Bruker Detection has launched in North America its compact, fully automated and fast toxin identification system called pTD (portable Toxin Detector). The bench top, push- button pTD system is intended for smaller, field and mobile laboratories for use by non-expert operators in homeland security applications. The company says that current technologies for the detection and identification of toxins in the field are insensitive and slow, or involve complicated sample preparation in specialized laboratories. Bruker says its pTD system uses a laboratory in a chip based, fully automated process that allows the simultaneous detection of five toxins with an order of magnitude better sensitivity than traditional techniques. The system works in less than 30 minutes. Bruker Detection is a division of Bruker Corp. [BRKR].