The Knowledge Foundation’s 24th International
Biodetection Technologies:
Point-of-Care for Biodefense
June 28-29, 2016
Portability, compatibility, scalability, and reliability are all crucial aspects of point-of-care (POC) devices in the biodefense. In addition, clinical-level data must be generated and incorporated to feed back into decision support networks. The Knowledge Foundation’s 24th International Biodetection Technologies: Point-of-Care for Biodefense will bring together the user community (government and academic labs) and industry (diagnostics tool providers) to discuss approaches for optimizing performance of field technologies, translational challenges, regulatory approval of diagnostic tools, and data analysis to enable decision-making.
This event follows Knowledge Foundation’s Biodetection Technologies: Biothreat and Pathogen Detection being held from June 27-28, 2016. Together, these two events will provide three full days of programming around biodetection technologies in both the lab and in the field.
Final Agenda
TUESDAY, JUNE 28
11:15 am Registration
12:15 pm Luncheon Presentation (Sponsorship Opportunity Available) or Lunch on Your Own
1:40 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Tom Slezak, Ph.D., Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Pathogen Bioinformatics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
1:45 KEYNOTE PRESENTATION: BioWatch: The Future of Biodetection
Michael Walter, Ph.D., Detection Branch Chief & Program Manager, BioWatch, US Department of Homeland Security
This presentation will look at how BioWatch - the nation’s only federally-owned, locally-operated nationwide program - is planning to enhance its technology to work towards faster detection times and save more lives. The program has engaged state and local stakeholders through focus groups to identify and prioritze technology enhancements that would enable mid- and long-term progress.
2:30 Translation Challenges in POC Field Readiness: Strategies and Case Studies on Translation of New and Rapid Biodetection Technologies from Lab to Field and Clinic
Alina Deshpande, Ph.D., Senior Scientist/Team Leader, Analytics Intelligence and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
I will present case studies for POC immunoassays and multiplex assays applied to infectious disease detection and surveillance, and review specific successes/challenges like the influence of the Ebola crisis in West Africa on development of POC diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases. Specific approaches/strategies to overcome the “valley of death” between POC R&D and translation of novel technologies to field readiness will also be presented.
3:00 Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) Bio-Sensor Technology for Liquid Environments
Florian Bell, Sensor System Integration, Qorvo
Qorvo BAW enables ubiquitous deployment of liquid-based biosensors. Multi-GHz arrays use advanced addressing schemes and signal processing to enable several firsts in measurement performance, density, mobility, and distributed sensing- creating radical new approaches towards countermeasure development for biological and chemical threats to aid the warfighter and ensure USA national security.
3:30 Panel Discussion: Challenges and Opportunities in Translation of Biodetection Technologies
Moderator:
Tom Slezak, Ph.D., Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Pathogen Bioinformatics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Panelists:
Alina Deshpande, Ph.D., Senior Scientist/Team Leader, Analytics Intelligence and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Harshini Mukundan, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Team Leader, Chemistry, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Michael Walter, Ph.D., Detection Branch Chief & Program Manager, BioWatch, US Department of Homeland Security
Florian Bell, Sensor System Integration, Qorvo
3:45 Refreshment Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
4:15 miRNA Host Response During Ebola Virus Infection
Janice Duy, Ph.D., NRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Diagnostics Department, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
Early detection of Ebola virus (EBOV) infection is essential to breaking transmission chains and adjudicating treatment. However, current methods rely on viral identification, which can misdiagnose pre-and asymptomatic individuals. In contrast, disease-driven alterations in the host transcriptome can be exploited for pathogen-specific biomarkers. We have identified EBOV-induced changes in circulating miRNA populations of nonhuman primates and humans, and present a proof-of-principle miRNA classifier of disease.
4:45 Pathogen Biomarkers for Rapid Clinical Diagnosis in POC
Harshini Mukundan, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Team Leader, Chemistry, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Direct measurement of virulence factors secreted by pathogens in a host during active infection for the effective diagnosis of infection in a POC setting. Our team has developed novel assay strategies to measure complex pathogen signatures in the background of the host (blood, urine, serum). Application of these strategies using a waveguide-based biosensor platform developed at LANL to the diagnosis of tuberculosis and other diseases will be presented.
5:15 End of Day and Workshop Registration
5:30 Suggested Dinner Workshop*
RAPID SAMPLE PREPARATION FOR PATHOGEN DETECTION
*Separate registration required
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29
8:00 am Morning Coffee
8:25 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Weihua Guan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
8:30 Drop-n-Go Malaria Molecular Diagnosis
Weihua Guan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
To efficiently profile parasite carriers quickly in resource-limited regions during the course of malaria elimination, we propose a mobile molecular diagnostic system. The battery-powered, low power consumption and handheld instrument offers unprecedented integration of GPS location and cloud-based databases with smartphone connectivity. This versatile molecular diagnostic platform can be widely disseminated to a variety of other situations that demand portability, connectivity and ease-of-use.
9:00 A Smartphone Colorimetric Microplate Reader for Point-of-Care ELISA Quantification
Qingshan Wei, Postdoctoral Scholar, Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles
We developed a cost-effective and handheld smartphone-based colorimetric microplate reader for rapid digitization and quantification of immunoserology-related ELISA tests in a conventional 96-well plate format. Using this post-of-care (POC) testing platform, we quantified four different FDA-approved ELISA tests (mumps IgG, measles IgG, HSV-1, and HSV-2) in a clinical microbiology lab using 1138 remnant patient samples and achieved >~99% accuracy for each ELISA test.
9:30 Selected Poster Presentation: Smart Phone-Enabled Diagnostic Platform for Detection of Pathogen Nucleic Acids
Robert J. Meagher, Ph.D., Biotechnology and Bioengineering Department, Sandia National Laboratories
Toward the aim of creating simple but robust distributed diagnostics for infectious diseases, we present innovations in isothermal nucleic acid amplification, microfluidic device design, and smart phone-based assay detection. We have created a smart phone app that simplifies instrumentation for molecular diagnostics by controlling assay operation, scoring, and data archiving. We are presently employing our techniques to survey for mosquito-borne viruses, and to detect febrile pathogens such as Ebola.
10:00 Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
10:45 NGS Microbial Forensics at the Point-of-Need
Tom Slezak, Ph.D., Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Pathogen Bioinformatics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
We have built and delivered computer systems that support complex NGS pathogen detection and characterization at the point-of-need, without assuming any network connectivity. Paired-end FASTQ input will be analyzed as metagenomic reads and also assembled to analyze as contigs. When coverage of a threat agent is sufficiently deep, phylogenetic analyses will be performed. Results are presented in user-friendly format with analysis details and confidence measures available.
11:15 Selected Poster Presentation: Cost effective Surveillance of Zoonotic Pathogens on Human / Animal Interface
Viacheslav Fofanov, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Informatics and Computing Program, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Northern Arizona University
Nearly two thirds of human-affecting pathogens are zoonotic and more than 70% of these either originate in wildlife or use animal populations as disease reservoirs. Pathogen surveillance in wildlife, remains difficult and costly, particularly in free-ranging or elusive animal. We have designed and are currently implementing and validating a high-throughput, highly-scalable, and inexpensive multi-pathogen PCR-amplicon sequencing-based panels to leverage the power of High Throughput Sequencing techniques in wildlife surveillance.
11:45 Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)
12:15 pm Networking Luncheon
1:40 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Tania Konry, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University
1:45 Advancing Bacteriophage-Based Detection of Pathogens
Sam Nugen, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Food Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The use of bacteriophages for pathogen detection has shown significant promise in recent years. As new tools in synthetic biology are developed, the ability to design the next generation of bacteriophage-based sensors and separators. We have developed detection schemes to streamline the sample-to-results and minimize the limit of detection of these assays. These improvements allow a portable, easy-to-use and low-cost sensor platform without sacrificing performance.
2:15 ScanDrop Platform for Microbial Detection and Phenotypic drug Analysis
Tania Konry, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University
We have developed novel microfluidic technology: ScanDrop for specific identification of pathogens of interest directly from patient sample. The developed biotechnology will accelerate diagnosis through multiplex pathogen and inflammatory cytokine detection, along with rapid (< 1 hour) antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), thereby identifying patients requiring aggressive therapy and optimizing antibiotic treatment
2:45 Outer Membrane Vesicles Protect Encapsulated Enzymatic Function for Implementation at the Point-of-Care
Nathan J. Alves, Ph.D., Research Associate, Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory
All bacteria secrete outer membrane vesicles (OMV) serving functions from cell-cell communication to packaging of virulence factors and genetic material. Utilizing synthetic biology techniques, bacteria can be programed to produce, package and secrete enzymes encapsulated within OMVs. The intra-OMV microenvironment maintains enzyme activity, compared to free enzyme, when subjected to elevated temperatures, freeze-thaw, lyophilization, and from proteases making them ideal reagents for use at Point-of-Care.
3:15 Dessert Break in the Exhibit Hall with Poster Viewing
4:00 Microfluidic Analysis of Circulating Exosomes toward Clinical Diagnosis of Cancer
Yong Zeng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas
Probing circulating exosomes is an emerging paradigm of non-invasive blood-based tests for screening/early detection of cancer and monitoring of treatment response. However, rapid isolation and molecular analysis of exosomes remain challenging. We have developed a simple and low-cost microfluidic device which enables selective capture of exosomes directly from human plasma and multiplexed detection of tumor-associated pexosomal protein biomarkers. This device features simple chip design and robust operation, which affords the potential adaptability to the clinical utilities at the point-of-care settings.
4:30 Close of Conference