Case Studies

NASA formed a collaboration with Battelle to add the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) field sites to its SMAP Soil Moisture validation network.

Battelle played a critical role in helping our nation fulfill our commitment to the timely disposal of stored CWAs by developing the new lewisite detection method, thereby helping keep the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility closure on schedule. Any delays in the destruction of lewisite could have cost the U.S. Army considerable amounts of money, not to mention additional scrutiny from the international community.

The high-profile Zika virus outbreak in 2016 proved that the disease causes serious birth defects in humans and highlighted an immediate need for an approved vaccine. Based on our successful track record in vaccine testing, Battelle was chosen to evaluate the systemic toxicity, local tolerability and immunogenicity of a Biopharma company’s purified recombinant protein vaccine candidate. The vaccine was under a clinical hold order from the FDA, which prevented it from going to clinical study in humans.

As national security threats evolve, so must scientific and diagnostic approaches to human DNA identification and characterizations. Our highly skilled scientists devoted hundreds of hours to research, testing, and evaluating genome sequencing methods and platforms to accelerate human (and even microbial) identification. Our unique approach allows us to genotype STR loci on next-generation, high-throughput sequencing technology platforms, like Illumina.

During the 80s and 90s, Battelle performed physical and chemical modeling to characterize PCB transport patterns. These models helped to inform the creation of the initial cleanup plan in 1998. Since then, Battelle has continued to provide support for field collection, laboratory analysis, database management and strategic planning under four USACE-NAE contracts.

Battelle created Cantor Dust, a unique interactive software tool that renders binary files as images to speed the process of data-stream analysis. By translating binary information into a visual abstraction, reverse engineers and forensic analysts can sift through mountains of arbitrary data in seconds.

The U.S. Army Public Health Center (APHC) is responsible for informing decision making for 50+ programs that are implemented in the PHC wellness centers. Battelle provided technical assistance, training, program and policy evaluation expertise to help APHC evaluate and improve their readiness programs related to behavioral health outcomes resulting from CBRN and hazardous material exposure.

NEON data, which have been shared with the U.S. Forest Service, may help in the development of fuel models that could be used to determine the percentage of total available biomass actually consumed by Western American Wildfires. By improving the estimates of total biomass that researchers can get from remote sensing data, that data can be used to build models that give us better predictions of wildfire spread and emissions. This will also help us predict how changes in biomass resulting from climate change may influence fire activity in the future.

NEON Science Team staff have developed a tutorial to walk data users through the process of how to find quality flag data, how to interpret the results of the many quality tests that NEON data are subjected to, how to determine if the quality flagged data are suitable for their research objectives, and how to filter out unwanted data from their research.