...work
  Don was at the beginning of the launch of a new product that he co-invented at his job at Millipore in Beverly,Mass. He loved his work.
 
  Dr. Donald Sheer worked at Millipore for the past 5 years in the Research
and Development Group. Don's title was Consulting Scientist and was a
senior member of the R&D staff. Don worked for the Analytical Division
which develops and markets separation and purification products that are
used in research applications in the pharmaceutical, diagostic,
agricultural and biotech industries. Typical applications involve the
separation and cleanup of DNA, proteins, peptides, and drugs for use in a
wide variety of applications. These products are also used in forensic and
environmental applications.

Don had an unique position in that he was responsible for helping identify
the scientific trends and needs of the research community and to develop
the products to meet these needs. Don's education and training in the life
sciences, combined with his effusive personality, gave him the skill and
ability to work closely with researchers all over the world in many
different laboratory environments. He had an extensive set of contacts
with top scientists and was always able to get critical information on
where technology was headed which, in turn, would guide the product
development efforts.

Don utilized separation techniques based on "membrane filtration" and
"chromatography" in developing new products. Millipore develops and
manufactures synthetic membranes that typically consist of a thin sheet of
plastic which contains holes (or pores) that are extremely small in
diameter. The largest pores are approximately 0.0004 inches in diameter
and cannot be seen without a microscope. On the other end, some membranes
have pores that are the size of the molecules that are being separated and
are approximately thousand times smaller in diameter. The synthetic
membranes can be used to separate dissolved molecules such as DNA and
proteins by a "sieving" mechanism in which the larger molecules are
retained on the membrane.

The second technology (chromatography) relies on a chemical interaction
between the sample (DNA, protein, etc.) and a solid particle that has been
chemically modified to give it a certain functional behavior. When the
sample comes in contact with this chromatographic particle certain
molecules "stick" to the particle and others pass by. The molecules can be
later removed from the particle with a different wash solution. This
technology allows researchers to separate molecules based on their chemical
properties rather than by size as with the membrane separations.

Don was able to mix these two technologies into product concepts that could
give researchers the ability to quickly separate and purify very small
amounts of their samples for either analysis or for subsequent testing.
The capability of purifying small amounts of samples has become extremely
important in the research community due to the high cost and value of the
molecules under study. Labs can now get valuable information from only a
few drops of liquid. Millipore is currently scaling up a product called
ZipTips which is scheduled for a launch this October. ZipTips are designed
for preparing samples for Mass Spectrometry analysis. The technology has
many other applications, however, and additional products and applications
are planned for the coming years.

Don was a well-published scientist and was inventor on several patents. He
interfaced extensively with the technical community and his personality
gave him access to laboratories around the world. His trip to Europe was
taking him to the European Molecular Biology Lab in Heidelberg, Germany,
and on to present a technical paper in Greece at the International
Conference on Methods in Protein Structure Analysis. Don was at the height
of his career and dedicated his life to the sciences. He will be missed by
the technical community around the world.