Differential Mobility Spectrometry Applications in Homeland Security, Clinical Diagnostics and Drug Discovery

There is an urgent need for miniaturized sensors that can rapidly, accurately, and specifically detect extremely low concentrations of chemical and biological materials. Such technologies impact many areas including public health, drug development and national defense. Along with other research groups in industry and academia, we are developing new microfabricated sensors based on differential mobility spectrometry - also known as high field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry. These sensors are suitable for rapid diagnosis of various pulmonary diseases and respiratory pathogens, and they may also be used for explosives and narcotics detection when configured and tuned to detect different chemical signatures. Similarly, we are also applying variations on this technology for the early detection of biological weapons agents. Given the extensive work being performed by many different research groups in many different specialties, there is now a need for a coherent and exhaustive look at the similarities and differences of detection in medical, pharmaceutical, defense and security applications and how these may influence system level designs.