Biotechnology Center
SPC's Biotechnology Center provides a full range of technical,
programmatic, managerial, and related capabilities that are crucial
to the initiation, execution and transitioning of Biological Warfare
Defense (BWD) technology programs. This Center has provided the
primary Scientific, Engineering, and Technical Assistance (SETA)
support to the Defense Sciences Office (DSO) of the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the BWD program since it began
in 1995. The Center has demonstrated the expertise necessary to
support other government organizations with BWD and related projects.
In addition to providing technical support to the director, the
Biotechnology Center supports such DSO programs as the following:
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Unconventional Pathogen Countermeasures Program
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The goal of the Unconventional Pathogen Countermeasures (UPC) program
is to develop and demonstrate technologies that provide the greatest
protection to uniformed warfighters and the defense personnel who
support them. The focus of the UPC program is on the development of
revolutionary, broad-spectrum, medical countermeasures against
significantly pathogenic micro-organisms or their pathogenic
products.
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Advanced Diagnostics Program
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The objective of the Advanced Diagnostics (AD) program is to provide
the capability to detect the presence of infection by any pathogen in
the body. The goal is to accomplish this in real time, when pathogen
count is still low and treatable. Early detection (prior to presence
of recognizable signs and symptoms) significantly increases the
probability of survival.
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Advanced Consequence Management
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In the event of a terrorist attack or large-scale disaster, a very
challenging problem involves how to acquire and provide the
information needed to develop the most effective treatment or
response. This requires sorting, integrating, and fusing data in such
a way that it is provided in a timely and usable manner. The Advanced
Consequence Management program is developing the tool to provide an
efficient flow of the correct "What to Do" information, up-to-date
incident status, the capability to consult experts and
source-specific information, logistics information for needed
treatment and supplies, and a valuable training tool for operational
planning.
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This program exploits recent research results that demonstrate that
single crystals of relaxor piezoelectrics exhibit electromechanical
coupling exceeding 90 percent (compared to about 75 percent in
conventional piezoceramics); and that strain levels exceeding 1
percent (compared to about 0.1 percent in conventional piezoceramics)
may thereby be able to provide a quantum enhancement in solid-state
electromechanical actuator performance. The program's initial phase,
consisting of 2-3-year projects, will concentrate on devising
innovative growth methods; understanding microscopic origins;
optimizing composition, properties, and processing; and identifying
and demonstrating-on a laboratory scale-materials performance in
applications addressable with initially produced samples. A second
phase of 2-3-year projects will scale-up materials production methods
and demonstrate performance in selected high-impact defense
applications, ranging from helicopter rotor control through wing
shape control to naval sonar systems.
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