Jerome, ID laboratory, Microbial-Vac Systems Inc. to begin production, increase staff

A local laboratory hopes to begin production of new biohazardous detection systems within the next two years, and to add dozens of jobs.

Bruce Bradley, founder and chief scientist at Microbial-Vac Systems Inc.http://www.microbial-vac.com/ , developed a vacuum system for the detection of biohazards during the past eight years. His research started in response to an E. coli outbreak; Bradley was looking for a way to collect bacteria from meat carcasses in a nondestructive way. The result Bradley came up with was a hand-held, wet/dry vacuum sampling device which he named the Microbial-Vac.

By Dixie Thomas Reale
Times-News correspondent

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/business/index.asp?StoryID=5586

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Bradley expanded his focus to include applications associated with homeland security and detecting bioterrorism activities. M-Vac can be used to collect microscopic samples of biohazardous materials such as anthrax and E. coli from surfaces, as well as from the air, the Jerome company says.

Bradley also has developed a technology dubbed "Rotary Axis Concentration System" to reduce the volume of liquid in a sample while retaining the biohazardous material, producing a more concentrated sample from which a laboratory could get test results in hours rather than days, the company says.

MSI wants to expand and move from research into production. In the next year Bradley and staff will be looking for and putting together a 5,000- to 7,000-square-foot facility equipped for assembly, quality control testing, sterilization and packaging of the product for distribution. The facility will provide room for further refining and developing the product as it is launched into the marketplace.

MSI expects to expand its staff to between 50 and 100 skilled employees at wages of more than $10 per hour in the next two years, said Sharon Whitchurch, information manager for MSI. A group of marketing specialists will also be needed to introduce the product to the various industries that will profit form the technology. Currently, five full-time employees work at MSI.

Bradley demonstrated his vacuum system to U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson this week at MSI’s laboratories. Simpson said that during the anthrax scare a couple of years ago in Washington, D.C., laboratories took nearly two weeks to get results on samples.

MSI’s technology aims to speed up the process.

Bradley discussed further advantages of his vacuum system. Currently samples are taken with cotton swabs or sponges. The surface area is swabbed and the swab or sponge placed in a sterile plastic bag for testing. But bacteria gets into cracks and crevices and multiplies, he said. With cotton swab or sponge sampling, the area in the cracks and crevices may be missed.

With the wet vacuum system, Bradley said, the liquid gets into the cracks and crevices and the vacuum pulls the liquid back out. More of the surface is sampled and less area is missed. A centrifuge is then used to dilute and concentrate the bacteria sample so the laboratory can detect the bacteria more readily, he said.

The M-Vac started out as a 120-pound unit. Bradley’s staff has shrunk its size to about 65 pounds. The research staff hopes to further miniaturize the vacuum system which is currently being tested by the U.S. Army.

"The military wants a system to fit into a backpack so that one person can carry it," Whitchurch said.

Through parent company Rocky Mountain Resource Lab Inc., the M-Vac "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in research grants" from the U.S. Army and National Institutes of Health — National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease, and the Small Business Administration Innovative Research branch during the research and development phase, Bradley said.

MSI applied for patents on the M-Vac system in 1997, and a patent was issued in 1999. MSI incorporated in 2002.

MSI is now looking for additional funding to finish the research and development of both the M-Vac and the concentration system and move the prototypes into production.

During his visit, Simpson said he was impressed with the laboratory and research.

"I am amazed — since 9/11 all over the country projects like this are happening. The people are really pulling together," Simpson said.