US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Development of Environmental Sensors Using Sol Gel Processing

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Description: This award is for support of a cooperative project by Dr. David Greenspan, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Biomaterials Corp. in Alachua, Florida, and Dr. Morsi M. Morsi of the Glass Research Department at the National Research Center (NRC) in Cairo, Egypt. The objective of this joint research is to study the feasibility of manufacturing environmental sensors using biologically active sol gel glasses impregnated with active biological and synthetic organic molecules. Sol gel processing is used to make many compositions of materials, among which are Gel-Silica Optics which have commercial value. These materials are optically transparent, yet they contain a large volume of stable interconnected porosity. The porous matrices can be impregnated with optically active second organic or inorganic phases for creating a new class of active optical sensors. The project will involve work at the NRC to develop impregnation processes for incorporating organic and biological molecules inside the porous optical matrices; optical characterization of the IR and UV-Vis spectra of the sensor prototypes; and comparison of the optical characteristics of the sensor molecules in their matrices with the molecules in solution. Work at the U.S. Biomaterials Corp. laboratory will include development of porous optical matrices of various composition of biologically active CaO-P2O5-SiO2 gel-glasses; characterization of the pore size distributions and surface areas and isoelectric points of the matrices; and conduct of biological activity testing of the prototype sensors to determine whether the conformations of the sensor molecules are retained intact following the impregnation process. Scope: This research project will bring together the bioactive gel-glass matrix technology of the US institution, and the sol-gel and biotechnology expertise of the NRC. The project can lead to establishing a new capability in Egypt for high technology industry for manufacturing environmental biosensors capable of being coupled with the fiber optics device industry. The application to environmental sensors in Egypt is useful to the United States where the environmental quality is considered a global issue. This proposal meets the INT objective of increasing US-foreign collaboration in areas that benefit both sides. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.