JPL ANTHRAX DEVICE A TOUGH SELL IN U.S.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - European companies are interested in an anthrax-detecting device developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but response to the technology in the United States has been lukewarm, agency officials say.

JPL developed the device based on research it had done to keep its spacecrafts sterile by detecting and neutralizing microbes in NASA spacecraft.

In the wake of a series of fatal anthrax mailings that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Universal Detection Technology in 2002 reached a licensing agreement with JPL for the anthrax-detecting device, which is about the size of a microwave oven and works like a smoke detector.

The Beverly Hills-based company recently found buyers in Spain and Italy. UDT has also received interest from Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom, all because of the continuing threat of terrorism.

``As we saw in the Madrid bombings and the London bombings, (terrorism is) all over the place, and the Europeans are much quicker on buying this technology than the United States,'' said Amir Ettehadieh, director of research and development for UDT, a seven-person company.

Exposure to anthrax is usually fatal, but an antibiotic treatment given within days of exposure can often save a patient's life.

UDT about a year ago reached its agreement with an Italian company that will sell and service the devices in that country. Similar agreements with groups in Spain and Singapore were reached within the past few months.

But the company has only made one U.S. sale - a deal announced about a year ago with a baggage-handling company at Miami International Airport, Ettehadieh said.

After two of its employees were killed by exposure to inhalation anthrax in 2001, the U.S. Postal Service in 2003 signed a $375 million deal with Northrop Grumman Corp. to obtain anthrax-detecting machines for its 282 mail-processing facilities nationwide.

So far, the system has not detected any anthrax in the mail, and it is believed that none has passed by it.

``It's one of those systems you just hope that it's there running and that you never have a positive,'' said Richard Maher, a spokesman for the Postal Service. ``And it's a deterrent that someone would know that they would never get anthrax through the mail.''

The Northrop Grumman machines, which were vetted by the Army, work differently than the JPL devices. The completely automated machines are hooked up to mail-processing equipment and compare the DNA of particles they collect to a template for the known DNA sequence of anthrax.

The JPL-designed devices, on the other hand, collect spores with an air sampler, heat them up to expose a molecule unique to the anthrax spore and detect the presence of anthrax through a chemical test.

At $85,000 each, UDT hopes to market the device for use in sports arenas, convention centers, financial centers and government buildings. If placed in a building's heating, air conditioning and ventilation system, the device will detect any release of anthrax in the building, Ettehadieh said.

``The sooner you detect a potential hazard the sooner you can treat it and get the business going again,'' he said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com