Pedro Cortes

Thwarting Terrorism

Pedro Cortes, Associate Professor, Engineering

Cortes came to YSU in 2010 because he liked the university’s emphasis on hands-on research experience for students, and he was excited to join the faculty of the newly established Materials Science PhD program. He divides his time equally between teaching Materials Science and Chemical Engineering classes and his laboratory research, which usually involves students.

He began working on a nano-biochemical sensor to detect explosives around 2009 at New Mexico State University, where he was an adjunct professor of Engineering working a side job as a research and development consultant. The company he was working for wanted him to design something simple and efficient. “They didn’t want to know anything about how we did it, they just wanted a simple badge that would light up red or green. That’s it,” Cortes said.

That was eight years ago. Cortes has continued the work at YSU, and the red/green light sensor badge is closer to reality – maybe another five years off, he says.

After thousands of hours of trial and error, testing and retesting the combinations that seem to work, Cortes believes he’s found a way to use specific proteins with carbon nanotubes to detect super explosives. “We have the proof of concept for sure,” he said.

Other large research universities are using similar testing methods, but with antibodies instead of proteins. Cortes believes his way is unique, and superior, because proteins have a long shelf life, are readily available and work in a range of temperatures – antibodies fall short in all three categories.

Cortes is ready to make his findings public. He’s preparing an article describing the work in detail, to be published in the Journal ACS NANO, a leading scientific journal in the nanotechnology field. Within five years he hopes to have started a company, in partnership with YSU, and to make his discovery commercially available.

Working with colleagues, including Biology professor Diana Fagan, Physics professor Donald Priour and PhD student George Kubas, Cortes envisions creating a system so simple and efficient – like the red/green light badge sensor the New Mexico company requested – that it could become standard equipment for airport security personnel worldwide.

He’s focused on the super-explosive project now, but Cortes said nano-biochemical sensors have unlimited potential – for instance, they might be used by law enforcement to detect cocaine, or in the food service industry to detect bacteria that causes food poisoning. “Research takes a long time, a lot of patience,” he said. “But it’s very exciting for me, and for my students, to be involved in work that is meaningful. It’s exciting to be part of a solution.”