New Press Release
VARIAN AND CONDUCTUS INTRODUCE REVOLUTIONARY SUPERCONDUCTING NMR PROBE
SUNNYVALE, CA -- March 29, 1996 -- Conductus, a pioneer in high-temperature superconductor technology, announced the introduction of the first high-temperature superconducting product designed to replace conventional technology used in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The product, which is being sold exclusively by Varian Associates as the SuperProton*nmr probe, is the first of a totally new category of NMR probes (detectors) that exploit high
temperature superconductor (HTS) technology to dramatically increase probe sensitivity. The sensitivity increase of at least four times over traditional probes can dramatically reduce the time it takes to analyze pharmaceutical and chemical products as well as permit the analysis of smaller samples.
According to Dr. Alistair Swanson of Central Research, Pfizer Ltd., a leading pharmaceutical company based in Sandwich, England, "Such a significant increase in sensitivity will greatly increase the range of problems which can be solved by NMR by enabling us to obtain high quality NMR spectra from very small samples."
The SuperProton*nmr probe, which utilizes RF coils made of the high temperature superconductor YBCO, solves two problems for the NMR spectroscopist. The increased sensitivity allows for analysis of much smaller quantities of new product, by-product, and metabolite samples which are difficult and expensive to obtain. Additionally, significant time savings are achieved as the probeís improved sensitivity can reduce data acquisition times by a factor of 16 in most applications. To put this advance in perspective, over the last 20 years continual improvements in NMR technology have been made but no single improvement contributed more than 15%.
The SuperProton*nmr probe is the result of a joint development project between Varian, a leading manufacturer of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers, and Conductus. The new probes are manufactured by Conductus at its Sunnyvale, California facility using its extensive expertise in thin-film fabrication, radio-frequency design, and
cryogenic engineering.
"The SuperProton*nmr probe is the first product resulting from the fruitful collaboration between Conductus and Varian that will be made available to our new customers and our large installed base. It is an excellent demonstration of the capability of the HTS technology to dramatically improve the sensitivity of NMR ," said Ray Shaw, Vice President and General Manager of Varian NMR Instruments.
According to Charles Shalvoy, President and CEO of Conductus,"We are very pleased to see our joint development project with Varian reach the stage of the product introduction. This chemical research market application is important for us because it demonstrates that our technology can have a major impact on NMR performance."
NMR spectroscopy is widely used in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries for definitive analysis of the chemical structures in new products or by-products.
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Conductus, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDTS) develops, manufactures and markets electronic components and systems based on superconductors for applications in communications, healthcare and instrumentation. Conductus was founded in 1987 following the discovery of high-temperature superconductors.
Varian Associates, Inc. (NYSE: VAR) based in Palo Alto, Calif., is a $1.5 billion, diversified, high-technology company with core businesses in healthcare systems, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and analytical instruments. |
