X-Message-Number: 20454 From: "Gina Miller" <> Subject: The Nanogirl News~ Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 17:14:33 -0800 The Nanogirl News November 18, 2002 Quantum Dot Corporation Launches First Bio-Nanotechnology Product. Quantum Dot Corporation (QDC), the leader in quantum dot biotechnology applications, announced today the launch of its first Qdot(TM) product. The Qdot(TM) 605 Streptavidin Conjugate, the first in a line of Qdot products, enables dramatic improvements in a wide range of bio-sensing applications. "This first product launch is an enormously significant milestone in our evolution into a commercial organization," said Carol C. Lou, QDC's President and Chief Operations Officer. "We have made many significant innovations in converting an academic curiosity into a business reality. Our core expertise in the commercialization of biologically active nanomaterials will enable the rapid launch of many additional products in 2003 and beyond. Our Qdot products give substantial performance improvements with a wide variety of installed instruments. We anticipate rapid adoption by the large number of scientists who require sensitive detection and visualization of biomolecules." (Business Wire 11/14/02) http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?bw.111402/223180430 An Innovation Recession? Amid Tough Times, Lab Chiefs Say Research Still Moving Forward. The technology slump of the past two years has cost thousands of workers their jobs, decimated some companies and slowed down the economy. Will it also result in fewer innovations from America's high-tech firms? That question can produce contentious responses inside Silicon Valley. But it's also a significant long-term economic issue. A U.S. Commerce Department study shows that information technology companies accounted for nearly 30 percent of national growth between 1995 and 2000, despite comprising just 8 percent of the national GDP. And tech firms grew in large part due to innovations cooked up in America's research labs. -Included: IBMs nanotechnology research- (ABC News 11/11/02) http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/innovation_021111.html Scientists shell out on nanowires. Researchers from Harvard University, US, have used chemical-vapour deposition to grow multiple shells around nanowires of silicon and germanium. Charles Lieber and his team also demonstrated a field-effect transistor based on a nanowire with a silicon core coated with layers of germanium and silicon oxide. nanotechweb 11/8/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/11/6/1 Or read at PhysicsWeb- Nanowires within nanowires: http://physicsweb.org/article/news/6/11/5 Bay Area firms, people, win 'Scientific American 50'. Ten Bay Area-based firms and people made the grade for outstanding achievement in progressive science and technology, according to Scientific American magazine first "Scientific American 50" awards. Visit the link to view the winners.-two nanoscale winners- (San Francisco Business Times 11/11/02) http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/11/11/daily17. html Molecular Film on Liquid Mercury Reveals New Properties. A team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Harvard University, and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have grown ultrathin films made of organic molecules on the surface of liquid mercury. The results, reported in the November 15, 2002, issue of Science, reveal a series of new molecular structures that could lead to novel applications in nanotechnology, which involves manipulating materials at the atomic scale. (BNL 11/14/02) http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2002/bnlpr111402.htm UT to reap money from Dow partnership. The University of Texas will get a percentage of the revenue from a drug technology collaboration between UT and Dow Chemical Co., the Midland, Mich.-based chemical and pharmaceutical company announced...UT researchers have discovered methods using nanotechnology to break drugs into extremely small particles, making them more soluble. Nanotechnology is the science of developing materials from minute particles to improve conventional products. (San Francisco Business T imes 11/12/02) http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2002/11/11/daily12.html NIST Keeps You In Position In Space And Time. Phoning home from 93 billion miles away - -only E.T. and other science fiction characters can do that. But with the help of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) know-how, reality soon may catch up with imagination... The prototype NIST device acts as a mechanical filter that generates very straight lines by screening out all other motions. Primarily intended for use in the delicate assembly and alignment of optoelectronic devices and applications in micro- and nano-manufacturing, the micro-positioner in a different application offers a promising means for meeting the demanding range, mass and power requirements for the RISE. (Space Daily 11/15/02) http://www.spacedaily.com/news/astro-navigation-02c.html CMP self-aligns carbon nanofibre cathodes. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in the US have used chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to make gated field-emission devices with single carbon nanofibre cathodes. The technique has the advantage that it self-aligns the carbon nanofibre with the aperture and does not need complex photolithographic equipment. (nanotechweb.org 11/15/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/11/11/1 Young Inventors Awards: Finalists: The Inventions. Asia's Magicians. THE VISIONARY science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That's as true for the earliest "magicians" who invented the mariner's compass, the printing press and the steam engine as it is of current breakthroughs in everything from third-generation telephony to mapping the human genome. Over the centuries, the exchange of technologies has inspired new developments and improvements. Today, we are witnessing unparalleled advances in technology and mass production, while scientific discovery in such areas as genomics, biochemistry and nanotechnology will change the way we live and work. (FarEasternEconomic Review Issue Nov. 21, 2002) http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0211_21/p041innov.html STMicro shows dual-function DNA analysis chip. STMicroelectronics demonstrated a dual-function microfluidic chip that can both amplify DNA and analyze the results of the reaction at the recent Chips-to-Hits conference here. The MEMS system was created as a spin-off from inkjet print heads, which are essentially a silicon-based microfluidic technology. Tiny samples of DNA go through a temperature cycle that doubles the amount of genetic material in the sample each time, and the results are piped into another area of the chip containing gold electrodes with specific DNA strands attached. A match is detected optically, offering a single-chip solution for bedside medical diagnostics. (EETimes 11/11/02) http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20021108S0017 Lotus effect shakes off dirt. The lotus - a flowering wetland plant native to Asia - may not, at first glance, be of interest to the nanotechnologist. But researchers at German chemical company BASF are developing a spray-on coating that mimics the way lotus leaves repel water droplets and particles of dirt. (nanotechweb 11/8/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/11/5/1 >From wall plug to nano circuit: power chips go hand-in-hand with SoC technology. System on a chip (SOC) companies are coming out with strong predictions, claiming that the entire signal path (digital + analog + memory) and even a full GSM system----including power management----will be integrated in the next few years. However, the reality is that this up-integration march, fueled by nano scale lithography (minimum features less than 100nm), ends up defining the product's own technology boundaries: the higher the number of transistors on a chip, the lower their voltage and the more fragile their technology. At the 0.13um juncture, for example, the SOC processes work at voltages in the range of 1-2V! (PlanetAnalog.com 11/16/02) http://www.planetanalog.com/features/OEG20021113S0045 HP wins molecular electronics patent. HP has received a US patent that covers "chemically synthesized and assembled electronic devices". The patent describes a scalable chemical process for making devices based on electrically switchable molecules positioned between crossed wires just a few atoms wide.(nanotechweb.org 11/13/02) http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/1/11/8/1 Biotech early bird flies pharma coop. Larry Bock is not a household name in Silicon Valley, but perhaps he should be. During the past 17 years, he has been one of the most prolific and successful entrepreneurs in biotechnology. An early bird in biotech, the 43-year-old Bock founded 12 biotech start-ups, eight of which trade on the Nasdaq, and has made good money on most of them. He has seeded several others that have gone public. Last year, though, Bock flew the biotech coop. A consolidation in the industry had made it too hard to sell products to the big pharmaceutical companies, he said. Instead, he has incubated a Palo Alto start-up, Nanosys, which plays in the emerging field of nanotechnology. (Mercury News 11/17/02) http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/business/technology/454062 4.htm Researchers Have Big Hopes for Nanotechnology. The future of science and technology lies in a small world -- so tiny it can't be seen with the unaided human eye. Broadly known as nanotechnology, it's the hottest area in research and development. Embracing various sciences, engineering and technology, it holds out enormous potential for advances in everything from drug delivery to consumer products. Nanotechnology, which focuses on the ability to work at the molecular level to create new structures and functions, is now attracting millions of dollars in government funding and corporate investment. (The Salt Lake Tribune 11/17/02) http://www.sltrib.com/11172002/business/17040.htm Europe has massive interest in nanotechnology at the academic level, but successfully moving it all to market will require the combined efforts of the European Union, individual governments and trade groups, according to a new report. (SmallTimes 11/15/02) http://www.smalltimes.com/document_brief.cfm#brief_2 BioTrove eyes 'giant leap' in drug-discovery process. Two products aim to cut down time, cost of drug development. On the fourth floor of Pfizer Inc's Memorial Drive research facility, BioTrove Inc. is quietly making nanotechnology a reality. Nanotechnology promises to speed up the drug-discovery process by reducing assays to a fraction of their present size. Though still a nascent field, the market is ripe for it, said Colin Brenan, president and CEO of BioTrove. (Boston Business Journal 11/18/02) http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2002/11/18/story7.html Avogadro Partners has small plans for future. Seattle-based venture capital firm is betting its future on the 'science of small'. Leonard Pritchard and James Stanton see a bright future in drops of red wine bouncing off a pair of khaki slacks. Pritchard and Stanton are co-founders of the Seattle venture-capital firm Avogadro Partners. The partners are staking their future on the "science of small" - micro- and nano-small, as in a millionth and a billionth. Investment in small technology is already placing ultra-stain-resistant pants on the shelves of stores such as Eddie Bauer and the Bon March . (Puget Sound Business Journal 11/18/02) http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2002/11/18/focus1.html Gina "Nanogirl" Miller Nanotechnology Industries http://www.nanoindustries.com Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org Extropy member http://www.extropy.org "Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20454