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Most patients – and many doctors – may not know much about the field of ultrafast science that measures time in atto-, femto- and picoseconds. But "picosecond" may quickly join "nanosecond" as a household word once patients start benefiting from the painless, bloodless dental and surgical procedures that picosecond laser instruments can bring to surgeons' operating rooms and dentists' offices.

That time will be sooner rather than later, now that two members of the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI), Drs. Dwayne Miller and Michael Cowan, senior researchers at the University of Toronto, have formed their own company, AttoDyne. Also involved in formation of AttoDyne are the two doctors' colleagues Darren Kraemer, Kresimir Franjic and Renzhong Hua. Their goal: to accelerate the commercial availability of the picosecond surgical laser technology they have developed.

Dentists and their patients are likely to be the first beneficiaries, says Dr. Cowan: "In the dentist's office, laser instruments hold the promise of pain-free cutting of teeth, allowing patients to escape from the dreaded needle and drill."

The medical applications are even more promising: "In the hands of skilled surgeons," he says, "lasers could enable incredibly precise non-invasive surgery, allowing surgeons to perform unique procedures that previously could only be dreamed of."

For example, says Dr. Cowan, the picosecond laser is ideal for precise surgery. "Current medical lasers make cuts that do not heal because of burning or other damage to the surrounding tissue," he explains. "Consequently, they are used only in applications where you don't really want healing, such as in lasik eye surgery, where you want the cornea to stay changed." AttoDyne's lasers solve this problem and will allow for widespread use in many surgical procedures, he says, "as was dreamt of ever since the laser was invented."

"Take prostate cancer," he elaborates. "Most men will get it if they live long enough. But prostate surgery is currently very dangerous and is avoided, because the prostate is entangled with important nerves. Any mistake will ruin the patient's quality of life." Picosecond lasers, however, are so precise that they could make this type of surgery possible.

Another advantage of AttoDyne's lasers: not only will they be practical in hospital operating rooms, they will be inexpensive and robust enough to be within reach of a dentist's or doctor's office.

Dr. Cowan and Dr. Miller knew that their picosecond laser could address such challenges, and that there would certainly be a receptive market for it.

But like most university researchers, they also knew that industry is often slow to take up innovations developed in university labs. That's why they formed AttoDyne in February 2006. "Given the length of time it took to develop our laser to its current marketable potential," explains Dr. Cowan, "we wanted to expedite the technology's marketability as quickly as possible."

Considerable funding support enabled the team to reach the pre-commercialization stage. For their initial development work, the two CIPI members successfully competed for one of CIPI's own research assistance programs, Technology Exploitation Grants.

Recognizing, however, that it would take several funding sources to complete the development process, Dr. Miller also contacted several other organizations for additional funding, including NSERC's Ideas to Innovation (I2I), and the Ontario Centres of Excellence.

CIPI's and NSERC's support, combined with a Market Readiness grant from the Ontario Centres of Excellence, enabled the University of Toronto team to modify the original attosecond-based concept, which proved to be still too experimental. While the slower femtosecond lasers also held promise, it turned out that the still-slower picosecond laser systems were uniquely suited to dental and medical applications.

Since its 2006 incorporation, AttoDyne has filed four new patents. The company also has taken advantage of the services of the Institute for Optical Sciences (IOS) at the University of Toronto, whose experienced business advisors have worked to accelerate growth by contacting potential investors. AttoDyne will be leasing space from the University of Toronto to further speed production of the first systems to be delivered for clinical tests.

Optimistic about AttoDyne's future, Drs. Miller and Cowan appreciate the assistance they have received from their various financial supporters – and especially for CIPI's support of the initial activities that, as Dr. Miller puts it, "resulted in a very high-value proposition for potential investors, and the creation of a company with so much potential for strong growth."

www.cipi.ulaval.ca