Technology Overview
As the threat of biological warfare grows, countermeasures are needed to defend against it. ANP has provided the U.S. military, first responders, and emergency health professionals the tools to effectively detect biothreats. We take pride in producing the world's best rapid assays and handheld assays for the detection of biological warfare agents in white powder.
Not only can our multiplexed assays detect up to 5 targets at a time in a single ticket, but they are also immune to the high-dose Hook effect, a highly dangerous false negative result in the presence of high concentration of biothreat agents.
ANP produces the world’s best rapid assays or handheld assays (HHAs) for the detection of biological warfare agents in white powders. By using its proprietary nanomanipulation technology, ANP’s multiplexed assays can detect up to 5 targets at one time using one test ticket, with improved sensitivities over commercially available single-target HHAs.
The Hook Effect
The NIDS® rapid tests do not suffer from the high-dose hook effect
Effect on Handheld Assays
The high-dose hook effect causes a false negative result when large amounts of a threat agent present in a test sample oversaturate the test reagents, disabling their ability to generate a positive signal. Other rapid assays overcome this by running several dilutions of an unknown sample on multiple tests, which significantly increases cost and operational complexity. ANP’s tests avoid this wasteful practice entirely.
The Hook Effect in traditional lateral flow assays is a false negative result in the presence of high concentrations of biological agents.
How to Use NIDS Biothreat Detection System:
Biothreat Kit

The NIDS® 5-plex assays for the detection of a total of ten biothreat agents have been widely used by the US Department of Defence, Department of Homeland Security, and civilian first responders.
In order to detect 10 biological warfare agents, up to 40 traditional hand held assays need to be used as compared to only two (2) for NIDS® multiplexed hand held assays.