---

Varadan Talks Research, WiNS Technology and Passing the Torch to the Next Generation.

Should research be important in a state where rice is the top export?

 According to Dr. Vijay Varadan, head of the WiNS Center at U of A - Fayetteville, the answer is yes.

During last week’s External Advisory Board Site Visit for Arkansas EPSCoR, Varadan sat down to talk about why research is so important to Arkansas’ future and to reflect on the accomplishments of his WiNS Center team, the first graduates of the Arkansas ASSET Initiative Grant.

Why Fund Research? It’s a WiNS Win for Arkansas!

 “Research creates technology that can make life better for all of us,” he said.”In health, in work, in every aspect of life.”
Among the many benefits, he pointed to the impact that research could make on Arkansas’ workforce, a culture dominated by lower to middle income-class jobs.

By steering Arkansas students toward high-tech, high paying careers in science, Veradan sees the potential for many new careers to flourish, while, at the same time, affecting the bigger picture: Arkansas’ global competitiveness. “We’re talking about bright minds that can have careers, not just a job.”

For his part, Varadan is doing what he can to make sure that happens. Ironically, while he has produced big things to advance the talent and innovation necessary for Arkansas to prosper, he’s done so using very small tools. Microscopic, in fact.

From Science Fiction to Science Fact.

Over the last three years of the Arkansas ASSET Initiative, researchers on the campus of ASU Jonesboro, UALR and Varadan’s team at U of A -Fayetteville, have developed nanotechnology that is the stuff of science fiction.

The researchers on all three campuses have thought up a myriad of creative ways to use the technology which is called plastic electronics. “We build electronics out of textiles,” Varadan said. “We put sensors in socks, shirts and even bed sheets.”  The ambition for such applications, produced exclusively through the WiNS Center, is to create solutions that will make living a healthy life a reality for many people who are suffering.

So far, the team has met with great success, producing high-tech devices that treat sleep apnea, offset the effects of Parkinson’s disease and even prevent heart attacks.

A Sweet Solution

So, how do you get the juice to run such microscopic innovations? Varadan and the rest of the WiNS team tacked the issue head on, producing a revolutionary solution in the process.

“Obviously, we couldn’t implant a conventional battery device into the human body,” Varadan explained, “so we had to come up with something even smaller than the nanosensors.”

 The answer was using the patient’s own blood sugar, a glucose-based power supply.

If you tired of replacing the battery in your watch, Varadan and the WiNS group have come up with a solution: a glucose - powered wrist watch.

"Just make sure you eat," he joked. "We want it to keep good time!"

In addition to charging the tiny tech, the bio-powered device has additional side benefits like the option of updating users on their glucose levels, a conveyance which has the potential to save diabetics that annoying needle prick after eating.

Wireless: It’s not just about your cell phone anymore…or is it?

Beyond being small, the key to the technology is being wireless. The nanosensors can monitor and send real time data to the hospital before the patient even gets out of bed, thus shaving vital minutes off the clock, minutes that could make the difference between life and death for a heart attack victim.

And it’s consumer friendly too. Most recently, the WiN’s team developed a way to transmit updates and warnings to cell phones.
“It’ a text that could save your life,” Varadan said, adding playfully. “Standard text messaging rates may apply.”

Coming Not So Soon to a Hospital Near You.

Varadan regrets that he probably won’t be able to see his legacy come to fruition in the United States for several years. FDA clinical trials are seven to ten years away.
But he is enthusiastic about the feedback he’s getting from hospitals in his native India where the technology is already being used.

Nanotech: The Next Generation

With a portfolio of such impressive accomplishments, you would expect Dr. Varadan to bask in the limelight of being considered a trailblazer in nanotechnology. Instead, you hear the concern in his voice for the future of the WiNS Center and the next generation of researchers.

 “Most of the money we bring in now must be used for company infrastructure. Sustainability and getting a workforce infrastructure using the facility is very important. If we don’t have a workforce in place to create the technology, what is the point in the research.”

 UALR is one of first universities to focus on using plastic electronics. While the other names include Berkley, MIT and Stanford, Varadan worries that such larger institutions could deplete Arkansas’ talent pool.

 “We need to build a name brand through marketing. We need to build awareness. People don’t know that we have the equipment we do. We need native Arkansans to use this technology to create more technology. We need them to stay and help us! The problem is they get pulled away by Stanford and MIT because those institutions have name value.“

And while clearly proud of the WiNS Center and the work he’s achieved in Arkansas, Varadan is quick to back up his point with an example he’s used to describe the challenge for almost two decades now.

“I would tell people I’m a researcher in Arkansas and I would always get the same response. Where’s Arkansas?”

Varadan hopes the WiNs Center will keep pumping out new innovations until people stop asking that question and start seeing Arkansas as that name brand he envisions. And what will be the slogan for that campaign? The tag line has yet to be written. But for now, one thing is certain. If Dr. Vijay Varadan has anything to say about it, the world will get the message, and it will most certainly be wireless.