Page 6 THE BATTALION
, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1980
Local
A&M prof
finds new
analyzer
By TRACY L. FENTON
Battalion Reporter
When Texas A&M University re
searcher Dr. R. D. MacFarlane was
working on nuclear chemistry ex
periments at the cyclotron, he stum
bled on a new way to analyze every
thing from new cancer drugs to the
substance that might be responsible
for cavities.
Ion interference during one of
MacFarlane’s experiments resulted
in the development of the plasma
desorption mass spectrometer
(PDMS).
The PDMS measures molecular
weights and gives scientists an idea
of substances.
Dr. Catherine McNeal, a research
scientist at Texas A&M, said PDMS
is unique because of its high range.
She said the PDMS is able to mea
sure things up to five or six times
larger than most mass spectro
meters.
“It’s a big advantage to be able to
work in this higher mass range,” she
said.
McNeal said PDMS has been a
breakthrough in the field of biome
dical research because most biologic
al molecules have a much higher
molecular weight than could be mea
sured before.
Scientists can now build synthetic
genes in the laboratory and analyze
the structure of them with the
PDMS. Recently they were able to
measure a synthetic gene with a
molecular weight of 12,643, the
highest molecular weight ever re
corded with a mass spectrometer.
McNeal said the PDMS at Texas
A&M gets samples of new drugs and
substances from all over the world
for structural analysis.
“Other methods are not as suc
cessful at doing this as we are,” she
said.
It is law in many countries that the
complete structure of drugs must be
analyzed and mapped before the
drug can be released and marketed,
McNeal said.
“We get a lot of cancer drugs,” she
said. “We get molecules that
biochemists have isolated that they
believe cause things.”
McNeal said they have gotten sub
stances to analyze that scientists
have isolated and believe cause
asthma and cavities.
When scientists know the com
plete structure of a substance they
can modify it to make it less toxic or
less allergic.
Cattle insulin is the closest thing
to human insulin and is used by di
abetics. The amino acids don’t match
completely, however, resulting in
insuhn allergies in one out of every
five diabetics, McNeal said. With
PDMS, scientists can change the
amino acids with synthetic genes and
reduce allergic reactions.
PDMS works by irradiation of the
molecule to be studied. McNeal said
a “plasma” of the molecule is spread
on what looks like aluminum foil.
The man-made isotope californium-
252 is placed behind the foil and
makes ions of the molecule bounce
off the foil. She said the length of
time it takes the ion to reach the
detector in the front of the spectro
meter is proportional to the molecu
lar weight. If the molecule is heavy,
the ion takes a long time to reach the
detector. If it is light, the ion
bounces off quickly.
Mini-class
sign-ups
available
A series of Christmas mini-classes
offered by the College Station Com
munity Education program are open
for registration through Thursday.
The 20 classes, scheduled to begin
Monday, will include instruction in
crochet, gift wrapping, holiday cake
decorating, sign language, self-
defense and rape prevention for
women, Spanish and several exer
cise classes. A smoking clinic will
also be offered.
Registration will continue through
Thursday in the Community Educa
tion office at 1300 Jersey from 9 a.m.
to 4 p. m., and on Wednesday from 7
p.m. to 9 p.m. The average cost for
one class will be $7.
Local transit
group meets
on Thursday
The Bryan-College Station Urban
Transportation Study Steering Com
mittee will hold a meeting at 1:30
p.m. Thursday in the Lecture Re
hearsal Hall at the Brazos Center.
Items of discussion are scheduled
to include an airport master plan, an
energy contingency plan, an arterial
system, section 18 operations and
public transit.
The County Commissioners Court
and the city councils of Bryan and
College Station have been invited to
attend the meeting.
Campus Names
Longtime Department of Agricultural Com
munications staff member Dorothy A. Holland,
whose most recent position has been associate
extension editor for publications and training, has
been appointed acting head of the department.
Holland will serve as acting head while a search
is being conducted for a person to fill the position
vacated by Dr. William E. Tedrick, who has
resigned as editor and department head to
assume the position of Extension program evalua
tion specialist.
Texas A&M University, has been honored by the
Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology
for two three-year terms of service on the ABET
board. He was awarded a special plaque recogniz
ing his work as treasurer during 1977-80.
1 Talk on credit scheduled
Dr. Robert H. Page, dean of engineering at
Texas A&M University students Amy Lynn
Bayer, William S. Harlan, Eric P. Johansen and
Katherine R. Evers have been named recipients
of $1,000 scholarships from the International
Society of Exploration Geophysics (SEC) Found
ation. The scholarships are among 85 awarded by
the SEC Foundation for the 1980-81 academic
year.
Harlan is a senior, Johansen and Bayer are
juniors and Evers is a sophomore.
Dr. Neilon J. Rowan of Texas A&M Universi
ty’s civil engineering faculty has been elected
president of the International Institute of Trans
portation Engineers.
Rowan, who is also a research engineer with the
Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M,
was IITE national vice president in 1979-80,
served on the institute’s board of directors and
held all offices in the Texas section of ITE. He was
Texas Transportation Engineer of the Year in
1978.
by American Express Co,
CATHOl
meet
SOCIOL
SEE: Wil
DEBAT1
An American Express Co.-
sponsored discussion on the various
aspects of finance was scheduled for
11 a.m. in 108 Harrington.
Susan Bondy, a financial consul
tant, was to discuss how to establish
credit and credit rights, pros and
cons of credit borrowing and the im
pact of credit controls.
In a nationwide survey on XAMU I
by the American Express!
percent of the college
graduate students surveyei
dered a credit rating ii
although less than half tt
fished one.
will b
TANKE
Cagm
Cohei
hhxc<
MSC
TAMUS
Harri!
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