JEWEL in the CROWN
The Barnett Institute, at twenty-five,
has built a world-class reputation
By Karen Feldscher
Back in the early 1970s, when Barry Karger was just
starting up his fledgling institute of chemical analysis and forensic science,
it wasn't always easy to get recognition for his work and his university.
"Northeastern's reputation is far better today than it was then,"
says Karger, an analytical chemist who heads the institute, now called
the Barnett Institute for Chemical Analysis and Materials Science. "Somebody
once thought I was from Northeast Airlines and said, 'Are you a pilot?'
"
Karger doesn't have those kinds of problems anymore. Now celebrating
its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Barnett Institute is the university's
most well-known, well-respected, long-lasting, and lucrative research center.
It boasts an international reputation, an endowment nearing $6 million,
$4 million in external funding, two endowed chairs in analytical chemistry,
and an advisory board that Karger calls a "Who's Who" of the
analytical instruments industry. The institute has a workforce of eighty
faculty, scientists, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students, and staff scattered
through Mugar and Hurtig Halls. A $5 million silver-anniversary development
campaign for Barnett is already three-quarters of the way toward its goal.
The institute, which has shifted its focus over time to analytical chemistry,
biotechnology, and advanced materials research, has published more than
700 research papers, holds more than 50 patents, and has several major
licensing agreements of patented technologies with industry. Barnett has
trained more than 250 scientists, some of whom have gone on to head companies
or academic institutes of their own, or to teach at major institutions.
President Freeland calls the Barnett Institute "one of the jewels
in the crown of Northeastern."
"When it first began twenty-five years ago," Freeland says,
"the Barnett Institute was an eccentric prodigy, an unusual feature
of Northeastern seeking to develop a major research presence at an institution
that was largely oriented toward undergraduate teaching. Now Barnett has
achieved a world-class reputation in research."
Robert Stevenson, a consultant and editor for American Laboratory magazine,
which devoted an issue last spring to Barnett, calls the institute "probably
the most productive of the analytical institutes in North America, in terms
of its impact on separation science." Out of about fifteen similar
bioanalytical institutes in the United States, Barnett ranks among the
top five and is one of the largest, Stevenson says. William Thilly, director
of MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences, says Northeastern can
point to Barnett with "justifiable pride."
Needless to say, people are not mistaking Karger for a pilot anymore.
Nevertheless, he has been a pilot of sorts, continually steering the Barnett
Institute into newly developing, cutting-edge research, which in turn has
attracted industry and government support and enabled the center to survive
and grow. Karger attributes Barnett's success to its ability to keep a
pulse on real-world problems and constantly develop new techniques to solve
those problems.
"We keep reinventing ourselves," he says. "In this type
of environment, where things are moving very fast, you can't be afraid
of doing new things. Once a fellow came here with knowledge in a particular
field, and I asked him to go into a new field. He said, 'But I don't know
anything about it.' I said, 'Fine, we can learn about it together.' "
the institute got its start in the early '70s when the chemistry department
decided to seek a major gift to establish a new research entity that would
partner with one of Northeastern's professional colleges to tackle problems
in analytical chemistry. Various colleges were considered: nursing, engineering,
criminal justice. The last got the nod. Karger, then, as now, a chemistry
professor, and former criminal justice dean Norman Rosenblatt visited U.S.
Department of Justice representatives in Washington, D.C., and came back
armed with a three-year grant to focus on forensic science.
Through the new research institute, Northeastern established both master's
and doctoral programs in forensic chemistry, and did research on drug detection,
gunshot residue analysis, serial number restoration, and dating documents
by ink and paper analysis. But the Justice Department grant wasn't renewed,
so graduate stipends and research funds dried up. The institute had to
look for other sources of money-and other research areas in which to focus.
Over the years, the institute has moved increasingly into bioanalytical
chemistry, spurred by growth in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
"There's a need to use the latest approaches to
understand the life process," Karger explains. "And there's been
tremendous growth, particularly in the Boston area. You go back ten years
and there wasn't that much here. Today you have major companies, places
like Genzyme and Biogen. Next to San Francisco, you have the largest number
of start-up companies in the biological sciences here."
Barnett researchers and students specialize in developing tools and
methods for analyzing and separating chemical compounds, using techniques
such as capillary electrophoresis, high-pressure liquid chromatography,
and mass spectroscopy. Barnett labs are filled with the hum of complex
equipment featuring digital readouts, pumps, wires, and robotic arms. Some
instruments are bought; others are made by the staff, carefully fashioned
to perform specific tasks. One staff-made spectrometer took an entire year
to build.
Within Barnett, several research groups juggle a dozen or so different
projects, working under one of several faculty fellows, including chemistry
professors Bill Giessen, Geoffrey Davies, Roger Giese, Thomas Gilbert,
Philip LeQuesne, and Paul Vouros, and physics professor Robert Markiewicz.
Other affiliated faculty come from engineering and biology.
One of Barnett's major projects, led by Karger and Giese, is developing
tools for scientists working on the Human Genome Project, a massive
fifteen-year undertaking aimed at identifying all the estimated 80,000
genes in human DNA and determining the sequences of the 3 billion chemical
bases that make up that DNA. Tools being refined by the Barnett Institute
will help speed up the cumbersome process. For example, standard DNA sequencing
technology allows researchers to test 48 DNA samples in six hours and read
up to 500 bases in each sample. But with an instrument the institute is
developing, scientists will be able to test 100 DNA samples in forty minutes
and read up to 1,200 bases in each sample.
Other Barnett research projects span the gamut of analytical chemistry
and materials science. Vouros is using high-resolution separation techniques
coupled with mass spectrometry to study the chemistry of DNA "adducts"-DNA
that has been mutated because of exposure to environmental or dietary carcinogens.
Davies, the institute's associate director of operations, is studying humic
substances, which are the brown polymers in soil that retain water and
bind metals. His work may aid in the understanding of soil dynamics on
a molecular scale, which will help scientists analyze how nutrients are
transported through plant roots. Giessen studies superconductor ceramics
and alloy surface modification. Markiewicz works on preparing high-supercurrent-carrying
materials. in its quest to solve real-world problems, the barnett Institute
has cultivated strong ties with industry. The institute's contacts include
heavy hitters, companies like SmithKline Beecham, Pfizer, and Genentech.
Sometimes, Barnett researchers make proposals they think will be attractive
to companies; other times, companies learn about work being done at Barnett
and offer support if they think it will benefit them.
Douglas DeVivo, a 1970 Ph.D. graduate who is now chairman of Lumisys,
a radiology equipment manufacturer in Sunnyvale, California, remarks, "In
addition to being an eminent researcher in his own right, Professor Karger
has been outstanding at sponsoring the right research. And he has been
enormously successful in getting industrial sponsorship. He's a real entrepreneur
in academia."
Industrial ties have been further strengthened by an active advisory
board filled with representatives of key organizations involved in analytical
instrumentation, such as Hewlett-Packard Company and Brookhaven National
Laboratory.
"Our work with industry is important because it leads to potential
income if tools or methods are licensed," says Karger. "Industrial
connections also play a role in our reputation, because if a company is
putting money on the table, that says that research at Northeastern University
is valuable. And, most important, the connection is outstanding from an
educational point of view. It helps students and staff understand what
the real problems are."
While research targeted at specific industry needs is important, Karger
is quick to point out that institute scientists are just as committed to
basic research. He feels, though, that any research conducted at the institute
should eventually find its way out into the real world. "We are always
mindful of having the research we do disseminate outside the scientific
community," he says. "The research shouldn't be just a publication;
it should have impact."
Support for the Barnett Institute has come not only from industry but
also from Northeastern alumni. Louis Barnett, B'44, H'77, who made his
mark in the plastics and pharmaceutical industries, became a principal
benefactor with a gift in 1982, then a major endowment in 1983. The institute
was named for Barnett and his wife, Madlyn, at its tenth anniversary celebration.
At the institute's twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in May, the Barnett
family gave another $150,000.
Barnett's largest single gift ever came earlier this year from John
Hatsopoulos, LA'59, president of Thermo Electron Corporation. He gave $1
million to endow a program to support scientists in the early stages of
their careers.
Such largesse has allowed the institute to construct an enviable group
of laboratories. American Laboratory magazine wrote that Barnett "is
one of the best-equipped university research institutions in analytical
chemistry in the country." But the working environment in the labs,
with an emphasis on collaboration and camaraderie, is equally notable.
"The atmosphere here is very friendly, there is no competition,"
says research group leader Frantisek Foret. "Some places are set up
so that people compete on the same projects, but we try to avoid anything
like that here. Everybody knows what everybody else is doing. It's very
stimulating."
Barnett alumnus Anthony Graffeo, LA'70, PHD'75, praises the "tremendous
amount of mutual respect" among institute researchers. "There's
very little turnover. Some of them have worked together for twenty-five
years. That's very unusual in a university environment," he says.
Chemistry professor Giessen, a cofounder of the institute and its associate
director, also talks about the sense of collegiality within Barnett. "I
think," he muses, "that some people on campus envy us a little
bit."
Having such an institute on campus, Giessen adds, helps Northeastern's
prestige enormously. "If you can afford to put together a structure
like this, you are clearly seen as a research university. And the administration
recognizes this is one of the things that enables Northeastern to hold
its head up in this highly competitive area."
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