-
Black Lives Matter: From Rhetoric to Action for US Companies
We are seeing so many emails and blog posts from companies that say: “We Stand With Black Lives Matter Protesters”. But when all is said and done, how does a company move beyond rhetoric to action? Saying you support the Black Lives Matter movement is a far cry from hiring and training black people locally…
-
Potomac adds Precision microfluidic control capabilities with state-of-the-art Flow EZ pumps.
Quality assurance is at the heart of everything we manufacture at Potomac. It is our attention to product and process control that ensures every microfluidic device, consumer product, medical device and electronic component meets our customers’ rigid standards. Manufacturing Microfluidic technology in particular requires strong quality processes. In order to fabricate high performing microfluidic devices…
-
Microfluidics-An Evolving Technology Ready for Prime Time
Microfluidics is an evolving technology that enables scientists and engineers to perform molecular biology including DNA and RNA sequencing, PCR, and even whole transcriptome analysis more rapidly and at a lower cost than conventional technologies. Microfluidics technology leverages the manufacturing processes long utilized for the manufacturing of semiconductor (IC) chips to achieve the production, at…
-
Protecting People in a Time of Coronavirus at the Speed of Light
The modern world is an interconnected ecosystem and this heartwarming story that started with a cat named Ace shows how fast responses changes lives for our customers. Ace Heidi Leonard is a research chemist at NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Gaithersburg, MD. She lives in Baltimore with her one and half…
-
Potomac Photonics on the Front Lines of Coronavirus Personal Protective Equipment Manufacturing
Necessity is truly the mother of invention and the war against the coronavirus has created a worldwide wave of innovation to fight the pandemic. No need is greater than the protection of healthcare workers, front line support, emergency teams, firefighters, police, and caregivers. With Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] in short supply, Potomac jumped into the front…
-
Droplet Microfluidics – Making an Impact
With the need to rapidly develop and commercialize new products including biopharmaceuticals, medical diagnostic kits and recombinant proteins and organisms, companies need the ability to rapidly perform chemical and biochemical experiments. In particular, the ability to scale up to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of experiments is a requirement in todays…
-
Potomac Photonics Process Notebook: Micro Pillars
When it comes to microfluidics, packing purpose into every micron is a true design challenge. The design of individual features starts with defining their purpose in the overall function of the device. Today we are spotlighting one of these common features: micro pillars. Micropillar arrays serve a multitude of purpose in the function of microfluidics.…
-
Teamwork’s Role in Getting to the Super Bowl or Winning in Advanced Manufacturing
Perhaps no other sport exemplifies the importance of teamwork as well as football. The integration of each position into a concerted strategy is the key to winning games and going on to championships like the Super Bowl. One player alone cannot carry an entire team where there are holes in either offense or defense as…
-
Potomac Predictions for 2020’s Technologies That Will Impact Advanced Manufacturing
The coming year promises to see the adoption of technologies that have matured enough to impact a wide range of industries. Here are our predictions for the new capabilities that will be impacting advanced manufacturing and how Potomac and our customers will be leading the way into a new future. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning…
-
Holiday Light
Holidays during this time of year, when days are short, emphasize light. Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light, commemorates the miracle of a one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days during the Maccabees battle for freedom and allowing for the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. In Christianity, the Wise Men followed a bright…
-
This Thanksgiving We Give Thanks For Living In An Age of Exponential Technological Change That Is Improving Humanity’s Quality of Life
We live an exciting period of innovation. Electric cars are being rolled out by mainstream car companies; self-driving vehicles are being road-tested; farms and grocery stores use robots to do repetitive tasks; medical diagnostics is taking just a few minutes or hours to pinpoint an illness; and, many products from dental braces to aerospace components…
-
Potomac Photonics wins Sub-contract Award in collaboration with UMBC & FDA to develop a microfluidic ‘on-the-spot’ bioburden detection device.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST), a 3-year grant for the commercialization of a microfluidic device for Rapid bioburden detection in pharmaceutical production. Potomac Photonics was selected as a sub-contractor to focus on the design, scale-up and manufacturing of the microfluidic…
