NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Miniature mass spectrometry firm 908 Devices on Tuesday announced that it has received a contract worth up to $11.5 million from the US Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop new chemical detection devices.
Under the contract, the company will combine its proprietary high-pressure mass spectrometry (HPMS) technology, which uses miniaturized ion traps that allow the device to operate at higher pressures than standard mass spectrometers, with gas chromatography in order to create a small, lightweight device that can be used to detect chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats.
908 Devices said that it will perform work under the DTRA contract with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including those who initially developed the HPMS technology, as well as other commercial entities.
"We believe the development of new product variants based on our core HPMS technology platform will play a key role in the future of threat detection and strengthen mission support," 908 Devices President and CEO Kevin Knopp said in a statement.