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The Old Lathe building in South Bend is set to become one of only four nano-technology parks in the country.
The new project broke ground earlier this summer. On Tuesday night, city leaders and project managers laid out it's economic development plan to community members.
"I think there is that anticipation of how many jobs will this bring, is this going to happen tomorrow?, " says Phil Damico, Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County.
Damico says step one of the project involves clearing away the old Lathe Building, which they are still months away. Step two involves studying other tech parks to come up with a plan. Step three involves attracting businesses. Those involved in the project say most people just want to know when it will bring jobs to Michiana.
"We won't expect jobs to show up for at least four, five, or six years at the earliest," says Pat McMahon, Executive Director of Project Future.
They are talking about developing the next generation of smaller, faster computer chips. They could power things like cell phones, computers and cars. They say patience is the key for now, since we are still years away from completion.
For more information on nanotechnology, another forum will be held Wednesday night. It's called "How Nanotechnology will Change the Future of Michiana," and it's by Jack Uldrich, president of the NanoVeritas Group and author of several books. The event will be held at the Recital Hall at Indiana University South Bend.

Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity and disperses heat.
"All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.
That idea - that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes - has been floated for years.
But now researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.
Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50 000 times thinner than a human hair. Due to its unique properties, it is envisioned as a wondrous new material for light, energy-efficient aircraft and cars, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products.
The secret of its strength was the huge surface area of each nanotube, said Ben Wang, director of Florida State's High-Performance Materials Institute. "If you take a gram of nanotubes, just one gram, and if you unfold every tube into a graphite sheet, you can cover about two-thirds of a football field."
It took years to get a new structural material certified for aviation use, Wang said, so he expected buckypaper's first uses would be for electromagnetic interference shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft.
The long-range goal was to build planes and cars with buckypaper composites.
"Nanotubes obviously are no longer just lab wonders. They have real-world potential. It's real." - Sapa-AP

A professor of Chemical Engineering from the University of NSW, Neil Foster, recently received a grant offering him 60 thousand dollars. The grant was provided by the federal government so that Foster could commercialize his nano research: research he has been conducting for the past decade. For ten years, Foster, along with his wife and other researchers has been working in the field of nano science in the hopes to better the world in some way. Foster, a specialist in nanotechnology has recently developed “Arise,” which is a method for creating nano medical devices and medicines. In an interview Foster had with the Daily Telegraph, foster announced that he and his team of nanotech researchers are creating medicines which can be delivered less invasively.
Foster formed Nanomed Pty Ltd along with his wife. After teaming up with the University of NSW, the husband and wife team got the sixty thousand dollar grant, as well as an additional 16 thousand from the university. The team is now in the process of working with a commercializing consultant, creating a business plan and considering marketing strategies. Foster considered the receipt of the grant a subtle acknowledgement that universities are finally attuned to modern times and needs. What has become clear is that the commercialization of nanotech research and nanotechnology findings is something that will continue to occur well into the future.
The $60,000 grant provided to Foster and his nanotechnology focused company can only be utilized for business planning and/or research pertaining to the marketing of Arise. The hopes are to have everything in position by the summer of next year. Of course, Foster and his company are not the only companies to have received grants; the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, and Research has given away more than 360 million dollars in grants to more than 1100 researchers.
Foster considers his time studying nanotechnology and the recent advances in the field of nanotechnology a gradual development. Nanotechnology has evolved and Foster hopes the field will continue to do so. The entire reason why Foster got into the field of nano science is for the fact that he loves to help others; the field of nano science has made it possible for him to prove helpful to many. In the future, if Foster should indeed become wealthy from his endeavors in the field of nanotechnology, Foster considers himself quite philanthropic. Undoubtedly, his wealth will be put to good use.

Beneq Oy (FI) strengthens its position as supplier to the glass industry by "Introducing Real Nanotechnology to the Glass Industry" and announcing the on-going joint development project and collaboration with AGC Flat Glass Europe (BE) for Beneq's nanotechnology-based glass coating technology, nHALO®.
Beneq's unique coating technology and equipment combined with AGC Flat Glass Europe's extensive experience in the field of glass production and manufacturing technology and knowhow concerning the use of the glass products enables extensive development and commercialization of nHALO-technology. The commercialization of nHALO will cover a wide range of coating applications and these applications will gradually enter into flat glass markets.
"Collaboration with AGC Flat Glass Europe, a European leader in flat glass is a significant step further for Beneq to introduce nanotechnology solutions to flat glass. AGC Flat Glass Europe's resources and know-how gives Beneq valuable information about industry needs and helps us speed up the commercialization of nHALO technology and equipment", says Mr. Sampo Ahonen, CEO of Beneq.
Beneq's proprietary nHALO-technology and applications are designed for producing functional surfaces on glass enabling synthesis, deposition and diffusion of nanoparticles in and/or on the surface of glass. In the nAERO-process, submicron droplets are directly deposited on hot glass and form a uniform film and the process can be adapted to the transport speeds of glass production and post-processing lines. The main applications for nAERO are low-emissivity and TCO-coatings on glass. Beneq ALD Thin Film Systems are designed for depositing oxides, nitrides and sulfides on metals, polymers and biocompatible materials. ALD applications are applied to optical, tribological, passivation and primer layer high precision thin films for flat and complex 3D-products.
For additional information please contact: Mr Sampo Ahonen, CEO, Beneq Oy M: + 358 40 520 1090, sampo.ahonen@beneq.com , beneq.com

We all heard of Pepsi's Blue Billion effort in 2006. While the idea behind it was commendable (understandable?) - an association with cricket which later turned into a community portal. I am not sure if it was a gooseflesh of an idea. The performance of our cricket team added to the problem and the whole effort did not generate the kind of buzz it could have. Here is something that could.
Earlier this year, Adidias launched a promotion in New Zealand (which is obsessed with Rugby as we are with Cricket) where the legendary All Blacks team evokes passion and fuels the national spirit. The idea: the names of thousands of All Blacks rugby fans’ literally engraved onto a thread that will form part of an All Blacks jersey.
Fans can submit their name, which will be etched via nanotechnology onto something called the Adithread, (read more about the technology here) as well as sharing their ‘This is Not a Jersey’ mantra via the website. The site intro stirs up all the feelings of belonging to a tribe and supporting a team, and the significance of wearing your country’s colours with emotive statements such as ‘this is not a uniform, but a country unified’ and ‘this is not a souvenir, this is a reminder of all who have worn it before us’.
Cute little sidelights: if your baby was born on the day of a 2008 home test match of All Blacks, your baby gets a jersey too!
http://www.lbhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/manifesto.jpg
Later this month, All Blacks' Richie McCaw will be presented with jerseys that have the names of 100,000 fans engraved onto a single thread used to make the jerseys. Wow! Isn't the symbolism of this idea great! 'What binds us together', 'carrying your fans' wishes with you' could all be attributed as symbolic of the promo idea. And it takes user generated content to another level. Awesome work.

With an increasingly interconnected population of 6.7 billion, it is no wonder the world is host to a never-ending supply of off-the-wall ideas from every corner of the globe. But given worldwide discrepancies in economic resources and funding for scientific research, what seems like science fiction on one continent may very well be yesterday’s news on the other.
That seems to be the case with nanotechnology, a type of applied science that has been getting heaps of attention for some 20 years in industrialized countries but is only now making headway in the developing world, including the Middle East.
Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating and reassembling matter at the molecular level, and creating better, more durable materials and systems. According to pro-nano scientists, nanotechnology can revolutionize everything from household appliances and clothing to renewable energy and the way we diagnose diseases.
“Imagine socks that don’t shrink, 100% cotton shirts that are waterproof, a shirt that could charge your iPod and paint that kills bacteria,” says Mohamed Abdel Mottaleb, who has a PhD in nanotechnology and is a co-founder of both the Middle East and Africa’s first nanotechnology consultancy company, SabryCorp. “It will dictate a new way of thinking.”
But the seemingly groundbreaking technology, which promises to touch on almost every aspect of our lives, also has the potential to cause an ethical storm even bigger than the backlash against genetically modified crops. Because it is a relatively new and somewhat underdeveloped technology, many are skeptical of the scientific community’s ability to accurately predict the drawbacks.
So when SabryCorp set up shop in Egypt last year, industry players here and in the region were forced to assess both what nanotechnology is and what it really means for both industry and society. Nano Comes to Egypt
While nanotechnology is not necessarily a new science, some of its first commercial products were released in just 2005 and investment has grown exponentially ever since.
“Every reputable organization is investing in nanotechnology: IBM, HP, Xerox, textile companies, oil, gas, etcetera,” Abdel Mottaleb says. “In 2007 alone, the size of investments [in nanotechnology] worldwide reached $148 billion [LE 810 billion] and is projected to reach $2.6 trillion [LE 14.2 trillion] by 2014.”
But SabryCorp, founded in 2005 as a nanotechnology advisory company, has decided to focus on smaller-scale risks and investments. The brainchild of Abdel Mottaleb and Alaina Haist, who has a PhD in ethics, SabryCorp aims to “improve the quality of life in developing countries through science and innovation.”
“Part of our operations includes advising companies on how to use nanotechnology and which solutions yield maximum benefit,” says Abdel Mottaleb. “We help future clients develop their nanotechnology capabilities.”
On a separate front, SabryCorp is launching a public awareness campaign about nanotechnology, and pushing its image as a pioneer of the controversial science in the Middle East. “We knew that in order to enter the Middle East, we would have to increase awareness,” says Abdel Mottaleb.
The company has three main targets for its campaign in order to ensure the sustainable development of nanotechnology: the government, corporations and the public.
“We’re collaborating with [the Ministry of Trade and Industry] on legislative matters related to nanotechnology,” Abdel Mottaleb says, adding that SabryCorp is also working with the Ministry of Higher Education to promote awareness.
“In Egypt, 50% of the population is under age 35, and a large portion of these people are under 20 — in high school and at university,” he says. “[So] we started a program called In2Nano that targets the youth in a fun way, using nano-products like 100% cotton T-shirts that are waterproof and fight bacteria. This step is important because these kids will be the future decision-makers.”
The public is another major target for SabryCorp, Abdel Mottaleb says, to prevent a public backlash against the technology. As a part of this, SabryCorp has published a quick, non-technical guide to nanotech.
Corporations too, he says, must be aware of the benefits of nanotechnology, like the sustainability of nano-based hybrid production lines. In cooperation with Ain Shams University, SabryCorp organized an event attended by over 150 companies eager to discover how nanotech is developing in the Middle East.
Haist believes “there is a real chance for the Middle East to do real science and real innovation. One could dispute that the West has completely monopolized traditional technology, but with such a fundamentally new science like nanotechnology, everyone is on the same footing.”
For the past decade or so, Egypt has fallen behind several of its richer neighbors, Abdel Mottaleb says. A private Saudi company is currently investing $100 million (LE 545 million) in nanotechnology, while the Saudi government announced a budget of $6 billion (LE 33 billion) for the new science over the next five years.
“[Gulf] countries are now more business savvy than they once were. Also the amount of surplus cash is quite high and they understand the need for diversification,” says Abdel Mottaleb. “However, in Egypt, several investments have been done into researching advanced technologies recently as a result of the increased economic growth.”
In terms of Egypt’s economy, Abdel Mottaleb sees immediate business benefits from the use of nanotechnology in the textile industry, and long-term benefits in the cement and steel sectors. He adds: “There are sectors like medicine where nanotechnology will not be beneficial on the local front since [the pharmaceuticals industry] is dependent on reproduction, not creation.” New Rules of the Game
Because nanotechnology has the potential to radically transform, create or destroy existing technology markets, it is known in the scientific community as a “disruptive technology.” With the manipulation of matter at its most fundamental levels, nanotech paves the way for unprecedented possibilities in the worlds of medicine, industry, transportation and computers. But it also has the potential to be used for less benign purposes, creating ever-more-powerful and destructive military arsenals for those with the capabilities.
“Military is one of the biggest applications of nanotechnology,” says Abdel Mottaleb. “MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] has a [US Army-funded] center for Nano-Soldier technology research.”
But SabryCorp claims to keep the ethical development of nanotechnology as its primary focus. “For us who are working in the Middle East, where no one has heard of this technology, the ethics component is critical,” says Haist. “This is because we are not looking to make the rich richer, but rather allowing this technology to actually address recurring issues like pollution, renewable energy and the cost of medicine.”
Despite this, however, Abdel Mottaleb admits that the rules have definitely changed, and companies and industry players will have to adapt to those rules.
“Nanotechnology is a disruptive technology that will change the rules of the game,” Abdel Mottaleb says. “And to play, let alone win, you must know the rules of the game.” bt

Cell printing as a new cell seeding technology in tissue engineering has been attracting more and more attentions. The advantages of high throughput, automatically controlled, low cost of cell printing has a promising future for tissue engineering. Inkjet printing technology is currently widely used for cell printing. However, the heating and stress to the cells during the printing process may cause cell apoptosis or other physical or genetic changes.
We present here a comprehensively study of changes in heat shock protein expression and cell membrane morphogenesis in Chinese Hamster ovary cells printed with thermal inkjet printers. We found the optimal cell concentration for cell printing using the modified HP Deskjet 500 inkjet printer using the HP 51626A ink cartridge was one million cells per ml. The heat shock protein expression of the printed cells has minor difference between the untreated cells and lower than manually heated cells.
The cell membrane of printed cells developed pores which allow small molecules such as propidium iodide and dextran molecules (up to 70kD) to pass. We conclude here that cell printing technology can be used for precise cell seeding in tissue engineering fabrication with minor effect and damages to the printed mammalian cells. The printing process caused temporary pores with various sizes to appear in the membranes. This may have promising applications for small molecules transferred into cells for protein expression and drug delivery purpose.

Technology is a double-edged sword: Nanotechnology will give us the smallest machines imagineable and sheets of paper as strong as steel – but this new technology will also introduce new health threats in the indoor environment.
In the book Implications of Nanotechnology for Environmental Health Research, editors Lynn Goldman and Christine Coussens suggest that we need to explore related health threats before nanoparticles become commonplace in the typical home:
“Today some nanomaterials are already being used commercially. For example, some companies are using TiO2 nanoparticles in sunscreen lotions because they provide transparency to a sunscreen, and are believed to be less toxic than the organic molecules currently used as UV absorbers in many sunscreen formulations. Nanomaterials can also be found in sporting equipment, clothing, and telecommunication infrastructure. The future of nanotechnology is boundless, according to some speakers.”
Nanotechnology revolves around the application of nanoparticles, which are extremely small engineered particles. The problem is that these particles are so small that they can easily get into the human body; they can be inhaled and penetrate lung tissue, for instance.
“Very little is known about engineered nanoparticles and how they interact with cells or human organisms,” point out the editors. “Some current hypotheses suggest that some engineered nanoparticles may be more toxic (inflammatory) than other fine-sized particles of identical chemical composition.”
Indeed, small diesel particles in the nanoparticle size range have been shown to damage not only the lungs but also the heart.
The CDC states: “For most processes and job tasks, the control of airborne exposure to nanoparticles can most likely be accomplished using a wide variety of engineering control techniques similar to those used in reducing exposures to general aerosols.

"This is one of the first examples of someone successfully controlling the activity of a protein using light," said Stephen Benkovic, Penn State Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Chemistry, and one of the team's leaders. "The technology one day could be expanded to have multiple uses, including the ability to turn off the activities of some disease-causing proteins in the cell," he said.
The team's results will appear in the 17 October issue of the journal Science.
In their experiment, the scientists designed a hybrid protein by inserting a light-sensing protein from an oat plant into an enzyme -- a type of protein that catalyzes biochemical reactions -- from the bacterium E. coli. After engineering the two components together, the researchers found that the enzyme's activity could be manipulated by shining a light on the light-sensing protein, which the scientists refer to as a "domain." "The technology works like a light switch," said Benkovic. "When we shine a light on the light-sensing domain, the enzyme's activity increases, and when we shut the light off, the enzyme's activity decreases."
According to Jeeyeon Lee, a postdoctoral scholar in the Penn State Department of Chemistry and one of the paper's authors, the team had to consider a number of factors when designing the hybrid protein, including the protein's shape, or what is referred to as its conformation. "The conformation of a protein is important in determining its function," she said. "Without the proper conformation, our protein would not have responded to the light."
Another important factor that the team had to consider was the proper location on the enzyme into which the light-sensing protein from the oat plant would be inserted. Vishal Nashine, also a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Chemistry and an author of the paper, said the team was surprised to find that the switch worked only when they attached the light-sensing domain to the enzyme at a particular site. The switch did not operate when they attached the molecule to other locations on the enzyme. "The fact that the switch worked only when the light-sensing domain was attached to the enzyme at a specific site suggests that a unique network is active at that site through which signals, such as those responding to light, are transmitted," he said.
The successful site was located, among more than a hundred different possibilities, using a computational algorithm called the Statistical Coupling Analysis (SCA), which was pioneered by Rama Ranganathan, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and one of the paper's leading authors.
The team's future research will investigate how the signal triggered by the light was transmitted from the light-sensing domain to the enzyme. "It is not yet clear how this process works," said Benkovic. "So far, the effect has been small, but we plan to optimize the technology to see if we can use light to modulate the enzyme's activity in alternative ways."
Other authors of this paper from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center include William Russ, an assistant professor of pharmacology, who was responsible for locating the site on the enzyme into which the light-sensing protein was successfully inserted, and Madhusudan Natarajan, an assistant professor of pharmacology, Tina Vo, a senior technician, and Michael Socolich, a senior technician, who worked together to build the genes for the hybrid proteins.
This research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is today launching a public consultation on its draft scientific opinion in relation to nanoscience and nanotechnologies and food and feed safety. Nanotechnologies involve the use of substances on a very small scale. This draft opinion focuses on engineered nano materials (ENM) that could be deliberately introduced into the food chain. It elaborates on approaches to risk assessment in this field and as such is not an assessment of any specific application of ENM.
The European Commission (EC) has asked for this opinion as a first step because consideration needs to be given as to whether existing risk assessment approaches can be appropriately applied to this new technology. When finalised, EFSA’s opinion will then help the EC to explore appropriate measures, assess existing legislation and determine the scope of possible further requests for scientific opinions from EFSA in this field.
EFSA’s Scientific Committee (SC), which includes the chairs of all of EFSA’s Panels, is leading this work as it has a multi-disciplinary character and is relevant to a number of the Panels’ respective areas of expertise. They are being assisted by a Working Group of scientists with relevant expertise.
Key conclusions of the draft opinion include:
* Established international approaches to risk assessment[1] currently used for non nano chemicals can also be applied to ENM * It is currently not possible to satisfactorily extrapolate scientific data on non nano chemicals and apply it to their nano-sized versions. Consequently specific case by case risk assessments should be performed when assessing their safety, based on specific data from relevant safety tests applicable to the particular application * Possible risks arise because ENM have particular characteristics, due in part to their small size and high surface area. Small size increases their ability to move around in the body in ways that other substances do not, while their high surface area increases their reactivity * Additional limitations and uncertainties exist, particularly in relation to characterising, detecting and measuring ENM in food, feed or the body. There is also limited information on absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, as well as the toxicity of ENM
Recommendations are made in the draft opinion for further data, research and investigations to address uncertainties and limitations and therefore strengthen the understanding, evidence base and methodologies to be applied in assessing the risk of ENMs. The opinion also gives an indication to potential applicants of the data they would need to provide to allow for a risk assessment.
Comments on the draft opinion can be submitted until 1st December 2008, via the EFSA website. EFSA will also meet with stakeholders to discuss the draft opinion and engage with EU Member States (MS) through its Advisory Forum.
The Working Group and the SC will consider comments and contributions made during the consultation. The final opinion will be adopted, considering the comments received, after the public consultation.
Draft Opinion of the Scientific Committee on the Potential Risks Arising from Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies on Food and Feed Safety Key topic section on Nanotechnologies Frenquently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Nanotechnologies
For media enquiries, please contact: Karen Talbot, Communications Advisor Email: Press@efsa.europa.eu Tel: +39 0521 036 149