Project funds on the way – UM scientists to create biochemical detector

In coming years, a device the size and weight of a pen flashlight may allow U.S. armed forces to detect biochemical agents in the field and protect everyday Americans from exposure, thanks to the research of University of Montana scientists and a U.S. senator who is helping to find funding for the project.

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

Last week, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., announced that $77.9 million in defense spending has been earmarked for Montana by the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, of which Burns is a member.

Of that sum, $3 million is slated for a project directed by UM chemistry professors Chris Palmer and Mike DeGrandpre and pharmacy professor Chuck Thompson.

Although the funding must still pass a full Senate vote and survive a joint Senate-House committee meeting, chances are exceedingly high that the scientists will get the funding as soon as Oct. 1, but more likely sometime in early 2004, said J.P. Donovan, Burns’ press secretary.

It’s good news, said the scientists, because without the financing it is unlikely the defense project, which they started last year, would move forward and it’s a project they believe has enormous potential.

Detecting harmful biological and chemical agents quickly and efficiently has been a conundrum the U.S. military has struggled with for decades.

UM scientists believe they may have cracked the case. Their idea is to use hollow, hair-thin fiber optics lined with enzymes critical to the human nervous system. In the presence of harmful biochemical agents, these specific enzymes react, and by reacting, can therefore detect the deadly chemicals, said Chris Palmer.

"Of course we are still working on the fundamentals of the science of it," he said. "But we have a lot of faith in this project, and we believe this could work really well."

DeGrandpre said one of the exciting aspects of the project is that very little research has been done using fiber optics.

This particular project brings all kinds of new problem-solving skills to bear, such as finding how to keep the chemical-detecting enzymes adhered inside the hollow fiber optic strand, how to maintain active enzymes in the device and how to find a simple way for the enzymes to alert the device’s user to the presence of harmful chemicals.

"No matter what the outcome of this project, we will come up with some good fundamental information and it will make a good contribution to sensor technology in general," DeGrandpre said.

The work of the UM scientists, who came up with the idea and are the lead investigators, will get a boost from collaborators at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, the University of Florida, Gainesville, and the International Technology Center in North Carolina.

UM will focus its efforts on the basic science that makes the project work and detect chemical agents. The other institutions will figure out what the finished device will look like and how to detect biological agents, and in one case, will develop a parallel chemical-related experiment that the UM scientists don’t have the hours or manpower to work on.

Given the funding good news, the scientists from all the institutions and a scientist from the U.S. Army Research Office will gather in Missoula at the end of the month to hammer out the blueprints for more focused research, Palmer said.

If and when the funding officially comes through, it will allow the project to hire more high-level research scientists and support crews, and give leading-edge research opportunities to UM’s science graduate students.

"By having projects like these at UM, it allows us to bring in more expertise and it makes a difference to everything we do," Palmer said. "We can attract high-caliber faculty and students and build a critical mass of experience here."

"And," Palmer said, "It’s neat to be involved with something like this – something that has the potential to contribute to the safety of armed personnel and others."

Burns said he will continue to guard the funding he has helped secure to this point for Montana, and he will do so because he believes that the science happening at UM can make a difference.

"This technology is needed for the security of our nation," Burns said.

"I believe in the importance of basic research and have strongly supported efforts in this area before September 11," he said. "This funding will allow the great minds in our university system to research advanced biochemical detection technology, and hopefully one day, transfer it to domestic and military security applications."

Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/07/14/news/local/news02.txt