The Hands-Off Sampler Gun
A "Gun" to Stymie Bioterrorists
February / March 2007
Volume 5 Number 1
Bioterrorist attacks using anthrax, found in envelopes addressed to different news media and senators just one week after the terrorist attacks on September 11, prove that the United States is vulnerable to future bioterrorist attacks.
Since the next terrorist attack cannot be predicted, it's important to be prepared. In the case of a future bioterrorist attack, the ability to quickly verify what biological weapon was used and where it was used are crucial to ensuring the biological weapon is contained.
Los Alamos National Laboratory's Hands-Off Sampler Gun will help first responders be prepared to collect evidence more accurately and efficiently than current technology. Investigators use numerous tools to collect evidence. Anyone who watches television crime shows has seen a criminal investigator with a huge suitcase full of gadgets. The Sampler Gun turns the investigator's suitcase into an all-in-one device with digital camera, sensors, barcode reader, universal sample-media adapter, electronic data acquisition and more.
The Sampler Gun was invented at Los Alamos by scientist Torsten Staab and his team (Craig Blackhart, Larry Bronisz, Gus Takala, John Jensen, John O. Charles III, Jennifer Yick, Corey Grimes and Dr. Toshiyuki Shiina) with funding from the Department of Defense's Center for Commercialization for Advanced Technology, or CCAT, and the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at California State University, San Bernardino. To make evidence collection more convenient for first responders, Staab's team integrated almost 20 devices using a microcontroller to connect each device and the Personal Digital Assistant. The PDA software invented by Blackhart eliminates handwritten documentation. It records information from the devices and allows the user to enter data electronically. It also ensures the paperwork necessary for each piece of evidence collected is recorded accurately by prompting the user when a required field is missed, eliminating the possibility of missed boxes and lines.
Not only does the electronic data acquisition maintain a strong paper trail, or sample chain of custody, it also reduces the time it takes to collect evidence by about 80 percent.
"We found out that for taking and recording a single field sample the traditional pen-and-paper-based data recording method can take, on average, five minutes or more," Staab said. "Using the Hands-Off Sampler Gun's integrated electronic, multi-media data acquisition capabilities, the time-consuming field data acquisition process could be easily reduced to one minute or less."
The Hands-Off Sampler Gun can also help expedite the evidence collection and investigation process by enabling the investigator to acquire high-quality field data about the sampled objects and crime scene.
An immense problem that could occur while collecting evidence is a false positive or negative. A false positive or negative could occur many ways: an investigator could accidentally forget to take off his or her gloves between samples and contaminate the next sample; the laboratory to which evidence is sent could get a positive result and send the investigator back to verify, but the investigator may not know the exact location the original sample was taken and fail to take the second sample in the right place; or an investigator may not press hard enough while swabbing a surface and the spores from a potential biological weapon fail to stick to the swab.
The device minimizes the potential for possible false positives or negatives with devices that aid the investigator taking samples. It has a universal sample-media adapter that enables the sample collector to load and unload sample media without having to touch it, preventing cross contamination between samples and between samples and the investigator.
To ensure the investigator returns to the same place to verify a result, the Sampler Gun has a sonar sensor built in to give the user a quick, approximate read of distances in a room or any crime scene location to help document where samples have been taken. And to help guide the investigator while he or she takes samples, the device provides an integrated, force sensor with real-time audio (a buzzer) and visual (a red light) feedback to the sample collector.
The gun makes location tracking easy with a built in Global Positioning System, or GPS, and an electronic compass, or e-compass. The e-compass helps track locations where the GPS might not work, such as in underground facilities, tunnels, and well-shielded buildings. In the case of a bioterrorist threat, location is important for quarantine and knowing how a biological weapon is moving.
Additionally, it makes it easy for one person (many investigations require two crime scene investigators) to take and record sample data. The built-in barcode reader and digital camera help the investigator label and keep digital photos as a record of the sample. Voice recognition also makes it easy to enter data without having to use a stylus. It also includes a built-in flashlight, laser pointer, memory card reader, crypto key reader and eight hour rechargeable battery. The Hands-Off Sampler Gun is also completely customizable for more specialized industries and can come with integrated temperature probes, humidity probes, air cartridge for air sampling and more.
While working on the device, Staab and his team submitted a list of 25 possible features to include to the FBI. He asked the agents to help him get a better idea of what crime scene investigators and first responders need and would like to have included in the Sampler Gun. "Integrating as many useful electronic sensors and devices into the gun without sacrificing battery life and keeping it lightweight at the same time was quite an engineering challenge," Staab said.
"There were really two problems we were trying to solve. These problems, seen in industrial hygiene, apply to forensic investigators like first responders for the FBI. The first was making sure you do not cross-contaminate samples with other samples or the investigators themselves. And second, was automating all data acquisition to ensure a solid sample chain of custody."
Veronique Longmire, the business development executive from Los Alamos' technology transfer division responsible for licensing the device, is impressed with Staab's willingness and ability to create a device that is useful to the public.
"Staab and his team have created a device that is modular so users can choose the functionalities they need," Longmire said. "This substantially increased the difficulty of their development work, but by designing the device with the needs of potential customers in mind, we believe they have come up with a device that will have customers, or markets, for years to come.
According to a 2004 market analysis done as part of the Center for Commercialization for Advanced Technology grant, the Hands-Off Sampler Gun could prove to be useful and sought after in the forensic and homeland security industries. Another marketing analysis conducted in 2005 by the New Mexico State University's Arrowhead Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Development confirmed these findings and included potential applications in the transportation of dangerous goods and for drug tests conducted at athletic events.
The device, originally developed for industrial hygienists, has been identified for use in numerous other industries such as environmental, pharmaceutical, health care, agricultural, food and many more. Over the last three years, Staab and his team have developed a fully operational prototype. Longmire is currently working to find partners to commercialize and market the device.
Krystal Zaragoza is a LANL communications specialist.
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