DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah – The Soldier of the future will have real-time warnings about hazardous chemical and biological agents in the air around them, thanks to the work being done on Project 24 (P24) in the Biological Test Division (BTD) at Dugway Proving Ground. The first target the P24 team has their sights set on is the virus that causes COVID-19.
The team begins by releasing a simulant inside the Miniature Aerosol Exposure Chamber (MAEC), a device that was custom designed by Dugway employees. Samples are collected, and using nanopore gene sequencing technology, microbiologists work to reliably identify the bacteriophage being used during this step. “We were sequencing what we collected in the box, and we want to determine if there’s enough MS2 in there to result in an identification,” says one team member. MS2 is a virus that infects E. Coli bacteria but is harmless to humans. DPG Commander COL Brian T. Hoffman said after visiting the P24 lab site, “I’m fascinated with how we are challenging ourselves with using emerging technology to address existing and emerging threats.”
A statistical algorithm is used to determine what aerosol concentration of MS2 is needed in order to get a probability of identification (PID). Gunnell explains, “we’ll start at a concentration and if we get an identification, then we’ll lower that concentration and do it again. If that lower concentration results in another identification, then we’ll go even lower.” This process continues until the MS2 is no longer able to be identified. The concentration is then adjusted until the team finds the lowest concentration where identification is possible. “Then apply the statistical algorithm to it and you’ll get a probability of identification,” says Gunnell.
Eventually, the project will collect samples in locations that more closely resemble real-world environments, such as the airplane fuselage at BTD. Gunnell says the team will then scale up their findings to agents of concern, “we want to take this to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 so we can be able to identify in near-real-time in the battlefield.”
COL Hoffman praised the work being done at BTD and elsewhere on the installation, “Dugway has a history since 1942 of taking some of our most serious threats facing our nation and figuring out what it needs to defend and protect our servicemembers against those threats.” A history of science and safety that continues today.
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