ADA
Technologies, Inc.
Abstracts
May 2009
Volume XVIIII, Number 1
$500,000 Awarded For Counterfeit
Detection Technology
ADSS Moves to New
The National Science Foundation
has awarded ADA $500,000 for
development of a new generation of
ink, product labels and counterfeit
detection systems to accurately and
efficiently detect fraudulent labels
and products.
Counterfeit products are estimated to cost U.S. businesses as much
as $250 billion annually in lost
revenue ($600-$800 billion globally) and are responsible for exposing
the world’s population to serious
health hazards through the production of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
The World Health Organization
estimates that up to 10 percent of
the world’s pharmaceuticals may be
counterfeit.
“There is a strong need for
new counterfeit detection and anticounterfeit labeling platforms,”
said Clifton H. Brown, Jr., ADA
president and CEO. “The superior
performance and adaptability of this
technology is expected to have a
significant impact on the ability to
detect counterfeit products before
they reach consumers.”
The technology also has applications for verifying supply chain
authenticity and inventory tracking.
Facility
Advanced Distributed Sensor Systems, Inc. - an ADA spin-off company
- has a new home. After sharing the
ADA headquarters building since its
spin-off in October 2008, ADSS has relocated to a new facility that is custom
built for efficient product design and
manufacture.
ADSS, Inc.
10658 Centennial Road
Suite 400
Littleton, CO 80127
Phone: 720-235-3820
Fax 720-235-1821
ADA’s research is being carried
out in its offices in Littleton,
Colorado, and the Virginia Tech
Corporate Research Center in
Blacksburg, Virginia. The funding
is part of the federal government’s
Small Business Technology Transfer
program. ❏
ADSS’ new production labs are
designed for efficiency.
Explosives Detection Nets $1.37 million
Contract
president and CEO. “ADA’s
sophisticated detection equipment
will help the U.S. Army combat
unconventional warfare techniques,
thereby improving the safety of
civilians and troops in areas of
conflict.”
ADA received a $1.37 million
contract from the U.S. Army to
develop technologies to enhance
currently available techniques for
the detection of explosives.
ADA has developed and patented
a technique that enhances the ability
of off-the-shelf detection systems
to detect explosive materials. The
technique has applications in any
situation where detection of trace
levels of explosives is
an important safety and
Taking Today’s
security requirement.
Technologies into
Tomorrow’s Markets
“The detection of
Illustration of ADA’s
handheld explosives
detection device.
explosives is critical to our country’s
global security operations,” said
Clifton H. Brown, Jr., ADA
This is the first phase of a threephase contract. The majority of the
work for this contract will be done
in ADA Technologies’ Laramie,
Wyoming office.
Contact Enrique Gutierrez at
enriqueg@adatech.com. ❏
ADA Abstracts
C
liff’s Notes:
stim•u•lus …. Something that moves to activity!
The world is abuzz with economic woes, stimulus plans, corporate impunity and a host of other
(mostly negative) activities. Since I’m a glass halffull type of person, I choose to look on the positive
side of things. And when it comes to ADA, that’s a
fairly easy task.
Amidst rising unemployment and staggering
national debt, ADA continues to thrive. Instead
of downsizing, we are hiring skilled people whose
talents enable our programs to grow in directions that secure the company’s
future. Instead of looking for short-term fixes, we are making strategic additions
to our Energy Storage, Nanotechnology and Biotechnology program areas with
a goal to establish platform technologies to assure growth and stability for the
next 10 to 15 years. During this time, multiple products and technologies will
be commercialized. Having a long-term business strategy that adheres to a set
of core values and an agreed-upon vision is a cornerstone in the foundation that
has allowed ADA to become a built-to-last company.
In early March, I was honored to receive an award commemorating 10 years
on ADA’s management team. It’s rewarding to look back on the vision we set
in 1999 and realize that we have made incredible progress toward making that
vision a reality and to know that the basic concepts haven’t changed. The team
has learned and achieved a lot in 10 years, but there remains much more to
learn and do. That’s why I’m still excited to go to work every morning and why
– in spite of the economic doom that fills the daily newscasts - I’m still able to
see the glass as half full. Cheers!
Visit www.adatech.com for a current
listing of Career Opportunities
ADA Names
New CFO
Nada Austin was named
ADA’s new chief financial
officer. She has responsibility for all financial aspects of
the company, as well as contracting and human resources. Austin served as ADA’s
controller since she joined
the company in May 2007.
She replaces Russell
Farmer, who served as
ADA’s CFO from July
1988 through January 2009.
Farmer will continue to chair
ADA’s board of directors
and will serve as the firm’s
executive vice president.
Clifton H. Brown, Jr.
President & CEO
cliffb@adatech.com
303-792-5615 ❏
Grant Supports Cancer Detection R&D
ADA Abstracts
ADA Abstracts is published three times a
year by ADA Technologies, Inc.
Karen Steeper is the editor and Sheryl Suhr
of ADA is the graphic designer.
Each issue contains news of technologies
under development, plus information on grants,
projects, and staff.
If you would like more information,
call ADA Technologies at (800) 232-0296 or
E-mail us at: abstracts@adatech.com.
Permission is granted to reprint articles as
long as ADA Technologies, Inc. is credited as
the source.
2
A $149,121 grant from the National
Cancer Institute* is funding research
and development of nanotechnology
imaging and sensing platforms for
improved detection and diagnosis of
cancer.
reliable, ready-to-use platform that is
capable of detecting multiple biomolecules to facilitate cancer biomarker
screening and improve cancer diagnosis,” said Xichun Zhou, Ph.D., ADA
principal investigator.
ADA’s research focuses on developing a nano-enabled sensing platform for
analysis of biomolecules, such as cancer
biomarkers, that is more sensitive than
existing technologies. Analysis platforms that provide high sensitivity and
high throughput are critical to cancer
biomarker detection.
ADA’s R&D efforts related to nanotechnology imaging and sensing platforms began in 2007
“Our research will provide the scientific and medical communities with a
Contact Dr. Zhou at xichunz@
adatech.com. ❏
*This project is wholly funded with Federal
funds from the National Cancer Institute,
National Institutes of Health, Department of
Health and Human Services, under Contract No.
HHSN261200800061C.
ADA Abstracts
Advanced Lithium-ion Nanobatteries
Research Successful
ADA recently completed Phase
I research that successfully demonstrated the technical feasibility
of developing advanced lithiumion nanobatteries. Funded by the
National Science Foundation, the
research focused on developing
high-capacity / high-rate nanostruc-
tured electrodes and combining
these electrodes with environmentally benign electrolytes to improve
the performance of lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries represent the current state-of-the-art for
rechargeable batteries. However,
performance (energy / power
densities, safety, and cycle life)
ADA’s research included:
of the current lithium-ion batteries is limited by the prop• Developing highly conductive
erties of both electrodes and
and stable electrolytes.
electrolytes.
• Producing high-capacity and
Improvements in these
high-rate nanostructured
materials are needed to develop
electrode materials.
advanced batteries to satisfy the
rapidly increasing performance
• Fabricating and testing
prototype lithium-ion batteries
demands for a wide range of
from optimized electrodes and
applications, including conelectrolytes.
sumer electronics (cell phones,
laptops, pagers, camcorders),
medical electronics (drug delivery
units, portable defibrillators, neurological stimulators), transportation technology (electric vehicles,
hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in
hybrids), and military and defense
(communication devices, unmanned
aerial vehicles, spacecraft probes,
missile systems).
“Laboratory test batteries
achieved excellent performance
measures with the potential to
achieve a two-fold better energy
density and a ten-fold better power
density than current state-of-theart lithium-ion battery technology,”
said Wen Lu, Ph.D., project principal investigator and ADA senior
research scientist.
Contact Dr. Lu at wenl@adatech.
com. ❏
Fire Suppression Technology Gets $100K
Boost From NASA
A $99,979 Small Business
Innovations Research (SBIR) contract from NASA will allow ADA
to continue development of its Fine
Water Mist fire suppression technology.
ADA’s Fine Water Mist technology is one of two technologies
being considered for use in the next
generation of manned spacecraft,
beginning with the Orion Crew
Exploration Vehicle. ADA’s technology, which offers advantages
in performance, ease of cleanup,
compatibility with on-board environmental systems, and ability to
recharge during a mission, has been
in development for more than two
years.
Earlier funding from NASA
allowed ADA to design and build
a prototype, hand-held Fine Water
Mist fire extinguisher that has
proven especially effective against
the types of fires
that occur in
spacecraft, airplanes and other
confined-space
conditions. This
latest
contract
will allow ADA
to advance this
prototype with a
new design for a
reduced-momentum nozzle.
“Since
this
Prototype extinguisher in use
type of extinguisher will be used in
a relatively small
suppression technology. ”
and confined space inside a spaceTests of the improved extincraft, the discharge must be proporguisher
will be conducted at the
tional to the space,” said Jim Butz,
Colorado
School of Mines in a
ADA’s vice president of operations.
specially-built
chamber that mimics
“ADA’s continued development of
spacecraft
conditions.
the Fine Water Mist extinguisher
Contact Jim Butz at jimb@
will enable NASA to more fully
adatech.com.
❏
evaluate its use as an alternative fire
3
ADA Abstracts
Wyoming Office Hires Five New Employees
Five new employees have
joined ADA’s Laramie, Wyoming
office. The new hires are involved
with the ongoing development
and commercialization of ADA’s
Trace Detection Technology. They
include Ronald D. Eicher, product
development manager; Virginia
Schmit, laboratory manager; and
interns Amanda Pecenka, Kadria
Talbot and Denise Barker.
Ron Eicher brings more than 30
years of experience to his position.
His wide-ranging career includes
engineering
and
developing
numerous commercial products. He
is a graduate of the University of
Southern Colorado.
Virginia “Ginny” Schmit has
extensive experience in a variety
of laboratory settings including
work at the Centers for Disease
Control in Fort Collins, Colorado,
and at Colorado State University.
She holds a Master’s degree from
Colorado State University and a
Bachelor’s degree from California
Polytechnic University.
Ginny
Schmit
Amanda
Pecenka,
Kadria
Talbot and Denise Barker, students
at the University of Wyoming,
assist in gathering data from lab
experiments.
ADA’s
Trace
Detection
Technology improves detection of
explosives and narcotics for military
and homeland defense applications.
The technology also has global
security applications, including
uses in vehicle inspection stations,
with robotic platforms, airport
luggage screening, travel document
screening and as an aid to first
responders. ❏
Amanda Pecenka
Denise Barker
Kadria Talbot
Ron Eicher
ADA
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Technologies, Inc.
8100 Shaffer Parkway
Suite #130
Littleton, CO 80127-4107
Phone: 303-792-5615
800-232-0296
Fax:
303-792-5633
e-mail: abstracts@adatech.com
www.adatech.com
ADA Technologies - An Award Winning Company
2008, 2007 & 2006 Fast 50 • 2006 Tibbetts Award • 2007 & 2006 Best Companies to Work For in Colorado • Top Technology Company 2005