
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 20, 1994                   TAG: 9405210023
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CLEAN WATER

VIRGINIA TECH faculty members have developed a technology to test water for hepatitis A and other viruses that cause disease in people.

Of course, there already are ways to test the safety of water for drinking, recreation and breeding beds for shellfish. But this test can be done more quickly - in 41/2 hours rather than two days - and is more accurate.

Sound innovative?

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology thought so. Its has licensed the technology to Dominion BioSciences Inc., a Blacksburg company that develops and commercializes new technology produced by university researchers.

The rapid virus water test promises to be easy to perform and interpret, cheap and highly sensitive. The company expects it to be particularly useful in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Which suggests good health news not just for eventual consumers, but for our region's sluggish economy.

Not banner-headline good news, mind you. Not hundreds-of-high-paying-jobs good news. But another small, notable development nourished by the CIT's efforts to get technological advances out of university labs and into society - which is a potential greatly under-utilized at Tech.

Dominion BioSciences is a future-oriented company looking for biological solutions to environmental problems. Next, it will tackle the oldest problem in the world: a nontoxic bait to control cockroaches. After lo, these many millions of years, dare we hope ... ?

by CNB