Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

PositiveID Wins Contract to Support Biothreat Detection Research

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – PositiveID today announced it has signed a contract to support work being conducted by UTC Aerospace Systems' ISR & Space Systems unit to detect biological threats for the US Department of Defense.

UTC Aerospace has a contract with DoD covering the agency's Joint US Forces Korea Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition (JUPITR) Program, aimed at protecting US military and its allies from biological threats. JUPITR will test and evaluate PositiveID's technology called Microfluidic Bioagent Autonomous Networked Detector (M-BAND) as part of the Delray Beach, Fla.-based firm's contract with UTC Aerospace, which is expected to run between March and September.

M-BAND continuously analyzes air samples to detect biological airborne threats in the form of bacteria, viruses, and toxins. JUPITR will evaluate the technology's baseline performance, reliability, maintainability, ease of use, and costs "to provide the 'best of breed' and most affordable options for the US Army and US Air Force," Positive ID said.

Financial and other terms of PositiveID's contract with UTC Aerospace were not disclosed.

The Scan

International Team Proposes Checklist for Returning Genomic Research Results

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics present a checklist to guide the return of genomic research results to study participants.

Study Presents New Insights Into How Cancer Cells Overcome Telomere Shortening

Researchers report in Nucleic Acids Research that ATRX-deficient cancer cells have increased activity of the alternative lengthening of telomeres pathway.

Researchers Link Telomere Length With Alzheimer's Disease

Within UK Biobank participants, longer leukocyte telomere length is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, according to a new study in PLOS One.

Nucleotide Base Detected on Near-Earth Asteroid

Among other intriguing compounds, researchers find the nucleotide uracil, a component of RNA sequences, in samples collected from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, as they report in Nature Communications.