FLC
Awards - 2005
Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer
Department of Energy
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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