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Volume 16 | Issue 13 | 36 | Jun. 24, 2002 Previous | Next USPS, Biotech Forge Alliance Companies vie for lucrative pathogen-detection system contracts | By Jim Kling Photo Image Graphic Courtesy of SILENT SENTINEL: Cepheid's Gene- Xpert system, core of a developmental bio-hazard detection system intended for use in postal processing facilities. In its ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the mail system, the US Postal Service (USPS) is turning to PCR-based pathogen-detection systems. On May 13, USPS announced a $3.7 million (US) agreement with the Baltimore, Md.-based Automation and Information Systems division of Northrup Grumman, to test a multicompany system in one of the USPS's central processing facilities. At the core of the technology is the GeneXpert® system developed by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cepheid. A competing device from Lockheed Martin is undergoing prequalifying evaluations. Soon after the October 2001 anthrax attacks, USPS decided to install a biological detection system to head off future attacks. It consulted the military, which suggested PCR-based approaches over immunoassays or mass spectroscopy-based instruments. "It's a proven technology, and the military has been using it since the Gulf War for field-testing of anthrax in a combat environment," says USPS spokesman Gerry Kreienkamp. But surveying the USPS presents very different challenges from the battlefield. The threat comes from powder-laden letters sorted along with harmless envelopes through pinch rollers, which sort them into appropriate bins in central processing facilities. Last October, those pinch rollers liberated anthrax spores from letters intended for Sens. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), causing a cross-contamination that officials now believed killed two women in New York City and Connecticut. "So our strategy is this: We want to [identify] a release at these pinch points... so we know if we detect the presence of a biohazard in some piece of mail at the first piece of equipment that it's run through, then we can isolate it. That letter will not have left the building," says Kreienkamp. Northrop's system is based on Cepheid's GeneXpert technology, which boasts a turnaround time of less than 30 minutes. According to Kurt Petersen, Cepheid's president, its efficiency is due to two key improvements over other systems--ultrasonic lysing and freeze-dried PCR components. Ultrasonic lysing obviates the need for harsh lysing chemicals, which otherwise must be removed from the sample prior to PCR analysis. The freeze-dried components are particularly vital for a system that gets used on the battlefield, though not as critical in a post office. "There is no practical way of having refrigerated reagents in a field situation," says Petersen. For security reasons, Lockheed Martin is remaining tight-lipped about the nature of its system, saying only that it is very early in the testing process with USPS and that it differs substantially from the BioMail™ system that is currently in use to screen mail systems in both government and commercial applications. The company that comes out on top can expect a big payoff, as USPS will install systems into about 290 processing facilities. But the competition is intense. "I can't say enough about the dedication of the post office employees," comments Petersen. "The testing was grueling. You arrived at 7 am and you left at 8 pm at the earliest, and the postal service people were still there." Jim Kling (jkling@nasw.org) is a freelance writer in Washington, DC. ©2002, The Scientist Inc. Comment E-mail article

USPS, Biotech Forge Alliance

Jun 23, 2002

USPS, Biotech Forge Alliance

Companies vie for lucrative pathogen-detection system contracts | By Jim Kling

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