Purdue chemist honored for improving lives, creating jobs
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —Diabetics, patients with blood clots and people who need human growth hormone all can meet their medical needs better thanks, in part, to a Purdue University professor who is this year's recipient of the university's Outstanding Commercialization Award.
|
"Among the many Purdue faculty who have used their research to make a direct impact on our quality of life, Fred Regnier is a renowned pioneer," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "His research on chromatography is directly responsible for the development of many life-saving biopharmaceuticals. The entire world has benefited from his vision and expertise."
This is the third year Purdue University has presented the award. Previous recipients include R. Graham Cooks, Purdue's Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Science; and Leslie Geddes, Purdue University's Showalter Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering.
"The recipients of this award are legendary in their respective disciplines," said Victor L. Lechtenberg, vice provost for engagement. "They are held in the highest esteem by their peers throughout the world."
Regnier will present a lecture on his research at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 8 in Stewart Center, Room 306. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Regnier, an expert in analytical chemistry and biochemistry, has contributed a number of innovations to industrial science. He says his early work on a technique for separating chemicals called chromatography is most representative of his scientific success. By the early 1970s, when Regnier learned of the idea, chemists had realized that by filtering a composite fluid through a tall tube filled with tiny particles, they could separate the fluid out into its component substances.
"Lab chromatography actually has nothing to do with colors, though the name seems to imply it does," Regnier said. "Years ago, scientists came up with the notion when they saw different colored layers of clay deep in the earth, which you can often see as you drive a roadway that has been carved from a hillside. Those scientists realized you could stuff your own particles into a tube and mimic this natural process for your own purposes."
A little more than a decade later, in the early 1980s, Regnier found an application for chromatography that would change the way medical-supply companies manufactured and purified a number of substances, such as human growth hormone, of which patients needed steady supplies.
"Human growth hormone is one of many protein-based fluids that are made with the help of bacteria," Regnier said. "You grow a colony of tiny microorganisms that produce these proteins through fermentation. It's a bit like making beer. Then you harvest the proteins as a fluid that patients can inject. Of course, you have to be careful to separate the proteins from the bacteria. If any of those little microbes somehow remain in the fluid and are injected into the body, a person can die from the infections they cause."
Medicine clearly needed a way to separate the bacteria from the proteins they produced, which Regnier realized is where chromatography could come in. But a problem remained: What sort of particles could you stuff a tube with that would produce the required effect?
"We quickly realized that no clay in nature had particles that would do exactly what we wanted," he said. "So we had to make our own."
Regnier's research group eventually hit upon a way to coat tiny particles with a thin layer of material that could purify a few of the proteins they were interested in. In 1988, Regnier and Noubar Afeyan co-founded a company called Perseptive Biosystems to produce their new artificial particle, which they named Poros. Their chromatographic method soon produced a number of substances useful to medicine, such as human growth hormone and tissue plasminogen activator, a protein that can dissolve blood clots.
"When we sold the company in 1998, we had 600 employees and $100 million in annual sales," Regnier said. "Now, almost 20 years after we founded the company, a number of biopharmaceutical companies are using the method for protein purification work. And Purdue's patent on the technique is still generating royalties for the university."
Regnier also is noted for his efforts in proteomics, the pioneering field of categorizing protein function, and for developing a way to place multiple mini-labs on a single silicon chip. As a spin-off of this work, Regnier and physics professor David Nolte developed technology for detecting proteins by spinning disc interferometry. Based upon this Purdue technology, they co-founded QuadraSpec along with Eric Davis and Chad Bardon in September 2004. Its focus is the development and sale of diagnostic technologies for the animal and human health care industries. This Lafayette based company currently has 19 employees. The first diagnostic system is expected to be introduced this year.
Regnier earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Nebraska State College and a doctorate in chemistry from Oklahoma State University. He did postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University. He joined the faculty at Purdue in 1968 and served as associate director of Purdue's Agricultural Experiment Station.
He has received numerous awards from peer groups for his achievements in chromatography, including the David B. Hime Award by the Chicago Chromatography Discussion Group, the Stephen Dal Nogare Award from the Delaware Valley Chromatography Discussion Group, the ACS Award from the American Chemical Society, the Martin Gold Medal Award from the Chromatographic Society and the Pierce Award by Pierce Chemical Corp., among others.
Regnier sits on the editorial boards of Analytical Chemistry, Liquid Chromatography Magazine, the Journal of High Resolution Chromatography, the International Journal of Bio-Chromatography, Pharmagenomics, and the Journal of Separation Science.
Writers: Marydell Forbes, (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu
Chad Boutin, (765) 494-2081, cboutin@purdue.edu
Sources: Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708
Victor L. Lechtenberg, (765) 494-9095, vll@purdue.edu
Fred Regnier, (765) 494-3878, fregnier@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Regnier will present a lecture about his research at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 8 in Stewart Center, Room 306. His award will be presented at the Inventors' Recognition Dinner at 5:30 p.m. in North Ballroom of the Purdue Memorial Union.
Related Web sites:
Purdue University Office of Engagement
Purdue Department of Chemistry
PHOTO CAPTION:
Fred E. Regnier, Purdue's John H. Law Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, explains how his company, Quadraspec, developed the bio-optical compact disc system, a diagnostic technology for animal and human health-care assessment. The company expects to introduce its first diagnostic system this year. Regnier delivered his lecture Wednesday (Feb. 8) before he received Purdue's Outstanding Commercialization Award for success in bringing his research discoveries to market. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
To the News Service home page