ASU awarded DOD bioterrorism contract
Arizona State University has received a multi-million dollar contract from the federal government. It will help develop a device for the rapid detection of infectious diseases. From Phoenix, KJZZ’s Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez reports.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) awarded ASU a contract worth more than $30 million dollars. The money will help create a highly sensitive detection system to protect military personnel against bioterrorism. The system is also expected to be used in conventional medical settings.
DTRA is the expert agency on weapons of mass destruction of the U.S. Department of Defense. ASU’s Biodesign Institute Center for Innovation in Medicine will lead the project. ASU will receive more than $9 million dollars the first year. After that time, the contract can be renewed for nearly $21 million for another 36 months.
ASU officials would not speak about the contract, but through a press release it said the federal contract is a validation of the strength of ASU’s research faculty.
