.jpg?n=7309 "Micro-ESR")
2009 R&D 100 Winner
Active Spectrum Inc.’s (San Carlos, Calif.) Micro-ESR allows non-specialist scientists, industrial researchers, and engineers to operate a powerful scientific instrument that was, until now, available to only a few elite users because of its high cost and complexity. This miniature electron-spin resonance spectrometer relies on a type of magnetic resonance spectrometry (similar to nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) in which concentration and composition of molecules with unpaired electrons in a solid, liquid, or gaseous sample are measured.
The Micro-ESR relies on a technique that has been well-developed, it offers a big advantage: the instrument is one-fiftieth the weight and consumes one-hundredth the power of competing technologies.
Using the Micro-ESR, food producers can rapidly check on remaining shelf and oxidative stability of food; petroleum refiners can increase the efficiency of catalytic cracking processes; and medical doctors could one day—pending FDA approval—cheaply and quickly detect pathogens using DNA analysis and polymerase chain reactions.
Technology
Electron-spin resonance spectrometer
Developer
Active Spectrum Inc.
