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TWST: Would you give us a short description of JMAR and its history?
Dr. Beer: JMAR Technologies was founded in 1987 and quickly became an
expert in a number of laser-based applications and advanced photonics
work. This also led to using particular lasers as the source to create
laser plasma for generating X-rays. JMAR represents a technology base
that includes laser-based photonics and X-ray processes. In the early
1990s, it was expected that the semiconductor industry, which had been
fabricating computer chips with optical processes, would have to shift
to X-ray processes due to the feature sizes getting smaller and smaller.
Smaller feature sizes take less space, less power, and actually operate
faster. So, as the features on the chip were going from 16 megabits, to
64 megabit, then down to 128, JMAR was positioned with the intellectual
property, as well as patents and patent protection, to be the supplier
of X-ray lithography systems. Unfortunately, the anticipated shift by
the semiconductor industry did not happen. Instead, the focus shifted to
making improvements to the optical processes, such as looking at EUV as
a light source, and more recently, looking at an immersion technique on
the bottom lens ' so there has not yet been a shift to X-ray
lithography. However, that led JMAR to a number of useful applications
that launched commercially viable products that are in development
today. One of these is a nano-lithography tool with the ability to
fabricate a C-RAM computer chip that can be radiation hardened by using
a silicon substrate, not gallium arsenide, which offers huge advantages
for military and satellite applications. The current flagship product
of JMAR places us in the water industry since we are using our laser
technology to develop a product known as BioSentry_. The BioSentry is a
continuous, on-line water-quality monitoring device that uses multi-
angle light scattering (MALS) technology to identify microorganisms in
water. We are especially excited about this product as it fills a void
in water quality control. There are currently chemical sensors for air
contamination as well as chemical detection in fluids and water, and
there are some biosensors for air, but there is virtually nothing on the
market that can tell you whether bio-contaminants, such as E. Coli,
Giardia, Cryptosporidium, are in water ' in real-time and on a
continuous basis. As we introduce BioSentry to the market, the
projection for sales and total market estimates are really quite large.
The BioSentry fits a particular niche. On the one hand, you have
particle counters that give you a feel for the volume of debris in the
water, and they frequently cost as much as a BioSentry unit, which runs
in the ballpark of $45,000 to $50,000. On the other hand, you have a
'grab sample' that requires taking a sample of the water and submitting
it for laboratory analysis with a microscope to actually specify what
the contaminant might be. However, there is nothing that provides
continuous, real-time warning and quality monitoring capabilities like
the BioSentry. We are presently looking for a strategic partner, either
a business or financial partner, to assist us in getting market
penetration with the BioSentry. Many large companies have been actively
getting into the water industry by acquiring smaller companies and
emerging technologies. Most of those companies are focused on
purification, filtration and those types of applications, rather than
diagnostics. BioSentry can accurately be described as a diagnostic tool
that is used to monitor the quality of, and provide security for, the
water you are working with. Whereas the big companies are into
purification and filtration of drinking water, process water, and
wastewater, BioSentry provides a complement to these and can be quite
useful to them. JMAR is also working with a company named FemtoTrace
that has an organic chemical sensor known as READ, Reversal Electron
Resting Process technology, which is showing good sensitivity and
capability with the mass spectrometer used in the system. One of them
has now been placed with a European customer as a beta unit, and we are
looking forward to placing more beta units in the near term with READ.
Most recently, we've come across a nanoparticle coating technology. This
is being developed in conjunction with a Canadian company made up of
faculty members from the University of Montreal. They have patented a
process that does molecular, ultra-thin coatings. It has the ability to
coat substrates of almost any material. There is a laboratory prototype
in Montreal that demonstrates this technology. We are in the process of
building an alpha/beta unit with JMAR research dollars in our facility
in Burlington, Vermont. We expect to then build a second unit for
Nanometrix in Montreal. There is also a French company that has already
initiated the process of ordering a unit. At a recent IEEE conference,
there was a fair amount of interest from both semiconductor companies
and companies that produce a number of different coatings. Finally,
there are a number of laser-based products, advanced photonics
applications and X-ray processes that have led JMAR into microscopy, and
that's the last product we will describe ' the X-Ray Microscope (XRM).
We are developing the XRM in our San Diego facility. Optical microscopy
offers resolution down to a 200- to 300- nanometer range. Direct
electron transmission is good around 10 nanometers or below. There is
nothing that provides resolution in the mid-range. That's where X-ray
microscopy comes in. We are developing a Compact X-Ray Microscope now
with our own IR&D money, which will soon be demonstrated for a large
company interested in a strategic partnership with us. The X-Ray
Microscope sale price, unlike BioSentry that has a unit price of around
$50,000, is closer to $1 million. There is a big market for it in
medical research, in the tracking of stem cell growth and development
and in applications where you are working at the cellular structure and
molecular levels.
Tickers included in this excerpt: JMAR
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
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