Germ-busting handheld scanner developed at UND gets $7.6 million from U.S. Army

Joshua Irvine, Grand Forks Herald
Updated ·2 min read

Jan. 3—GRAND FORKS — A prototype handheld scanner developed at UND that can detect germs and other contaminants has recently received a $7.6 million U.S. Army grant.

The scanner can be specialized in any number of ways to detect food residue, fecal matter or saliva invisible to the human eye, said Kouhyar Tavakolian, director of UND's BioInnovation Zone. It can also disinfect surfaces using ultraviolet light in two to five seconds, according to a UND press release.

Built off of a U.S. Department of Agriculture patent that was originally meant to detect food fraud, Tavakolian said researchers adapted the spectrographic technology to identify other particulates using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

"We do help with the engineering as much as we can, but what we bring in is customizing the core technology," he said.

The Army wants to use the technology to inspect both food facilities like dining halls and kitchens for contamination.

Its applications stretch far outside the military, however. Tavakolian said the project first expanded outside of food fraud in 2020, when concerns the COVID-19 virus could be transmitted through saliva led researchers to tinker with the scanner to detect saliva.

Tavakolian said UND has been working with the USDA to test the technology in North Dakota's slaughterhouses, where federal inspectors can use the technology to detect fecal contamination of meat. Meatpacking companies have also reached out to UND to license the technology for use in their facilities, he said.

Researchers are also working to use the scanner in hospitals and clinical long-term care facilities, Tavakolian said.

He said he was hopeful the attention from the Army would help move the product out of the lab and into wider use, whether in the public or private sector.

"It's picking up," Tavakolian said about the project. "This funding from the Army is going to be a big help."

In a statement, UND College of Engineering and Mines Dean Brian Tande praised the project for its dual advancement in biomedical engineering and the university's national security initiative.

"This project will lead to the development of a novel technology that will greatly enhance the safety of both military members and civilians," Tande said in the release.