Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, DC             November 18, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1979)

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone:  205/544-0034)

RELEASE:  96-241

AGENCIES SIGN UP TO DEVELOP REVOLUTIONARY X-RAY DEVICE

     NASA and the National Institutes of Health signed an 
agreement to facilitate the development of new X-ray 
technology with the potential to improve scientific research 
and enhance people's quality of life through better medical 
imaging instruments.

     The collaborative research agreement takes new X-ray 
technology recently developed by NASAŐs Marshall Space Flight 
Center, Huntsville, AL, X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc., Albany, 
NY, and the Center of X-Ray Optics of the State University of 
New York at Albany and enhances its imaging capabilities for 
a variety of commercial uses.

     A primary use of the new technology is in research 
leading to the development of new disease-fighting drugs.  
"Once developed, the X-ray device will enhance a researcher's 
ability to determine difficult protein structures at a faster 
pace, which is critical to new drug design," said Dr. Dan 
Carter of Marshall's Laboratory for Structural Biology.

     Other expected applications in scientific research and 
medicine include better manufacturing control for semi-
conductor circuits and better medical imaging, such as in 
mammography and improved forensics.

     The NASA developed X-ray technology is capable of 
generating beams that are more than 100 times the intensity 
of conventional X-rays.  At the heart of the NASA technology 
is a new type of optics for X-rays called Capillary Optics.  
The X-rays can be controlled by reflecting them through tens 
of thousands of tiny curved channels or capillaries, similar 
to the way light is directed through fiber optics.  The high-
intensity beams will permit scientific and medical research 
to be performed in less time with higher accuracy and could 
permit the use of smaller, lower-cost and safer X-ray 
sources.

     "The technology can be applied to research on the Space 
Shuttle and International Space Station," said Joel Kearns, 
Program Manager of NASA's Microgravity Research Program.  
NASA's contribution to the agreement is sponsored by KearnŐs 
program conducted at Marshall for the Office of Life and 
Microgravity Sciences and Applications at NASA Headquarters, 
Washington, DC.  The agreement between NASA and the National 
Institutes of Health will be effective until Sept. 30, 1999.  

                           -end-