PNNL wins 2 R&D 100 awards for human health, renewable energy advances

Scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have won two of R&D Magazine's prestigious "R&D 100 Awards" for advanced instrumentation for human health and for innovative engineering for renewable energy sources.

"We are extremely proud of our winners," said Steve Ashby, PNNL's deputy director for science and technology. "They're among our very best scientists and engineers. As these awards attest, they went the extra mile to turn their innovative research into practical solutions that will help address challenges in energy, environment and national security."

R&D magazine presents awards annually to the 100 most innovative scientific and technical breakthroughs of the year.

"The Department of Energy's national laboratories are incubators of innovation, and I'm proud they are being recognized once again for their remarkable work," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The cutting-edge research and development being done in our national labs is vital to maintaining America's competitive edge, increasing our nation's energy security, and protecting our environment. I want to thank this year's winners for their work and congratulate them on this award."

PNNL's award-winning technologies include:

PowerPuck: Creating electrical energy from the environment

Electricity can be created by processing heat associated with naturally occurring temperature differences in the environment. This essentially inexhaustible source of heat can be converted into electrical power sufficient to run compact, low-power devices like wireless sensors for decades. The Perpetua Power Puck™ harvests energy from its surrounding environment with the capability for replacing outright conventional chemical batteries.

The Power Puck is a renewable energy source that has no moving parts, which makes it more efficient and cost-effective than other technologies. The technology can save time and money in situations where information needs to be collected and power sources need to be maintained at remote sites, such as dams, bridges and pipelines. These energy harvesters are expected to last as long as the sensors and transmitters they power.

Perpetua Power Puck is being marketed for industrial automation, military, energy efficient buildings and other applications. It is based on technology developed at PNNL called the Thermoelectric Ambient Energy Harvester <http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=347> and licensed to Perpetua Power Source Technologies <http://www.perpetuapower.com/> , based in Corvallis, Ore. PNNL received the R&D 100 award in partnership with Perpetua.

Ultrasensitive ESI-MS Source & Interface: Achieving unprecedented analysis levels for human health studies

Scientists at PNNL have achieved a 40-fold increase in the sensitivity of mass spectrometry instrumentation that will benefit applications in human health, the environment, and pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries. The Ultrasensitive ESI-MS Source & Interface integrates four technologies to provide greater sensitivity and precise measurements while requiring smaller samples.

Mass spectrometry instrumentation enables the analysis and identification of broad types of samples and ranges of chemical compounds. It's commonly used for environmental and health analyses, as well as by industry for pharmaceutical and petrochemical product development. The most broadly useful methods for chemical and biochemical samples use electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS).

PNNL's improved ESI-MS instrumentation can measure amounts of compounds in a sample very precisely, even when very little material is available - which is especially important when sample sizes are limited, such as from microbiopsies of human tissue.

PNNL scientists are using the improved sensitivity in studies to develop biomarkers for early disease diagnosis, drug target discovery and basic biological research. The laboratory is also engaged in a collaboration with a major vendor of mass spectrometry instruments to further explore the benefits of the new ESI-MS system.

Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory