FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 31, 2000

Contacts: Michael Baum
(301) 975-2763
michael.baum@nist.gov

MA 2000-03

Media Advisory
The Advanced Technology Program at 10

January 11 - Cargill Dow Polymers (Wayzata, Minn.) announces plans to build, in Blair, Neb., the first world-scale facility to convert corn-derived dextrose, a renewable resource, into industrial quality polymers for use in fibers and packaging.

February 29 - GE Medical Systems (New York) unveils two new breakthrough devices in medical imaging - for mammography and cardiovascular systems - based on a new, flat-panel digital x-ray detector. They offer significantly better image quality and dose efficiency than conventional systems.

March 14 - PPL Therapeutics, Inc (Blacksburg, Virginia) announces the first successful cloning of pigs, an essential milestone in a long-range project to develop genetically modified pigs to serve as a source of badly needed transplant organs such as hearts and kidneys.

March 15 - Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (Ann Arbor, Michigan) announces the first successful transplants of human stem cells, cultured ex vivo in a bioreactor, in breast cancer patients. The results may herald a valuable new therapy for cancer patients.

The common factor in these four advances is the Advanced Technology Program, managed by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology. In each case the underlying technology was made possible by a cost-sharing award from the ATP. Since 1990, the ATP has worked to spur the development of path-breaking new technologies: high-risk R&D proposed by industry, selected by a competitive, peer-reviewed process, and enabled by the ATP. Nearly 200 projects completed and more than 200 currently underway.

On April 5, the ATP will showcase a sampling of ten years of innovation and impact at a special briefing and exhibition in the Russell Senate Caucus Room. The ATP Technology Showcase will be open from 10:00am until 3:00pm. A briefing for media and Congressional staff will start at 10:30.

Speakers will include John Yochelson, President of the Council on Competitiveness, and Senator Ernest F. Hollings. New technologies for health care, biotechnology, information technology, materials, energy, manufacturing and communications will be shown. Join us for a sneak preview of the future.