Contacts:                                                                                          For release: October 25, 2001
Edward S. Yeung, Chemical and Biological Sciences, (515) 294-8062
Mary Jo Glanville, Public Affairs, (515) 294-5635

AMES LAB INNOVATION SELECTED AS MOST PROMISING NEW TECHNOLOGY
Yeung’s Absorption Detection System in Multiple Capillaries is Editors’ Choice

AMES, Iowa—An award-winning technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory has been named as the Most Promising New Technology by the editors of R&D Magazine. The innovation, Absorption Detection System in Multiple Capillaries, developed by Edward S. Yeung, director of Ames Laboratory’s Chemical and Biological Sciences Program, was one of three technologies selected for the Editors’ Choice Award from the 2001 R&D 100 award winners.

"We looked at the R&D 100 award-winning technologies and selected three we felt would have the most impact," said Tim Studt, editor-in-chief, R&D Magazine. The Ames Lab technology was selected for its potential to bring about big changes in its field, according to Studt.

The technology, which uses multiple capillaries, makes it possible to rapidly separate samples of complex chemical or biochemical mixtures. The capillaries disperse heat very well and so can withstand an electrical charge of up to 20,000 volts which results in fast separations. Using absorbance detection to identify the molecules means it can handle 95 percent of all known chemical and biochemical compounds and uses 1,000 times less solvent than high-performance liquid chromatography. With these features, the technology has the ability to decipher an individual’s entire genetic code faster, more accurately and less expensively than conventional instrumentation.

CombiSep Inc., an Ames-based startup company Yeung helped launch, turned the technology into a commercial instrument, the MCE 2000. "The MCE 2000 will do everything standard commercial systems will do, except at 96 times higher speed," said Yeung, who is also an Iowa State University distinguished professor of chemistry. With this unparalleled detection power, it has fast-evolving applications in pharmaceutical, genetics, medical and forensics laboratories.

In addition to the R&D awards, Yeung’s technology enabled CombiSep to win a highly competitive $2 million Advanced Technology Program Grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The funding is to support further work in the area of proteomics (the study of protein expression and function). CombiSep also has received two $100,000 Small Business Innovative Research grants, one from the National Science Foundation and one from the National Institutes of Health.

Yeung’s research was funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences. Ames Laboratory is operated for the DOE by ISU. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.