Minnesota researchers may have a brighter future thanks to a new cross-border compact.
The
BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota signed an agreement last month giving members improved access to the
Canadian Light Source synchrotron facility at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada.
The synchrotron is a giant X-ray microscope that lets scientists see what's going on inside cells at the atomic-particle level. The device works by accelerating electrons around a football-field-sized racetrack, then focusing them into a light beam brighter than the sun and sending it through the material being studied.
Only a handful of synchrotrons exist around the world because they are so expensive to build. Canada completed its $174-million national synchrotron facility in 2004.
Canadian researchers have always had preferential pricing and access to the synchrotron, but under the new agreement with the BioBusiness Alliance, "they're in effect treating us as through we're Canadians," said Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of the BioBusiness Alliance.
Wahlstrom said many university and larger companies already use synchrotrons for research, but many other companies aren't aware of the potential applications. The BioBusiness Alliance's next step is educating Minnesotans about the technology.
"It's very broadly applicable," Wahlstrom said, citing the life sciences, computer industry and materials sciences as a few areas where the light source could be used.
The hope is that giving Minnesota researchers better access to the facility will speed up the time it takes to develop products and get them to market, said Wahlstrom.
Source: Dale Wahlstrom, CEO, BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota
Writer:
Dan Haugen