The horrors in the news that come to us from around the globe each day challenge us to remember the many things for which the USA is thankful. We do not live in a perfect place but Americans strive to create a better world on many fronts.
Happy Thanksgiving from Potomac
Technology is an area in which we excel as an innovative country with successes ranging from electric cars to 3D Printing facial implants to space exploration. In our own work, Potomac agrees with Neil Gershenfeld at MIT: “The power of digital fabrication is social, not technical.”
Potomac is thankful to work in a field that has strong social impact. Our most powerful stories of helping people through micro digital fabrication have been in the biotech and medical device industries. Whether working with researchers on new microfluidic devices for non-invasive testing or helping build drug delivery systems that target treatment sites in order to eliminate damage to the rest of the patient’s body, Potomac has seen the power of digital fabrication technology for both saving lives and improving quality of life.
Our work has also taken medical technology to under-served communities like Africa where testing that we take for granted in the USA is not available. Closer to home we’ve been able to use QR Codes to tell the stories of Americans who over the course of history have worked to better our people and utilized laser marking to create memories for generations to come.
Customers have given Potomac much for which we are thankful. In the early years, we built an in-depth technology expertise in laser micromachining, partnering with early adopters of a new process that people used to say was a solution in search of a problem. Our customers still work with us to push the envelope of new manufacturing processes that extend beyond lasers to micro-CNC machining, 3D Printing and micro-hot embossing.
Potomac Photonics home in Baltimore County
And at the end of the day it is really all about the people. Potomac is thankful for the dedicated, creative, culturally diverse team that brings our technology to life. We are especially lucky to have strong collaborations with Baltimore County, local Baltimore colleges and labs that give us the opportunity to work with interns and help build the workforce of the future.
So when the news is filled with so much sadness, we will try this Thanksgiving to remember all for which we are so thankful every day that we come to work at Potomac!
Animal testing has long been an established protocol in drug discovery programs. But there are systemic issues with the far from reliable methodology. In fact, only 10% of the drugs that move from animal testing to human clinical trials succeeds. Such low yields increase the time and expense required to get pharmaceuticals to market, fueling…
In the field of microfluidics, where precision is key to innovation and application success, our expertise at Potomac Photonics sets a standard. We specialize in the art of laser drilling precise small holes in glass slides and coverslips, a critical capability for the fabrication of microfluidic devices. These devices play a pivotal role in various…
The world today seems consumed with fears about Artificial Intelligence, otherwise known as AI. Writers, journalists, ad copywriters, teachers, and artists are fearful their jobs will be lost to computers but in manufacturing we have been applying a subset of AI to manufacturing for decades with positive results. Like other forms of AI, Machine Learning…