Advanced Technology Probe Will Have Significant  Medical Applications

November 5, 1998

BOZEMAN, Mont. - NASA MSU TechLink today announced that MSU professor, Dr. David Dickensheets, is a major participant in a project to develop an instrument to search for life on Mars and analyze its soil and geological history. The instrument being developed will also have important medical applications, as it could be used to identify individual cancer cells or disease processes deep inside a patient's body. Dr. Dickensheets' work is an integral part of a two-year, $850,000 contract awarded by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to Detection Limit Technology of Laramie, Wyoming. The research partnership was developed through extensive efforts by TechLink.

Dr. Dickensheets, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and research member of the Optical Technology Center, had developed a miniaturized system for optical microscopy. The device uses a small diameter probe that can be inserted into a blood vessel, like a catheter, and take microscopic images. A laser beam passes through the optical fiber providing illumination, while microscopic mirrors etched on silicon scan the laser beam across the tissue and form the image. The way the probe is set up allows it to "see through" layers and provide images of tissue below the surface.

TechLink introduced Dr. Dickensheets to Detection Limit, with the idea of merging their technologies to create a unique new instrument. Detection Limit develops portable Raman spectrometers, which provide fast chemical analysis by measuring subtle changes in reflected laser light through an optical fiber. Their systems are now being used in controlling industrial processes like refineries, and are being developed for medical applications such as monitoring kidney stones during laser lithotripsy (destroying the kidney stones with laser pulses).

The instrument, planned for a NASA Mars landing mission to be launched in 2003, would place a probe down a small borehole drilled in the Martian soil by a lander or rover. It would then provide microscopic images and pinpoint chemical analysis of soil and rocks, giving scientists extremely valuable information about Mars' geological history and composition. It could also provide images and analysis of possible microscopic life forms in the Martian soil. TechLink introduced the researchers to NASA scientists who were excited about the prospects for discovering life on other planets that the new instrument would allow. "It's very exciting to be a part of the search for life on Mars," according to Dr. Dickensheets, "but where I see the larger applications for this system are in future medical research and new kinds of medical therapies."

Because the fiber optic probe is so small, it could be threaded through a patient's arteries, or to almost any organ or area of concern. The system would then be able to provide an image of the cells or tissue, while doing a quick chemical analysis at any part of the area being examined. Such an analysis could be used to distinguish cancer cells in their early stages, evaluate arteriosclerosis, or provide a better understanding of what was causing certain tissue diseases, perhaps leading to a cure. "NASA's goals for Mars exploration gave us the idea and the support to develop this instrument," said Dr. Dickensheets, "but the spin-offs from the technology will be helping us here on Earth for many years after this mission to Mars is completed."

Contact:
Ray Friesenhahn
MSU TechLink
(406) 994-7726
rayf {at-sign} montana.edu  

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