Advanced Medicine

Bioscience research is a crucial part of the labs’ mission. Scientists address national health concerns such as pandemics, and also look for medical applications of research that may stem from another project.

For example, the Peregrine cancer detection system came from Livermore’s 40 years of studying radiation. Peregrine is an advanced but inexpensive three-dimensional computer system that studies how much and where radiation is absorbed by the human body, enabling more effective treatment. It determines the precise dose in the patient by simulating the actual treatment, particle interaction by particle interaction. Nomos Corp. has received FDA clearance for the technology. At Los Alamos, a pathogens database holds vast arrays of information about genetic sequence, immunology, and resistance. The diseases studied include HIV, hepatitis C, and influenza, and the information is made available to the global health community.

Scientists at Los Alamos and Livermore have recently won important awards for research and development. Los Alamos took an R&D 100 Award, considered the “Oscar for invention,” for its work on a portable acoustic flow cytometer, which uses sound waves to force cells into a single line so they can be analyzed.

Livermore scientists, in collaboration with Biomec, Inc., won an award for a handheld device, based on ultrawideband technology developed by lab researchers, that can accurately diagnose the medical condition of pneumothorax in real time.

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