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sor of chemistry, and colleagues
Daniel Jones and Gavin Reid.
“This kind of science that I’m
working on—we call it smart
laser technology—is using properties
of lasers that have not been
exploited before,” says Dantus.
“It’s also a special type of laser
with a tremendous number of
applications.”
These smart lasers could lead to
new, safer drugs, since scientists
can now study side effects at the
molecular level with more precision.
Scientists can also use them
to analyze blood more precisely.
In the hands of homeland security
agents, it can help detect chemical,
biological and explosive agents.
The Dantus team earned $1.4
million through the state’s 21st
Century Jobs Fund for further
research and development. Dantus’
company, BioPhotonic Solutions, is
one of two SmartZone businesses
created in downtown East Lansing.
BLACK HOLE IN CLUSTER
One mystery of black holes that
has confounded generations of
astronomers has now been solved
by MSU astronomer Stephen
Zepf and an international team
of astronomers.
As published online in Nature
(Jan. 3, 2007), Zepf and his colleagues
have been able to finally
confirm the existence of a black
hole within a globular cluster.
A black hole occurs when a
large star dies, collapsing into
itself and creating a gravitational
field so strong that light cannot
escape from it. A globular cluster
is a dense group of stars. Some
astronomers had questioned
whether a black hole could exist
within such a dense environment.
Zepf and his colleagues were
able to detect the X-ray emissions
of a blackhole in a globular cluster
known as NGC 4472. “Our timing
was somewhat fortuitous,” says
Zepf. “This was only the second
globular cluster we looked at.”
HOW TO READ “INVISIBLE INK”
The Stasi, the notorious East
Germany secret police, were
known to use a sophisticated
invisible ink for their espionage.
The ink’s formula had been a
secret, until now.
Two professors with MSU’s
Lyman Briggs School of Science—science
historian Kristie
Macrakis and chemist Ryan
Sweeder—with the help of two
undergraduate researchers, have
figured out the invisible ink’s
chemical composition.
After the fall of the Berlin wall in
1989, the Stasi had left behind an
incomplete formula for the invisible
ink, which Macrakis stumbled onto
when studying the once-confidential
Stasi archives. She and Sweeder
set out to complete the formula in
their so-called “Spy Lab,” and eventually
succeeded.
The Stasi encoded invisible ink
messages by writing with cerium
oxalate, which would then be
made visible—in orange—by
applying a solution of manganese
sulfate, hydrogen peroxide and
other chemicals.
POSSIBLE HELP FOR STROKE
MSU researchers have found a
possibly superior way to reduce
the severity of a stroke.
Photo courtesy of the MSU Museum
MUST SEE MUSEUM—Last fall,
USA Today named the MSU Museum
as one of “10 Great Places To
Be Enveloped In Quilts.” The paper
noted the Museum’s collection
of more than 35 quilts by black
Michiganians, discovered in the
mid-1980s, and highlighted Beverly
Ann White’s Mr. Mandela portrait quilt (seen here). The MSU
Museum is home to the Great Lakes Quilt Center, with a collection
of more than 500 historic and contemporary textiles, research and
archival documents. “Redwork: A Textile Tradition in America” is
on exhibit in the MSU Museum’s Heritage Gallery through October
2007, tracing the origins and popularization of a striking red-on-white
needlework technique first seen in the 1880s and still produced today.
☛ For more information, call (517) 432-3800 or visit
www.museum.msu.edu/glqc.
Arshad Majid, associate professor
of neurology and ophthalmology,
and colleagues have found
that the dietary supplement
carnosine—a common product
available over-the-counter—consistently
reduced the severity of
stroke by up to 50 percent in
laboratory mice.
“That’s huge,” says Majid. “At
first, I didn’t believe the results,
so we repeated the test many
times. These are very promising
results. If you can reduce
the size of the stroke by half,
that means less disability for the
patient.”
The researchers also found
that use of carnosine was still
effective after the onset of stroke
symptoms. Majid notes that
carnosine is nontoxic, whereas
current stroke medications can
be dangerous.
HAND-HELD DEVICE TESTS
PATHOGENS
MSU researchers are developing
a hand-held device that can
test for deadly food, air and water
pathogens.
Syed Hashsham, associate professor
of civil and environmental
engineering at the Center for
Microbial Ecology (CME), is
developing a portable device that
can detect up to 50 microbial
threat agents.
“This device will give us the
ability to measure pathogens in a
manner and at a price that really
matters for human health,” says
Hashsham.
Currently testing for pathogens
like cholera and dysentery
must be done one pathogen at
a time. The device is capable
of simultaneous testing, thus
simplifying the process and increasing
the cost-effectiveness.
Hashsham has been awarded
$966,608 from the 21st Century
Jobs Fund to develop and commercialize
the device. His team
includes James Tiedje, University
Distinguished Professor of crop
and soil sciences and director of
the CME.
EVENING COLLEGE EXPANDS WEST
MSU’s Evening College, which
has provided noncredit personal
enrichment for alumni since 1951,
has expanded into
Grand Rapids.
Beginning in
Spring 2007, several
courses will be held
in the Kent County
Extension Building
in Grand Rapids.
This move was
made in concert
with MSU Extension,
Central
Region, and the
West Michigan
alumni regional club, notes Louise
Cooley, director of Evening
College and assistant director of
the MSU Alumni Association.
“We’re offering five classes,
ranging from information strategies
to European travel and
medieval art books,” says Cooley.
“This expansion allows us to
serve a much larger constituency.”
Evening College is offered by
Alumni Lifelong Education, a
component of the MSU Alumni
Association. Those wishing
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