PLOT-cryo was first developed in 2009 by NIST researchers and shown to be able to detect food spoilage and chemicals from fires. It works as an air sampler, bringing in air and pushing it through a network of coated capillaries that traps chemicals in the air.
Megan Harries, a postdoctoral fellow at NIST, aims to test the PLOT-cryo’s ability to detect putrescine and cadaverine, chemical bi-products of decaying corpses, in old army shipping containers. Her goal for this field test was to see if PLOT-cryo could be used at ports, and other settings, to screen shipping containers for nefarious cargo.