Nanotechnology
Sat July 19, 2008 |
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Short description Nanotechnology is a huge part of America's future, but it'll never take off if people don't trust that it's safe Article body U.S. Senators John Kerry and Olympia Snowe this week introduced the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008. The legislation was passed by the House of Representatives last month. The legislation aims to toughen the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) by increasing its commitment to environmental health and safety research. Sens. Inouye, Stevens, Pryor, Smith, and Wyden have co-sponsored the bill. "Nanotechnology is a huge part of America's future, but it'll never take off if people don't trust that it's safe," said Sen. Kerry. "As we begin to further understand the immense capacity of this technology to improve our quality of life, public health and environmental safety must be top priorities." "This tiny science has limitless potential to revolutionize our daily lives and solve the daunting challenges of our future," said Sen. Snowe. "Due to the ever-changing landscape of the nanotechnology field, it is imperative that we strengthen the National Nanotechnology Initiative by encouraging nanotechnology education, research and economic development. It is also critical the NNI be equipped with the resources to properly address unanswered environmental and safety concerns of nanotechnology." The National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008 calls on the White House to implement a plan for Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) research that identifies a timeline for both short- and long-term goals and specifies needed funding by objective and agency. It also would designate within the White House a Coordinator for Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology, who would be responsible for implementing the plan. The legislation also requires a public database for EHS research projects and White House compliance to recommendations from NNI's external advisory committee. Source information smalltimes.com Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Study Shows Increased Education on Nanotech, Human Enhancement Increases Public Concerns
Short description Educating the public about nanotechnology and other complex but emerging technologies causes people to become more "worried and cautious" about the new technologies' prospective benefits, according to a recent study by researchers at North Carolina State University. Article body A new study by researchers at North Carolina State University on public attitudes towards nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies shows that educating people about the new technologies results in those people becoming more concerned about the potential impact of the technologies. The researchers, Dr. Michael D. Cobb, assistant professor of political science, and Dr. Patrick Hamlett, associate professor of science, technology and society and political science, gave questionnaires to study participants around the country to determine their position on emerging technologies with "human enhancement" applications – such as using nanotechnology to improve therapies for injuries and degenerative diseases. Nanotechnology is generally defined as technology that uses substances having a size of 100 nanometers or less (thousands of times thinner than a human hair), and is expected to have widespread uses in medicine, consumer products and industrial processes. Cobb and Hamlett then put the participants through a deliberative forum in March 2008 that provided structured discussions and educational background on the technologies. The participants were then asked to fill out the same questionnaire they had been given before the deliberative forum and asked to provide policy recommendations on how to handle the emerging science. In a recent presentation to the 10th Conference on Public Communication of Science, in Malmo, Sweden, Cobb noted that, compared to their pre-deliberation opinions, panelists "became more worried and cautious about the prospective benefits" of the human enhancement technologies. Prior to the deliberation, 82 percent of the participants were at least somewhat certain that the benefits of the technologies outweighed the risks – but that number dropped to 66 percent after the deliberation. Cobb and Hamlett conducted the study, called the 2008 National Citizens' Forum on Human Enhancement, under a subcontract from the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. The study was conducted at sites in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Cobb says the study is also important because it shows that deliberative forums are a viable tool for encouraging informed public engagement in the development of governmental policies. This is significant because there have been questions in the past about whether "ordinary citizens" are able to engage in useful deliberation - or whether collective opinions developed during group deliberation are worse than if the deliberation had never taken place. The driver for the study was to develop a format for informed interaction about the trajectories of science and technology policies as those policies are being developed, Cobb says, so that the public's concerns are incorporated into the policy development process. Original Paper "The First National Citizens' Technology Forum on Converging Technologies and Human Enhancement: Adapting the Danish Consensus Conference in the USA" Authors: Dr. Michael D. Cobb and Dr. Patrick Hamlett, North Carolina State University Presented: June 27, 2008, at the 10th Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Malmo, Sweden Abstract: Many people believe that informed citizen input should influence public policies about modern science and technology, but several prominent academics warn against relying on citizen deliberations to promote public engagement in policy-making. These scholars contend that citizens do not enjoy the process of deliberating and individual and collective opinions developed during group deliberation are often worse than if deliberation had never taken place. Following the Danish practice known as "Consensus Conferences," we tested this skeptical perspective about citizen capacities by holding Citizen Technology Forums (CTF) in six cities in the United States throughout March 2008. Volunteer participants became informed about human enhancement technologies and they generated written reports about their concerns and recommendations regarding the development trajectory of these technologies. We find that participants dramatically increased their factual understanding about human enhancement technologies and they reported feeling more internally efficacious and trusting of others after deliberating; however, they also became more wary of the potential risks and benefits of these technologies and more concerned about potential inequities in the distribution of these benefits. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by North Carolina State University Source information nanitenews.com Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Russia & U.S. unite over nanotechnology
Short description Russia and the U.S. have agreed to their first joint steps in nanotech co-operation. Some experts say nanotechnology is set to become one of the most important industries of the century. Article body It may be invisible to the naked eye, but Nanotechnology is everywhere. It is an extremely fast-growing industry and there has been an explosion in research over the last few years. Estimates predict that the global nanotech market could top $US 2 trillion during the next decade. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is one of the world’s leading technology institutes. Alexander Liddle, a material scientist from Britain, says the science allows new properties to be made out of existing materials. “This is a solution of gold nanoparticles which is clearly not gold, it’s red. This red colour is a consequence of the fact that once the particles get small enough, they interact with light very differently from a way a gold bar would interact with light,” Liddle says. The scientist says nanotechnology will make everyday life easier. ”You could design windows that are self-cleaning, and such products exist in fact - they have nanoparticles on the surface that interact with sunlight and rain to clean off grease essentially,” Liddle says. When it comes to nanotechnology, Russia and the U.S. are eager to work together. Delegates from Russia’s State Nanotechnology Corporation visited the American labs. ”The U.S. is the world leader in nanotechnology. It was the first developed country to provide significant sums of money from the country’s budget into the sphere. We’re interested in looking into their practices and becoming partners, so that Russia could also develop in this area,” says Leonid Melamed, Rosnanotech CEO. Besides, many Russian scientists work in the U.S. ”The most interesting thing for me here is meeting with our compatriots who work here at one of the most famous institutes. We are proud that they have great impact into the work of this institute, and that they work in the leading country in this field means a lot to us. Guys, we’re proud of you!” says Melamed. While each person comes across nanotech products more often than they think, it looks like science will be taking over even more in the future. Source information russiatoday.ru Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Nanotech Revives a Cancer Drug
Short description In the 1990s, a cancer drug called TNP-470 dramatically increased life span for some patients and led to complete cancer regression in others. Article body In the 1990s, a cancer drug called TNP-470 dramatically increased life span for some patients and led to complete cancer regression in others. But when neurotoxicity was detected in some patients, clinical trials were halted. This is a common problem: many drugs that show great promise in the lab fail in clinical trials due to unforeseen toxicity. Nanomedicine, however, promises a way to make safer, more effective versions of such drugs. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have created and tested in mice a safer version of TNP-470. "This is one of the first examples of nanotechnology resurrecting older drugs that we're aware of," says Piotr Grodzinski, director of the National Cancer Institute's nanotechnology programs. The resurrected drug, which has not yet reentered clinical trials, is well proven to be one of the most potent inhibitors of a process key to the spread of cancer. Most cancer deaths are caused by tumors that spread throughout the body, not by the original tumor. In order for these secondary tumors, which start with a single wandering cancer cell, to become entrenched and grow large enough to become deadly, they must first establish a network of blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis. If angiogenesis can be stopped, then a patient's cancer won't be able to spread. And compared with traditional chemotherapy and radiation, angiogenesis inhibitors have few side effects. The Children's Hospital drug, called Lodamin in its nanoformulation, is "the most generic and potent angiogenesis inhibitor ever seen," says Don Ingber, a professor of vascular biology at Harvard Medical School. Ingber discovered the drug by accident in 1985, when he was a postdoc in the lab of Children's Hospital researcher Judah Folkman. Ingber noticed that lab-grown blood-vessel cells accidentally contaminated with a fungus weren't growing very well; an analog of the responsible fungal compound, TNP-470, was made by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and extensively tested in animals. These studies suggested that it would prevent blood-vessel growth in a wide range of tumor types. Early-stage clinical trials of the compound were promising. In patients with lung cancer, says Ingber, the drug led to a 50 percent increase in life expectancy. But in some patients, the drug was a neurotoxin, causing confusion and dizziness and, in a few cases, more-serious problems. Just as TNP-470 was about to enter late-stage clinical trials, the company faced a lawsuit and stopped testing the drug. But Folkman's lab didn't forget about TNP-470, even after another anti-angiogenesis drug, called Avastin, became a blockbuster. Avastin stops only one of the triggers of blood-vessel formation; TNP-470 works through an unknown mechanism but appears to target multiple parts of the process and, in animal studies, works in more tumor types. This broad activity suggests that it may work in more people, and that it should be difficult for tumors to become resistant to the drug. A few years ago, Folkman's group modified TNP-470 to prevent neurotoxicity by attaching a large polymer that prevents the compound from crossing the blood-brain barrier. This version, however, must be given intravenously--a patient would have to return to the hospital again and again for treatments to prevent cancer recurrence. http://www.technologyreview.com/files/18213/nanomed_x220.jpg Special delivery: This blood-vessel cell--the same type of cell that feeds spreading tumors--has absorbed a newly formulated cancer drug. In this fluorescence image, the cell’s structural elements are labeled red, the nucleus is labeled blue, and a cancer drug encased in a polymer envelope is labeled green. Credit: Ofra Benny, Children’s Hospital Boston Source information technologyreview.com Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Job request (India)
Short description I am sadhasivam pursuing M.Sc Nano Science and Technology in Bharathiar University,Coimbatore,Tamilnadu. Article body Respected sir, I am sadhasivam pursuing M.Sc Nano Science and Technology in Bharathiar University,Coimbatore,Tamilnadu. Now I'm doing my third semester. As a part of my course I have to do a six months project.. I now search for the same. I would like to do my project in any good nano industries in India... my area of interest is Nano medicine,nano sensors, nano solar cell and nano semiconductor......... I kindly request you to offer me an opportunity for the same... Regards Sadha sadha.nano@gmail.com Source information Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Y-Carbon, Inc. Announces the Appointment of Edward L. Erickson as CEO and Board Member
Short description Y-Carbon, Inc., a nanotechnology startup developing an innovative method of making and tailoring novel, nanostructured carbon materials with applications in energy storage, medical products, life science research, filtration and purification systems, announced today that Edward L. Erickson has been appointed CEO and a Director. Article body Mr. Erickson is a "serial entrepreneur" with extensive experience in start-up and early-stage companies, as well as large organizations, having served as president, CEO or director of a dozen such companies, four of which successfully completed IPOs during his tenure. He has raised more than $500M in equity and debt capital in both the private and public capital markets. Ed will serve Y-Carbon initially on a part-time basis pending completion of certain other entrepreneurial projects. During his 30 years of business and military experience, Ed has served in senior management positions as well as a consultant in the biotech, defense, energy and technology sectors. In addition to substantial operating and executive management background in biotechnology, Ed's experience includes consulting engagements in strategic and technology planning, system engineering and project management for clients that included major energy and natural resources-based corporations in the U.S. and Europe, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, and corporations controlled by European governments. He served as a military officer in the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Submarine Program aboard the U.S.S. Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first nuclear submarine, during which time his responsibilities included supervision, operation and maintenance of the ship's electrical, nuclear, and steam plant systems. Ed holds a BS with distinction in Mathematics with a minor in Physics and an MS in Mathematics from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He received an MBA with high distinction from Harvard University where he was elected a Baker Scholar and was awarded the Loeb Rhodes Fellowship in Finance. Ed has received substantial recognition as a business leader, including being named the recipient of the 2004 Small Times Magazine "Best of Small Tech Business Leader" award in nanotechnology. Professor Yury Gogotsi of Drexel University, Y-Carbon's Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, said, "Y-Carbon's strength lies in its proprietary, materials-science based platform technology which has numerous applications in energy, gas storage, medical science, life science and gas/liquid purification systems. Ed's diverse experience will enable the company to grow in a focused and disciplined manner and move towards fast and successful commercialization of our technology." Mr. Erickson said, "I am extraordinarily pleased to become a part of this exciting venture and I believe that the company's platform technology has the potential to make major contributions toward solving significant problems related to the global energy crisis and in other fields such as the practice of medicine." About Y-Carbon, Inc. Y-Carbon, founded in 2004, is a materials science company with an initial focus in energy applications. Y-Carbon has obtained broad and exclusive rights to intellectual property in the field of carbide derived carbon (CDC), which is an innovative "tuneable" nano-porous, high specific surface area material invented by Prof. Gogotsi's team in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. The company is currently based in the Philadelphia Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) and is a spin out from the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute. Y-Carbon is also a portfolio company of the Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center and The Nanotechnology Institute of Ben Franklin Technology Partners Southeastern Pennsylvania. Company contact: Ranjan Dash, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Technology Officer, (203) 209-6688, RDash@Y-Carbon.us Media contact: Richard Lewis Communications, Inc., (212) 827-0020, Gregory Tiberend, gtiberend@rlcincom, Timothy Rathschmidt, trathschmidt@rlcinc.com Source information marketwatch.com Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Karnataka govt allots 14 acres for building Nanotechnology Research Institute
Short description Karnataka government has allocated 14 acres of land to set up the Nanotechnology Research Institute in Bangalore. The institute will be built under a Central government initiative with a total grant of Rs.1,000 crore provided by the Union ministry of science and technology. Article body Karnataka government has allocated 14 acres of land to set up the Nanotechnology Research Institute in Bangalore. The institute will be built under a Central government initiative with a total grant of Rs.1,000 crore provided by the Union ministry of science and technology. For Karnataka, the sanction is Rs. 100 crore from the Centre to set up the institute in Bangalore which is the third facility approved in the country after Kolkata and Mohali. The institute will focus on advanced scientific research and the State government in consultation with Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Centre and Indian Institute of Science will be starting construction before the end of year, stated Anand Vasant Asnotikar, Minister for Fisheries and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka. The institute will provide a boost to nanotechnology education and research, according to Prof. Ajay K. Sood, Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In order to provide further impetus to the nanotechnology segment, the Karnataka department of information technology, biotechnology and science and technology hosted the first Bangalore Nano event last year. The second year event is slated for December 12 to 14 with a conference, exhibition and partnering. The event is intended to be a place for the global nano-technology community to meet, collaborate and do business. The theme of Bangalore Nano 2008 is “Nanotechnology in India’s future”, going by the new role played by science which is now transforming Indian technology. The key features of the event include an international conference focusing on a broad spectrum of issues relating to nanotechnology research & development, innovation, policy, investment, commercialization and global opportunities. The Research Industry Collaboration Hub (RICH) will offer a podium for presentation to emerging technologies. Private companies seeking investment and business partnerships will also benefit from this. Another attraction is a Poster Session where scientists and researchers can share their innovations in the nano-science and nanotechnology. Bangalore is recognized as the Knowledge capital of India and has emerged as the most preferred destination for frontier technologies like Information Technology and Biotechnology. Bangalore IT and Bangalore Bio are now recognized as India ’s leading events in their fields. The new initiative of launching Bangalore Nano by Dept of IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka is the first step in fostering a business environment for the development of Nanoscience and the Nanotech industry, stated Jagdish Patankar, managing director MM Active. A Vision Group on Nanotechnology has been formed with members like Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Sujit Banerji, President, Polymer Business and Head, Integrated R & T, Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai, Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences-(NCBS), Bangalore, Prof. P. Balaram Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and others. Courtesy: pharmabiz.com Source information Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
UC expertise getting fans closer than ever to the All Blacks
Short description Fibre imprinting nanotechnology developed at the MacDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at the University of Canterbury is going to get rugby fans closer than ever to the All Blacks. Article body Fibre imprinting nanotechnology developed at the MacDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at the University of Canterbury is going to get rugby fans closer than ever to the All Blacks. The names of as many as 100,000 fans are to be printed onto a single thread which will be sewn into the Silver Fern on a special edition jersey in a campaign organised by All Blacks sponsor adidas. Today All Blacks captain Richie McCaw visited UC to learn about the technology and look at a jersey with the names of all 1,073 past and present All Blacks stitched into the Silver Fern. “I never thought it was possible but it’s a cool concept. It’s very special to see everyone’s name lined up there.” He says having the names of fans stitched into the jersey will provide the team with a further reminder of the public support the team enjoys. The process has been developed by Professor Richard Blaikie and research engineer Gary Turner at Canterbury University. Professor Blaikie equates it to a “very, very, very sharp pencil” which can write 100 names per millimetre. He says the scale of the work was not particularly challenging. It was the use of a thread that presented the greatest challenges. “We’re used to imprinting onto silicon chip type substrates and so Gary and I did a whole lot of work to get it working on fibres. There were a lot of failures and head scratching. Then I thought we’d try something new, so we did and got it to work.” He says it is believed to be the first time nanotechnology has been used in a marketing and promotional exercise in this way. “It’s very exciting for us. We’re largely technology driven but to have an application that pulls us in a different direction is fantastic.” adidas New Zealand Marketing Manager John Beckett says the This is not a Jersey campaign reflects the iconic status of the All Blacks uniform. “The adiThread initiative aims to help New Zealand fans feel closer to the team and to provide the opportunity to be more intimately represented by the country’s most famous team jersey. “When you put your name on the jersey, you are literally a part of it – the fabric of a nation.” The fibre imprinting technology used to develop the adiThread has been commercialised by UC’s technology transfer company, Canterprise Limited. Canterprise CEO Raiyo Nariman says “adiThread demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology coming out of the University can be incorporated into innovative applications in fields outside technology-based products.” Source information comsdev.canterbury.ac.nz Source title Source Url Related company Second related company
Sat July 19, 2008
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Stem Cells from a Human-Pig Hybrid
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Wed Nov 03, 2004
Products made from atoms - Nanotechnology
The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can make computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we can make potatoes.
Todays manufacturing methods are very crude at the molecular level. Casting, grinding, milling and even lithography move atoms in great thundering statistical herds. It's like trying to make things out of LEGO blocks with boxing gloves on your hands. Yes, you can push the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can't really snap them together the way you'd like.
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