The U.S. Congress has approved a Department of Defense appropriations bill that provides $2.5 million for UNMC to take its clinical laboratory automation technology to the next level.
President Bush is expected to sign the bill. The allocation to UNMC would be used to develop portable and networked automation testing technology that would efficiently and rapidly process specimens to detect the existence of biological agents in the event of a biological attack.
“We are extremely grateful to all of the members of the entire Nebraska Congressional delegation for their diligent and supportive work on this issue,” Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said. “This speaks volumes for the regard that federal officials have for our mobile clinical laboratory capabilities.”
Rodney S. Markin, M.D., Ph.D., the founder and chairman of the board of Lab- InterLink, a UNMC technology transfer company that designs and manufactures automated laboratory technology, said the funding would “enable UNMC to develop the technology to enhance our country’s Homeland Security as well as the safety of our troops in battlefield conditions.”
He said the automated laboratory technology provides UNMC with the tools it needs to perform mass screenings of people in the event of a bioterrorism incident.
“We can do these screenings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The system is capable of testing 1,000 specimens per hour, so that means we can do up to 24,000 specimens in a day,” said Dr. Markin, who also is president and CEO of University Medical Associates, the UNMC physician practice group, and associate dean for clinical affairs in the UNMC College of Medicine.
Dr. Markin said in the event of a bioterrorism event, such as the release of the smallpox virus, the automated laboratory technology could be put on a truck, a ship or plane and within hours be at the site of incident.
“We would package it in some sort of isolated shipping container, and it would be anchored to the floor of the container,” he said. “Once we delivered the equipment to the site of the incident, all we would need to start running specimen tests is electricity and a connection to the Internet.
“In essence, with the Internet connection, you can run the system and monitor it by remote control from Omaha. This minimizes the potential exposure to any harmful agents and creates a level of bio-safety that you wouldn’t have with other laboratory systems.”