Donaldson Filters the company who supplies a substantial amount of filtration to the United States defence vehicle manufacturers, are being propelled into the multimillion dollar cellular science business. The company exhibited at DVD 05.

Donaldson’s synthetic filter fibres are now being studied by cell researchers and drug companies around the world. The Mayo Clinic, National Institutes of Health and 800 university labs have snatched up samples for their own cell experiments. And scientists in China, Australia, Israel, South Africa and across Europe are using Donaldson fibres to grow cell cultures.

It all started when Melvin Schindler a Michigan State University molecular biologist discovered that the tiny fibres in Donaldson’s synthetic filters looked just like the natural collagen surface on which animal cells grow. And when Schindler placed a few human breast cells on the tiny fibres, they grew perfectly, not in the flat, misshapen way cells usually grow when placed in a glass petri dish. Soon Schindler was growing functioning, three-dimensional breast cells, stem cells and nerve cells in his lab on Donaldson’s fibres

Schindler’s wife Sally Meiner,a spinal cord injury researcher, decided to give the fibres a try. When she inserted them in the gap in her rats severed spine, its nerve cells grew over the fibres, connected the severed area and enabled the rat to walk again.

At least five more years of research are needed before anyone expects that the results of this lab work could be applied to humans

Dr Scott Nyberg, The Mayo Clinic liver transplant surgeon, comments” Its exciting “, its still too early to know for sure, but thinks this discovery could make a huge difference

Donaldson have been producing this nano-fibre media for 25 years, it was designed for use in specialist applications, like the Abrams M1 tank, and its most recent success has been in some work the Donaldson team have being doing with the MOD on the Land Rovers in current operations in IRAQ. Special air filters have been designed with the nano-fiber media ” known commercially as ULTRAWEB ” and retro-fitted on the operational Land Rovers to eliminate premature engine and turbocharger wear.

Donaldson Filter Company is exhibiting at DSEI, stand number 1373