Hatano and coworkers recently described a crude heater that was able to perform a qualitative LAMP assay for anthrax using off-the shelf pocket hand warmers and a Styrofoam box.
Scientists in the CDC's Bioterror Rapid Response and Advanced Technology lab were trying out a new protocol for inactivating anthrax, using chemicals instead of radiation.
Without giving an opinion of Dr. Ivins's guilt or innocence, both Dr. Ezzell and Dr. Mohr said they believed that any experienced microbiologist could have grown and dried the anthrax using equipment Dr. Ivins had in his laboratory.
In this study, we have defined the evolutionary history of Western North American (WNA) anthrax using 2,850 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 285 geographically diverse B. anthracis isolates.
We report a label-free real-time nanopore sensing method for the detection of anthrax lethal factor, a component of the anthrax toxin, by using a complementary single-stranded DNA as a molecular probe.
In the face of the questions, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials have decided to make their first detailed public presentation next week on the forensic science used to trace the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks to a flask kept in a refrigerator in Dr. Ivins's laboratory at Fort Detrick, in Maryland.
Justice department officials said newly developed scientific techniques were able to match the anthrax used in the attacks to a flask possessed by Ivins.
The key to understanding the investigation is that the anthrax used in the attacks didn't have a single, uniform genetic makeup, a source close to the investigation says.
Inhalation anthrax used to be seen as virtually a death sentence.
The scientists said the anthrax used in the attacks is similar to a highly virulent type known as the Ames strain, which was discovered in Iowa in 1980 (not in the 1950's as is sometimes reported).
