Number 249

Reducing false alarms in bioaerosol detectors

A Department of Homeland Security-funded project involving a group of researchers at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories is working on determining the causes of false alarms in bioaerosol detectors that guard against bioterrorist strikes in large public spaces. Understandably, managers of such public venues are reluctant to install biodetection systems that could force unnecessary evacuations. The Enhanced Bioaerosol Detection System takes a second look at what is in the air and determines if there is sufficient bioaerosol present for concern. If successful, it could be paired with existing sensors for a more refined and commercially deployable detector system. DOE's Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest national labs are also involved in the project.

[Howard Kercheval, 505/844-7842,
hckerch@sandia.gov]

Active capping system for remediation of mixtures of sediment contaminants

Contaminated sediments in salt and fresh water pose a tricky environmental challenge, but a Savannah River National Laboratory team led by Drs. Anna Knox and Michael Paller has developed an active capping technology that shows great promise for containing and stabilizing a wide range of contaminants under a broad range of environmental conditions.  About 10 percent of the sediment in U.S. waters is contaminated with metals, hydrocarbons, and/or other contaminants, but traditional remediation methods, such as removal-and-treatment or capping with sand and gravel, have drawbacks. This new approach consists of an active cap that uses a combination of sequestering agents such as apatites, cross-linked biopolymers, and organoclays. It has high potential to treat complex mixtures of metals and organic contaminants by simultaneously reducing contaminant toxicity and/or bioavailability while creating a barrier that reduces the disturbance of subsurface sediments. This work is sponsored by the Department of Defense's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and is planned and executed in full partnership with the DOE and the EPA.

[Angeline French, 803/725-2854, angeline.french@srnl.doe.gov]

Jefferson Lab's upgrade milestone

A proposed $310-million project that will double the energy of the electron beam at DOE's Jefferson Lab achieved a critical milestone on November 9. DOE approved the project's performance baseline, granting the approval known as Critical Decision 2 or CD-2. It is the third step in a five-step approval process to increase the energy of Jefferson Lab's accelerator, build a fourth experimental hall, and improve the existing experimental halls. The project will provide scientists a one-of-a-kind tool for peering into the nucleus, its protons and neutrons and studying the building blocks of matter, quarks.

[Kandice Carter, 757/269-7263,
kcarter@jlab.org]

Ames Lab partners in Forensic Center of Excellence

The Midwest Forensics Resource Center (MFRC) at DOE's Ames Laboratory, is a partner in the newly formed Forensic Technology Center of Excellence that will be headquartered at the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) located at the Young-Rainey STAR center in Largo, Fla. According to David Baldwin, MFRC director at Ames Laboratory, the MFRC will receive approximately $500,000 as a partner in the Forensic Technology Center of Excellence to support two projects, in particular. One project targets the effective use of process-mapping tools for process improvement, while the other seeks to identify, recruit and retain scientific staff for crime laboratories.

[Saren Johnston, 515-294-3474
sarenj@ameslab.gov]

Couple explores polymers at nanoscience center

Joe and Deanna Pickel

It's not hard to get Joe and Deanna Pickel talking about polymers. The married researchers bring different sets of experience to the creation of new, innovative materials at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, or CNMS, at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Joe Pickel has been working at the center since its inception three years ago. Deanna just joined the Laboratory this summer, arriving from Eastman Chemical Co. headquarters in Kingsport, Tenn., where she worked in specialty plastics.

Both talk about how new tools and the growing demands of industries such as healthcare and bioenergy are spurring development of new “bio-inspired” polymers mimicking those found in nature. The Pickels are two of a number of experts at ORNL who create and test polymers that could one day offer new solutions for drug delivery, bioenergy and manufacturing.

“We're approaching the ability to create things more like nature does,” Deanna Pickel says.

Adds Joe: “I think we're starting to realize that biological systems are the most complex systems out there and by learning how they work at a molecular level and copying them synthetically we could potentially make materials with really new and exciting properties.”

For example, he says, nature uses photosynthesis to make energy. “How can we build systems synthetically that will do what nature is doing?”

While the CNMS is primarily oriented around basic research, Deanna Pickel's industrial background lends a new dimension to the polymer program's expertise. The aim is obviously not to develop commercial products for a return on investment, Deanna says, but Eastman's focus on teamwork and safety offer lessons for a national laboratory.

The Pickels are part of larger, multidisciplinary teams at CNMS, where the benefit of this budding teamwork was demonstrated earlier this year. Experts in a variety of synthesis capabilities came together to design the first polymer to be exposed to neutrons in the liquids reflectometer at the Lab's Spallation Neutron Source, located right next door.

Submitted by DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DOE Pulse highlights work being done at the Department of Energy's national laboratories. DOE's laboratories house world-class facilities where more than 30,000 scientists and engineers perform cutting-edge research spanning DOE's science, energy, national security and environmental quality missions. DOE Pulse is distributed every two weeks. For more information, please contact Jeff Sherwood (jeff.sherwood
@hq.doe.gov, 202-586-5806)