Nanotechnology Research in Support of Homeland Security:

Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Explosive (CBRE) Detection and Protection

Nanostructures, with their small size, light weight, and high surface-to-volume ratio, will improve by orders of magnitude our capability to:

a) detect chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive (CBRE) agents with sensitivity (potentially as little as a single agent entity) and selectivity (microfabricated sensor suites and molecular recognition)

b) protect through filtration, adsorption, destructive adsorption or neutralization of agents (nanoporosity, high surface-to-volume nanomaterials, and reactive surface sites)

c) provide site-specific in-vivo prophylaxis.

The use of nanoscale sensors for CBRE can critically impact national security programs, by providing sensitive, selective, and inexpensive sensors that can be deployed for advance security to transportation systems (protection for air, bus, train/subway, etc.); military (protection for facilities, equipment and personnel); Federal buildings (White House, U.S. embassies, and all other Federal buildings); customs (for border crossings, international travel, etc.); civilian businesses; and schools. Nanotechnology-based materials will be essential to protective garb for emergency response teams and hospital staff coping with chemical or biological (CB) incidents. New nanotechnology approaches to acceptable decontamination of apparatus and building spaces are also needed, as highlighted by the prolonged efforts to decontaminate anthrax in the Senate Hart Office Building. The FY 04 NNI budget request identifies CBRE detection and protection as one of 9 NNI “grand challenges” – targets for long-term benefits to the nation that could be expected from the NNI’s basic research programs. The NNI organized a workshop in March of 2002 to recommend a plan of action for research and development aimed at realizing the promise of the CBRE grand challenge. The report from this workshop is available on request. It will be used as input to the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the President’s National Science and Technology Council this fall as NSET prepares a new strategic plan for the NNI.

BioCOM chip (above) developed at the University of California, Berkeley, based on the observation of chemo-mechanical microcantilever beam actuation induced by biomolecular binding. The chip is currently being developed for high-throughput multiplexed biomolecular analysis. This chip-level microcantilever array is expected to provide a quantitative, label-free, and low-cost platform for detection of various biomolecules, such as DNA and proteins. This illustrates the potential for nanotechnology-based approaches to detection of and protection from chemical, biological, radiological, and explosives threats (courtesy of A. Majumdar, U.C. Berkeley).