An Ames company with Iowa State connections has received a $100,000 grant to create glass preforms that aid laser surgery.

Full Spectrum Inc., an outgrowth of contract research at ISU, received the grant from the U.S. Department of Human Services.

Abdel Soufiane, director of materials development at Full Spectrum, said the money will fund the first phase of the project.

“We need to prove the feasibility of the process in phase one and if it sounds interesting we will have phase two funded,” Soufiane said.

Soufiane said if phase two of the project is funded, Full Spectrum could receive up to $700,000.

The project is a collaborative effort between Full Spectrum and Rutgers University in New Jersey. Rutgers will handle 75 percent of the job and Full Spectrum will do the other 25 percent.

Of the $100,000 grant, Rutgers will use $60,000 and Full Spectrum will use the remaining $40,000.

“The making of the preform and fibers will be done at Rutgers while the testing and characterization of the preforms will be done at Full Spectrum,” Soufiane said.

The preforms being made are 12-inch glass rods that are transformed into fibers by heating and pulling. The fiber is a light conductor surgical fiber that is widely used in killing tumors. “The fiber is a medium between the laser and the patient,” Soufiane said.