Nuclear biological chemical rapid response team in Sweden is to equip its mobile laboratory with Igen detection kits for identifying potential biological threats
A new nuclear biological chemical (NBC) rapid response team in Sweden is to equip its mobile laboratory with Igen International's Origen-based detection kits for identifying potential biological threats.
The team will be part of the Swedish armed forces, by the division of NBC Defence in the Swedish Defence Research Agency.
Mats Forsman, associate professor in the Department of NBC analysis, explained why these off-the-shelf kits for biological detection were chosen: "There are many reasons why it makes good sense to use ready-made kits for select agent testing.
"The first and most attractive one is speed.
"For example, it only takes about 20 minutes to complete the Igen botulinum assay, which is the first kit we ordered.
"Then there is the convenience factor - developing your own assays takes time and money and they have to be optimised with our own antibodies.
"Finally, developing the assays ourselves would require equipment that could be vulnerable to damage in a mobile laboratory". Forsman concluded: "Our strategy for the moment is to use PCR and Igen kits in parallel and send any samples that test positive with both for further tests at a designated laboratory. "Igen is releasing a lot of detection kits for interesting category A and B organisms, which is what we will focus on, although at a later date we may expand the service to look at public health related organisms."
