NEWS

Shedding light on anthrax

Finding better ways to detect the deadly spores is just one project on the Infotonics to-do list.

Publication: Daily Messenger
Date: June 28, 2003

By E.W. BRADSHAW II/Messenger Post Staff
ROCHESTER -- Philippe Fauchet has a lot on his mind.

The director of the University of Rochester's Center for Future Health is leading a research team creating fast, cost-effective methods to test for biowarfare agents such as anthrax.

It's one of 13 projects worth a combined $4.5 million financed by Infotonics Technology Center Inc. in Canandaigua, a facility whose purpose is to take projects like Fauchet's and turn them into marketable products.

So when you ask Fauchet about the loud sidewalk construction project going on outside the university's Hutchinson Hall research building, he dismisses the question along with the distraction, brushing them off like pesky flies. His focus is his mouthful of a project: Biophotonic Sensing of Harmful Pathogens and Biowarfare Agents.

"There's a lot of excitement in many labs," the scientist exclaims, his Belgian accent dulled by about 25 years in the United States. "It's probably one of the hottest subjects in labs right now."

Infotonics gave the university $1.3 million to develop robots that can meander through large buildings such as airports after a bio-terror scare. With more than 100 robots working at once, health officials would be able to determine quickly whether they had a false alarm or a real problem on their hands.

Fauchet says his team is making progress. A working prototype that could be sent to Infotonics for fine tuning may be only two years away, he said.

"Doing it in a lab and doing it in the field is sometimes a quantum jump," said Fauchet. "Between invention and something you can buy, there are many steps."

That's where Infotonics comes into play. Financed by Eastman Kodak Co., Xerox Corp. and Corning Inc., as well as state and federal agencies like the Department of Energy and NASA, Infotonics blends big industry with top-flight research as a means of churning out high-tech products.

When research begins next year, Infotonics will do what universities are historically bad at: turning invention into something a company can make and sell, said Fauchet.

Color coded

The U.S. government learned quickly in the fall of 2001 how difficult it was to test for biowarfare agents. Several letters containing the deadly spores were sent throughout the country, as well as countless others containing harmless white powders.

Todd Krauss, an assistant professor of chemistry working with Fauchet on the multi-faceted project, recalled how swabbing for anthrax and sending the specimens to the few labs that could test them took days, and people had to wait for the results.

So Krauss is trying to find ways to attach particles that glow in certain kinds of light to biowarfare agents. Right now, he is working with E. coli bacteria. When he gets it right, robots will be able to shine light over areas suspected to have come in contact with a biowarfare agent, and a green glow may indicate anthrax, while blue might mean plague.

Besides the University of Rochester, research teams come from four other New York universities -- the Roch-ester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Monroe Community College and Hudson Valley Community College. Each school is working on different components of the project, with RPI, for example, handling robotics.

All in all, the effort involves about 40 people, 15 of whom are at the U of R -- seven faculty members and eight graduate or post-doctorate students. In the Pathogen Detection Lab, U of R graduate students are designing probes that can identify specific strains of bacteria.

Fauchet calls it "lock and key." The "key" is the anthrax, for example. The "lock" is the receptor the key fits into.

"It's like fishing," said Chris Strohsahl, a second-year grad student studying biophysics. "I create the hooks that catch the fish."

His colleague, Kevin Bucholtz -- a grad student studying organic chemistry -- wears a fishing fly on his white lab coat.

The Pathogen Detection Lab is where the science behind Infotonics plays out. Signs like the "Division of Genetics" and "safety shower" followed by an arrow are at every turn. Beakers, test tubes and vials litter chem-lab counter tops, while wires, laser components, cables and tools are scattered over work tables.

Everyone -- like Bucholtz -- wears a white lab coat and safety glasses.

Lisa DeLouise, a post-doctorate student working on Fauchet's team, points to a work area covered with about $20,000 worth of lasers and sensing equipment purchased with Infotonics money. The new stuff replaces old equipment that took up 10 times the space, she said, and yet "this equipment does what that does even better."

Good vibrations

It will be at least two years before the biowarfare detection prototypes are ready for fine-tuning at Infotonics. But other projects are much closer, including one being worked on jointly by the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

"We are ahead of that curve," said Michael Potter, a researcher at RIT.

Infotonics granted $122,000 for the Micro-Energy Harvester project, a power source smaller than the width of a hair that harnesses energy in vibrations.

The Micro-Energy Harvester is not a photonics device, but it could be used to power photonics devices. In fact, its applications could be myriad, promoters say, since the device could power anything small, from heat sensors on the space shuttle to pill cameras to pacemakers.

For example, the motion of someone walking could cause enough vibrations to recharge the batteries of a pacemaker.

"We absolutely believe this will work," said Potter. "The underlying science says it will work."

A working model is expected in less than three months. NASA is watching its development closely, said team leader Paul Funkenbusch, a professor of mechanical engineering and material science. It's looking at ways to power stress sensors attached to the thrusters of crafts, like the space shuttle, he said.

NASA officials were considering using the thrusters' heat to power the sensors, until they heard about this research, said Funkenbusch, who presented the project to NASA officials earlier this month.

Potter said two other "major institutions" were also following its progress, but declined to name them.

Fighting the brain drain

Infotonics projects like the harvester and biowarfare detectors are led by some of the state's most distinguished and experienced scientists. But working with them is a large contingent of bright, young, high-tech people -- exactly the type Infotonics officials want to keep in New York.

"The hope of the state and the city is some of these people will find work here instead of in California, which is typically the case," said Fauchet.

That's part of the reason why Infotonics is partnering with community colleges, he added. Instead of heading out of the state after getting their two-year degree, students getting a taste of top-flight universities like the U of R, RIT or RPI might decide to stay.

"It's also a little bit of an investment," he said.

Then, who knows? If the Infotonics-funded projects they are working on are ever marketed, there might be the opportunity for researchers to remain in the area even longer.

For example, if the biowarfare detection robots are ever sold, the company that's licensed to make them will need experienced people working for them. And what better people are there than the device's designers?

"That was kind of my hope when I came here," said DeLouise.

Inside Infotonics is a continuing series exploring the importance of Canandaigua's Center for Excellence, the people behind it and the effects it will have on the region.

Past News