Portable Photosynthesis Analyzer Ciencia, Inc., East Hartford, Connecticut

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Portable Photosynthesis AnalyzerCiencia, Inc.,
East Hartford, Connecticut

• Innovation
• The Portable Photosynthesis Analyzer provides in
  situ, real time, measurement of photochemical
  efficiency in phytoplankton and higher plants.

Photo

• Accomplishments
• A shipboard instrument has been built for
  oceanographic applications.
• The analyzer has the sensitivity of lt 0.5 ?g/L of
  chlorophyll in vivo.
• This is the first instrument to solve the
  chlorophyll quantum yield variability problem.
• The analyzer is the first instrument to directly
  measure quantum yield of photochemistry in
  PS II
• This is the first portable instrument capable of
  chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime analysis

The Portable Photosynthesis Analyzer was
developed, in part, through the NASA SBIR
contract with Ciencia

• Commercialization
• Ciencia owns U.S. Patent No. 5,818,582 covering
  certain aspects of this technology issued on
  October 6, 1998.
• A commercial instrument targeted to the
  laboratory research market is being manufactured
  and marketed worldwide under the name of
  LifeSense? by Oriel Instruments under a license
  agreement with Ciencia, Inc.
• Ciencia recently entered into a joint development
  agreement with Packard Instrument Company to
  develop applications of this technology for High
  Throughput Screening (HTS) in drug discovery.
• A spin-off application of the lifetime sensing
  technology subject of this SBIR was developed for
  lidar ranging.
• Ciencia has been awarded a 270,000 contract to
  apply the lidar ranging technology to the
  development of a sensor for ocean level
  measurements.
• Ciencia is involved in ongoing discussions with
  world leading bioanalytical company for
  application of the technology to the molecular
  biology and life sciences research markets.
• The technology has broad potential commercial
  applications in precision agriculture,
  aquaculture, forestry and food safety.

• Government/Science Applications
• Stennis Space Center is using the shipboard
  prototype system developed through the SBIR
  program in coastal studies of primary production.
• Technology is ready to be transitioned into an in
  situ vertical profiler instrument.
• Applications include ground truth for satellite
  measurements of primary production from remote
  sensing of ocean color, human habitability and
  biology in space, and microgravity research.
  NASA programs to benefit include, Mission to
  Planet Earth, Sea Viewing Wide Field-of-View
  System (SeaWIFS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging
  Spectroradiometer (MODIS), CELLS, and the Space
  Station Biological Research Program.
• Ames Research Center is funding development of a
  fluorescence cell analyzer based on related
  technology for application in the International
  Space Station . NIH is funding molecular biology
  applications.

Points of Contact - NASA (Commercial
Technology Program, 228/688-1929) - Ciencia
(S. Fernandez, 860/528-9737) 1997 SBIR
Phase II NAS 13-97033
Stennis Space Center February 2000