in real time through a secure wireless network. M-BAND has excellent operational versatility and can be remotely targeted to detect for specific DNA-based pathogens, without or with either RNA-based organisms, or toxins, or concurrently for all three types of pathogens.
According to the Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, William J. Caragol, the company is capable enough to compete for G 3 of the BioWatch program and will advance to achieve the anticipated deployment of bioaerosol detectors. This eight-year long development of this M-BAND system will contribute to multiple technology advantages for homeland defense program.
Source: http://www.positiveidcorp.com/