Year: 2006-07

Company: Northrop Grumman

Liaison(s): Chris Capaccio

The Northrop Grumman Team Masters Project (NG TMP) is sponsored by Chemical, Biological, and Explosives Defense Systems at Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems sector, located in Baltimore, Maryland. The focus of this TMP is on a subsystem of a handheld biodetection device. Currently within the biotech industry, handheld diagnostic devices for the detection of pathogens are being developed for clinical, point-of-care, and biodefense applications. In particular the NG TMP investigated new designs and methods of rapid sample preparation for the subsequent detection of biological agents. In addition, the TMP surveyed the business and intellectual property landscape of sample prep technologies. Various milestones were set within the scope of the project in order to have defined deliverables. A preliminary analysis of the business side of sample preparation technology was performed. From market analysis and IP investigations, the NG TMP proposed novel designs to Northrop Grumman for review. Finally, the team gathered laboratory data from designs NG selected for further testing and then built and characterized the final design prototype.