ELECTRONICS AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY
UPDATE
February 2009
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Bio Nano Consulting To Provide Specialist Nanotech Product Development Services
Nanotechnology is Focus of New OSHA Safety and Health Topics Web Page
The University of California Receives Grant for Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics
Brookhaven Receives Grants for Research
Tarbiat Modarres University, in Iran, Will Open a Branch in Syria
Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) Received Extended Funding
CNF Ithaca, NY, Nanotech Facility Receives Five-Year Renewal Grant from NSF
Bayer MaterialScience Begins Construction of Nanotube Facility
Jack Baskin School of Engineering to Establish Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics
Bio Nano Consulting a specialist bio-nanotechnology product development consultancy, has signed a collaborative agreement with a Top 5 pharma company to develop new assay systems for their product discovery and development.
The agreement is the eighth major contract won by BNC in 2008, and follows the completion in mid December of a second contract with Targanta Therapeutics Corporation, in which BNC used world-leading cantilever-array assay system technology to analyze the mechanism of action of Targanta's novel lipoglycopeptide antibiotic, oritavancin.
Commenting on the new contract, Dr David Sarphie, CEO of Bio Nano Consulting said, “Nanotechnology is finding more and more applications in industry, and BNC is developing a well-deserved reputation within the pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech and healthcare industries for providing novel approaches in research and development. With the unparalleled expertise of scientists at UCL's London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College and the National Physical Laboratory, BNC is ideally placed to offer nanotechnology solutions in these sectors”.
Employers and employees involved in the use or manufacture of engineered nanoscale materials will benefit from a new Safety and Health Topics Web page on nanotechnology posted to OSHA's Web site. This electronic resource highlights related OSHA standards, current and potential applications of nanotechnology, potential health effects and workplace hazard controls, as well as health and safety research priorities for nanotechnology. http://www.osha.gov/dsg/nanotechnology/nanotechnology.html
The University of California, Santa Cruz, has received a $1.5 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to establish the W. M. Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics. A joint endeavor of the Jack Baskin School of Engineering and the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences at UCSC, the center explores the integration of nanotechnology and optofluidic silicon chips and how this technology can be used to improve biomedical analysis in a wide range of fields, including toxicology, immunology, disease detection, and diagnostics.
"Being able to analyze single biomolecules is essential to improving our fundamental understanding of life and to developing a new generation of ultrasensitive instruments to detect diseases," said Holger Schmidt, associate professor of electrical engineering and director of the center. "We have developed an optofluidic platform that enables us to detect single molecules and particles on a chip without the need for bulky microscopes. The Keck Foundation grant provides the financial resource to establish the nanofabrication capabilities required to define nanoscale features on optofluidic chips and take this platform to a new level. We can now conduct benchmark studies in molecular biology to verify the potential of this approach."
The interdisciplinary team led by Schmidt is composed of faculty from five UCSC departments: Mark Akeson, adjunct professor of biomolecular engineering; David Deamer, professor emeritus of biomolecular engineering; William Dunbar, assistant professor of computer engineering; Harry Noller, Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology; and Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The center grew out of earlier collaborations between these investigators funded in part by a Keck Futures Nanotechnology Grant Schmidt received in 2005.
"The W. M. Keck Foundation's commitment to high-risk research, especially in these economic times, is remarkable," said Michael Isaacson, acting dean of Baskin Engineering and Narinder Singh Kapany Professor of Optoelectronics. "Dr. Schmidt and the team clearly have demonstrated the tremendous potential for developing instrumentation that is portable, inexpensive, and fast. We are grateful that the foundation recognizes this potential."
Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science, and engineering. The foundation also maintains a program to support undergraduate science and humanities education and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of health care, civic and community services, education, and the arts, with a special emphasis on children and youth.
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory Receives Grants for an X-ray Crystallography Research Resource at the Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS).
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory received grants from DOE and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $28 million to support an X-ray Crystallography Research Resource at the Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS). The grants of $15 million from DOE's Office of Biological and Environmental Research and $13 million from NIH's National Center for Research Resources will fund five years of operations and research.
One of the world's most widely used scientific facilities, the NSLS provides intense beams of infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray light to study materials as diverse as computer chips and viruses at the atomic level. X-ray crystallography at the NSLS involves experiments that reveal the 3-D atomic-level structure of large molecules, such as enzymes and nucleic acids that are found in all living cells. X-ray crystallographers working at the NSLS determined the structures of numerous molecules, including those from organisms responsible for the common cold, Lyme disease, and AIDS. Knowing the structure of a molecule provides information about its function, which, in turn, may lead to important clues about how to create effective drugs to prevent or treat a disease.
"During the last year, 150 university, industrial and national laboratory research groups made a total of 800 visits to work at this resource," said Brookhaven's Robert Sweet, the principal investigator of the X-ray Crystallography Research Resource, which has a staff of 20. "Their experimental results provide crucial information that may lead to treatments for many health problems, including cancer, infections, and obesity."
One of the guest investigators who did research at the crystallography resource - Roderick MacKinnon of Rockefeller University - won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for investigating the molecular details of nerve transmission. While much of the research at the facility is basic science that may lead to major discoveries, other work is targeted toward achieving a specific, practical goal. For example, about five percent of the research is done by pharmaceutical firms with the goal of finding drugs to treat human disease.
One of the world's most widely used scientific facilities, the NSLS provides intense beams of infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray light to study materials as diverse as computer chips and viruses at the atomic level. X-ray crystallography at the NSLS involves experiments that reveal the 3-D atomic-level structure of large molecules, such as enzymes and nucleic acids that are found in all living cells. X-ray crystallographers working at the NSLS determined the structures of numerous molecules, including those from organisms responsible for the common cold, Lyme disease, and AIDS. Knowing the structure of a molecule provides information about its function, which, in turn, may lead to important clues about how to create effective drugs to prevent or treat a disease.
"During the last year, 150 university, industrial and national laboratory research groups made a total of 800 visits to work at this resource," said Brookhaven's Robert Sweet, the principal investigator of the X-ray Crystallography Research Resource, which has a staff of 20. "Their experimental results provide crucial information that may lead to treatments for many health problems, including cancer, infections, and obesity."
One of the guest investigators who did research at the crystallography resource - Roderick MacKinnon of Rockefeller University - won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for investigating the molecular details of nerve transmission. While much of the research at the facility is basic science that may lead to major discoveries, other work is targeted toward achieving a specific, practical goal. For example, about five percent of the research is done by pharmaceutical firms with the goal of finding drugs to treat human disease.
Tarbiat Modarres University, a wholly postgraduate Iranian university, will open a branch in Syria using the name of University of Farabi in the near future.
Iranian and Syrian officials came to an agreement during several meetings with each other, said Iran's Vice-President of Minister of Science, Research and Technology.
Parviz Davudi went on to say that they signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the university and initiated negotiations on the activities of the university and its administrations.
"The first session of the board of trustees of the University of Farabi will be held in the next few weeks in Tehran. The board will be headed by Iran's minister of science Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi and his Syrian counterpart Ghiath Barakat," he added.
The university will admit students in new subjects including nanotechnology, IT, biotechnology and several interdisciplinary fields of humanities, he concluded.
Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) has received another five years of funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The facility, which is the flagship of Cornell's cutting-edge nanotechnology research, is one of 14 such research facilities across the country that make up the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). CNF is set to receive $2.68 million per year for the next five years, said George Malliaras, the Lester B. Knight Director of CNF. The NNIN receives $17 million per year of federal funds.
CNF, Ithaca, NY, Nanotech Facility Receives Five-Year Renewal Grant from NSF
CNF funding from New York State, administered through the Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research, has also been renewed to the tune of $500,000 per year for five years. Additional support comes from Cornell and from industry partners, as well as user fees.
The renewal of funding was "fantastic" news for CNF, Malliaras said, especially given the economic climate and the cutbacks that scientific research funding has faced in recent years. The NSF funding actually increased slightly, he said, while the state grant remained level.
CNF has been on a major drive for state-of-the-art equipment; in the past two years, 18 new nanofabrication tools have been acquired by the facility. Among them are an atomic layer deposition machine, an imprint lithography tool and a carbon nanotube growth system, according to Malliaras.
Bayer MaterialScience has started construction of the New Facility for the production of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in Chempark Leverkusen. The new plant will have a capacity of 200 tons/year, making it the largest of its kind in the world. The company is to invest around EUR 22 million in the planning, development and construction of the plant, which will create 20 new jobs. "We are investing in a key technology of the future that will open up a broad range of new applications for us. We intend to utilize this opportunity to the full. At the same time, the construction of the new CNT facility is a declaration of faith in Leverkusen and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as an industrial location," said Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, the member of the Bayer AG Board of Management responsible for innovation, technology and the environment, at a press conference to mark the start of construction.
Current forecasts predict that the global market for carbon nanotubes will grow by 25 percent a year. In ten years, annual sales of these products are expected to reach US-Dollar 2 billion.
Following the official start of construction work, representatives of the Innovationsallianz "CNT - carbon nanomaterials conquer markets" - in brief: Inno.CNT - met in Chempark Leverkusen for their kick-off event. In this alliance, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), more than 70 partners from industry and science have joined together to develop new technologies and applications for CNT-based materials.
Bayer MaterialScience is one of the few companies that can produce carbon nanotubes of consistently high quality on an industrial scale. A pilot plant with an annual capacity of 60 tons has been in operation in Laufenburg in southern Germany since 2007. Production involves a catalytic process in which the carbon nanotubes are obtained from a carbon-containing gas at elevated temperature in a reactor. "Bayer is investing in this, the world's largest CNT production plant, because we are convinced of the technological and economic efficiency of the process," said Plischke.
With the company's know-how, Bayer can now take a product from the research laboratory and smooth its progress into a broad spectrum of applications relevant to society, such as energy, the environment, mobility, safety and construction. Baytubes® - the brand name for Bayer's carbon nanotubes – are already being used to produce tough, extremely strong, lightweight materials. This means, for example, that rotor blades for wind turbines are more energy-efficient, that transport containers weigh less and that sports equipment can be made more robust.
Plischke also welcomed Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary in the BMBF - the ministry backing the project - to the event. Future developments in the field of CNT-based materials are to focus on applications involving energy and the environment, mobility and lightweight construction. A total of EUR 80 million will be invested in research and development as part of Inno.CT, of which the BMBF will contribute about EUR 40 million. In addition, the participating companies want to invest up to EUR 200 million in the further development of these technologies and applications during the course of the projects and also after their conclusion.
Rachel pointed out that Germany and the European Union had set themselves ambitious climate targets. To achieve them, he said, efficient and responsible energy management was essential. The German government wanted to significantly reduce energy consumption in Germany by 2020, and new materials would make a major contribution to this.
Rachel: "Carbon nanotubes will play a particularly important role. They offer all kinds of benefits, such as improving fuel and battery technologies and reducing the weight of vehicles. To exploit the enormous potential of these new materials, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research will fund the Innovationsallianz CNT to the tune of around €40 million over a period of four years. This alliance will play a significant part in implementing the Federal government's high-tech strategy, through which we aim to strengthen Germany's competitiveness."
The main purpose of the two-day kick-off event in Leverkusen for the alliance partners was to exchange technical ideas and coordinate further co-operation on the project.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, has received a $1.5 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to establish the W. M. Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics. A joint endeavor of the Jack Baskin School of Engineering and the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences at UCSC, the center explores the integration of nanotechnology and optofluidic silicon chips and how this technology can be used to improve biomedical analysis in a wide range of fields, including toxicology, immunology, disease detection, and diagnostics.
"Being able to analyze single biomolecules is essential to improving our fundamental understanding of life and to developing a new generation of ultrasensitive instruments to detect diseases," said Holger Schmidt, associate professor of electrical engineering and director of the center. "We have developed an optofluidic platform that enables us to detect single molecules and particles on a chip without the need for bulky microscopes. The Keck Foundation grant provides the financial resource to establish the nanofabrication capabilities required to define nanoscale features on optofluidic chips and take this platform to a new level. We can now conduct benchmark studies in molecular biology to verify the potential of this approach."
The interdisciplinary team led by Schmidt is composed of faculty from five UCSC departments: Mark Akeson, adjunct professor of biomolecular engineering; David Deamer, professor emeritus of biomolecular engineering; William Dunbar, assistant professor of computer engineering; Harry Noller, Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology; and Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The center grew out of earlier collaborations between these investigators funded in part by a Keck Futures Nanotechnology Grant Schmidt received in 2005.
"The W. M. Keck Foundation's commitment to high-risk research, especially in these economic times, is remarkable," said Michael Isaacson, acting dean of Baskin Engineering and Narinder Singh Kapany Professor of Optoelectronics. "Dr. Schmidt and the team clearly have demonstrated the tremendous potential for developing instrumentation that is portable, inexpensive, and fast. We are grateful that the foundation recognizes this potential."
Based in Los Angeles, the W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 by the late W. M. Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company. The foundation's grant making is focused primarily on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science, and engineering. The foundation also maintains a program to support undergraduate science and humanities education and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of health care, civic and community services, education, and the arts, with a special emphasis on children and youth.
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