Summer 2002 -- vol. 20, no. 2 logos home page Contact the logos editor Argonne home page Feature articles Globus software plugs users into the grid Blood-vessel simulations provide valuable data for doctors Good-neighbor Argonne helps high-tech companies Argonne Update Pres. Bush visits Argonne for homeland security demos Super-slick coating nears commercialization IPNS named 'Nuclear Historic Landmark' X-rays expose secrets of diesel combustion

Good-neighbor Argonne
helps high-tech companies

by Chad Boutin

High-tech companies are increasingly turning to Argonne National Laboratory's world-class research facilities to keep their products on top of the market. And the local community is reaping the benefits.

Despite widespread economic uncertainty, the past year again saw increasing numbers of industrial scientists using such Argonne facilities as the Advanced Photon Source (APS) for research. Argonne's presence helps companies attract some of the country's best scientific talent to the local area, and Argonne facilities allow these firms to develop new products faster and cheaper.

IPNS USERS – Argonne's Joan Siewenie works with Rick Weber of Containerless Research Inc. performing levitation experiments at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source.

"Working with Argonne allows us to develop drugs in months instead of years," said Celerino Abad-Zapatero, a pharmaceuticals researcher at nearby Abbott Laboratories. "We can pass our time savings on as cost savings to the consumer."

Abbott Laboratories uses the APS to obtain high-quality images of proteins that are potential drug sources. These images give top crystallographers like Abad-Zapatero insights into these proteins' physical properties. Without such insights, it would take far longer to develop drugs like Kaletra, now one of the top-selling treatments for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

"In the case of Kaletra, we discovered it 10 times faster using the APS than it would have taken us on our own," Abad-Zapatero said. "Translated into research dollars, that's a lot of money."

How much is a lot? Private companies like Abbott Labs are reluctant to release specific cost figures on sales or research, but developing a new drug can cost up to several million dollars a day. If a company can take advantage of the APS on short notice, it can make a substantial time difference.

"If we hear that no one is using the APS beam for a few hours, all we have to do is put our samples in a truck and drive them over," Abad-Zapatero said. "That alone can save days. But it would be tough to do that if our samples had to travel halfway across the country."

Abbott Labs was in the area before Argonne was built, but Argonne's presence has enabled many such long-established companies to attract and keep a higher caliber of employee than they would be able to otherwise.

Jim Kaduk, a researcher at BP's Naperville office, has used Argonne's Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) for 15 years, and the APS since it became operational.

"I consider the IPNS to be a model national-lab user facility," said Kaduk. "And any researcher with a choice would jump at the chance to live and work near the APS. When you can make measurements one million times better at Argonne than you can at your own lab, it makes the local area attractive to highly paid researchers."

As a year of a chemical engineer's time can cost around $300,000, having a team of them living and working nearby can make a substantial contribution to the local economy.

NATION'S BEST – The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne is the nation's most brilliant source of X-rays for research in physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, materials science and environmental science.

Other highly paid specialists work for companies that would not even exist without Argonne's presence. Darien's Eichrom Technologies was founded a decade ago to market products originally developed in Argonne's Chemistry Division.

"We were originally based in Evanston, but we moved to Darien in 1991 to be closer to Argonne," said Eichrom's Michael Fern. "Being nearby has helped us to expand faster."

Eichrom markets equipment used to test samples for radioactive contamination. The products help ensure safe work environments for workers at U.S. and overseas facilities. Fern says business is booming.

"In 1990, we had three employees," said Fern. "Now we have 20. Our sales are growing by 10 to 15 percent per year, and we are competing successfully with big firms like 3M."

Eichrom's success has in turn spun off the Eprogen company, another 20-employee firm whose products assist in analyzing proteins for drug development. Both companies contract locally for their packaging and special manufacturing needs.

Corporate use of Argonne's facilities has grown over the past five years, with a record 442 badge holders using the APS in 2002, up from 210 in 2001. Murray Gibson, APS director, would like the relationship between Argonne and local industry to continue to grow closer.

"As stewards of the APS, we want our facility to be available to as many users as possible, at as low a cost as possible," Gibson said. "Our facilities were bought with taxpayer dollars, so we want our facilities to be useful to the taxpayer."

Gibson believes continued industrial research at Argonne will do just that.

"We do science that pertains to people's daily lives," Gibson said. "Argonne is a great place to do research that has resulted in better drugs for your health, more efficient disk drives for your computer, and higher performance airplanes for travel. We hope more companies will take advantage of our facilities - it's better economically for them, for us, and for the local community."

For more information, please contact Catherine Foster (630/252-5580 or cfoster@anl.gov) at Argonne.