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A standard occasion favor might be turning right into a useful U.S. army device.
Researchers on the University of Houston have found how glow sticks can be used within the testing and detection of biothreats.
Glow sticks have confirmed to be greater than the enjoyable, colourful wands typically worn as bracelets and necklaces at events, per the invention of Dr. Binh Vu, a analysis affiliate professor of chemical engineering on the University of Houston.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Vu said the idea first came to him during bath time with his then 2-year-old son, who was pretending to play “volcanoes” with glow sticks in the water.
“I turned off the light, and it was very bright,” he said. “I figured out, in doing diagnostics, that this could be a very good recorder.”
The U.S. Navy plans to try out new glow stick technology in the detection of biothreats. (iStock)
Dr. Katerina Kourentzi, research associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Houston, joined Vu to help develop the new technology.
“We tried it out, and it works,” Vu said.
Making it glow
The reaction inside glow sticks occurs when they’re agitated, or “cracked,” Kourentzi advised Fox News Digital.
This response “excites nearby dye,” giving glow sticks their particular person, shiny colours — but in addition illuminating bio-targets, she mentioned.
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When the identical acid is utilized to a fast take a look at, very similar to a being pregnant take a look at or COVID-19 take a look at, any current proteins or toxins are simply detected.
The college researchers developed their prototype of a lateral movement take a look at, the place the outcomes picked up a number of targets that gentle up in an assigned coloration.
Left to proper, Drs. Binh Vu, Richard Willson and Katerina Kourentzi of the University of Houston labored on the glow stick mission. (University of Houston)
The take a look at entails swabbing an space and making use of it to the take a look at “cassette,” which is then activated with drops of liquid glow reagent.
The cassette is then positioned inside a 3D-printed “dark box,” the place a digicam or smartphone can detect the sunshine.
“They’re literally glowing, but the end user will see the result – positive [or] negative,” Kourentzi mentioned.
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The outcomes can be considered inside quarter-hour through a smartphone app, which analyzes the take a look at and supplies calculations, in accordance to Kourentzi.
The take a look at design is cheap, sturdy and rugged, Kourentzi mentioned, which is what has excited the U.S. Navy.
“The U.S. Navy is looking for technology that can be deployable,” she mentioned. “So, this seemed to be very applicable to their needs.”
Dr. Binh Vu exhibits Fox News Digital the “dark box” prototype adapter for biothreat testing. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
“We have already confirmed that the technology works, and [now] it’s a matter of transition to their actual targets.”
Glow sticks in motion
In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Richard Willson, Huffington-Woestemeyer professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering on the University of Houston, set a situation for a way this might be utilized in a army setting.
“[Imagine] some young person, probably in green camouflage, kicks in the door of a shed in rural Afghanistan or rural U.S. and comes into what appears to be a makeshift laboratory,” he mentioned.
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“They’d like to gather intelligence on what’s going on there or protect themselves and their teammates from something that could be pretty bad.”
This glow stick testing might assist establish if there may be hazard or “actionable intelligence” forward, Willson added.
U.S. Navy service members can use the glow stick assessments to swab areas of concern or one another, the researchers mentioned. (iStock)
“Or if somebody’s exposed to something … let’s swab [their] nose and see what they inhaled,” he mentioned. “There can be cases where you want an immediate and very sensitive detection of toxins.”
The University of Houston plans to ship prototypes to the U.S. Navy throughout the subsequent few months for the primary validation testing, Kourentzi famous.
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Navy Spokesperson Commander Jessica L. McNulty, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, commented on the brand new expertise implementation in a press release despatched to Fox News Digital.
(McNulty was not concerned within the University of Houston’s analysis.)
“Naval Medical Research Command’s Biological Defense Research Directorate drives scientific innovation that enhances the biodefense posture of the Navy and the Department of Defense,” she mentioned.
This glow stick testing might assist establish if there may be hazard or “actionable intelligence” forward, a researcher mentioned. (iStock)
“Through partnership with the University of Houston, Naval Medical Research Command is using its expertise in designing and building handheld antibody tests (lateral flow immunoassays or LFIs) with new fluorescent chemistry to build a more sensitive test for biothreats,” McNulty added.
This analysis collaboration is funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, she mentioned.
Eliminating ‘guesswork’
The Houston researchers emphasised the excessive sensitivity of glow stick testing in contrast to different fast assessments.
“You read the signal against the very dark background,” Vu mentioned. “So even if you turn up all the lights, you will see it.”
Vu added that they “wanted to remove the guesswork from the user, so that’s where the app comes in.”
When the identical acid is utilized to a fast take a look at, very similar to a being pregnant take a look at or COVID-19 take a look at, any current proteins or toxins are simply detected. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)
This guesswork typically exhibits up in fast testing of COVID and the flu, Willson identified.
“My daughter has been a false adverse for flu twice,” he mentioned. “There are certainly opportunities for improvement.”
Compared to the fee and availability of different fast assessments, Willson priced out the darkish field at $2 every and the choice to buy a $20 reader in alternative of a smartphone digicam — each of which may be reused.
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“Glow sticks are cheap, and we use less than one glow stick worth of liquid [on each test],” he mentioned.
Willson shared his optimism for the way forward for glow stick expertise, suggesting it might be used as an possibility in future medical testing.
New targets in glow sticks testing might embody viruses like COVID-19, flu and RSV sooner or later, in accordance to one of many researchers. (iStock)
The University of Houston has already acquired a grant to check out this methodology in HIV testing.
The glow stick package additionally has a protracted shelf life, Kourentzi talked about, because the analysis workforce’s collaborative efforts with Tango Biosciences in Chicago will develop new recognition parts for threats.
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New targets might embody viruses like COVID-19, flu and RSV, in addition to different testing for meals allergy symptoms, veterinary well being or environmental contamination, Willson urged.
“The ideal vision is that we can make a new class of very sensitive tests that can see multiple things at once,” he mentioned. “And that could be an at-home or easy clinic test.”
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