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AccSys Receives Government Grant, Signs CRADA with Livermore Lab for New Medical Diagnostic System
Pleasanton, CA - January 27, 1998
Dr. Robert W. Hamm, President and CEO of AccSys Technology, Inc., announced
today that the company has been awarded a $749,985 grant from the National
Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under the Small Business
Innovation Research program for commercial development of a unique new medical
diagnostics instrument in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
This new system will employ an accelerator mass spectrometry technique
currently in use at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) to study
the biological effects of suspected carcinogenic materials, pharmaceuticals and
toxins.
The joint development of this compact new system that uses the isotope of
hydrogen, 3H, as the detectable tracer from a biological sample
includes a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between AccSys and LLNL.
According to Dr. Hamm, "This grant and joint development will result in the
placement of a prototype system next year in the new biomedical research
laboratory at CAMS, where it will be tested and used by researchers to develop
its full potential as a biomedical analytical instrument."
LLNL's Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry is one of the few facilities
in the world working on biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of AMS. Since
1990, Livermore has been developing AMS methods that can measure the effects of
extremely small amounts of chemical substances from suspected toxins, new drugs,
or dietary nutrients. Early testing with AMS at LLNL uses laboratory animals and
this work continues, but the goal is to use AMS to study the effects of these
substances on humans.
The compact system designed jointly by AccSys and Livermore for this
application is only 11 feet long, approximately one tenth the size of the unit
currently in use at CAMS. Dr. Caroline Holloway, the director of CAMS,
commented: "This new compact unit will significantly increase the use of
accelerator mass spectrometry as a medical diagnostic technique in several
important areas. These include the development and testing of new drugs and the
determination of carcinogenic substances."
The NCI grant will cover 100% of AccSys' portion of the total project costs
including a $53,000 subcontract to the CAMS group for testing of the prototype
in that facility. The goal of the test phase, which will be led by Dr. Mark
Roberts of LLNL, is to evaluate the prototype's performance in a realistic
laboratory environment. LLNL has applied for an NIH Resource Grant to perform
the relevant experiments and measurements using the prototype.
AccSys Technology, Inc. was founded in 1985 to commercialize advanced
radiofrequency (rf) ion linac technology for applications in medicine, industry
and research. AccSys currently has two product lines for use in medical and
industrial applications. AccSys is the world's leading commercial manufacturer
of rf ion linacs having produced and installed 16 systems since 1987.
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