LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: The emergence of new infectious diseases and the resurgence of previously controlled disea

Description

The emergence of new infectious diseases and the resurgence of previously controlled diseases are creating unprecedented public health challenges, threatening both global health and national security. The ability to rapidly detect and identify these infectious organisms is critical for the accurate diagnosis of seasonal/sporadic outbreaks, emerging pathogens and bioterrorism agents. Accurate detection is dependent on sample type, collection time (after symptom onset), and specimen transport/storage. With the increased frequency of transport delays due to cost containment measures, consolidations, and shifting of services to centralized laboratories, the ability to preserve sample viability during transport has become paramount to ensuring sample integrity. Current methods utilize transport microbe-specific mediums and may still have cold temperature requirements. In this Phase I, Luna Inc. will leverage its novel stabilization technology to develop an encapsulation matrix to improve biological sample preservation with increased biological sample viability. Luna will team with Dr. Sam Hudson, NC State, to develop degradable/dissolvable biopolymer specimen collection fibers. The combination of Luna's encapsulation matrix with the degradable fibers of these materials will result in a novel biospecimen collection/preservation system with significant improvements in storage stability, and quantitative recovery of biological pathogens, increasing detection capabilities and eliminating the need for cold chain transport.