General Description
Designed for first responders, the Veritide Ceeker is a portable, hand-held biological spore detector that is one-button simple, requires no special training, requires 10 minutes for the analysis, gives a simple yes or no answer, does not destroy the sample and is fully decontaminable. There are no reagents or wet chemistry involved.
Technical Description
The Veritide optical detection platform employs non-invasive and non-contact optical methods to detect and identify biological particles. Specially tailored light is used to optically probe the particles and their unique fluorescence signatures are recorded, using a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and optical filters. The sample is exposed to shorter ultraviolet wavelengths that photolyze the dipicolinic acid (pyridine--2,6--dicarboxylic acid) (DPA), unique to bacterial spores, to picolinic acid (pyridine carboxylic acid). The fluorescence signature is again measured. The absolute as well as the difference optical signatures are then carefully analyzed using proprietary optical recognition protocols.
Evaluation Criteria
THROUGHPUT:
- Between 2 and 15 minutes for detection
- Multiple samples, single tests/sample per run
- Less than 32 samples every 2 hours
- The system or device is currently semi-automated
- Device or system is intended for multiple detection assays
- 0-1 solutions, buffer, eluents, and/or reagents
- 1 component
- Less than 5 minutes is required for set-up
- 3-5 steps are required for detection
LOGISTICS:
- Very brief (minutes-hours) training and minimal technical skills
- Approximately the size of a toaster
- Between 1 and 5 kg
- System or device uses batteries
- 1-2 hours battery life
OPERATIONS:
- Can be used from 4°C to 41°C
- Performance is not influenced by relative humidity
- Greater than 3 years shelf life
- 5-10 years expected life
- Results can be viewed in real-time
- The system could easily be adapted into a fully autonomous system
- The system software is closed and not available for modification
- The system hardware is closed and not available for modification
DETECTION:
- Less than 10 µL
- Superior specificity. System has a false alarm rate approaching zero (~0%)
- 100-1,000 CFU per mL
- Spore lysis not necessary for detection by system