OTHER ELECTRONICS & NANOTECHNOLOGY
INDUSTRY UPDATE
December 2013
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Duke Wins $15 Million to Study Nanomaterials
Agilent Sets Up Lab at IIT-Bombay
Creation Technologies' Facility Gets FDA Registration
Photonics Industries Invests $8 Million in Cleanrooms
Rochester Institute of Technology, Institute Hall, Rochester, NY
NTU Sets Up Southeast Asia’s First Nanomedicine Research Institute
The nanomaterials revolution has made exceedingly tiny engineered particles a hot commodity, used in products from clothing to sunscreen to electronics. But the very properties that make them so useful -- vanishingly small size and high surface area—may have unintended consequences as they enter living organisms and the environment.
A multi-institution research center headquartered at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering has just won $15 million grant renewal from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to continue learning more about where nanoparticles accumulate, how they interact with other chemicals and how they affect the environment.
Founded in 2008, the Center for Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) has been evaluating the effect of long-term nanomaterial exposure on organisms and ecosystems.
“The previous focus has been on studying simple, uniform nanomaterials in simple environments,” says Mark Wiesner, James L. Meriam Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and director of CEINT. “As we look to the next five years, we envision a dramatically different landscape. We will be evaluating more complex nanomaterials in more realistic natural environments such as agricultural lands and water treatment systems where these materials are likely to be found.”
When CEINT formed, little research had been done on how materials manufactured at the nanoscale—about 1/10,000th the diameter of a human hair—enter the environment and whether their size and unique properties render them a new category of environmental risk. For example, nanoparticles can be highly reactive with other chemicals in the environment and had been shown to disrupt activities in living organisms. Indeed, nanosilver is used in clothing precisely because it effectively kills odor-causing bacteria.
To tackle this expansive research agenda, CEINT leadership assembled a multi-institutional research team encompassing expertise in ecosystems biology, chemistry, geology, materials science, computational science, mathematical modeling, and other specialties, to complement its engineering expertise. The Center has 29 faculty collaborators, as well as 76 graduate and undergraduate students participating in research. Over its first five years, CEINT has answered some of the most pressing questions about environmental risk and has learned where to focus future research.
The center also pioneered the use of a new test chamber called a mesocosm that replicates a small wetland environment. “Over the long term, we want to evaluate how nanoparticles bioaccumulate in complex food webs,” says Emily Bernhardt, an associate professor of biology at Duke and ecosystem ecologist who helped design the simulated ecosystems. “The additional funding will allow us to study the subtle effect of low-dose exposure on ecosystems over time, as well as complex interactions among nanoparticles and other environmental contaminants.”
Looking forward, the investigators at CEINT plan to expand the use of systems modeling and to create a “knowledge commons,” a place to store various kinds of data that can then be analyzed as a whole, says CEINT Executive Director Christine Hendren.
“Our investigators and collaborators are located across the globe,” Hendren adds. “We are committed to disseminating information that can be translated into responsible regulatory frameworks and that will be available to compare with results of future research.”
The funding renewal comes from the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency under NSF Cooperative Agreement EF-0830093.
Key findings from CEINT's first five years include:
Naturally occurring nanomaterials far outnumber engineered particles. CEINT scientist Michael Hochella, a geoscientist at Virginia Tech, inventoried nanoparticles and concluded that natural nanoparticles are found everywhere, from dust in the atmosphere to sea spray to volcanoes. The environmental risks of these natural nanomaterials are difficult to separate from engineered nanomaterials.
Engineered nanoparticles change once they enter the environment. Gregory V. Lowry, deputy director of CEINT and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, along with colleagues from the University of Birmingham, U.K. and the University of South Carolina, found that the relatively large surface area of nanoparticles makes them highly reactive once they enter the environment. These transformations will alter their movement and toxicity and must be considered when studying nanomaterials. Their review article on this topic was named the best feature article of 2012 by the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Nanoparticles can be visualized, even in complex environmental samples. A research team led by CEINT investigators Jie Liu, associate professor of chemistry at Duke, and CEINT Director Mark Wiesner showed that more than a dozen types of engineered nanoparticles, including silver, gold, and titanium dioxide, along with carbon nanotubes, can be surveyed using a technique called hyperspectral imaging, which measures light scattering caused by different types of nanoparticles. The new technique, co-developed by postdoctoral researcher Appala Raju Badireddy, is sensitive enough to analyze nanoparticles found in water samples ranging from ultrapurified to wastewater. It will be used in future long-term studies of how nanoparticles move and accumulate in ecological systems.
It is possible to estimate current and future volume of engineered nanomaterials. Understanding the volume of nanomaterials being produced and released into the environment is a crucial factor in risk assessment. CEINT researchers led by Christine Hendren measured the upper- and lower-bound annual U.S. production of five classes of nanomaterials, totaling as much as a combined 40,000 metric tons annually as of 2011.
Silver nanoparticles caused environmental stress in a simulated wetland environment. CEINT has developed “mesocosms,” open-air terrarium-like structures that simulate wetland ecosystems that can be evaluated over time. Even low doses of silver nanoparticles used in many consumer products produced about a third less biomass in a mesocosm. The researchers will now look at how nanomaterials are transferred between organisms in a mesocosm.
The Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology is funded by a $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency under NSF Cooperative Agreement EF-0830093. CEINT is exploring the relationship between a vast array of nanomaterials— from natural, to manufactured, to those produced incidentally by human activities—and their potential environmental exposure, biological effects, and ecological impacts. Headquartered at Duke University, CEINT is a collaborative effort among researchers from Duke, Carnegie Mellon University, Howard University, Virginia Tech, University of Kentucky, and Stanford University. CEINT academic collaborations include ongoing activities coordinated with faculty at Baylor, Clemson, North Carolina State, and North Carolina Central universities, with researchers at NIST and EPA government labs, and with key international partners.
Agilent Technologies has set up Agilent-IIT Device Characterization Lab at IIT-Bombay campus to accelerate nanotechnology research. Partially funded by Agilent, the lab is an exclusive DC/RF device characterization lab that is set up under the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN), a part of the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay.
Agilent said the company has invested 50 per cent of the total cost involved in setting up of these labs. "We have invested about Rs.2 crore in the DC/RF device characterization lab," said Sudhir Singh, general manager, sales, Electronic Measurement Group, Agilent Technologies India Pvt Ltd.
The lab will provide an environment for students to conduct research in the field of nanotechnology. Students will experience advanced DC and RF characterization using Agilent equipment as part of research and educational program.
Specific lab instruments that Agilent is providing to IIT Bombay include the Agilent B1500A semiconductor device analyzer, PNA-X (43.5GHz) network analyzer, PXA (44GHz) signal analyzer, power meter and sensor, digital signal oscilloscope and a pulse generator.
"This centre will serve as a nodal research centre which will feed to other colleges and lot of other research labs in the country," said Pathy V Iyer, business development manager – Education, Agilent Technologies.
The lab will be open to students from other engineering colleges, where they can come and access the tools and facilities free of charge. However, industry using this lab for research would be charged.
"In the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, which is created at IIT Bombay with support from the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, government of India, we have been using lot of Agilent equipment for our advanced nanoelectronic device characterizations," said Prof. V.Ramgopal Rao, chief investigator, Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project, IIT Bombay. "Agilent is one of the world's leading companies in precision measuring instruments. It is a great learning experience for our students to be exposed to such advanced characterization equipment as part of their research and educational activities."
In support of Governor Andrew Cuomo's nanotechnology-based education and economic development strategy, the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) and Albany Law School (Albany Law) announced the launch of a joint educational program, "Ecosystem for Nanotechnology, Entrepreneurship and Law," (eNTEL) which will integrate the strengths of each institution to uniquely prepare student entrepreneurs to launch startup companies and attract business investment as a means of further driving New York's fast-growing innovation economy.
Through the eNTEL program, both CNSE and Albany Law will foster a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that will assemble the experience, knowledge, and expertise of each institution's faculty and staff, as well as practitioners and experts in the Capital Region, to create training opportunities, joint classes and collaborative projects, all intersecting with technology, entrepreneurship, and the law which will be issued jointly by CNSE and Albany Law.
Students will work in teams to explore ways to develop products from idea to commercialization; create a "Tech Transfer Practicum" in which students from both CNSE and Albany Law will bring business ideas generated by CNSE student researchers to market; provide Albany Law students with vital real-world experience through placement in an externship with the CNSE Office of Technology Innovation and Commercialization; and, in collaboration with Albany Law's Government Law Center, the school's Tax and Transactions Clinic will provide free start-up legal assistance to selected very early stage businesses and nonprofit organizations, including those founded by CNSE students that have educationally appropriate legal needs. These initiatives will give students from both institutions opportunities to bring ideas to market and grow them into successful businesses to create economic development opportunities in the region, and to provide opportunities for area attorneys to service the businesses after the initial stage.
Portions of the program will be implemented over the next five years, with more than 200 students expected to be trained in the scientific, commercial, and legal aspects of nanoentrepreneurship, simultaneously strengthening the network of alumni, faculty, engineers, entrepreneurs, and practicing attorneys involved with the nanoscale industry in the Capital Region and throughout New York State. Additionally, the program aims to attract top engineering, business, and law students to the region to enhance enrollment at both institutions.
CNSE is a critical enabling resource in catalyzing new research, development, and business investments from the various sectors of the nanotechnology industry across New York State, fostering vital partnerships to produce and commercialize nanotechnology innovations, leading to economic development and job creation. Albany Law is America's oldest independent school of law and is a nationally recognized center of learning and teaching as it provides opportunities to develop habits of critical analysis, understanding of theory, and the acquisition of professional skills. Through this agreement, each institution offers an affiliation with a distinguished cadre of faculty, researchers, students, experts, and leaders who are notable in their respective fields of study.
For more information, visit www.sunycnse.com and www.albanylaw.edu
Creation Technologies, a global contract electronics manufacturer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that provides full-service design and manufacturing solutions, has received registration from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its manufacturing facility in Lexington, Kentucky. It is the company’s fifth manufacturing location in North America to be FDA-registered.
“The role of the FDA is to protect public health, ensuring that strict standards are in place. We’re proud to say that Creation understands these standards and adheres to the Good Manufacturing Practices that enable us to provide expert design and manufacturing for medical devices and products that must comply with the FDA’s food code,” said Ron Euer, Creation’s quality and Lean leader.
“A significant number of Creation’s customers are making products that improve the health and well-being of people everywhere. We want to do whatever we can to help our partners succeed,” said Executive Vice President Andy Hyatt. “As an EMS provider providing both design and manufacturing solutions, it’s incredibly important that we’re able to demonstrate our capabilities to safeguard our customers’ reputations as well as public safety. FDA registration provides the proof that Creation Technologies is a great choice for companies looking for a premier partner.”
Creation Technologies employs approximately 3,000, and serves companies in the industrial and instrumentation; medical; communications and wireless; computing and media; transportation; defense, security and aerospace; and environmental industries.
The company operates 13 manufacturing locations and two design centers in British Columbia, California, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Ontario, China and Mexico.
Photonics Industries, a manufacturer of diode-pumped solid-state lasers, has expanded its Long Island-based headquarters facilities by purchasing a 67,000 ft2 building in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
The new building is less than two miles from the current facilities in Bohemia, and has 6,000 ft2 of existing cleanroom facilities. Photonics Industries will be investing about $8 million to add new equipment and an additional 8,000 ft2 of new cleanroom facilities.
The company serves industrial, scientific, and defense customers, providing a range of diode-pumped pico-second and nano-second lasers as well as many tunable and customized laser solutions.
RIT's chemical and biomedical engineering departments are housed with the new building which incorporates lounge and study spaces with labs, classrooms and faculty offices. Institute Hall also completes a new science quad on campus, joining three other new buildings.
The building includes 12,750 sq. ft. of dedicated faculty research labs, a 2,500 sq. ft. chemical engineering unit operations teaching lab, a vivarium, classrooms for training healthcare-related professionals and an environmentally controlled laser research lab, among other scientific research facilities. The ground floor has classrooms for the general campus, while the upper floors mix student spaces and classrooms with faculty offices in order to facilitate interaction between students and faculty.
Referred to as the “Brick City,” RIT is well known for its large collection of Modernist brick buildings. Institute Hall reflects this tradition with a transparent, glazed core wrapped in a red brick shell, with a traditional rectangular brick wall on its west face and a curved glass façade on its north face. The brick sections house labs, while the glass encloses offices and classrooms, allowing in daylight.
The team is targeting LEED Gold certification. Sustainable elements include a data center that uses air from outside, instead of MEP cooling, as well as a rain garden on the building’s east side.
Apple Inc. says it will open a manufacturing plant in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa that will eventually employ 700 workers.
The Cupertino, Calif., maker of the iPhone confirmed Monday that it is expanding its U.S. manufacturing operations in a former First Solar plant in Mesa. The city southeast of Phoenix already hosts a long list of high-tech manufacturing firms.
About 1,300 construction jobs will also be created as the First Solar plant designed to make thin-film solar panels is converted. The company sold the plant last month.
Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huguet says the plant will be powered with renewable energy provided by local utility Salt River Project.
The new Nanomedicine Institute@NTU will be headed by Professor Subbu Venkatraman, Chair of NTU's School of Materials Science and Engineering, with Professor Chad Mirkin from Northwestern University as the chairman of its advisory committee. Prof Mirkin is a scientific advisor to United States President Barack Obama and a celebrated nanotechnology expert with more than 80 national and international awards and is the author of over 550 manuscripts and has over 930 patents worldwide.
Prof Mirkin is renowned globally for his work involving Spherical Nucleic Acids, structures made by taking DNA or RNA, the codes of life, and arranging them into a tiny ball on the surface of a nanoparticle, typically made of gold. The founder of four successful companies, he is acknowledged as a pioneer in using such nanomaterials for molecular and medical sensing, and is now developing various types of nanomedicines for the treatment of cancer.
Set to be Southeast Asia's first research institute in nanomedicine, the new Nanotechnology Institute @NTU will have the well-known International Institute of Nanotechnology (IIN), based in Northwestern University and headed by Professor Mirkin, as its main collaborative partner.
The new institute has identified several initial projects such as a new anti-glaucoma nanomedicine. Injected only twice yearly to replace the current daily eye drops, the nanomedicine reduces high eye-pressure, which if left untreated can lead to blindness.
Another project in the works is the new drug-eluting balloon, which can deliver drugs in nano form over a long period of time to prevent re-occurrence of cardiovascular plaque that narrow the arteries.
Announced by NTU Provost, Professor Freddy Boey, the new Nanomedicine Institute @ NTU will have $60 million in funding and will focus on developing innovative solutions in four core areas - diabetes, cardiovascular, ophthalmology and skin therapeutics.
Prof Boey, a serial inventor and a nanoscience expert himself globally, said the new institute will build upon the university's success in nanomaterials to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic medicine that will address medical needs which are currently unmet.
"The use of Nanomaterials for medical applications is today, one of the most exciting frontiers, enabling solutions for unmet needs never thought possible previously," Prof Boey said.
"NTU has already produced some "first-in-the-world" solutions using nanomaterials for cardiovascular and ophthalmology diseases. There are still many, many unmet medical needs, for example, in the area of diabetes. This effort will help Singapore and NTU to be at the forefront in developing disruptive solutions for unmet medical needs globally. "
"Likewise, while there are current drugs to tackle the diseases of today, they may not be the most effective in their current form. For example, by changing the packaging and delivery of a drug into a nano-sized form, we can prolong the period of which the drug stays in a body, reducing both the frequency and amount of drugs needed to treat the affected body part."
The university wide Nanomedicine Institute @ NTU will have research facilities in both NTU's Yunnan Garden campus and Novena campus. It brings together NTU's key nanotechnology-related projects and experts, across its engineering and science schools, including NTU's new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
Founding Director of the Institute, Professor Subbu Venkatraman said: "Medical solutions for the future can only be found through a strong interdisciplinary approach in research; this is particularly true for Nanomedicine."
Joining Professor Chad Mirkin in the advisory board of NTU's new institute is his colleague Prof Vinayak Dravid from the Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization (NUANCE) Center. Together, they bring on board considerable experience in translating nanomedicinal products to market.
Prof Mirkin said: "NTU's partnership with Northwestern University's International Institute for Nanotechnology will create a world class recruiting base and research infrastructure, making it one of the largest global efforts in the field of nanomedicine.
"Through the new institute, NTU and Northwestern scientists, engineers, and medical doctors will collaboratively develop new ways of tracking and treating some of the world's most debilitating diseases," said the nanoscience expert, who is also a visiting professor at NTU.
Prof Mirkin's many awards for his nanotechnology work include the prestigious Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology, the Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize, considered by many to be the Nobel prize of invention.
Other notable tie-ups will be with Professor Lenny Rome of the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) and Prof Shlomo Mogdassi of Hebrew University, who was involved with the translation of a very early nanomedicine product, Abraxane, used in the treatment of breast, lung and pancreatic cancer.
The institute will also work with Prof Marcelle Machluf of Technion Institute of Technology, who is recognized for her work in drug delivery and tissue engineering.
Market estimates places the value of existing nanomedicine products worldwide at US$112 billion in 2012, and is expected to expand 10.8 per cent annually. The estimates do not include the newly-created markets such as in ophthalmology (approx. $2 billion), dermatology (approx. $1 billion) cardiovascular ($7 billion) and diabetes ($8 to $10 billion).
Besides ground-breaking research, NTU has had remarkable success translating its research into innovative applications. Most recently ranked 41st globally by higher education information provider Quacquarelli Symonds, NTU was also ranked No. 1 in the world by Times higher Education in industry income and innovation.
Innovation and Future Healthcare are two of NTU's Five Peaks of Excellence, which are interdisciplinary research areas that the university aims to make a global mark in. The other three peaks include Sustainable Earth, New Media, and the Best of East and West.
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.
NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centers such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).
Besides the main Yunnan Garden campus, NTU also has a satellite campus in Singapore’s science and tech hub, one-north, and a third campus in Novena, Singapore’s medical district.
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