Page Comparison - The AMINCO-Bowman Spectrophotofluorometer (v.4 vs v.5)

Versions Compared

Key

This line was added.
This line was removed.
Formatting was changed.

...

Div

class	usa-grid

Div

class	usa-width-two-thirds

Using fluorescence, Drs. Bernard Brodie and Sidney Udenfriend of Goldwater developed a special test. They knew that many of the candidate drugs would fluoresce when excited by certain wavelengths of ultraviolet (UV) light. With an instrument called a fluorometer, they could measure how much of the drug was in a patient's plasma sample by measuring the intensity of its glow. They thus found the critical level at which a promising drug, such as Atabrine, would attack the malaria-causing parasites without causing adverse side effects for the patient. Their results determined the standard dosage used by the U.S. armed forces as a preventative for malaria.

The problem was that some candidate drugs did not fluoresce at the specific wavelengths available to them with their fluorometer, and therefore these drugs were undetectable in the plasma. The doctors could not use fluorescence as a way of "seeing," or measuring, these drugs in the body. There had been reports of fluorescence at other wavelengths, but at the time there were no commercially available sensitive UV fluorometers. Though they did come up with a treatment for malaria, the Goldwater scientists realized that their ideas reached beyond their tools. They needed a new type of instrument.

Div

class	usa-width-one-third

With an instrument called a fluorometer, they could measure how much of the drug was in a patient's plasma sample.

Drawing of the Coleman Filter Fluorometer
The Coleman filter fluorometer

The Move to the NIH (1949)

Div

class	usa-grid

Div

class	usa-width-two-thirds

In 1949 Dr. James Shannon, leader of the antimalarial research effort at Goldwater, was named director of the laboratories and clinics of the newly created National Heart Institute (NHI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He recruited researchers from Goldwater, including lab technician Julius Axelrod and Drs. Bernard Brodie, Sidney Udenfriend, Robert Berliner, and Robert Bowman. Because of their interest in fluorescence in medicine that originated with antimalarial drug research, one of the group's early projects was the development of a new instrument that could help them learn more about how fluorescence could be utilized in scientific research.

Dr. Robert Bowman of the Laboratory of Technical Development took the lead on the project in the early 1950s.

He was known for his talent in instrument-making, an indispensable skill in a research environment where scientists need good tools with which to test their theories and to lead them to new ideas.

Div

class	usa-width-one-third

The Laboratory of Technical Development at the National Heart Institute, early 1950s
A group photo of lab members Image Added

Front row, left to right: Johnnie B. Langer, Hillary V. Trantham, Dr. Bert R. Boone, Robert E. Gorman, Patricia A. Caulfield. Back row, left to right: Dr. Harold J. Morowitz, Dr. Robert L. Bowman, Norman M. Garrahan, Dr. John L. Stephenson, Frank W. Noble.

Anything Glows (1950-1955)

Div

class	usa-grid

Div

class	usa-width-two-thirds

NHI scientists did not yet know at which wavelengths many biological compounds would fluoresce. If the new instrument could emit light at wavelengths throughout the ultraviolet range, scientists might be able to excite fluorescence in compounds that could have interesting research applications. The question was, if they learned more about fluorescence, would this be useful in a practical as well as theoretical sense?

Working with others at NHI, Dr.

...

Bowman developed the first prototype of his spectrophotofluorometer in 1955. Unlike previous fluorometers, this new instrument was able to vary the wavelength of exciting light as well as measure the intensity and wavelength of the emitted fluorescent light. This instrument could be used to survey biological compounds and help scientists figure out new ways to use fluorescence to study the body.

If they learned more about fluorescence, would this be useful in a practical as well as theoretical sense?

Div

class	usa-width-one-third

SPF project description sheet
photocopy of a government document Image Added

NIH project description sheet for the"development of Spectrophotofluorometry and its application to biological measurements," 1955

AMINCO Steps In

Div

class	usa-grid

Div

class	usa-width-two-thirds

Dr. Bowman had to improvise with his design. Authorized only to buy one expensive monochromator, for example, he built the other one from parts he obtained from his contacts in the New York junk shop trade. One of his parts, a Steinheil quartz prism spectrograph, had been "liberated" from Germany during the war. He made his first prototype SPF with a mixture of used and new parts, including diffraction gratings and mirrors attached to a stone benchtop and "glued" in place with wax."

Because of exciting results with the prototype, the American Instrument Company (AMINCO) of nearby Silver Spring, Maryland, became interested in marketing the new instrument. The company assigned an engineer, Hugh Howerton, to collaborate with Dr. Bowman on a commercial version of the SPF-one that could be made without wax and war relics. The first AMINCO-Bowman SPF was exhibited at the 1956 Pittsburgh Analytical Instrument Conference.

In order to build interest in its product and promote research in the field of fluorescence, AMINCO funded a postdoctoral fellowship in fluorescence analysis for research at the National Heart Institute. The first AMINCO fellow, Dr. Daniel Duggan, studied hundreds of fluorescent compounds. His research convinced Dr. Bowman and AMINCO that they should proceed with the production of the SPF.

Div

class	usa-width-one-third

He made his first prototype SPF with a mixture of used and new parts.
Image Added
AMINCO engineer Hugh Howerton presenting a symposium about the SPF. Dr. Bowman is seated in the front row

Image Added

Dr. Daniel Duggan, a postdoctoral fellow at NHI, with the first laboratory prototype of the SPF

In the 1950s and 1960s, AMINCO marketed the SPF to the research field. Company sales representatives traveled across the country to train university faculty and other scientists how to use the instrument. The company even launched a newsletter called Fluorescence News.

AMINCO sold out its initial run of twenty-five instruments, an impressive record in the tiny biomedical research market.

Div

class	usa-grid

Div

class	usa-width-one-half

Image AddedThis Aminco sales bulletin from 1956 advertised "A New Analytical Instrument." Click on image to flip through the pages of the bulletin

Div

class	usa-width-one-half

Image Added

Aminco showcased new features of the SPF in this 1971 sales catalog. Click on image to flip through the pages of the catalog

...

Versions Compared

Old Version 4

New Version 5

Key

The Move to the NIH (1949)

Anything Glows (1950-1955)

AMINCO Steps In

AMINCO sold out its initial run of twenty-five instruments, an impressive record in the tiny biomedical research market.

Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum