New York City Study Sheds Light Over Biological Attack Response Strategy

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Chemical and biological materials pose a threat to urban environments, whether spread maliciously or accidentally. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Urban Threat Dispersion Project conducted a test aimed at mitigating the challenge.  

In an airflow study conducted recently in New York City, a team led by MIT Lincoln Laboratory collected safe test particles and gases released earlier in subway stations and on streets, tracking their journeys. The exercise measured how far the materials traveled and what their concentrations were when detected.

The results are expected to improve air dispersion models, and in turn, help emergency planners improve response protocols if a real chemical or biological event were to take place. 

The project is largely driven by Lincoln Laboratory’s Counter–Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Systems Group to improve homeland defenses against airborne threats. 

This exercise followed a similar, though much smaller, study in 2016 that focused mainly on the subway system within Manhattan.

The particles and gases used in the study are safe to disperse, and have been used in prior public safety exercises. To enable researchers to track the particles, the particles are modified with small amounts of synthetic DNA that acts as a unique “barcode.” This barcode corresponds to the location from which the particle was released and the day of release. When these particles are later collected and analyzed, researchers can know exactly where they came from.

To make processes more efficient for this large study, the team built special filter heads that rotated through multiple filters, saving time spent revisiting a collection site. They also developed a system using NFC (near-field communication) tags to simplify the cataloging and tracking of samples and equipment through a mobile app. 

The researchers are still processing the approximately 5,000 samples that were collected over the five-day measurement campaign. The data will feed into existing particle dispersion models to improve simulations. Together, these models can show how a plume would travel from the subway to the streets, for example. These insights will enable emergency managers in New York City to develop more informed response strategies, as they did following the 2016 subway study, according to mit.edu.