by Sara Miller
U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command
Drs. Justin Hartings and Chad Roy, formerly of the U.S. Army Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, recognized the need for a comprehensive aerosol control platform suitable for a variety of agents, animal species, and aerosol forms. Together they created the Automated Inhalation Toxicology Exposure System, which greatly benefits the civilian and military communities by allowing us to better prepare against bioterrorist threats.
The patented technology, which was later named the AeroMP upon commercialization, allows scientists to challenge animals by the aerosol method. The most likely route of exposure in a bioterror event is through an aerosol. Therefore, inducing experimental infection by inhalation is a critical component of developing medical countermeasures for biological threats. During testing, animals are often injected with an agent to induce disease. This method of infection produces an illness that may or may not progress like an aerosol acquired infection. This aerosol technology creates a wellcontrolled aerosol in a small chamber so that animals inhale particles in a fashion similar to a real bioterror event. Creating this environment means there is a greater chance for accuracy in replicating what may happen in a real-world scenario when humans are exposed to harmful pathogens.
The product itself is a single hardware and software platform that controls and monitors all aspects of an inhalation exposure, including aerosol generation, characterization, sampling, airflow, system balancing, environmental parameters, animal respiration, and dose calculation.
There are several benefits to transferring this technology. Easy to use, AeroMP is the only automated inhalation toxicology exposure system featuring full computer control over all pertinent aspects of aerosol exposures.
AeroMP also offers standardization—all aerosol-related parameters are under the control of a single software platform, enabling all data to be in the same format and located in the same file, and allowing for fast and efficient electronic data submission to the Food and Drug Administration.
Following the 2001 anthrax mail attacks, the need for this technology to become commercially available was apparent. Hartings and Roy formed Biaera Technologies, LLC in Frederick, Md., and licensed the technology from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. In addition to receiving grants, they also applied for and received tenancy at the Frederick Innovative Technology Center Inc. (FITCI), Frederick County's first business incubator. In 2005 they began distribution to nonfederal entities, placing four AeroMPs in non-DOD laboratories. Currently, the companies that have purchased AeroMPs are working with influenza, poxvirus, tularemia, and anthrax. The systems purchased are performing testing on rodents, rabbits, ferrets, and primates. The original systems at USAMRIID are being used for every agent at the institute.
In the summer of 2006, the company was reorganized. Now under the sole ownership of Dr. Hartings, Biaera continues to market aggressively to biodefense- and nonbiodefense-related laboratories. Recently, the Center for Disease Control ordered two more systems (in addition to the one currently in use) to be used for research on avian influenza. George Mason University has also ordered an AeroMP for its biocontainment laboratory, funded by a program in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health and
the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Dr. Justin Hartings, above, and Dr. Chad Roy created the Automated Inhalation Toxicology Exposure System, which greatly benefits the civilian and military community by letting them prepare against bioterrorist threats. (Click image to enlarge)
