Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video]

Jan 27th 2011
No Comments
respond
trackback

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

The following hydrangea you grow could literally save your life. With the aid of the dept of Defense, a biologist at the University of Colorado has taught plant proteins the right way to detect explosives.

Never let or not it’s said that horticulture can’t fight terrorism.

Picture this at an airport, perhaps in as soon as four years: a terrorist rolls throughout the sliding doors of a terminal with a bomb packed into his luggage (or his underwear). Out of the blue, the leafy, verdant gardenscape ringing the gates goes white as a sheet. That’s the proteins within the plants telling authorities that they’ve picked up the chemical trace of the man’s arsenal.

It only took a small engineering nudge to deputize a plant’s natural, evolutionary self-defense mechanisms for threat detection. ” Plants can’t run and hide,” says June Medford, the biologist who’s spent the last seven years understanding the right way to deputize plants for counterterrorism. ” If a bug comes by, it has to answer it. And it already has the infrastructure to respond.”

That will be the ” receptor” proteins in its DNA, which respond naturally to threatening stimuli. If a bug chews on a leaf, as an instance, the plant releases a chain of chemical signals called terpenoids – ” a cavalry call,” Medford says, that thickens the leaf cuticle in defense. Medford and her team designed a computer model to govern the receptors: basically, the model instructs the protein to react when coming in touch with chemicals found in explosives or common air or water pollutants.

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video]

” The computer program designs how the protein, which detects things, and explosive or environmental pollutant interact,” Medford explains to Danger Room. ” We translate the language from the protein back to the DNA, and encode what we need within the DNA.” Her team published its findings today within the journal PLoS One.

It begun in 2003 with a Darpa program to grow circuitry. Back then, Medford heard about a program from the far-out Pentagon research arm called Biological Input/Output Systems , geared to supply ” rational design and engineering of genetic regulatory circuits, signal transduction pathways, and metabolism.” The program was essentially a decision for computer-designed receptors. ” I was a plant biologist,” Medford recalls, ” I assumed, ‘Wouldn’t or not it’s cool if we put it all together, like Reese’s peanut butter and chocolate.’”

That brought about a $2 billion grant from Darpa, with the Office of Naval Research kicking in another million. But by far the largest benefactor to Medford’s research is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which last year gave her a $7.9 million grant to get the bomb-sniffing ferns from the lab to the genuine world.

Right now, Medford estimates she’s three to four years out. Her labs have genetically-designed plants blanching white once they come into contact with TNT. But that’s in a research lab, where the volume of light is continuing, ” no wind, no rain, no bugs, no people dumping coffee.” Still, with the dep. of Homeland Security unsure easy methods to field non-intrusive technology for detecting bombs at public events , here’s a premium on sensors that double as a sweet-smelling garden; Medford says she’s ” going backward and forward” with DHS, but won’t disclose more than that.

One big problem: Medford probably thinks it’s not feasible to get the plants to react to ammonium nitrate, a typical chemical used for homemade bombs in Afghanistan (and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing) since, in any case, it’s found in fertilizer.

Eventually, Medford expects to bring the bomb-detecting plants to market through genetically modified seedlings. Whatever it costs, it’s got to be lower than the $100,000 to $200,000 that a backscatter ” junk scanner” can run . The reaction of the plants is dependent upon the concentration of the chemical it comes into proximity with; Medford says her goal is to get her plants as sensitive as a dog’s nose .

And one of the best part? Because the proteins can live in any plant, there’s no specific vegetation that couldn’t become a sensor. Get ready for grow houses designing terror-fighting purple kush . That’s the kindest bud of all.

Photo: Noah Shachtman

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video] Wired.com has been expanding the hive mind with technology, science and geek culture news since 1995.

Source

This post is tagged: chemical signals, counterterrorism, defense mechanisms, environmental pollutant, receptor proteins, threat detection, university of colorado

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video]

Jan 27th 2011
No Comments
respond
trackback

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Your Ad Here

A better hydrangea you grow could literally save your life. With assistance from the dep. of Defense, a biologist at the University of Colorado has taught plant proteins tips on how to detect explosives.

Never let or not it’s said that horticulture can’t fight terrorism.

Picture this at an airport, perhaps in as soon as four years: a terrorist rolls throughout the sliding doors of a terminal with a bomb packed into his luggage (or his underwear). Rapidly, the leafy, verdant gardenscape ringing the gates goes white as a sheet. That’s the proteins within the plants telling authorities that they’ve picked up the chemical trace of the fellow’s arsenal.

It only took a small engineering nudge to deputize a plant’s natural, evolutionary self-defense mechanisms for threat detection. ” Plants can’t run and hide,” says June Medford, the biologist who’s spent the last seven years finding out the way to deputize plants for counterterrorism. ” If a bug comes by, it has to answer it. And it already has the infrastructure to respond.”

That stands out as the ” receptor” proteins in its DNA, which respond naturally to threatening stimuli. If a bug chews on a leaf, let’s say, the plant releases a chain of chemical signals called terpenoids – ” a cavalry call,” Medford says, that thickens the leaf cuticle in defense. Medford and her team designed a computer model to control the receptors: basically, the model instructs the protein to react when coming in touch with chemicals found in explosives or common air or water pollutants.

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video]

” The computer program designs how the protein, which detects things, and explosive or environmental pollutant interact,” Medford explains to Danger Room. ” We translate the language from the protein back to the DNA, and encode what we would like inside the DNA.” Her team published its findings today within the journal PLoS One.

It began in 2003 with a Darpa program to grow circuitry. Back then, Medford heard about a program from the far-out Pentagon research arm called Biological Input/Output Systems , geared to supply ” rational design and engineering of genetic regulatory circuits, signal transduction pathways, and metabolism.” The program was essentially a decision for computer-designed receptors. ” I was a plant biologist,” Medford recalls, ” I assumed, ‘Wouldn’t it’s cool if we put it all together, like Reese’s peanut butter and chocolate.’”

That resulted in a $2 billion grant from Darpa, with the Office of Naval Research kicking in another million. But by far the largest benefactor to Medford’s research is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which last year gave her a $7.9 million grant to get the bomb-sniffing ferns from the lab to the genuine world.

Right now, Medford estimates she’s three to four years out. Her labs have genetically-designed plants blanching white once they come into contact with TNT. But that’s in a research lab, where the volume of light is continuing, ” no wind, no rain, no bugs, no people dumping coffee.” Still, with the dept of Homeland Security unsure the best way to field non-intrusive technology for detecting bombs at public events , here’s a premium on sensors that double as a sweet-smelling garden; Medford says she’s ” going backward and forward” with DHS, but won’t disclose more than that.

Eventually, Medford expects to bring the bomb-detecting plants to market through genetically modified seedlings. Whatever it costs, it’s got to be under the $100,000 to $200,000 that a backscatter ” junk scanner” can run . The reaction of the plants depends upon the concentration of the chemical it comes into proximity with; Medford says her goal is to get her plants as sensitive as a dog’s nose .

And the right part? Because the proteins can live in any plant, there’s no specific vegetation that couldn’t become a sensor. Get ready for grow houses designing terror-fighting purple kush . That’s the kindest bud of all.

Photo: Noah Shachtman

Professor Breeds Bomb-Detecting Plants [Video] Wired.com has been expanding the hive mind with technology, science and geek culture news since 1995.