Technology Opportunity Showcase highlights some unique technologies that NASA has developed and which we believe have strong potential for commercial application. While the descriptions provided here are brief, they should provide enough information to communicate the potential applications of the technology. For more detailed information, contact the person listed. Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.

Technology Opportunity Showcase

Biological Fluids Technology

Optical Diagnostics of Biological Fluids and Tissues

NASA is seeking companies interested in commercializing a technology for studying and characterizing various biological fluids. A fiber-optic dynamic light scattering (DLS) probe has been developed at NASA's Lewis Research Center to study various biological fluids--a formidable challenge to the designers of optical diagnostics instrumentation because these fluids often contain a wide range of particulate matter. Conventional DLS is routinely used to characterize dilute macromolecular solutions in an effective size range of 3 nanometers to 3 millimeters. The fiber optic DLS probe developed by Lewis surpasses the bulkiness, poor sensitivity, long processing periods, and high-power and safety requirements of conventional DLS. The probe's compact system exploits the principles of DLS and offers a fast means of quantitatively and noninvasively characterizing various biological fluids, such as protein solutions, blood, viruses, spermatozoa and synovial fluids. It can also be used for single-angle static light-scattering measurements and analysis of skin and tissue. The benefits of this technology are that it is compact and portable, has flexible in-situ and in-vivo applications, offers low laser power (10 nanowatts to 3 milliwatts) and fast measurement time (5 to 30 seconds) and is equipped with a miniaturized microscope for visualizing macroscopic particles.

For more information, contact Dr. Rafat Ansari at Lewis Research Center.
Call: 216/433-5008, E-mail: Rafat.R.Ansari@lerc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Preservative Coated Salivettes

NASA is seeking commercial applications of its Preservative Coated Salivettes (PCS), which allow for the storage of saliva samples in liquid form, at room temperature, for six months or longer. When a saliva sample is taken, the vial is centrifuged. This forces the saliva from the sample swab to the bottom of the vial, where a preservative coating dissolves in the saliva. This preserves the saliva sample for up to six months. The PCS technology has potential uses in environmental sampling of water or chemicals, which require preserved samples or later analysis. The technology could be modified for the purpose of storing other biological samples, and it could be used for saliva sampling in remote locations and/or foreign markets. PCS doubles the shelf life of samples, reduces the costs related to refrigerated transportation and storage and allows extended storage capability without degradation to saliva samples. It could improve current screening processes for AIDS, hepatitis, measles and other diseases.

For more information, contact Dr. Lakshmi Putcha at Johnson Space Center.
Call: 281/483-7760, E-mail: lakshmi.putcha1@jsc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Whole Blood Staining Device

The Whole Blood Staining Device is a handheld, self-contained device that provides a means to stain white blood cells by using monoclonal antibodies conjugated to various fluorochromes, followed by lysing and fixing the cells using a diluted commercial reagent. It also provides a means to store whole blood safely in a refrigerator for up to 72 hours before processing and analysis. The Whole Blood Staining Device consists of a reagent tube, an injection site and two external clips. Potential markets are health care, government and military medical testing, as well as National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control testing in remote locations or sites established to provide "outpost" operations for medical service and the treatment of disease. Small hospitals can also benefit by purchasing this single device, rather than buying expensive lysing equipment, large stocks of monoclonal-antibody reagents and a flow cytometer. It can be used to test the efficacy of therapeutic regimes, such as drug protocol in the treatment of AIDS or prenuptial screening for genetic traits for couples desiring to have children. The Whole Blood Staining Device does not require power, precise mixing or incubation. It is inexpensive and easy to manufacture. The prototype of the technology is available at NASA's Johnson Space Center, and units are being manufactured for NASA use under government contract.

For more information, contact Dr. Clarence Sams at Johnson Space Center.
Call: 281/483-7160, E-mail: clarence.sams1@jsc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.