MORPHIX TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): EPA's Cleaning-Up the Nations Waste Sites: Mark

MORPHIX TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.

Amount
$150,000
Agency
Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
Program / Phase
SBIR · Phase I
Solicitation
PA14-071
NAICS
Place of performance
VA
Period

Description

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): EPA's Cleaning-Up the Nations Waste Sites: Market and Technology Trends (2004) estimates that there are 294,000 contaminated waste sites in the United States. Characterizing suspected contaminated sites remains difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Samples are typically sent to laboratories for costly testing that can take weeks. While some field detection kits and instruments exist, they tend to be expensive, difficult to use, and difficult to interpret. In the proposed project, Morphix proposes to develop coordination complex imprinted polymer (CCIP) technology that could result in a product family of field-ready, easy-to-use, low-cost, no- power colorimetric detection cards for use in detecting contaminants in soil. The initial proof of concept effort focuses on applying CCIP technology to detecting lead in soil. Lead is a stable, heavy metal that is an accumulative neurotoxin in mammals and other animals. It is particularly toxic to children and is one of