The Asbestos Fibers Automatic Counting System based on High Throughput Microscopy (HTM), developed by Professor Hwa-Taek Han and Joong-Kyoung Kim at Kookmin University School of Mechanical Systems Engineering and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST Minister : Joo-Ho Lee), will be transferred to PaSce Inc.(Director:  Myung-Oak Jo, Choon-Ho Park).

Recently, the Ministry of Environment has legislated to tighten up on the management of asbestos at schools and in the public. Since local government is trying to construct a management system for asbestos, a class one carcinogen, the demand for the Asbestos Fibers Automatic Counting System is increasing.

This automatic counting system checks and counts asbestos fiber visually by use of an optical microscope to support qualitative asbestos analysis. This system is 10 times faster than PCM, the technique widely used for examining such specimens as biological tissues. Its automation and batch-processing function have significantly enhanced the objectivity and efficiency of detection. This will probably soon replace Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM), the analysis method of airborne asbestos fibers and fibrous dust.

The team has finished the Performance Verification Test for international standard specimens, workplace samples, and indoor air specimens. They have also conducted comparison analysis with PCM and verification in collaboration with a researcher (Ho-Chun Choi) at the Industrial Health Environment Research Institute of the Korean Industrial Health Association so that the technology can reach commercialization. They have applied for 2 patents related to the developed source technology, and published their research manuscript in the KOSIE Journal and the international journal Sensors.

Furthermore, the research team of professor Hwa-Taek Han and Joong-Kyoung Kim at Kookmin University is working for the further development of a selective dyeing method for detecting the types of asbestos using the adsorption of asbestos on protein. The team expects that it will help the selectivity and sensitivity of the existing HTM method to be noticeable improved. It is also possible to use the source technology which has been developed lately not only for asbestos in the air but also in the soil and groundwater.