Baltimore bio tech firm, PathSensors, has officially launched its new Bioflash MailGuard mail security screening solution.
The Bioflash MailGuard system provides a fast, highly accurate, easy to use and low cost threat detection solution for government and commercial mail room operations that need to screen mail and packages for potential threats such as anthrax.
The system is now in use at a major commercial mail room screening facility thanks to PathSensor’s initial launch customer, a global document management company.
Mail room threats can cost businesses up to $400,000 per day in lost productivity.
Government agencies, document management companies, outsourced mail room screening operators and commercial mail room managers have expressed to Pathfinders a need for:
- A turn key bio threat detection solution that is highly accurate with virtually no false alarms
- Fast to detect threats and
- Able to handle high volumes of mail and packages;
- Easy to use, and, above all, with a much lower cost of ownership than alternative approaches
Enter the Bioflash MailGuard mail security screening solution
“The Bioflash MailGuard is the first and only solution to meet all these requirements and the results – as demonstrated by a successful field launch earlier this year with a major commercial mail room operation – show that the Bioflash MailGuard is a true breakthrough technology,” commented Ted Olsen, CEO, PathSensors, Inc.
The BioFlash MailGuard System consists of an integrated biological testing unit, down flow booth, mail jogger, and compact medical refrigerator and requires standard 110v power to operate.
The biological testing unit has the ability to connect to the Internet via an optional tethered laptop computer, which permits remote system diagnostics and secondary testing confirmation as needed.
It can detect over 25 biological threats in concentrations as low as 100 CFU in less than five minutes.
How it Works
CANARY® Technology – A novel biosensor with unprecedented performance
The Bioflash MailGuard uses PathSensor’s CANARY® technology, which is currently deployed by Defense and Homeland Security customers, and which can be Integrated with x-ray, chemical and other threat detection technologies.
CANARY® (Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields) is a cell-based biosensor technology that delivers extremely rapid detection of pathogens at previously unseen levels of sensitivity and specificity.
Developed by the scientists at MIT-Lincoln Laboratories, CANARY® incorporates pathogen-specific antibodies expressed on the biosensor surface which, in the presence of a pathogen (virus, bacteria or toxin), trigger an intracellular calcium release that in turn activates bioluminescent proteins whose light output can be measured and analyzed.
(Watch as PathSensors CEO Ted Olsen explains CANARY technology and the process of aerosol testing using the BioFlash. CANARY can be used for bio-defense, mail screening, plant pathogens, food safety and much more. Courtesy of PathSensors and YouTube)
PathSensors is a leading biotechnology solutions and environmental testing company.
PathSensors provides high speed, highly sensitive pathogen and threat detection solutions for the defense, homeland security, public health, medical countermeasures, mail room screening, first responder, food processing and agricultural sectors.
PathSensors’ solutions can detect a wide range of threats, including anthrax, ricin, Ebola and salmonella.
PathSensors’ technology supports a growing library of threat detection capabilities and can be expanded to meet emerging and specific threat detection requirements.
Our team of scientists are working with top academic institutions and government research agencies on some of the most important challenges in bio-security.
PathSensors’ technology is being used today by government and commercial customers for multiple applications, including:
• Defense and homeland security – CBRNE
• Environmental monitoring
• Mail room screening
• Food safety
• Plant and agricultural safety and testing
• First responder threat detection
• Public health
• Medical Counter Measures
PathSensors’ innovative BioFlash and Zephyr detection systems use CANARY® technology licensed from the MIT-Lincoln Laboratory.
In independent tests by U.S. government labs, PathSensors’ CANARY® technology was shown to be superior to alternative technologies in terms of sensitivity and speed of detection.
