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Bacteria
By Sagittarious
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An epiphany one night in
a hotel bar between two longtime friends may
tran
sform a sensor designed to test ozone depletion
in the Antarctic into one of the
nation's newest defenses against bioterrorism.
The late- night session between professors
Robert Miller and Gary Sayler came 10 years
ago after a daylong session at the American
Society for Microbiology's annual meeting. Sayler,
an environmental molecular biologist at the
University of Tennessee and director of the
Center for Environmental Biotechnology,
had been working on ways to manipulate bacteria
so they would show when
the bacteria were eating environmental hazards
in soil.
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He and
Miller, now a microbiologist at State University,
figured if they could manipulate bacteria to show
environmental threats on land, why not use it
to show whether biohazards such as anthrax, the
plague or tularemia are present elsewhere? Their
hypothesis took a whole new meaning Sept. 11,
when terrorists attacked the homeland. The attacks
changed the focus of the scientists from how to
cope with agents that naturally spread on Earth
to combating compounds placed purposefully by
terrorists to cause pain and panic.
The sensor Miller is developing, involves bacteria
and an enzyme called luciferace.
Miller injects luciferace into bacteria and hooks
it to the bacteria's "motors." When
the bacteria's DNA is damaged by intruders such
as plague or ultraviolet light, the luciferace
begins to glow. Each molecule of luciferace produces
blue light, so the more damage to the bacterium,
the brighter the light glows. "We won't know
what it is, but we'll know there's something there,"
Miller said.
Luciferace is the same enzyme used by fireflys
to glow at night.
Miller is working with another researcher to create
different probes to hold the bacteria sensors.
They are experimenting with a plastic probe about
18 inches long and not much wider than a pencil.
The idea is to partially fill the probe with the
altered bacteria, then place the probe in the
ground. If the probe glows, scientists know something
is contaminating the ground at least for the first
18 inches.
Different probes and sensors are being developed
to test different areas and water supplies, but
Miller said it won't be something used on people
at areas such as airport security checkpoints.
"It's not something you wear that will start
beeping," he said. NASA plans to use a smaller
version of the sensors to monitor its water supply
in space. Miller said the sensors may advance
to a point at which a computer chip could be attached
to the sensors to send information via computers.
Scientists still must work on making sensors reusable,
learning how long bacteria will last in the sensors
and if light is the best way to show damage to
the bacteria's DNA.
"They're practical questions. It's not a
question of whether it will work," Miller
said.
Miller had tested the idea before Sept. 11 to
study how ultraviolet light affects the bacteria
in Antarctica and whether they could use the luciferace
to find pollutants. With the protective ozone
layer in the Earth's stratosphere at its thinnest
over Antarctica, it was the perfect place to study
bacteria damaged by ultraviolet light. When the
ultraviolet light damaged the bacteria's DNA,
the luciferace would glow. It's now been adapted
to fight terrorism, as have many other projects
in research department. The university's work
gained national attention after Sept. 11, and
with the help of state legislators and a strong
hint from an Oklahoma native living in Washington
D.C., university officials have turned Stillwater
into an emerging bioterrorism center. oe Alexander,
vice president of research at Oklahoma State University,
said along with Miller's sensor, researchers at
OSU are working on lighter and cooler suits for
first responders such as firefighters and a radiation
sensor that's already been tested in space. He
said they are working with the trucking association
to develop a sensor that will detect chemicals
and biohazards in boxes as well as planning sensors
that will work as air monitors for apartment complexes
or other highly populated buildings. Alexander
credits Joe Allbaugh, a Blackwell native and director
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with
bringing the research together, so the university
could receive federal and state money to fight
bioterrorism. Allbaugh visited OSU in January.
The state Legislature provided $19 million in
spring, and Alexander hopes to receive money from
the federal anti- terrorism package.
"We already had these things in place. The
events of Sept. 11 solidified that this was going
to be a real focus," Alexander said "We
want to really make a difference. I think we're
going to come up with some ideas that are going
to change some lives."
| Full
Frontal |
Mammograms are
notorious both for recording false positives
and for not spotting real tumors.
Now a study shows that detection can dramatically
improved with one simple step: correctly
positioning the breast. The position in
the device, it turns out, is even more important
than sharpness of the image. |
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