Monday, September 19, 2011

NASA Selects University of Texas at Arlington chemistry professor's technology to determine if there is life on Mars.


This schematic diagram of an ion chromatography run depicts how elution time correlates to output peak data. Diagram courtesy of Madison Area Technical College. Copyright 2006 by the Biotechnology Project at MATC.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration believes that a University of Texas at Arlington chemistry professor's technology may hold the key for determining whether life could exist on Mars and could even help humans explore the Red Planet someday.

Purnendu "Sandy" Dasgupta has been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an ion chromatograph that is durable enough to withstand extraterrestrial extremes and sensitive enough to pick out differences between ions.

"He's developed a new system for testing the chemical composition of the soil on Mars," said Pamela Jansma, dean of UTA's College of Science. "We don't understand much about Martian soil, so for any kind of new technology to be able to adapt to the conditions of the Martian surface is new."

An ion chromatograph separates and detects ions, which are atoms or molecules bearing an electrical charge. The device can identify a broad range of ions.

"By creating an easily portable and robustly designed ion chromatograph, we're hoping to rapidly expand scientists' knowledge of extraterrestrial geology and geochemistry," Dasgupta stated. "With this machine, we should be able to unequivocally answer if organic ions are present."

Finding organic ions in Martian soil could lead to identifying organic compounds, which are necessary for life to exist.

Dasgupta's project was one of eight nationwide to be funded recently by grants from NASA's astrobiology program.

"Every scientist deep down is fascinated with the solar system and curious about whether there's life elsewhere," Jansma said. "This type of research captivates people."

Dasgupta will design and build an open tubular ion chromatograph that weighs no more than 3 kilograms. Researchers and students will test it in Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the most arid, barren places on Earth.

After that, they'll refine the machine for use on Mars.

Dasgupta's collaborators on the project include professors from Texas Tech and Tufts universities and a NASA research scientist.

The four-year time frame is a plus to students: "As it goes from conceptual stages to the prototype to field research, you can really see the process associated with research and development," Jansma said. "Students can really see it from start to finish. How exciting to have something that is intended to go another planet."

"It's enough time to take undergraduate and graduate students, involve them in an innovative project, and then they can use what they're doing for their graduate research," Jansma said. "It's also broad enough and of sufficient interest to so many people."

Some typical applications of ion chromatography include:
•Drinking water analysis for pollution and other constituents
•Determination of water chemistries in aquatic ecosystems
•Determination of sugar and salt content in foods
•Isolation of select proteins



Current research in the Dasgupta group include:

Chip-scale instruments,
Novel detection and data transform schemes in chromatography,
Iodine nutrition of women and infants and the effects of perchlorate thereon,
Development of iodine and Selenium analyzers,
Green analysis of arsenic in drinking water,
Measurement of cyanide in saliva, blood, and breath towards rapid treatment of cyanide poisoning,
Rapid analysis of trace heavy metals in atmospheric aerosol to act as conservative tracers,
Absolute Charge detection in solution and its many ramifications.



The research in the Dasgupta lab is targeted towards finding the best solution to a problem and is not married to any specific technique. Laboratory-built instrumentation are as commonly used as commercial chromatographs, mass spectrometers, etc. and are often preferred.

Students are necessarily trained in electronics and computer-interfacing and writing appropriate instrument control/data acquisition software. We foster builders, not users.

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