Model of a subway system. Argonne National Laboratory art. The model will also help controllers estimate which stations are contaminated and whether emissions are likely to spread to the street level, where above-ground emergency responses would be needed. To help quickly identify toxic materials that have been released, Argonne researchers are developing chemical and biological detectors that can work either alone or in conjunction with the SES model results. Argonne biotechnology researchers are developing biochips to rapidly and reliably detect biological warfare agents such as anthrax.
Biochips are tiny arrays of thousands of minute gel pads mounted on glass slides.
Since each gel pad is like a tiny test tube, the biochip can perform thousands of biological reactions in seconds. Argonne biologists use biochips to map the human genome, the huge volume of instructions that control the physiological makeup of humans and other organisms. Working for the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency , Argonne researchers hope to one day create a simple biochip-based, field device for rapid detection of biological agents. Argonne's Dilute Facility evaluates technologies to detect and identify chemical agents. Argonne National Laboratory photo.