California Department of Public Health to Present End-User Perspective on the Latest Pathogen Detection Technologies at 16th Biodetection Technologies Conference

Online, May 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - BOSTON, MA - May 26, 2010 - The Knowledge Foundation has announced that the California Department of Public Health's Kathryn M. Hansen will present "Advanced Biodetection Gadgets and Techniques: A View from the Field" at the 16th Biodetection Technologies conference which will be held next month at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, VA from June 17-18, 2010.

Kathryn M. Hansen, BA, CLS, PHM, has been a licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist and a certified Public Health Microbiologist for over 30 years, including time as a laboratory director for Humboldt County Public Health Laboratory. She has also worked in and consulted for forensic laboratories on sampling, chain of custody procedures, legal evidence standards and testing protocols. In addition to her laboratory and training experience, she was a volunteer firefighter for 15 years, serving as a captain, as well as an EMT. Currently she is employed by the California Department of Public Health, Microbial Diseases Laboratory as a Bioterrorism Response Trainer. In that role, she developed field testing and sampling protocols and a two-day, hands-on workshop: Taming the Wild Zebra, Joint Agency Response to Bioterrorism. Partnering with the California Emergency Management Agency, she serves as the LRN's liaison to their training arm, the California Specialized Training Institute. For them, she developed the bioterrorism module for Hazardous Materials Response Teams and serves as a member of their Weapons of Mass Destruction training team. She has also trained hazardous materials response teams, including California Department of Forestry, California Highway Patrol, Civil Support Team, and the FBI.

Her presentation will look at the deployment of new technologies by civil response Hazmat teams: their needs, requirements, and the difficulties they face. It will also cover current field testing recommendations including CDC/FBI, AOAC, and State LRN Laboratories, current response protocols and how new technology is integrated into them, and the obstacles facing such adoption.

Biodetection Technologies is an internationally recognized event for experts in detection and identification of biological and chemical threats and will explore the latest R&D developments as well as ready-to-market systems for major biothreat detection, identification, and analysis both in the field and at the point-of-care. More than 140 organizations from around the world convened in Baltimore for last year's conference. This year's keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Michael V. Walter, BioWatch Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Walter will discuss lessons learned from technological problems, the current status of BioWatch Gen-3 sensor-type technologies, and plans for Gen-4 advanced systems. Other Program topics include:

- Point-of-care applications for pathogen, virus & threat detection & identification
- Technological challenges for rapid, early, specific & sensitive detection
- Role of nanotechnology and system miniaturization - MEMS & bioMEMS
- Use of biochip technology - micro- & nanofluidics
- Bioinformatics for biodefense
- Field-deployable devices: portability/compatibility/reliability/scalability
- Reagentless vs. reagent biodetection systems
- Non-PCR vs. PCR based detection techniques

Distinguished Faculty
- Elodie Brient-Litzler, PhD, Bertin Technologies
- Douglas B. Chrisey, PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Edward Enright, MS, Life Technologies Corporation
- Claudia Gärtner, PhD, microfluidic ChipShop GmbH
- Vincent Gau, PhD, Genefluidics
- Haiqing Gong, PhD, Nanyang Technological University
- Marcy Beth Grace, PhD, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
- Kathryn M. Hansen, California Department of Public Health
- Winston Ho, PhD, Applied Biocode
- Michele D. Kattke and Larry D. Stephenson, PhD, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Ken Klein, Smiths Detection, Inc.
- Marie Lesaicherre, PhD, Morpho Detection Inc., SAFRAN
- Leanna M. Levine, PhD, President and CEO, ALine, Inc.
- Feng Long, Tsinghua University
- Rosemonde Mandeville, PhD, Biophage Pharma Inc.
- Mansoor Nasir, PhD, Naval Research Laboratory
- Rosemary Tan, PhD, Genecet Biotechnologies Pte Ltd. & Veredus Laboratories Pte Ltd.
- Willy A. Valdivia-Granda, PhD, Orion Integrated Biosciences Inc.
- Michael V. Walter, PhD, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Julie Zhu, PhD, GE Global Research, General Electric Company