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Medicine
Tissue-Engineering
Project Creates First ‘Artificial Thymus’
Researchers
at Cytomatrix (Wolburn, Mass.) and Massachusetts General Hospital
have demonstrated an “artificial thymus” that efficiently
generates large quantities of a wide range of human T-lymphocyte
cells, a key element of the body’s immune system. The research
lays the foundation for new T-cell therapies to fight certain
cancers and viral diseases, as well as repairing immune systems
damaged by infection, chemo-therapy or aging. The work was supported
in part by the NIST Advanced
Technology Program.
One recent cancer therapy using T-cells has been to harvest the
cells from tumor sites, grow them in culture and then inject them
back into the donor patient in the hope that the infusion will
boost the immune response to the cancer. However, current methods
of T-cell culturing are inefficient because they only “expand”
(replicate) a few already sensitized T-cells that cannot be “retargeted”
to new tasks.
The Cytomatrix technique not only is more efficient in producing
cells but it also produces many different T-cells with a wide
range of functional capabilities. This is because the system works
like a real thymus. The key insight was that geometry plays a
critical role in the maturation of T-cells. Organs are three-dimensional;
culture dishes are not. Cytomatrix and MGH researchers used a
porous metal and carbon material created for bone repair as a
3-D matrix to support thymus cells from mice and T-cell progenitor
cells from human bone marrow.
For more information on the Cytomatrix
ATP project or about the ATP, check out the web site at www.atp.nist.gov.
For technical information, contact Cytomatrix President Mark J.
Pykett at (781) 939-0995.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum, (301) 975-2763
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Building Research
New
Software Mainstreams Air Quality Design Innovation
A
recent Department of Energy study links poor indoor environmental
conditions to significant rates of respiratory disease, sick building
symptoms and reduced worker productivity. Estimates of potential
annual savings and productivity improvements resulting from innovations
in ventilation system design and operation range from $20 billion
to more than $100 billion. As a catalyst for such advances, NIST’s
Building and Fire Research Laboratory has just released a
Windows™ version of CONTAMW 1.0, its computer simulation
program for multizone airflow and indoor air quality analysis.
CONTAMW 1.0 can be used to determine a building’s infiltration,
exfiltration and room-to-room airflow rates, as well as calculate
the dispersal of airborne contaminants. It also is capable of
predicting, for eventual risk assessment, the exposure of building
occupants to the airborne contaminants. The software’s ability
to predict contaminant concentrations enables users to preview
the ventilation and indoor air quality performance of buildings
before they are constructed or occupied.
Engineers used an earlier DOS version of the software to evaluate
ventilation systems at the Savannah River Nuclear Laboratory,
as well as potential smoke movement and other fire safety issues
related to planned renovations of New York’s World Trade
Center. The new, more easily operated program—which includes
a Windows™ graphical user interface—is expected to increase
usage by architects, builders, HVAC operators, maintenance engineers
and researchers.
For
technical information, contact Stuart
Dols, (301) 975-5860. CONTAMW 1.0 may be downloaded from the
World Wide Web at www.bfrl.nist.gov/863/contam.
A CONTAMW web site will be online by the end of the year.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
Information
Technology
Biometric
Conference to ID Major Issues, Advances
Biometrics
are automated methods of recognizing a person based on physiological
or behavioral characteristics. Law enforcement agencies have used
traditional biometrics such as fingerprints for decades. Modern
biometrics offer an expanding set of recognition technologies,
including hand geometry, iris structure, voice identification,
facial characteristics and even vein patterns on the back of one’s
hands. Systems incorporating these new biometrics are in use or
being tested in many places where identification and restricted
access are important—for example, hospital nurseries, airports,
border crossings and laboratories.
Biometrics also will play an increasing role in electronic commerce
by adding security measures beyond encryption and digital signatures.
NIST is hosting the Biometric
Consortium’s annual fall conference to examine technological
issues facing the emerging biometrics industry and showcase recent
advances in the field. It also will explore new developments in
the areas of metrology, assurance and standards, as well as addressing
biometrics integration with information technology products such
as smart cards. The meeting will be held at NIST’s headquarters
in Gaithersburg, Md., on Sept. 13-14, 2000. An introductory seminar
for newcomers to the technology will be offered on the first day
of the conference.
The Biometric Consortium serves as the government’s focal
point for research, development, test, evaluation, and application
of biometric-based personal identification and verification technology.
It currently has over 700 members from private industry, federal/state/local
governments and academia.
The Biometric
Consortium 2000 Conference agenda and an online registration
form are available at www.nist.gov/bc2000.
For technical information, contact Fernando
Podio, (301) 975-2947.
Media
Contact:
Linda
Joy, (301) 975-4403
Technology
Partnerships
Entrepreneurs:
Is There Life after ATP?
The
NIST Advanced Technology Program
will share with industry the cost of developing innovative, high-risk
technologies that have the potential to pay off big for the U.S.
in new products, industrial capabilities, jobs and quality of
life. Young, small businesses with innovative ideas and ambitious
plans will immediately spot the challenge: The ATP requires cost
sharing, and it does not fund product development, marketing and
sales. So how will those things happen? It’s a particularly
important issue for the small companies and start-ups that make
up well over half of the ATP’s project sponsors.
To help navigate the uncertain, post-ATP waters, the program has
produced a new report, Commercialization and Business Planning
Guide for the Post-Award Period. Created to help small entrepreneurial
firms refine and improve their business plans, the guide offers
detailed information and advice on financing options, how venture
capitalists and “angels” work, licensing agreements,
corporate partnering, and how to make them work for your company.
A
section on how best to present your company to potential investors
describes strategies for the most effective presentations: What
do investors want to know about your target markets, business
goals and opportunities? The reader is taken step by step though
a typical successful presentation. A business planning “workbook”
section helps the user assemble and organize essential information
on strategic planning, customers, the market and competitors.
Although the Commercialization and Business Planning Guide was
created as an aid to companies in attracting additional private
funding to commercialize and launch the technologies they develop
under the ATP, non-ATP participants and entrepreneurs starting
new companies also may find it useful.
Copies
of Commercialization and Business Planning Guide for the Post-Award
Period (NIST CGR 99-779) are available from the ATP,
(301) 975-4332.
Media
Contact:
Michael
Baum, (301) 975-2763
Semiconductors
Taking
the Temperature of Rapid Thermal Processing Systems
How
hot is it? Like weather watchers, semiconductor manufacturers
want to know the answer to this question, especially for their
rapid thermal processing systems. To reach the quality and device-performance
requirements set for next-generation integrated circuits, chipmakers
say they need a threefold improvement in their ability to measure
and control temperature during single-wafer processing.
A new, NIST-patented calibration wafer promises to deliver the
desired level of accuracy. Just as significant, the wafer—instrumented
with thin-film thermocouples—can link temperature measurements
to the international temperature scale. This will make it easier
to replicate processing conditions in different RTP chambers and
at different facilities.
A
U.S. maker of RTP equipment and International SEMATECH, the consortium
of 13 chip makers, are evaluating the NIST test wafer in their
own production and test equipment.
During trial runs, chipmakers use test wafers to relate wafer
temperatures to RTP chamber temperatures, which are recorded by
a light pipe radiation thermometer, or LPRT. Inserted through
the bottom of the chamber, the LPRT tracks the temperature during
actual production. With current methods, LPRTs can be calibrated
with an accuracy of 5 to 6 degrees Celsius. The 1999 Technology
Roadmap for Semiconductors set the goal of reducing measurement
uncertainty to 2 degrees Celsius.
NIST’s response to the challenge included substituting on-wafer,
thin-film thermocouples for the wire ones now used to measure
the temperature at different points on the surface. The thin-film
approach eliminates the large junctions where pairs of thermocouple
wires meet, avoiding the measurement-complicating heat transfer
that occurs at these points. In addition, the NIST team developed
methods for calibrating their thin-film thermocouples on the international
temperature scale, achieving an uncertainty of about 0.3 degree
Celsius. In turn, LPRTs now can be calibrated on the scale, to
within 2 degrees Celsius.
For technical information, contact Kenneth
G. Kreider, (301) 975-2619 or David
P. DeWitt, (301) 975-4199.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301)
975-5661
Electric
Power
Measurement
Gaps May ‘Undercharge’ Deregulation Benefits
The
deregulation of the electric power industry promises to bring
lower prices and other benefits of competition to consumers. However,
a recent economic study conducted for NIST shows that a lack of
sophisticated measurement techniques and other technical obstacles
could deprive Americans of as much as $6.5 billion annually of
the deregulation benefits.
For example, the study states that as the number of companies
involved in generating, transporting and delivering electricity
grows, the number and complexity of transactions involved in those
processes are expected to skyrocket. Such a highly distributed
generation network requires advanced measurements of system parameters
that efficiently send the data to control functions to ensure
system reliability and security. So, while virtually every home
and business has a meter that measures electricity consumption,
that information alone and in its present usage will not be enough
to do the job in the future.
The growing number of companies in the market also will increase
the need for precise information about energy transactions. More
precise measurements of standard billing parameters will be needed
(e.g., energy, demand) to support contract management.
NIST plans to use the study to identify areas where its work on
measurements and standards can have the greatest impact on maximizing
the benefits of wholesale and retail deregulation of the American
power industry.
For more information on the study “Changing Measurement and
Standards Needs in a Deregulated Electric Utility Industry”
(NIST Planning Report 00-2), contact Gregory
Tassey, (301) 975-2663. To download an Adobe Acrobat copy
from the World Wide Web, go to www.nist.gov/director/planning/strategicplanning.htm.
A single print copy may be requested by contacting Denise
Herbert, (301) 975-2657.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301)
975-5661
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