LOCAD-PTS (Lab-On-a-Chip
Application Development–Portable Test System) is a hand-held device that can
detect the presence of bacteria or fungi in record time. The device has been
tested aboard the International
Space Station.
Astronaut Sunita
"Suni" Williams opened the instrument kit bag, assembled LOCAD-PTS,
and then took six readings during her recent mission to the station. "The first two readings were controls to show
that the instrument was operating correctly," explains Jake Maule,
LOCAD-PTS project scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
"First she swabbed her palm, which she had first pressed to handrails and
other often-handled surfaces that should have had lots of bacteria—and indeed,
we got a strong positive reading."
The standard method of
culturing suspect bacteria is far more time-consuming. Typically, the investigator
must press a square of solid gel growth medium to a surface for a few moments,
put it back in its package, and then let the sample incubate for a few days.
LOCAD-PTS, on the other
hand, takes only a few minutes. The investigator takes a sterile dry swab
(similar to a Q-tip) and rubs it on the surface. Then, ultra-clean water is
flushed through the swab; a few drops of the liquid is dispensed into the
instrument (see LOCAD-PTS
photo).
Microorganisms can affect
the health of both astronauts and spacecraft. (Yes, spacecraft can get
"sick" from microorganisms; see Unwanted
Life Forms Abound In Sick Spacecraft for details.) According to Norman
Wainwright of the Charles River Laboratories in Charleston, SC:
"The
ability to monitor microorganisms would be especially important on long space
voyages, not only to check the health of astronauts but also to monitor
electronics and structural materials, which can be corroded or otherwise
damaged by certain fungi and bacteria," says Wainwright. LOCAD-PTS is
designed so that "astronauts can do the analysis onboard with no need to return
samples to laboratories on Earth."
This wonderful little
device is very similar to a fictional technology described by science fiction
author Greg
Bear in his new novel Quantico.
Do terrorists have engineered bio-weapons? Better use the WAGD to find out:
She had yet
to bring out her WAGD - pronounced Wag-Dee, for Wright Assay Germ Detector - a
biohazard analyzer the size and shape of a large magic marker. She carried two
in her coat pocket...
(Read more about the WAGD germ detector
with excerpts from an interview
with Greg Bear)
The LOCAD-PTS is not to be
confused with the famous Star Trek tricorder, of which NASA has several
prototypes:
Read more
at Science@NASA; also, Greg Bear wrote an interesting piece on
bacteria in space - see Biospace
21.
(This Science Fiction in
the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets
fiction.)
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