Detection Systems and Laboratory Infrastructure
We provide critical support to a government client's biological warfare defense programs to develop technologies for lab analysis, environmental sampling, and automated detection of bio-warfare agents.
For government clients, we design, evaluate and oversee scientific investigations and capability development in biological warfare agent defense. For example, Noblis facilitates the application of state-of-the-art biotechnology to the detection and sensing of biological warfare organisms, toxins and residue at high levels of specificity and sensitivity. Our experience in this area includes:
- Definition of requirements
- Development of systems specifications
- Development of testing requirements
- Evaluation of technical approaches
- Oversight of testing and evaluation of system performance
- Oversight of field deployment and demonstration tests
- Noblis technical staff interface with the leading biological warfare experts in government, academia and industry as part of these efforts.
Noblis provides programmatic and technical support to a government biological warfare defense program. Noblis’ support includes system engineering, program management, system acquisition, operational and analytic efforts in the areas of chemical and biological sciences and engineering, laboratory analytical methods, quality assurance and protocol development, and information systems. Specific tasks include the following areas:
For example, Noblis provides scientific and technical expertise to support the client’s contract actions. This expertise includes microbiology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, analytical chemistry, and information technology. Noblis also assesses the technical approaches to the client’s program and the developmental activities of the client’s contractors.
Noblis also conducts technical assessments of program-related issues in the scientific disciplines that form the foundation of the client’s program. Noblis performs technical reviews of ongoing and completed tasks associated with the client’s program. Such reviews include the following:
- Laboratory protocol development
- Test plans and results
- Verification and validation of test results
- Analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of data
- Sample analysis reports
- Scientific and technical literature relevant to the client’s program
- Noblis assists and supports the client in managing the quality assurance and quality control associated with the client’s bioanalysis program. Noblis also assists and supports the client in acquiring, the information management capabilities needed to carry out the client’s bioanalysis program.
Noblis assists the client in preparing and reviewing statements of work (SOWs) needed to support the client's mission. In order to be able to prepare SOWs, Noblis assists the client in strategic planning and requirements definition.
At the client's direction, Noblis establishes and supports expert panels to provide advice to the client. Noblis attends national and international conferences and technical meetings related to the client’s program.
Noblis provides technical assistance to government clients in a number of ways related to biological warfare defense. These include:
The design, implementation and interpretation of laboratory experiments and field studies aimed at an understanding of the fate and transport of biological materials out of a laboratory Technical oversight of the development and validation of screening, analysis and decontamination procedures using the most advanced technology available Technical oversight of the development of monitoring techniques and hardware to capture biological materials for analysis The management of information resulting from laboratory analyses and laboratory and field experiments
The evaluation of the applicability of emerging technologies to these various areas In providing technical assistance in the design and interpretation of laboratory experiments and field demonstration activities, Noblis scientists have gained knowledge of the numerous variables that affect the transport of biological materials. The domain expertise of Noblis scientists in the areas of molecular biology, immunology, microbiology, biochemistry and environmental engineering qualifies them to evaluate the chemistry and biology of the various transport and degradation processes to be considered, and to design systems to control the transport and degradation of such materials.
Technical support of laboratory experiments and field demonstration efforts include defining specific technically feasible requirements to be accomplished by a given effort and developing technical solutions that focus on meeting those requirements. The multidisciplinary team of Noblis scientists is well suited to identify technically achievable requirements associated with a particular mission, to design system solutions that meet those requirements, and to provide the technical input for the design of protocols for the continuing evaluation of the solution under operational conditions.
Technical oversight of the development of decontamination, screening, or analytical protocols based on the use of new emerging technologies has provided Noblis scientists with a systematic and mechanistic understanding of the strengths and limitations of the specific technologies. This level of understanding enhances Noblis’ abilities to provide technical advice regarding the application of such procedures to the solution of problems in different types of systems, as well as the evaluation of successful performance under operational conditions. In addition, Noblis developed, and provided technical oversight of, a process for assuring that the transfer of newly developed technologies were transferred effectively to function identically in disparate locations.
Noblis scientists have provided technical input to the requirements definition for the monitoring of environmental media and have first-hand knowledge of the translation of requirements and specifications into a process or a system. Noblis scientists are also highly qualified to devise strategies for the stabilization of environmental signatures for analysis by arresting or inhibiting the major transport or degradation processes that result in signature loss.
The management of data resulting from analyzing environmental samples requires a facility with data repositories of various types together with domain knowledge of the types of analytical results that emerge as data. In addition, it is important to understand the relationships among data from different types of assays and experiments in order to manage the data effectively. The mode of storage and presentation of data from several experiments as well as the logical arrangement and presentation of variables and data from a single experiment or demonstration are critical in making the emerging data available for comparison, analysis, and integration to yield useful information. Noblis scientists have provided this cross-disciplinary data management capability to our government clients in a number of areas.
The evaluation of emerging technologies and their application to mission-critical protocols requires an in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the technologies presently in use and the ability to grasp the conceptual basis for the new technology. Noblis scientists possess the domain knowledge and experience for both of these requirements and can expertly evaluate the potential of an emerging technology for the enhancement of an existing technical approach. Noblis has defined performance criteria for technical protocols that allow a multi-faceted comparison of an existing technology with an emerging candidate technology.
In the area of assessing the potential for nefarious use of biological organisms or materials, Noblis has internally developed a process for modeling scenarios of bioweapon development that would identify triggering criteria to use in the detection and interdiction of such development before the intended nefarious event. The multidisciplinary team of Noblis scientists is ideally suited to the development of feasible scenarios using likely organisms and materials, at several different levels of sophistication and resource availability. In-depth domain expertise allows development of such scenarios with the accurate details required to identify triggering criteria.