VIASPACE, Inc. (VSPC.OB) Subsidiary Ionfinity Captivates Mass Spectrometry Market

Ionfinity is an expert in commercializing emergent technologies via strong partnerships with the U.S. Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Air Force (USAF). A subsidiary of the VIASPACE family, Ionfinity is a pioneer in bleeding-edge Mass Spectrometry (MS), a technology which allows for real-time sampling and analysis of trace amounts of a substance.

Ionfinity enjoys a continuous relationship of development with the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Ionfinity also maintains partner programs with General Dynamics Corp., Imaginative Technologies LLC., and Sionex Corporation.

Ionfinity is currently developing applications of its proprietary “soft-ionization” technology, capitalizing on a vast wealth of experience in miniaturization, to produce truly next generation MS sensors capable of “sniffing” molecular concentrations of a substance in the parts-per-trillion to sub-parts-per-billion range within ten seconds.

Ionfinity is working on a new model for a chemical sensor utilizing this design methodology, incorporating a micro-gas chromatograph which can provide real-time feedback and molecular analysis, with a Differential Mobility Spectrometer (DMS) able to capture ion-level samples via the “soft-ionization” process.

This “soft-ionization” process is capable of realizing unprecedented and advantageous levels of fidelity, with the integrity of the data generated in this non-radioactive, non-fragmenting ionization process allowing for performances as yet unrealized in such devices, increasing sensitivity and mass range tenfold.

Ionfinity is developing an ionization device or “soft ionization” membrane (SIM) on this protocol smaller than 2 millimeters (less than 0.0393 of an inch) for existing generations of portable detection systems. Such revolutionary technology was born at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is licensed from Caltech. This invention eliminates ion fracturing, the major hurdle which injected uncertainty into all analysis hitherto.

Such devices can be efficiently produced in a size format no larger than a shoe box, yet thanks to solid-state design consume minimal power while preserving a rugged, stand-alone functionality, which is self contained from a power and communications standpoint.

The immediate value of this technology is readily appreciable by the $55 billion defense and Homeland Security industry, enabling truly unprecedented technical capacity for detection tasks such as explosives, chemical or biological weapons. This “soft-ionization” technology also has benchmark-setting performance capabilities in industrial process control, biomedical applications and environmental monitoring.

Ionfinity recently won a Japanese patent for a SIM application of this technology and, as Dr. Carl Kukkonen (CEO of VIASPACE and Ionfinity) said after the patent was awarded, “A strong patent position is a key part of our strategy.” Kukkonen pointed out the marketability of Ionfinity’s remarkable technology, saying that it “presents a significant opportunity for a portable, compact, cutting-edge solution for detection of gas warfare agents, such as nerve agents and chemical gases, which can be invaluable to the US Department of Homeland Security in protecting such targets as subways, airports and rail systems.”

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