This issue...

  Brieflies

  View from the Inside

  Extremophiles

  Plant Information Superhighway

  Working Science: Glenn Seaborg Remembrance

  People

  E-mail Reminder






















This issue...

  Brieflies

  View from the Inside

  Extremophiles

  Plant Information Superhighway

  Working Science: Glenn Seaborg Remembrance

  People

  E-mail Reminder

Brieflies ...


Illuminating Landmines: Genetically engineered bacteria glow a soft green when they digest trinitrotoluene (TNT), a commonly used explosive. When illuminated by ultraviolet light, the fluorescent glow is clearly visible at night. "Land mines leak small amounts of TNT over time, leaving a chemical trace for bacteria on the soil surface," Robert Burlage of Oak Ridge National Laboratory says. "When the bacteria of one of our strains of Pseudomonas putida encounter the TNT, they will scavenge the compound as a food source, activating the genes that produce proteins needed to digest the TNT." Burlage and his coworkers at ORNL team attached the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene to the genes that are expressed (activated) only during TNT digestion. GFP, which is derived from jellyfish, emits extremely bright fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Burlage and his team successfully field-tested the bacteria in preliminary trials at the National Explosives Waste Technology and Evaluation Center in Edgefield, South Carolina. The technology holds great promise for immediate, reliable, and inexpensive detection because the bacteria can be produced in bulk, and the application process -- manual or aerial spraying -- is simple and economical. Experts estimate there are approximately 100 million mines in former combat zones in more than 60 nations. Mine fields in countries such as Bosnia, Cambodia, and Kuwait annually kill or maim an estimated 26,000 people, and prevent development of natural resources and land that could be used for agriculture and industry. Initial research into this area was supported by SC's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The project is now sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (http://www.dtra.mil) within the Department of Defense. Contact: Robert Burlage, ORNL, burlagers@ornl.gov

Berkeley BEARS First Radioactive Beam: The Berkeley Experiments with Accelerated Radioactive Species (BEARS) project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) completed a final crucial demonstration recently with the acceleration and extraction of a beam of carbon-11. Energetic carbon-11 beams of more than 108 ions/sec will be routinely available for use in experimental studies of the scattering of light-mass mirror nuclei, for example carbon-11 on boron-11, and for investigations of nuclear reactions (fusion/transfer/fission) induced by radioactive projectiles. This "coupled cyclotrons" project uses isotopes produced at the Biomedical Isotopes Facility cyclotron of LBNL's Life Sciences Division. The radioactivity is currently transferred in batch-mode, but by summer 1999 the project will use continuous gaseous transport via a 300-meter transfer line to the 88-Inch Cyclotron of LBNL's Nuclear Science Division. BEARS development of this light-ion, proton-rich radioactive beam capability will provide experimenters with the opportunity to perform a wide range of new measurements in nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry, and nuclear astrophysics. The project is co-managed by Prof. Joseph Cerny (LBNL & Univ. of California, Berkeley) and Dr. Peter Haustein (Brookhaven National Laboratory's Chemistry Dept). The BEARS project received initial funding from LBNL's Laboratory Directed Research and Development program and is also partly supported by SC's Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics. Contact: Prof. Joseph Cerny, LBNL/University of California at Berkeley, JCerny@uclink4.berkeley.edu. For more information, see the BEARS website.

Automated chemistry reduces exposure to radiation. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed an automated chemical processing system that performs sequential steps without human intervention. The process is ideal for the generation of radioisotopes for medical uses and analysis of radioactive waste because the automated processing reduces radioactive exposure to the technician. One application of the process is the generation of bismuth-213 for cancer treatment. Bismuth-213 is created from the decay of actinium-225. Both isotopes exist in solution. The automated system sequentially pulls the actinium-bismuth solution and necessary reagents in a holding coil, then discharges them through an ion-exchange medium. Computer-controlled valves and a pump retrieve and deliver each solution to and from the appropriate container. The process is quick, safe, and develops minimal amounts of radioactive waste (about 10 ml). This research is funded by SC's Office of Biological and Environmental Research under the Pilot Environmental Management/SC Collaborative Research Program. Contact Dr. Oleg B. Egorov, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, oleg.egorov@pnl.gov.

New R&D Project Summaries Database: The DOE's Office of Scientific & Technical Information (OSTI) has developed a database that identifies the Research and Development (R&D) that DOE supports. The R&D Tracking System database is a collaboration of data from over 14,000 projects within the Offices of Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, and OSTI. Data from the R&D Tracking System will be used to respond to various data calls including those from the program office, Office of Management and Budget, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. A version for public view of the R&D Tracking System called R&D Project Summaries has also been developed by OSTI that provides publicly releasable descriptions of R&D holdings from FY 1995 through FY 1997. The public database gives the viewer three options for searching: easy, topical, and advanced. The "R&D Project Summaries website is located at http://www.doe.gov/rnd/dbhome.html.

Fermi Presidential Award Winners: On February 18, President Clinton named Maurice Goldhaber and Michael E. Phelps as the winners of the Enrico Fermi Award, given for a lifetime of achievement in the field of nuclear energy. "It is a privilege to honor these scientists and their pioneering research," President Clinton said. "Dr. Goldhaber's work has contributed significantly to our understanding of the way the world works. Dr. Phelps made possible an innovative technology that has improved medical research and health care."

  • Maurice Goldhaber, 87, will receive the Award for research in nuclear and particle physics.
  • Michael Phelps, 59, will receive the Award for his contributions to the invention and use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET).

The Fermi Award is a Presidential award that carries a $100,000 honorarium and a gold medal. The Department of Energy administers the Fermi Award for the White House, and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will present the awards on April 16 in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. For more information, see the new Fermi Award website.

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