 "Photo: Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor")
In a San Diego State chemistry lab devoid of the typical test tubes and beakers, Dr. William G. Tong is contributing to biomedical and national security breakthroughs with his lasers.
Tong, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at SDSU, has been developing laser technology for the last 24 years. And within the last few, he has been able to create smaller, more efficient and more compact lasers.
“Just in the last few years, lasers are shrinking, getting better and for the first time, combining it with our techniques,” Tong said.
The main use for Tong’s lasers is biomedical research. The lasers can detect the smallest trace of a chemical, which makes them useful for detecting diseases, pollution, greenhouse gasses and biochemical agents.
“The idea is, we use multiple laser beams … and we cross those beams and our signal is generated when the two beams meet,” Tong said. “And that means that we can point that pair of laser beams anywhere and we have both two-dimensional spatial resolution and three-dimensional spatial resolution.”
Tong’s methods and laser technology can detect particles in parts-per-trillion and parts-per-quadrillion by measuring the isotopes.
After discovering his laser technology was being used in biomedical research, Tong was approached by security and defense officials to use his lasers to help identify bombs and explosives. His lasers are compact enough to take into the field and efficient enough to obtain samples without being next to the source — though Tong can’t say from how far away they can be used for security reasons.
Tong’s lasers have potential use in other fields as well. The same technology can be used for authentication of paintings and archaeological applications.
However, Tong’s main focus remains as biomedical research.
“You know, our main thing is still detecting diseases at early stages and doing it at such low sensitivity levels, good sensitivity levels and little or no false positives.”
With the portability of the lasers and the development of what is called a “lab-on-a-chip,” which contains both an electronic circuit board and channels for analyzing chemicals, it is possible to gain access to places that aren’t as easy to access and could help with diseases such as the Human Papilloma Virus.
Although Tong is the developer of SDSU’s laser technology, he does consider it a collaborative effort. Tong works with undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students, as well as visiting professors.
One Ph.D. student, Marcel Hetu, is contributing to Tong’s biomedical research.
“I’ve been doing a lot of protein analysis and particularly trying to find biomarkers for diseases and trying to monitor those,” Hetu said. “I want to be sure that I’m doing stuff that’s really going to create a new age in diagnostics. And eventually I’d like to use that knowledge to be able to do that same type of work at a company where we can take this from a lab setting into more of a clinical setting.”
In the future, Tong hopes to continue making his lasers smaller, faster and easier to use, so that hopefully they can have a greater variety of uses.
“It’s exciting to be developing and designing new things that can do exciting things that were previously not possible,” Tong said. “And especially because these new systems that we’re inventing or designing could help in a lot of important areas.”
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