Success Stories--Argonne National Lab

April / May 2005 Volume 3 Number 2

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Nanotechnologies may be the newest buzzword on the technology scene, but for researchers at Argonne National Laboratory they've been developing the field for a long time. In fact, 15 years ago, Argonne researchers spun off a new company in nearby Romeoville, Ill., to create materials from particles less than one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair.

Nanophase Technologies Corporation, or NTC, was founded to commercialize an Argonne technology for making materials with unique properties from particles less than 50 nanometers in diameter. While the technology was well understood, the challenge for the fledgling company was to bring the synthesis process up to a commercial scale in volume and cost.

Initially, materials were produced in volumes measured in grams per day and at a cost of thousands of dollars per gram. Now, production is measured in tons, and the company's materials are positioned in the economic mainstream of substantial markets. Co-founder Richard Seigel, formerly at Argonne and a developer of the original technology, presently serves on the firm's board of directors.

Because the particles in nanophase materials are so tiny, they slip by each other with great ease. This property of superplasticity has allowed NTC to develop a commercially feasible means to form nanophase materials into structural ceramic components, to tolerance, by using heat and pressure alone. This process eliminates a very costly machining step.

NTC conducted this work in collaboration with two major industrial firms, under a grant awarded through the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program. Under the program, technology has been demonstrated for the closed-die isothermal forging of a superplastic ceramic to final shape in 11 minutes. In contrast, shaping by conventional means requires up to several hours.

Nanophase produces engineered nanomaterial products for a variety of diverse markets: personal care, sunscreens, abrasion-resistant applications, environmental catalysts, antimicrobial products, and a variety of ultra-fine polishing applications, including semiconductor wafers, hard disk drives, and optics. Various applications include wood preservation, anti-fouling and anti-microbial coatings, fuel cells, catalytic converters, UV-attenuation coatings, scratch resistant coatings, charge dissipating coatings, deodorant/antiperspirants, depilatory/shaving products and others. In parallel, new markets and applications are constantly being developed.

As a small company with a strong focus on technology and commercial manufacturing, the Nanophase business model revolves around strategic partnerships. As examples, Nanophase has worldwide mutually exclusive relationships with BASF for the supply of zinc oxide into sunscreen applications and with Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, formerly Rodel, for ceria dispersions used in CMP (chemical mechanical planarization) semiconductor applications.

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Finding Impending Problems Quickly

From an R&D 100 award in 1998 to one of Illinois's fastest growing companies seven years later, the technology that provides an early warning system of impending problems has grown rapidly.

SmartSignal Corporation of Lisle, Ill., licensed Argonne National Laboratory's Multivariate State Estimation Technique, or MSET, in 1999, and the firm has experienced remarkable growth every year since, adding new customers during 2004 that include Kansas City Power and Light, Progress Energy, Mitsubishi Power Systems, Electro-Motive Division of General Motors and Southwest Airlines.

Stephan W. Wegerrich, former Argonne scientist who led the team that developed MSET, is now chief scientist for SmartSignal.

MSET is an advanced artificial-intelligence based early warning system for performance of sensors, equipment and plant processes. This extremely sensitive system detects the smallest developing faults at the earliest possible time and, by comparing the signature of multiple sensors, alerts plant personnel well in advance of warnings provided by conventional monitoring systems.

MSET has unique surveillance capabilities that surpass conventional approaches—€”including neural networks—€”in sensitivity, reliability, and computational efficiency. MSET can be used for sensitivity, high-reliability signal validation, and sensor and equipment/component operability surveillance for any engineering system.

The system greatly improves plant safety, availability and operating efficiency because small disturbances can be corrected while the plant remains online. For example, the onset of developing faults in coolant pumps can be dealt with proactively. In the last decade, utilities operating nuclear power plants have experienced 10 coolant pump breaks, each of which cost at least $10 million in downtime.

The system has a wide range of applications in utilities (fossil and nuclear), natural gas or marine turbine/diesel sets, aerospace, industrial and other settings. However, its greatest benefits are realized for applications where high value is placed on safety, reliability, quality and avoidance of operating time or production loss.

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A Different Kettle of FISH

Vysis, Inc., is currently marketing dozens of diagnostic kits that use a chromosome painting technology developed at Livermore called fluorescent in situ hybridization, or FISH.

Vysis FISH probes have been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration to test for many types of cancers, pre- and post-natal disorders, and other genetic diseases by looking for chromosomal abnormalities. Used in hundreds of laboratories worldwide, the probes reveal aberrations that have been shown to be signals for solid tumors, blood diseases, birth defects and other disorders.

Medical personnel can make genetic assessments with confidence and select optimal treatment plans tailored to the needs of a specific patient.

One of the company's newest diagnostic kits examines the ends of chromosomes, where many genes lie. Forty-one separate FISH probes reveal anomalies that together are indicators for developmental delay in young children. About 100,000 new cases of developmental delay appear each year, and experts believe that many cases are not diagnosed. Vysis' test takes a genomic approach and gives the most accurate information.

Vysis chromosomal probes can often diagnose a disease earlier or more accurately than other diagnostic tools. About 600,000 people live with recurring bladder cancer. A Vysis probe can detect this type of cancer before it is detectable with a cystoscope, the usual diagnostic technique.

A diagnostic kit for breast cancer, which is diagnosed in 200,000 people in the United States each year, tests for a specific chromosomal anomaly. Herceptin, a common chemotherapy for breast cancer, is useful only if this chromosomal change is present. A relatively inexpensive test can reveal whether a therapy costing upwards of $25,000 will be the best—€”or least—€”effective treatment.

Vysis obtained an exclusive license from Lawrence Livermore for FISH in 1989 and in 1996 was the first genomic company to receive ISO 9001 certification. By 2000 Vysis had turned a profit, the first genomic disease management company to do so. In 2001, Abbott Laboratories acquired Vysis.

Vysis sales of products using FISH totaled $343,000 in 1993 and $24 million in 2001. At the end of 2001, Vysis had eight salespeople and two marketing personnel selling FISH-related products. Today, those numbers have jumped significantly, indicating the company's potential for leadership in the disease management field.

Argonne vignettes were written by Catherine Foster, ANL manager of media and publications.