Carilion Health System will contribute $20 million to help establish the Carilion Biomedical Institute in Roanoke, Va., in partnership with Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia. The program establishes a research center at each university - the Optical Sciences and Engineering Research (OSER) Center at Virginia Tech and the Medical Automation Research Center at the University of Virginia.

OSER will investigate advanced laser surgery optics, bio-compatible materials for implants, diagnostic patches, and other diagnostic and drug delivery tools, such as a method that would replace needles for administering insulin to diabetics, according to OSER center director Richard Claus.

"Optics is providing new biological research tools for visualization, measurement, analysis, and manipulation," he says.

Examples of such work include adapting methods used in fiber-based communications to create a less expensive surgical laser that is capable of much finer incisions using lower power; using thin-film self-assembly technology to create bio-compatible materials and surfaces for medical implants; using multi-spectral imaging technology for non-invasive diagnosis; and developing molecular devices that will release medicines only at specific locations when activated by an optical signal.

The Carilion Biomedical Institute will be a biomedical science, engineering, and technology research and development organization. The institute's goals are to improve health care worldwide and to improve economic development opportunities in southwest Virginia. The institute will be primarily responsible for prototype development, commercialization, and spin-off of technology created by research centers at the universities.