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INDUSTRY NOTES:
Karcher's Decocontain 3000 GDS readied for delivery to Oman and Hungary. Winnenden, Germany, July 2009: In June, the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Defence ordered two Decocontain 3000 GDS systems, which are to be transported on MAN carrier vehicles (6x6). The Decocontain 3000 GDS is used for the simultaneous decontamination of vehicles, personnel, equipment and road sections, and it stands out due to its compact design and immediate readiness for operation. The integrated 3,000 litre stainless-steel tank also enables the transport or storage of drinking water. The Oman Armed Forces will use the new family of highly effective NBC decontamination agents: the nuclear RDS 2000 decontamination agent, the BDS 2000 biological decontamination agent system, and the non-aqueous GDS 2000 decontamination agent. The Hungarian Armed Forces have also ordered two Decocontain 3000 GDS systems with an appropriate set of chemicals included in the package. These units will be delivered by March 2010. The Hungarian Ministry of Defence had earlier ordered (Year 2008) over 200 of the Karcher DS 10 decontamination sprayers. For information please contact: Avon Rubber Technology Innovation and Science (ARTIS), Westbury, Wiltshire, England awarded development contract from RDECOM. ARTIS is an advanced laboratory dedicated to material testing, research and development and training and has been formed from the Avon Rubber plc Material Development Centre. On 29 May an announcement was made that ARTIS had been awarded a $270,000. development contract with US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). This 10 month contract was through the Technology Support Working Group (TSWG) for the development of an integral pass-through protective patch for level A protective garments and will result in the delivery of 10 prototype systems for evaluation by TSWG. Avon Protection Systems (APS) will provide a customer point of contract role and will use the co-operative effort of ARTIS, who will lead the development of the patch and adhesive system, and ISI, who will integrate their existing pass through technology with the integral sealing patch. This development will address a need for an emergency patch device for first responders working in immediately dangerous to life and health environments. The patch will be used in situations where an emergency responder is trapped or incapacitated and is running low on air. In this situation there is an immediate and critical need to re-supply air to the individual until they can be removed to an uncontaminated environment. Using the patch system a rescuer, after making an incision in the stricken responders suit, is able to patch in a replacement air system using a connector and air line supplied as part of the system. The suit incision is then re-sealed using the integral patch to protect the responder from further contamination until he can be removed from the area. A key challenge is to develop an adhesive system for the patch that is field deployable and capable of being applied by a responder wearing full protective equipment. ARTIS are ideally placed to meet this challenge having worked on many similar systems for personal protective equipment. For added information please contact: www.artis.uk.com . Pranalytica Inc. Santa Monica, California has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue development of its High Efficiency Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers (EMIL). Pranalytica was one of only three chosen to continue on project. The project was created to fill the need of the Department of Defense (DoD) for directional infrared countermeasures (DIRCM), advanced stand-off chemical sensors, and Laser Radar (LADAR). Potential non-military applications include DIRCM protection of civilian airliners from shoulder-fired missiles, detection of toxic industrial gases, atmospheric pollution monitoring and free-space optical communications. The goal of Phase 1B of the EMIL program is to reach wall plug efficiency (WPE) of 50% for QCLs operating at 4.6 µm and producing a minimum of one watt of continuous wave power at room temperature. Of the six institutions awarded participation in Phase 1 of the EMIL program, only Pranalytica and two others were selected to work on Phase 1B. Pranalytica is the only industrial institution as a prime contractor in the EMIL program. In order to both improve WPE and produce useful, single-ended output lasers, Pranalytica has succeeded in developing high performance high reflectance (HR) laser facet coatings. Optical power density at the facets of high power QCLs can reach tens of megawatts per square centimeter - a remarkably high value made even more formidable by the fact that coatings are deposited directly onto the active medium of QCLs. Pranalytica had to overcome significant obstacles related to materials and deposition technology of such coatings for MWIR wavelengths, and to demonstrate reliable operation of 2W QCLs over hundreds of hours. This achievement enabled Pranalytica to offer its turn-key CW/RT QCL systems as a standard product at the 2W output power level. In the area of QCL thermal management, Pranalytica has adapted its proven, industrial-quality packaging solutions, enabling sustainable high power operation of leading-edge QCLs in CW regime at room temperature with only simple air cooling. These advances position Pranalytica for successful performance under Phase 1B of the DARPA EMIL program and for commercial acceptance of very high power QCL systems. Pranalytica is the world's only supplier of complete, fully packaged, turn-key high power QCL systems. Being an integrated laser designer and manufacturer, the company offers significant in-house capabilites to improve and modify the standard systems to meet diverse customer requirements, starting with the fundamental design of the quantum cascade laser and all the way through system-level issues. For added information: From armored systems to CBRNE response to food security and logistics management, Battelle Memorial Institute's innovative solutions protect against known and emerging threats.Battelle and National SecurityFor more than three-quarters of a century, Battelle has anticipated the needs and supported the national interest - providing solutions to some of America's toughest technical and scientific challenges. Their scientists, researchers, and technicians work at home and around the world in support of America's armed forces and their missions - from homeland defense to the global war on terrorism. From advanced armor materials and sophisticated electronics to rugged equipment development or radar evading coating, Battelle delivers solutions grounded in science and supported by innovative engineering. Battelle's national security efforts also have an environmental component. Battelle provides services to assist with the US chemical stockpile disposal program and provides performance assessments to help clients evaluate new environmental technologies. In line with these efforts Battelle has scheduled several international conferences dealing with environmental issues.
Editor's Note: Battelle was an originator, organizer and sponsor and today a continuing sponsor of the world's oldest professional series covering science and medicine in CBRN - the Chemical, Biological Medical Treatment Symposia (CBMTS) series which is now preparing for its 17th general meeting and its eighth international plenary. This meeting will be held at the birthplace of this series - The Spiez Laboratory, Spiez, Switzerland from 02-07 May 2010. Inovio Biomedical Corporation, San Diego, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s Vaccine Research Center (VRC) to develop influenza vaccines. Under the agreement, the VRC and Inovio will pool technologies to develop universal influenza vaccines as well as rapidly advance development of vaccine candidates targeting the emerging pandemic 2009 H1N1 swine flu strains. Inovio has established strong collaborative relationships with some of the world's top academic and research institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada, to leverage the company's R&D resources to develop universal flu vaccine programs. In these studies with the VRC, electroporation-based delivery of novel DNA vaccines against influenza will be tested in pre-clinical animal studies to measure immune and protective responses. Inovio will provide electroporation devices and procedures based on its proprietary intradermal electroporation technology. Inovio and the VRC will provide DNA vaccine plasmids encoding influenza antigens. Challenge studies in animal models and immunological analyses will be performed at the VRC; both Inovio and the VRC will evaluate the results. Successful completion of the pre-clinical evaluation may lead to selection of vaccine candidates for further clinical development. The challenge of current vaccine technology is the inability to create influenza vaccines that can protect against new, unmatched strains that may subsequently emerge - this limitation is highlighted by the inability of existing seasonal influenza vaccines to protect against the present swine origin influenza A/H1N1 and recognition that the necessary development and manufacturing period to produce a strain-specific vaccine is long enough to enable such an influenza virus to quickly spread. Inovio's focus in its influenza programs is to develop universal influenza vaccines able to provide broader protective capabilities against perpetually emerging new strains. The company previously reported data from prior and ongoing pre-clinical studies in pig models in which the SynCon™ based H1N1 vaccines achieved hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers above the protection threshold in 100% of the vaccinated animals against different strains of influenza virus, including an existing swine influenza virus (A/Iowa/35233/1999) and a currently circulating swine influenza A/H1N1 virus (Swine A/Mexico/InDRE4487/2009). The company previously reported data from prior and ongoing pre-clinical studies in mouse models in which the SynCon™ based H1N1 vaccines provided 100% protection in a lethal challenge study against an unmatched H1N1 virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu, and showed in a separate study that vaccinated mice recovered from virus infection-induced morbidity significantly faster compared to non-immunized control mice when the mice were challenged with another currently circulating swine influenza A/H1N1 virus strain (A/Canada/AB/RV1532/2009). Inovio's novel SynCon™ technology enables the company to design DNA-based vaccines with the potential to broadly protect against unmatched sub-types and strains of pathogens and provide the opportunity to have vaccines on hand against new strains that are perpetually emerging, as in the case of influenza. Inovio has created SynCon™ DNA vaccines based on influenza HA, NA, and NP proteins from strains H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, and H5N1, which make up the majority of seasonal and pandemic influenza. A resulting vaccine could target seasonal, as well as pandemic-potential, influenza strains, such as avian influenza and swine flu, which has already been designated pandemic status. Significantly, being based on a common set of antigens derived from a broad range of flu strains, such a universal vaccine would have the potential to provide greater protection against evolving, unmatched flu strains. Inovio Biomedical, San Diego, California and Environics Awarded Multi-million Euro Contract with the Indian Army for CWA Detection The transaction, which includes the handheld ChemPro100i ("ChemPro100 improved") multi-purpose Chemical Warfare Agent (CWA) detectors and other devices, strengthens the Mikkeli, Finland-based Environics« position in Asia and especially in the rapidly-growing Indian markets. "We are expecting significant sales for the ChemPro100i detector as well as our other products in the near future. " According to Veli-Matti Lahti, VP Sales & Marketing of Environics Oy, "This agreement strengthens our ability to be a supplier of individual detectors as well as complex networked systems". The Indian Army arrived at its decision after a lengthy international open bidding competition and rigorous technical testing. Environics defeated many larger international CBRN companies in these tests. The customer was impressed with the technical performance of the ChemPro100i, the ease of use as well as the minimal operating costs over the lifespan of the detector. Environics products are produced in Mikkeli. The delivery of these products will take place this year. Environics makes gas & vapor detection products & turn-key CBRN detection networks for civilian & military defense. We protect individuals, buildings, metros, cities and nations from CBRN threats. |
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