Idaho National Laboratory

Super Hard Steel™: Wear and Corrosion-Resistant Coating

Imagine military equipment that lasts twice as long in the field before needing repairs and that resists corrosion in today’s most demanding environments. Imagine reducing the potential of catastrophic failure for the Space Shuttle or rockets in our space program. Imagine aircraft engines that are stronger, yet one-third lighter, creating substantial fuel efficiencies while improving safety.

Super Hard SteelTM coating, researched and developed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is a breakthrough material that bears the fruits of the emerging field of nanotechnology. Its application to metal parts, devices and machinery offers a quantum-leap improvement in metal systems-strength, hardness, toughness and low friction. Through funding and R&D provided by INL, a partnership emerged with Milcom Technologies, a venture firm, which created The NanoSteel Company to market the new technology.

Super Hard SteelTM forms a tough, low-cost, wear- and corrosion-resistant coating that outperforms traditional high-performance materials in applications where combinations of wear, corrosion and impact destroy or damage industrial parts. Due to its lower cost, ease of manufacture and environmental benefits, it is expected that this new class of steel will have a significant impact on manufacturing at all levels— from self-sharpening lawnmower blades to longer-lasting aircraft components.

Contact: Thomas M. Harrison, (208) 526-1710, harrtm@inel.gov .

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Green Destiny and mpiBLAST: Hardware & Software for Super Efficient Supercomputing

Green Destiny is the world’s most efficient computer—up to 10 times higher performance/power ratio than other supercomputing platforms. Conventional supercomputers require customized, expensive infrastructure; and because many projects and institutions do not have the money to invest in or sustain the total cost of ownership of conventional supercomputers, the supercomputing capacity and efficiency provided by Green Destiny is recognized worldwide as an affordable and environmentally sustainable alternative. In 2003, Green Destiny received an R&D 100 Award, which R&D Magazine gives to the world’s top 100 scientific and technological advances that show the most significant commercial potential.

BLAST, an open-source software package, which is distributed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, has become the ubiquitous genomic-sequencing tool in molecular biology. With mpiBLAST, its open-source parallelization of BLAST, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has dramatically enhanced BLAST’s throughput and minimized its response time.

Dr. Ernst Dow, senior information consultant for Eli Lilly and Company, had this to say about mpiBLAST: “As both a standalone application and as a part of a larger pipeline of software tools, mpiBLAST will enable our senior scientists to get robust results in a fraction of the time it took in the past. As a result of tools like mpiBLAST, the bioinformatics team at Lilly is able to provide a flexible, robust computing environment never before seen by scientists.”

Contact: Dr. Wu-Chun Feng, (505) 665-2730, feng@lanl.gov.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

SOLVE/RESOLVE: Automated Software for Protein Research

Have you ever watched a television show with poor reception? The fuzzy picture on the screen often makes it difficult to discern the characters and the action, making for a frustrating evening at home. In the world of proteomics, SOLVE/RESOLVE software helps researchers get clear pictures of protein structures, allowing the researchers to develop new pharmaceuticals and to understand how proteins work.

SOLVE is Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) greatest licensing success to date. The application, which allows scientists to create 3-D images of protein molecules, is in high demand in the biotech and healthcare fields because of the importance of these models in the design of new drugs and the engineering of new enzymes for commercial use. Licenses granted for SOLVE include more than 40 government-use licenses, 375 noncommercial licenses to educational and nonprofit institutions worldwide, and 25 commercial licenses for use in the biotech and pharmaceutical fields. SOLVE has generated more than $1.2 million in royalties for LANL in the last five years while supporting a strong educational component.

SOLVE/RESOLVE improves the accuracy and detail of protein images obtained from x-ray crystallography. It then interprets these images and builds accurate atomic models of the proteins. Although these software packages can work independently, together they can fully automate the entire analysis of x-ray crystal data from diffraction spots to an atomic model. In 1998, SOLVE received an R&D 100 Award, given annually by R&D Magazine to the world’s top 100 scientific and technological advances that show the most significant commercial potential.
With SOLVE/RESOLVE, scientists worldwide are building models to see the shapes of proteins and from these to determine which molecules might bind to a given protein and how the protein might work. As a result, medical researchers are taking the first steps in developing pharmaceuticals and treatment options that will significantly address and perhaps even eliminate diseases that range from arthritis and hemophilia to diabetes and cancer.

Contact: Dr. Thomas C. Terwilliger, 505-667-0072, terwilliger@lanl.gov.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

10-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Have you ever tried to download a high resolution graphic, movie, or video game from the Internet? Such downloads can take hours, and if you’re lucky, your computer won’t lock up and the download will come through successfully. Now imagine that by installing a simple adapter into your computer you could transfer information up to 148,000 times faster than a high-speed modem connection and up to 23,000 times faster than a DSL connection. This super-adapter’s plug-and-play installation, reliability, and unprecedented speed will revolutionize how computers and the Internet have a positive impact on our lives.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) optimized Intel’s® PRO/10GbE LR Server Adapter and its associated subsystems, thereby enhancing its performance by 300%. The 10- Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (10GbE) consists of an Intel® 82597EX 10GbE controller, 512 kilobytes of flash memory, and Intel® 1310- nanometer serial optics. Such enhanced speed benefits numerous markets:

• Entertainment markets include video editing and animation (10GbE networks and adapters were used in making the 2003 blockbuster movie Hulk), video- and music-on-demand, video games, and file sharing applications such as iTunes, Kazaa, Napster, and Gnutella.
• Worldwide modeling and simulation markets include modeling global weather prediction and the spread of wildfires, simulating the communicability of contagious diseases, studying galaxy formations and supernova explosions, modeling and forecasting financial markets, and sequencing the human genome.
• Data acquisition and data mining markets include military intelligence and reconnaissance, basic-science research (fusion, bioinformatics, and aerospace), and data warehousing.
• Medical applications include interactive distance education (both for patients and medical personnel), expedited patient care, and enhanced diagnostic imaging.

Intel and LANL operated under the auspices of a nondisclosure agreement that stipulated that modifications or optimizations to the existing code base or configuration of the 10GbE would be fed back to Intel. In return, LANL would have unencumbered access to the hardware, firmware, low-level software, extensive documentation, and the potential for publishing its results. The laboratory’s simple nondisclosure agreement enabled computational scientist Dr. Wu-Chen Feng to transfer the technology quickly and easily. Many other institutions were mired in so much “legalese” that they could not come to terms with Intel. 10GbE could revolutionize the impact of computers and the Internet on our lives, allowing compute and storage nodes distributed around the world to be interconnected and serve as the basis for tomorrow’s virtual worldwide supercomputer.

Contact: Dr. Wu-Chin Feng, (505) 665-2730,feng@lanl.gov.

National Energy Technology Laboratory

Transfer of Photochemical Technique to Control Mercury From Flue Gas

Electric power generation within the United States is accomplished primarily by the combustion of fossil fuels. This produces air pollutants, including such acid rain precursors as sulfur dioxide or nitric oxides. These pollutants are regulated by existing laws. Mercury is a major pollutant that has caused much concern because of its toxicity and appearance in the ecology, for example in the food chain via fish. Mercury is not currently regulated. Although only about 48 tons of mercury are emitted from all U.S. power plants over the course of a year and the mercury concentration is exceedingly small in flue gas, EPA has deemed that regulations will be enacted in 2005.

The technology that was transferred came from an in-house research effort at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The nominees were able to patent a novel technique to enhance the removal of elemental mercury from flue gas, which uses the capability of mercury to photo chemically reacts in the presence of ultraviolet light of a specific wavelength. The nominees publicized these results via professional conferences, peer-reviewed journals, and DOE press releases. A company that could utilize this patented technique realized that this was more efficient and less costly than one they were using. After representatives of the company contacted NETL, an exclusive license for the patent was negotiated for the technology transfer. The potential market for the technology could be $3 billion.

Contact: Dr. Evan Granite, (412) 386-6013, evan.granite@netl.doe.gov.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

AquaSentinel Real-Time Water Monitoring Biosensor System

AquaSentinel provides early warning of chemical toxin and selected biotoxin contamination in primary-source water supplies. It monitors naturally occurring algae and applies the fundamental principles of photosynthesis and state-of-the-art light-measuring instruments to provide continuous, unattended surveillance of both standing and flowing water supplies. The AquaSentinel technology delivers a very large return on a modest investment. It can be deployed anywhere in the world drinking water is drawn from sources that are exposed to sunlight. AquaSentinel collects real-time data in the field and sends it by remote encrypted wireless transmissions to a command center. Results are obtained in minutes and can give decision makers hours in which to respond to potentially abnormal conditions.

United Defense, L.P., of York, Pennsylvania, has acquired an exclusive commercial license in the United States for the AquaSentinel technology and is currently marketing a device named WaterSentry™ that is based on this technology. About five years elapsed from the start of research to the time when United Defense had a commercial product. The Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences provided major funding for the early research. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded the proof-of-principle research for four years. Then, United Defense began funding at ORNL through a companion Work for Others agreement. United Defense started the license negotiations, obtained its license, and launched a large-scale marketing campaign of its WaterSentry™ device. It continues to fund R&D at ORNL to further develop this licensed technology. U.S. Patent Number 6,569,384 was issued on May 28, 2003 and was licensed to United Defense. U.S. Patent Number 6,649,417 was issued on November 18, 2003. The patent cooperation treaty (PCT) case was filed on January 31, 2002.

ORNL has been analyzing water samples from different states in an ongoing effort to support United Defense’s WaterSentry™ marketing campaign. Thus far, the Tennessee Department of Homeland Security plans to install a WaterSentry™ system near Nashville, and the U.S. Army plans to install one at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They will be added as water sensors in the nationwide ORNL SensorNet Program. York, Pennsylvania currently has a WaterSentry™ unit in operation. The cities of Jacksboro and Caryville, Tennessee are in final negotiations for three WaterSentry™ units ($50,000 each) and a control station.

Contact: Dr. Elias Greenbaum, (865) 574-6835, greenbaum@ornl.gov .

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

MicroCAT™: X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography for Biological Research

The MicroCAT™ converts two-dimensional views of small research animals such as mice into three-dimensional digital images of their internal structures. MicroCAT™ allows researchers to perform more effective biological and pharmaceutical studies using fewer animals. Because it can image living animals (does not require euthanasia), a test subject can serve as its own control because it can live on and undergo subsequent imaging studies. Thus, for example, the effectiveness of experimental therapeutic drugs can be ascertained.

Customers include research universities and hospitals, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies with small animal research programs to perform genetic, disease, and drug discovery research. The two researchers who developed the MicroCAT™ at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) formed ImTek in 1998 as a means to commercialize the technology. Also in 1998, ImTek obtained licenses from ORNL for the copyrighted software packages and the MicroCAT™ trademark. The developers were able to start the company and market their product by participating in a part-time entrepreneurial leave program at ORNL. In June 2003, Philips Medical Systems, a Tier 1 medical imaging company, entered into a sales and marketing partnership with ImTek, Inc. Technology 2020 and the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth (co-sponsored by ORNL) played a critical role in helping ImTek’s founders negotiate a favorable contract with Philips Medical Systems.

ImTek has been a major success since its founding, and the recent worldwide sales presence of Philips Medical Systems has helped ImTek’s MicroCAT™ technology find its way into more high-profile research universities, pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology companies. Since ImTek’s formation in 1998, the MicroCAT™ has become an essential part of human health research programs at more than 30 sites, including some world-leading research companies and luminary universities. Commercial sales in 2003 exceeded $2 million; 2004 sales were expected to exceed $4 million.

Contact: Dr. Shaun S. Gleason, (865) 574-8259, gleasonss@ornl.gov.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Miniature Californium-252 Neutron Source for Cancer Therapy

The Miniature Californium-252 Neutron Source for Cancer Therapy was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Because the source is so small, physicians can insert it through a catheter to deliver high-dose neutron irradiation directly to a tumor site. The ORNL team was able to reduce the diameter of the source by more than half from the previous standard of about 2.8 millimeters, making it possible to reach and treat tumors that previously could only be treated with conventional photon and gamma therapy or with external beam treatments.

Isotron, a company located in Norcross, Georgia, funded the research through a $2-million funds-in CRADA. Isotron is dedicated to developing new tools, methods, and applications in neutron brachytherapy for therapeutic purposes. The technology is embodied in two invention disclosures for which patent applications have been filed. These two inventions are associated with novel methods for producing small-diameter Cf-252 source wires and for attachment of those sources to small-diameter cables to enable brachytherapy in previously inaccessible tissues. Isotron has exercised its licensing option under the CRADA to acquire exclusive commercial rights to these two inventions via an exclusive license with ORNL. Isotron is currently pursuing commercialization options.

Contact: Dr. Rodger Martin, (865) 576-2280, martinrc@ornl.gov.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Photo-Molecular Comb™ Biomolecular Separator

The Photo-Molecular Comb™ Biomolecular Separator separates proteins and other biomolecules for identification and analysis. The entire device is miniature; separations take place in a thin sieving layer on the surface of a semiconductor chip. The sieving layer semiconductor interface is electrified, and a low-power light source directs the current spatially, causing molecules to separate in three dimensions. Unlike micro fluidic devices, the Photo-Molecular Comb™ does not require prefabricated channels in the semiconductor.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers conceived, developed, and patented the Photo-Molecular Comb™ technology. Protein Discovery, Inc., of Knoxville, Tennessee, has licensed the technology from ORNL and developed a product, the Serum Profiler™. This technology allows scientists and clinicians to simultaneously detect and monitor thousands of disease markers (“biomarkers”) in contrast to existing diagnostics that measure biomarkers one at a time. In the near future, clinicians will use this technology to detect the presence of disease from a drop of blood, scientifically predict how it will progress, and tailor treatment options accordingly. Thus, the commercial potential for this technology is outstanding, estimated by industry analysts at $800 million in 2004 and projected to grow to over $1.5 billion by 2008. A CRADA is active with ORNL for continued research and development.

Contact: Dr. Thomas Thundat, (865) 574-6201, thundatt@ornl.gov .

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Millimeter Wave Holographic Body Scanner

The transfer of the Millimeter Wave Holographic Body Scanner to the commercial sector has been a success for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and for the two companies that have licensed the technology. In security applications, the body scanner detects any item worn in or under clothing, including plastics and ceramics, without exposing the body to ionizing radiation. No other scanner is as safe, as thorough, or has the capability to detect the broad array of items that might be concealed under clothing. This device brings a new level of safety to airports and other public places where terrorists might try to use weapons. But not only is the scanner being used for security purposes, as originally envisioned, it is quickly achieving success in the apparel industry, where it is being used by several nationwide clothing chains to determine customers’ exact measurements for a perfect fit. This scanner provides dozens of precise measurements in less than 10 seconds while the person remains dressed in their own clothing. This is a significant advancement in comfort, time, and precision over previous measurement devices. This technology has thus had a widespread impact in two diverse industries and holds promise for many others as well.

The PNNL team demonstrated extensive creativity and experience in their research and development of testing and measurement equipment. Their efforts resulted in a 2004 R&D 100 Award recognizing the 100 most technologically significant products and advancements in the world. They saw the commercial possibilities of the Millimeter Wave Holographic Body Scanner and filed invention reports and patent applications. They completed a business plan, researched potential customers, and contacted them. This direct marketing campaign to companies in the security field brought visitors from around the world to PNNL to see the technology demonstrated. An aggressive marketing campaign was launched, advertisements were placed in Commerce Business Daily, and a website was created. The commercialization team performed market and competitive analyses and established a value chain.

The vigorous marketing and business analysis by the PNNL commercialization team has successfully licensed the technology and established commercial partnerships with two new and growing companies. The scanner has been featured in many well-known publications and on national television. Several scanners are now being used by major clothing chains, and many more have been ordered. The device is now being produced and marketed for both security and apparel applications in this country and in Europe. This is indeed technology transfer at its best.

Contact: Douglas McMakin, (509) 375-2206, doug.mcmakin@pnl.gov.

Sandia National Laboratories

Explosives Detection Personnel Portal

The Explosives Detection Personnel Portal was developed by Sandia National Laboratories through funding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to rapidly screen people for trace amounts of explosives at sites such as airports. The person enters the portal and pauses while rapid puffs of air dislodge vapor and particles from the person’s clothing, skin, hair, and shoes. The portal draws the air and particles into a preconcentrator that concentrates the explosive sample before delivery to a chemical detector.

The portal’s major advantage is Sandia’s systems approach to the problem: collecting and delivering an excellent sample enhances the success of the detector. The portal can detect common explosives with a high sensitivity (up to parts per quadrillion). The Explosives Detection Personnel Portal can detect whether people have been handling explosives or if they are carrying concealed explosives. (The portal can also be configured for the detection of illicit drugs, i.e., for prison applications.)

Sandia developed the portal for the FAA, and licensed the sample collection and preconcentration technology to Barringer Instruments, Inc., which was acquired by Smiths Detection. Smiths Detection now manufactures the SENTINEL explosives detection portal, which is in use at several nuclear power plants in Canada and the U.S.; at several correctional institutions in Greece, Mexico, and the U.S. for drug-detection applications; at the Canadian National Tower in Canada; and in trials at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. The device is proposed for trial installation at selected airports in the U.S.

Contact: Kevin Linker, (505) 844-6999, kllinke@sandia.gov.

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