Tiny sensors taking on big world-toxic mold

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Tiny sensors taking on big world

By Vurik

UNION-TRIBUNE

September 28, 2008

CARLSBAD †" A chemical sensor that would be dwarfed by a crawling ant

is proving effective in detecting a wide range of undesirable substances.

Created by Carlsbad-based Seacoast Science Inc., the sensor is called

a MEMS, or microelectromechanical system sensor. Company president and

founder Todd Mlsna said the technology is being used in the detection

of narcotics, volatile organic compounds, toxic industrial chemicals,

chemical warfare agents and toxic mold.

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“They are very small sensors with very low power, and they really are

the heart of all our different systems,†Mlsna said.

When Mlsna and his partners, Louis Haerle and Sanjay Patel, started

Seacoast Science in 2003, they had no idea how far they could go with

technology they had created.

“We had the technology, but nobody knew what to do with it,†Mlsna said.

Their first contract was with the Marine Corps to create a chemical

sensor badge for individual soldiers. Mlsna said they have been “very

successful with our grant writing, and a lot of the defense

contractors work with us.â€

The company has been awarded small business innovation research

contracts with the Air Force, Army, Special Operations Command, the

Department of Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It just seemed to keep on expanding to different areas,†Mlsna said.

“The surprise to me was the number of different applications we could

apply our technology to.â€

Seacoast Science's 5,500-square-foot facility on Las Palmas Drive is

equipped with four labs and employs 16 people, from chemical and

mechanical engineers to chemists and biochemists. These scientific

minds have been challenged to apply the senor technology to any number

of uses.

One of the patents developed by company scientists was a sensor chip

one-fifth the size of a fingernail with 10 sensors very close

together, coated with polymers programmed to detect various chemical

compositions.

“We had to come up with a miracle,†Mlsna said. “We had to come up

with a way to paint these polymers in very small spots without messing

up the sensor right next to it.â€

They came up with a way to use inkjet technology to precisely place

the polymers on the chips. “It's like painting the foot of an ant,â€

Mlsna said.

The company's innovations have garnered some national recognition.

This year, the company was nominated for an achievement award for an

Army contract for the detection of drugs and narcotics.

In 2007, CONNECT, a San Diego nonprofit that annually recognizes the

work of the area's technology companies, gave Seacoast Science a most

innovative new product award for the SC210. That chemicapacitor-based

sensing system can detect a number of hazardous chemicals, and because

of its small size, low power requirements and low cost, is able detect

harmful chemicals virtually anywhere.

According to Mlsna, the demand for new applications continues to pour

in. Seacoast Science is working on an application to monitor the

Mississippi River in Baton Rogue, La. With a few low-cost sensors

placed along the levees, Mlsna said, the river can be monitored for

chemicals from an industrial accident to guide first-responders.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security solicited ideas from

small businesses on how to put chemical sensors into cell phones.

“It's an early-warning system for first-responders,†Mlsna said.

Seacoast Science was named in 50 proposals from cell phone companies

because of their small-sensor technology.

Mlsna said that because of the national attention, the company may

soon transition from primarily research and development into product

development. Instead of selling a few units at a time to various

clients, the company is getting interest in production of thousands of

units, Mlsna said.