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Global Hydrogen, Inc., founded by Dr. Linnard Griffin, is located in Betram, TX. Dr. Griffin is working on new processes for the generation of hydrogen and oxygen.
Using proprietary electrodes and cell design, Dr. Griffin has developed a now low-voltage hydrogen generation process that generates hydrogen under the theoretical minimum of 1.23 volts believed to be necessary.
Consider, until now producing hydrogen using natural gas reforming was the best known and most efficient process. This process uses 3.5 kilogram of natural gas for each kilogram of hydrogen produced. With natural gas marketing at $1.02 a kilogram, hydrogen produced with natural gas is $3.57 per kilogram.
With Dr. Griffin's process, hydrogen can be produced for $2.47 per kilogram (over $1 less) assuming 6 cents per kilowatt hour on the standard utility grid. You can view a short video accompanied by an explanation by Dr. Griffin on our Supporting Documents page.
Almost 96% of the hydrogen gas produced today is from fossil fuel feedstock. The process developed by Global Hydrogen utilizes water, not fossil fuels, to generate hydrogen. Additionally, the process can be utilized so that NO GREENHOUSE GASES are produced. The emergence of fuel cells has created new emerging markets for distributed hydrogen, including standby/backup power generators, material handling, and niche transportation such as fuel cell fleet vehicles, scooters, motorcycles, utility vehicles, boats and more.

As befits an information-besotted age, we live amidst buzzwords that, like some species of exotic insect, seem to live and die in weeks. You might think that the acronym “NBIC” (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information and communication technology (ICT), and Cognitive science) is such an infocritter. But the phenomena behind this term are complex and profound, and raise difficult conceptual and operational questions for not just environmentalists, but anyone interested in human futures.
NBIC is not simply recognition of four rapidly evolving areas of research and technological advance. Rather, it also indicates that the four components -- which are probably best thought of as frontiers of knowledge, rather than simply new technologies -- are increasingly converging in many ways. The boundaries between them are growing increasingly fuzzy and fluid -- is building a DNA-based computational system ICT, or biotechnology, or nanotechnology? They also share some important functional similarities -- for example, all of them represent substantial leaps in the amount of information available to humans, and the ability to manipulate and learn from that information. Thus, for example, biotechnology explicates genome after genome, and the patent system and free market economics rapidly commoditize such information as it is developed. They also represent significant extensions of human intentionality into scales -- such as the very small -- that heretofore were closed to human design.
History clearly indicates that it’s a mug’s game to try to predict the specifics of technological evolution -- the more fundamental a technology system is, the less we can say about its eventual effects on society and culture. But the scenarios which respected scientists spin about the possible implications of the NBIC convergence are worth mentioning because they hint at the degree of possible disruptive change. Some scientists in fields such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, for example, talk about achieving “functional immortality” within perhaps 50 years. Others speak of being able to create integrated real/virtual inhabitable environments within decades. Still others, thinking of the experiment where remote mechanical arms were linked directly into a monkey’s brain via wireless transmission and precision wiring, predict a future where complex engineered systems, such as weapons platforms, are directly interconnected with human brains. Some speak of self-replicating nanobots -- the “gray goo” made famous by Bill Joy in his pessimistic article in Wired. And the potential for a completely sensored, grid computed planetary environment, with no privacy and no individuality, is the nightmare scenario for others.
There are a few common immediate responses to these suggestions. One is usually incredulity -- are they not after all science fiction? “Functional immortality” has been a human fantasy for millennia. Direct coupling of external engineered systems with the human central nervous system reminds one of Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship that Sang about a human brain coupled to a space ship. Another typical response is complete rejection of a potential future that is difficult to comprehend. Thus, for example, some deep greens have already demanded a halt to nanotechnology. More broadly, a resurgence of religious fundamentalism around the world is at least partly attributable to fleeing into a structure of ideological certainty in an attempt to avoid an increasingly complex and contingent world.
These are problematic responses. For one thing, while predicting technology is virtually impossible, the transformative potential of these foundational technologies is clear and in some cases already demonstrable (MRI scans clearly show that access to the Internet and modern games creates a different cognitive structure in the young in developed countries than their peers without such access). Thus, while specific a priori predictions are not possible, it is certainly clear that the effects will be profound and far-reaching. Even more problematic is the effort to completely stifle (as opposed to regulate or manage) new technologies -- it has not worked with genetically modified organisms, and it has already failed with nanotechnology (modern electronics, for example, already contain components designed at the nano scale).
Whether these technologies will on balance be “good” or “bad” is unanswerable at this point. But they do pose a significant challenge not just to society, but to the environmental and sustainability discourses -- a challenge that, so far, has not been met. Continued inability to constructively engage with technological evolution in a rapidly developing world may end up continuing the marginalization of the environmental and sustainability movements. The costs of such a failure would be high for environmentalists - but also for the environment itself. How such engagement might be structured will, accordingly, be the topic of my next column.
------ Brad Allenby is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Arizona State University, a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, and previously was AT&T’s vice president of environment, health, and safety.

The detection of cancer-associated proteins, or biomarkers, in blood samples is a potentially powerful tool for early diagnosis of cancer and monitoring of cancer treatment. A team led by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, has developed a compact prototype detector that uses magnetic nanotechnology to spot cancer-associated proteins in a human blood serum sample with much higher sensitivity than current detectors.
The researchers describe their results in a paper published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of December 1, 2008.
In addition to its high sensitivity, the new detector can monitor multiple biomarkers simultaneously. This "multiplex" capability is important because the use of multiple biomarkers is likely to provide greater accuracy and reliability than single biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and other potential applications, said Nader Pourmand, professor of biomolecular engineering at UCSC.
"With current detectors, you can only detect one protein at a time," Pourmand said. "Instead of the standard fluorescent tags, we used nanosized magnetic beads as tags and were able to detect target molecules with tens to hundreds of times greater sensitivity than standard techniques."
"This is essentially a proof-of-concept study showing that now we have a chip and a reader that can find multiple biomarkers in a sample at a concentration much lower than the standard that is commercially available," said Shan Wang, a Stanford professor of materials science and engineering and electrical engineering.
Wang and Pourmand are senior authors of the paper, along with Stanford biochemistry and genetics Professor Ronald W. Davis.
To tag the cancer proteins with magnetic nanoparticles, the detector subjects blood serum samples to an incubation process that takes place in roughly half an hour. At the heart of the detector is a silicon chip designed by the paper's first author, Sebastian Osterfeld, a Stanford materials science and engineering doctoral student. The chips have 64 embedded sensors whose electrical resistance changes in the presence of a nearby magnetic field. Attached to these sensors are capture antibodies that have the unique ability to latch on to specific cancer-related proteins as they float by.
During the incubation process, these antibodies first capture their specific cancer proteins. Next, a second wave of antibodies attach to the specific cancer proteins on one end and magnetic nanoparticles on the other end, tethering the captured cancer biomarkers to magnetic "nanotags." The tags emit a magnetic field that causes a change in the resistance of the underlying sensor, giving the detector a clear signal.
In the PNAS paper, the researchers described detection of very low concentrations of various cancer biomarkers, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha and cancer embryonic antigen. In a multiplex assay involving seven potential cancer biomarkers, concentrations ranging from 5 quadrillionths to 0.1 trillionths of a mole (a standard unit of measurement for molecules) were unambiguously detected simultaneously.
The researchers also estimated that they could detect levels of the protein human chorionic gonadotropin about 400 times lower than the concentration detectable by current commercial kits known by the acronym ELISA, in which captured proteins are conjugated to color-altering or fluorescent labels.
To properly prepare a patient's blood sample for use with the detector, a technician must use a centrifuge to separate out the serum, which contains the biomarkers. For this reason, the device would need to be located in a hospital or a private diagnostic lab, Wang said. Even before that, the device faces clinical utility testing and then must undergo clinical trials to win regulatory approval. To see the device through those steps, Pourmand and Wang have cofounded a startup company, MagArray, in the Panorama Institute for Molecular Medicine, a nonprofit incubator in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Wang said he is optimistic that the technology could someday save lives by detecting cancer early or by helping doctors to select more effective therapy.
"The earlier you can detect a cancer, the better chance you have to kill it," Wang said. "This could be especially helpful for lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer, because those cancers are hidden in the body."
The nascent startup has also begun to apply the technology to diagnosis and assessing risk of heart attack in emergency rooms. Heart cell death is also associated with the release of specific biomarker proteins.
The research was funded partly by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. Other authors of the paper include Heng Yu, Richard Gaster, Stefano Caramuta, Liang Xu, Shu-Jen Han, Drew Hall, Robert Wilson, and Robert White, all of Stanford, and Shouheng Sun, of Brown University.
Note to reporters: You may contact Pourmand at (831) 502-7315 or pourmand@soe.ucsc.edu.

The North–South divide in economic development is often matched by a North–South divide in science and technology. Governments in the North and the South, as well as international donors, have at last grasped the reality that science and technology are crucial to building a nation's institutions in areas such as transport, agriculture, health, law and industry.
However, in strengthening their scientific and technological base, developing countries have tended to focus on agricultural research, biology and genetic engineering, space science, and information and communication technologies. One of the most important sciences underpinning development — physics — is barely on the economic development radar screen.
Ignoring physics is a mistake not only because of its fundamental contributions to all science, but also because national capacity in physics correlates strongly with economic performance.
An assessment of the state of physics in a country can shed light on how successfully it is developing and will develop in the future, particularly a nation's ability to make use of advanced technologies. China, for example, accounts for 3% of the world's trade in high-technology goods and services, which is the highest percentage among developing countries. India accounts for 1% of global trade in high-technology goods and services, which is the second highest percentage among developing countries.
It should come as no surprise that these two countries also the rank first and second in the developing world in the physical sciences — as measured by various indices, including articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and patents. The fact is that most high-technology products and services — computers, scientific instruments, electrical machinery and electronics — are based on research and development in the physical sciences.
How well are developing nations doing in physics? A good measure of a nation's capability in any science is the number of articles published by its scientists in international peer-reviewed journals.
In 2006, physicists in the developed world authored over 80% of the physics papers published in international peer-reviewed journals. Physicists in the USA alone were responsible for 18% of the total (32,000 articles).
Meanwhile, physicists in developing countries, which are home to 80% of the world's population, authored 20% of physics papers. When you consider that three developing countries – China, India and Brazil — are each responsible for approximately 1% of the total published every year, the situation looks a lot more dismal for other developing nations. Indeed, only 28 of them publish more than 100 physics papers a year in international journals. The contribution of the remainder, some 120 countries in total, is so small that it is not statistically significant. These include many of the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC states are home to some 1.5 billion people. Yet, physicists in OIC countries are collectively responsible for just 3% of the peer-reviewed articles published in international journals.
Governments and scientists from developing nations who are seeking a way out of this hole could look to China, which has increased its contribution to the worldwide total of peer-reviewed physics papers from about 4% to just over 14% in the past decade. Are there lessons here for other developing nations?
One lesson is that China and the five other developing countries that are most advanced in physics — Brazil, India, Iran, Mexico and Turkey — all focus on the same three subfields of the discipline: condensed matter physics, followed by optics and nuclear physics. Another lesson can be found in the development of scientific hardware. For example, China is home to state-of-the-art physics instrumentation. This has helped the country to transform its capacity in physics into technology products and services, which have helped to fuel the nation's growth.
The message is clear for all countries that are seeking to grow, and for all donors that are seeking to help them. Recent history shows that a nation's chances of technological development dim appreciably without a broad-based capacity in physics, and that without technological capability, sustainable economic growth often remains a faint hope.

Green Earth Nano Science, Inc., (GENS) a nanotechnology solutions provider and a global supplier and licensor of proprietary photocatalyst* technology, recently signed an Exclusive Master Distributor license agreement with Permaweld Pvt Ltd; India's leading "specialty maintenance product supplier" with two decades of vertical focus on New technologies and now Green Technology products that help "industry extend the maintenance interval by overcoming specific maintenance problems with their superior technology products". This results in better productivity from critical Assets. Permaweld is seen as a suitable partner, as a growing corporation with an existing network of existing business in key industrial segments and geographical areas of India. Permaweld Pvt Ltd provides and will help develop a national network with a unique entrepreneurial spirit and far-reaching possibilities for added-value using Gens Nano nanotechnology.
Green Earth Nano Science, Inc. is a Canadian corporation finalist in 2008 Green Log Award with Head Office located in Toronto Canada. GENS is one of the first of a new class of companies specialized as independent licensor-distributors of "green" nanotechnology based products and commercialization of new sustainable environmental technologies.
Gens Nano coatings are 100% Green products and their series of photocatalyst coatings transform any treated surface into an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, mold free surface. The coating also helps reduce pollution and improve air quality environment, protect building interior or exterior from environmental contamination. These hygienic coatings are formulated to incorporate light activated Nano Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), which helps to deactivate bio-contamination and neutralize pollutants. Gens Nano coatings are easy to apply, they dry at room temperature and are designed for a variety of applications and substrates. GENS products and services are branded and marketed under registered brand "Gens Nano."
The Distributor for India M/S Permaweld Pvt Ltd has been vertically focused since 1988 in providing comprehensive maintenance solutions under one roof to industry; through specially engineered high quality maintenance products and services. With 20 years of specialized experience with varied industry segments Permaweld can be trusted to provide unique solutions for all types of industrial plant and machinery found in continuous Process Plants, Steel, Mining, Petrochemical, Refineries, Paper, Automobile, and Automotive component, Thermal and Nuclear Power Plants. Permaweld is certified as an ISO 9001-2000 company for its marketing focus and the customer retention services provided for specialized maintenance products.
The Indian market and its one billion plus population, presents a lucrative and diverse opportunity for GENS NANO with these technology products, services, and commitment. Not withstanding the current slow down in Global economies it is surmised that such products should have a greater need as they preserve the "asset and reduce recurring maintenance costs" for Industry. India's infrastructure, transportation, energy, environmental, health care, heritage and high-tech sectors will require products and services which will exceed tens of billions of dollars in the medium-term as the Indian economy globalizes and expands. India's GDP, currently growing at around 7 percent, makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Construction of nearly everything from airports to container ports to teleports and new industries are setting the stage to remake India.
Uday Pasricha, Managing Director and Business Partner of Pernaweld PVT LTD. stated: "We are thrilled to introduce GENS NANO coating into India; we have no doubt that with investment and some gestation, our efforts to introduce these products and our results will ignite other Asian markets as well. India has a great hidden potential and we have started to develop key markets as well as manufacturers who will incorporate GENS NANO into their product lines as a low-maintenance feature and a green, eco-friendly product. "
Miroslaw Chrzaniecki, Executive Director of Green Earth Nano Science Inc. (GENS) Global Operations, reported: "India is growing at a very fast pace and its current trade openness creates a good timing for the introduction of our innovative photo catalyst nanotechnology, along with all upcoming products we have in our R&D portfolio; we are very pleased with this strategic alliance for India."

The system based on MagArray biodetection chips can find cancer-associated proteins in a blood serum sample in less than an hour, and with much greater sensitivity than existing commercial devices. In fact, the device, which uses magnetic nanotechnology to spot the cancer proteins, is tens to hundreds of times more sensitive, meaning the proteins can be found while there are relatively few of them in the bloodstream.
"This is essentially a proof-of-concept study showing that now we have a chip and a reader that can find multiple biomarkers in a sample at a concentration much lower than the standard that is commercially available," said Shan Wang, a Stanford professor of materials science and of electrical engineering.
Wang is optimistic that the technology will someday save lives by detecting cancer early or by helping doctors select more effective therapy. "The earlier you can detect a cancer, the better chance you have to kill it," he said. "This could be especially helpful for lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer, because those cancers are hidden in the body."
Wang is a senior author of the paper, along with Stanford biochemistry and genetics Professor Ronald W. Davis of the Stanford Genome Technology Center and University of California-Santa Cruz biomolecular engineering Professor Nader Pourmand.
The device is able to detect many different kinds of proteins at the same time, which is important for two reasons, Wang said. First, researchers are still uncertain which cancer biomarkers are the best diagnostic indicators. Second, detecting multiple biomarkers simultaneously will allow a doctor to diagnose more specifically the kind of cancer a patient may have.
Wang says the handheld device could be the smallest protein array reader in the world.
By means of magnets
The specialty of Wang's research group at Stanford is magnetic nanotechnology. Magnetism is rare in biological systems, so any magnetic signal in a blood serum sample stands out like a flare in the night sky. By tagging cancer proteins with tiny magnetic particles, rather than electrically charged or glowing particles as in other detectors, the new system can obtain a clearer signal from a smaller number of cancer proteins.
At the heart of the detector is a silicon chip, designed by the paper's lead author, Sebastian Osterfeld, a Stanford doctoral student in materials science and engineering. The chips have 64 embedded sensors that monitor for changes in nearby magnetic fields. Attached to these sensors are "capture antibodies," painstakingly selected by Heng Yu, formerly a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Genome Technology Center, and Richard Gaster, a student in a combined program of doctoral and medical degrees.
The sensor's "capture antibodies" grab specific cancer-related proteins as they float by and hold onto them. Then a second batch of antibodies is added to the mix. They latch onto magnetic nanoparticles as well as the cancer biomarkers that are being held captive by the sensors. Thus when the MagArray sensors detect the magnetic field of nanoparticles, they've found cancer markers as well.
In the paper, the researchers estimate that they could detect levels of the human chorionic gonadotropin protein at a level about 400 times lower than the level required for detection by current commercial kits known by the acronym ELISA, in which captured cancer proteins are tethered to color-altering or fluorescent labels.
At Stanford Medical Center, the detector is viewed as a potentially significant clinical advance, according to a diagnostics expert there.
"This work represents a giant leap forward in enabling technology for in vitro protein diagnostics with significant potential for many applications including cancer detection and management," said Dr. Sam Gambhir, the principal investigator of the Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Stanford.
Headed for hospitals?
To properly prepare a patient's blood sample for use with the detector, a technician must use a centrifuge to separate out the serum, which contains the biomarkers. For this reason, the device must be located in a hospital or a private diagnostic lab, Wang said. But before then it must face clinical testing and trials to win regulatory approval. To see the detector through those steps, Wang has co-founded a startup company, MagArray Inc., in the Panorama Institute for Molecular Medicine, a not-for-profit incubator in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The nascent startup is also investigating the possible use of the detectors in emergency rooms to quickly check for heart attacks when patients arrive with chest pains. Like cancer, heart cell death is associated with the release of specific biomarker proteins.
The researchers reported their results in the Dec. 1 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The research was funded partly by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. Other authors on the paper include Stefano Caramuta, Liang Xu, Shu-Jen Han, Drew Hall, Robert Wilson and Robert White, all of Stanford, and Shouheng Sun of Brown University.

A brand new process that could revolutionise the reliability and durability of surgical implants, such as hip and knee replacements, has today, 2 December 08, received recognition for its medical and commercial potential by achieving one of the worlds most sought after accolades. A team of researchers, led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), has received a Medical Futures Innovation Award for its high technology process designed to coat surgical implants with fibres that, for the first time, will encourage the implant to bond with living bone and to last the lifetime of the patient.
This unique surface engineering process is being developed at the Micro-Nano Technology Centre (MNTC) at STFC. In collaboration with the Electrospinning Company Ltd (TECL) and Anglia Ruskin University, the concept will be taken forward under the guidance of a Medical Futures team, and eventually exclusively licensed to TECL, a spin out company of STFC.
This advanced nanotechnology technique builds on an existing technique known as electrospinning, and will utilise a vastly superior electrospinning source to create bespoke fibrous materials. Electrospinning is a process that uses an electrical charge to turn polymers into extremely thin fibres that are spun to form a mat of fine fibres. It is seen as a platform technology for the medical sector with a wide range of applications including tissue regeneration and drug delivery. The MNTC has developed systems to increase the production rate of nanofibres which has been previously prevented this technology from being adopted by industry.
In this case, nanosized hair- like structures, a thousand times thinner than the width of a human hair, are electrospun at MNTC and added to the surface of an orthopaedic implant to create a living interface between the artificial implants and living bone. Not only does this improve the performance of the implants it also significantly increases their durability to last the lifetime of the patient. Any stress on the implant is relieved, making it more reliable and durable. Additionally, it is also possible to add a unique biological coating that can facilitate growth and improve the bonding of healthy tissue to the implant, primarily benefitting patients with osteoarthritis in the aging population and sports injuries in the younger population.
This process will be transferred to UK industry and TECL will provide access to state-of-the-art electrospinning systems. TECL has spun out from STFC to provide open access to electrospinning equipments and expertise to organisations that would like to explore the techniques potential. The main benefit is that this can be done without commercial companies committing to capital investment or developing in-house expertise until the potential value of electrospinning to the organisation is fully understood. TECL is based both at the Daresbury Science and Innovation Centre in Cheshire and at STFCs Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, and was founded by CLIK, the wholly-owned technology exploitation company of STFC. TECLs specialised facilities are designed to extend current electrospinning capabilities so that nanofibres can be reproduced in volume.
Dr Robert Stevens, Head of the MNTC at STFC said: This award provides a major step forward for the future of patients requiring surgical implants and I am thrilled that this concept was selected as an award winner over several hundred entries. Our award is given for translational research innovation to meet the current and future orthopaedic needs of patients.
Mansel Williams, Chief Executive of The Electrospinning Company said: Ten percent of patients receiving surgical implants go on to develop infection and loosening of their implants, costing the UK at least 14 million every year, 224 million globally. We want to eliminate this by creating the ideal implant surface matched to the individual patient, benefitting both the patient and the economy. This award will now allow us to scale up the testing and commercialisation of these implants
The Medical Futures Innovation Awards, which were announced at the Medical Futures Innovators Gallery in London, are one of the UKs most highly coveted medical awards, rewarding ground-breaking innovation from front line clinicians and scientists with ideas that have the potential to transform peoples’ lives and demonstrate the UK’s position as a world beater.

Automakers are constantly incorporating the most advanced technology in their lineup. This time around they are planning to use nanotechnology to come up with spectacular vehicles. Two of the most sought-after vehicles are Acura FCX 2020 Le Mans and Volkswagen Nanospyder.
Recently, automakers have unleashed their environment-friendly concept cars that are expected to be manufactured using nanotechnology. The latter is a technology of building tiny machines using functional systems at a molecular scale. According to experts, nanotechnology, in its original sense, means projected ability to assemble items from the bottom up, utilizing techniques and tools being developed these days to make complete, high performance products.
Nanotechnology works from the bottom to the inside of the machine called personal nanofactories (PNs). Using mechanochemistry, nanotechnology will facilitate control at the nanometer scale. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Basically, it is about the width of 3 to 4 atoms.
One of the striking future cars presented is FCX 2020 Le Mans from Acura. Said car is envisioned to be powered by advanced auto parts from the automaker. It will also be using Honda car accessories to boost its ergonomics and comfort.
Acura FCX 2020 Le Mans appears like a Batmobile. The difference is that it uses lightweight and recyclable materials. Moreover, it is equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain that makes it an environment-friendly car. Its molecular nanotechnology made it lighter and more manageable than present day cars.
Another viable future car is Volkswagen Nanospyder. The captivating car is made up billions of spore-like nanobots. The car is inclusive of mouth, eyeballs and other Volkswagen car accessories including tiny logos.
One of the exciting features of this VW Nanospyder is the ability of its lead bots to pick up impending collisions. Aside from that, the information can be sent away to support particular sections of the car.
Analysts in the auto industry are expecting a greener car future because of nanotechnology. In fact, there have been interesting concept cars submitted in the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show’s Design Challenge. The latter is a competition designed to cover future cars that are environment-friendly. Mechanics of the competition include originality, safety, environmentalism and relevancy to Southern California’s ‘green’ lifestyle.

Judith Sheft, associate vice president for technology development at NJIT, has been awarded funds from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology to assist faculty researchers with the most promising patentable inventions with funding grants of up to $50,000. The money, known as Gap grants, is designed to help bridge the chasm between an interesting idea and a commercial product.
Sixteen grants have been made since 2006 to NJIT faculty researchers. The most promising innovations include the following.
Timothy Chang, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a Gap award last year for his patented nanopositioner which has 6 degrees of freedom for applications in such fields as semiconductor manufacturing, opto-electronics, life sciences and material handling. This year, he received two more awards -- one for his low transient pulse technique for ultrasound imaging to detect and monitor bone fractures, and another for broadening the application base of the SmartPin™, a new liquid dispensing/handling system capable of producing tiny spots/droplets/geometric-features for molecular biology research and analysis.
Rajesh Dave, distinguished professor of chemical engineering, received a Gap award for his dry-particle coating technique. The technique enables a precise amount of nano-particles to be bonded onto the surface of cohesive powders as small as 5 microns. This nanoscale coating process opens a host of new applications for pharmaceutical, neutraceutical, food, energetic and electronics materials.
Sergiu Gorun, associate professor of chemistry, received an award to further develop his phthalocyanine dyes. The dyes have the unique characteristic of absorbing heat, allowing visible light to pass through the polymer thus opening up an array of new civilian and military applications. They include heat ray shielding laminated glass or film, plasma display grade filters, heat-retaining and heat-accumulating fibers, and liquid crystal display devices.
Zafar Iqbal, research professor of chemistry, received support to develop technology that applies the principles and materials of nanotechnology to a novel biofuel cell that converts the body’s own glucose to power devices like pacemakers and glucose biosensors for diabetics. The device uses highly conductive nanomaterials -- carbon nanotubes and gold quantum dots -- to guide the electrons.
Treena Livingston Arinzeh, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Michael Jaffe, research professor of biomedical engineering, received a grant to refine and improve their electrospinning technique. They have used it to build scaffolds for tissue engineering which are then combined with adult stem cells to regrow bone tissue.
Michael Lacker, professor of biomedical engineering, received an award for his boundary method. The method generates new output algorithms for measuring skill, movement stability, and energy efficiency of human motion. He someday sees his research assisting people with neuromuscular and skeletal injuries with daily activities.
Chengjun Liu, associate professor of computer science, received a Gap grant for his patented face detection technology to develop new similarity measures required for a robust face detection pilot system. The system, which takes into account such factors as lighting and facial expressions, can be used as a security system with facial identification replacing a physical key or a password. Such a system could also assist law enforcement officials in locating fugitives by means of video cameras strategically placed in public places.
Somenath Mitra, professor of chemistry, and Zafar Iqbal, research professor of chemistry, received awards to refine their proprietary techniques for producing, purifying and changing the chemical characteristics of carbon nanotubes thus allowing nanomaterials to be combined into nanostructures, manipulated by chemical engineering, or embedded into a matrix of other materials for a wide variety of applications.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, distinguished professor of chemical engineering, received multiple grants to participate in a NASA-sponsored large-scale demonstration of his hollow fiber membrane device. The device can remove and recover volatile organic compounds from air and waste-gas streams vented by a variety of industrial processes (water treatment, and chemical, food, petrochemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing), thus reducing the greenhouse effect.
G. Gordon Thomas, professor of physics, received two awards, one to improve and test a new tonometer. The instrument enables thru-the-eyelid measurement of intro-ocular pressure to diagnose glaucoma. He received a second award to continue work of his team’s “smart shunt” for hydrocephalus and brain-injured patients.
-------- New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 8,000 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in nearly 100 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College, and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering, and eLearning. NJIT: The Edge in Knowledge.

The Single or Double Walled Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) at the end of the tips are grown by chemical vapour deposition and are ready to use, no shortening or post processing is necessary.
NANOSENSORS CNT probes are Single/Double Wall Carbon Nanotube SPM probes with a tip diameter between 2 and 3 nm. Compared to other Carbon Nanotube probes available on the market today that are mostly multiwalled carbon nanotubes the tip radius of NANOSENSORS™ Carbon Nanotube AFM tips is considerably smaller. They are therefore very suitable for high resolution measurements of nanometer-sized features.
The small tip radius achieved by a single or double wall carbon nanotube probe combined with the wear resistance of the CNT material compared to other materials makes it the ideal probe for high resolution imaging of flat surfaces.
NANOSENSORS™ CNT AFM probes are now the probes with the highest resolution capabilities in the NANOSENSORS product range.
The CNT probes are designed for high resolution measurements in Tapping Mode or Non-Contact Mode operations in air or vacuum
Due to their elastic properties Single / Double Wall CNTs are dedicated for the use on soft matter as well as on hard surfaces.
Because of the same elastic properties NANOSENSORS™ Single / Double Wall CNT probes are not suitable for measuring high aspect ratio features like very deep and narrow trenches or contact holes and should only be used by the experienced AFM user. They require special care to enable the user to profit from their unique properties and achieve good results. For this reason NANOSENSORS™ will add a guideline called “How to use a Single / Double Wall Carbon Nanotube AFM Probe ” to every delivered package of CNT probes. The NANOSENSORS™ CNT Probes will be available in package sizes of two and of five probes.
About NANOSENSORS™:
NANOSENSORS™ is specializing in the development and production of innovative high quality probes for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The products are especially designed for scientists at universities, research institutions and industrial R&D centres in the fields of nanotechnology, microtechnology, materials research, semiconductors, biology, biotechnology, chemistry and medicine. NANOSENSORS™ is a trademark of NanoWorld AG.

In the next 10 to 30 years, nanotechnology will have a significant impact on our economy, providing the basis for developing new materials, new ways to produce clean energy, new medicines, new computers, and “new ways to unlock the potential of human beings”, said Carr in a speech to Parliament today.
“We know already that these technologies are going to have a significant impact. It is therefore essential that we have policies to maximise the benefits while minimising any risks,” he said, in his speech, Social Inclusion and Community Engagement on Nanotechnology’.
Carr will be spearheading the plan to maximise the benefits of nanotechnology under a Commonwealth framework established earlier this year for the responsible management of nanotechnology.
The framework is intended to guide both how nanotechnology is studied and how it is applied, and is based on three guiding principles:
• one, to protect the health and safety of humans and the environment • two, to foster informed community debate • and three, to achieve economic and social benefits from the responsible adoption of nanotechnology.
“Australia is a small country facing great challenges. If we are serious about achieving our full potential, we need to work together,” said Carr, suggesting that cooperation between industry bodies would allow further development in the technology.
“Last month’s Monash University forum on nanotechnology science, policy and public perspectives demonstrated that most people with an interest in this field want to be part of the conversation.”
Carr is calling for as many groups as possible in public researchers and private industry to get behind the cause.

The partnership will oversee the development of collaborations in nanoscience, technology and engineering with the King Abdullah Institute of Nanotechnology.
Joint PhD projects, funded research and enterprise activities will be developed in medicine and health, biology, chemical manufacturing, electronics and other sectors.
The programme will be administered through the University of Leeds NanoManufacturing Institute and will provide new funding for PhD research and collaborative exchanges.
Nanotechnology is the science of the extremely tiny, involving the study and use of materials on an almost unimaginably small scale.
One nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre or about one eighty thousandth of the width of a human hair.
Professor Richard Williams, Leeds University's Pro Vice Chancellor of Enterprise, Knowledge Transfer and International Strategy, said: "We are delighted. This is our first major research and enterprise project in an area that draws on a distinctive research strength for Leeds in an area that has major societal impact.
Research
"We expect new research programmes to start within the next two months and look forward to welcoming academic staff from King Saud University (KSU) as visiting researchers and professors to Leeds."
The deal continues a series of educational agreements with KSU.
Professor Al-Ghamdi, Deputy Rector for Knowledge Exchange and Technology Transfer at King Saud University, added: "We have already appointed Professor Terry Wilkins of the NanoManufacturing Institute as the first visiting professor to KSU from Leeds and we look forward to welcoming more Leeds staff to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to work jointly on projects that will have long lasting impact."
The Nanomanufacturing Institute was established by Leeds University in 2005 with the vision of becoming Europe's leading academic centre for nanomanufacturing research for consumer and related products.
It draws upon the University's large nanotechnology base in science, medicine and engineering and activities at Leeds are led by Prof Wilkins.
The King Abdullah Institute of Nanotechnology is seeking to build the infrastructure needed for research and development in the field of nano science and technology to allow KSU to aid in building a knowledge-based national economy in Saudi Arabia.

A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Harvard Center for Nanotechnology Excellence has custom-designed nanoparticles that can deliver the anticancer drug cisplatin specifically to prostate cancer cells. The nanoparticles are composed of two different polymers and are decorated with a nucleic acid aptamer that binds to the tumor marker prostate-specific membrane antigen. This aptamer ensures that the nanoparticles deliver their payload only to prostate cancer cells.
Stephen Lippard, Ph.D., and Robert Langer, Ph.D., MIT, and Omid Farokhzad, M.D., Harvard Medical School, led the team that developed this new formation of cisplatin. The investigators published their results in the Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences of the United States of America.
To construct a stable nanoparticle that would only release its toxic cargo inside tumor cells, the investigators synthesized a modified version of cisplatin that includes a long hydrocarbon chain. As the nanoparticle forms, the hydrocarbon chain associates strongly with the hydrophobic chains of the polymer that forms the nanoparticle’s core. The researchers note that the hydrocarbon chain they chose optimizes both drug encapsulation and drug release inside tumor cells. Once the nanoparticle enters the cell, the modified drug is converted into its active form as a result of chemical conditions inside the cell.
Tests with human cancer cells growing in culture showed that these nanoparticles were taken up specifically by tumor cells and not by healthy cells. Nanoparticles lacking the targeting aptamer were not taken up either. These tests also demonstrated that the nanoparticles release their cargo over the course of 60 hours, providing a sustained lethal level of the drug inside the targeted cells. In addition, the nanoparticle formulation was approximately 100 times more effective at killing tumor cells than was cisplatin by itself.
This work, which is detailed in the paper “Targeted delivery of cisplatin to prostate cancer cells by aptamer functionalized Pt(IV) prodrug-PLGA-PEG nanoparticles,” was supported by the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a comprehensive initiative designed to accelerate the application of nanotechnology to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. An abstract of this paper is available at the journal’s Web site.
View abstract - http://www.pnas.org/content/105/45/17356

A cure for spinal injuries that leave people paralyzed, currently incurable, is being developed by Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago. They are looking into using new nanotechnology that could enable them to completely heal cut and severed spinal cords allowing the previously paralyzed to walk again.
Spinal cord injury often leads to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury due to damaged nerve fibers which can’t regenerate. These nerve fibers (axons) have the capacity to grow but don’t because they are blocked by scar tissue that have developed around the injury. Northwestern University researchers have shown that a new nano-engineered gel inhibits the formation of scar tissue at the injury site and enables the severed spinal cord fibers to regenerate and grow.
The gel is injected as a liquid into the spinal cord and self -assembles into a scaffold that supports the new nerve fibers as they grow up and down the spinal cord, penetrating the site of the injury. When the gel was injected into mice with a spinal cord injury, after six weeks the animals had a greatly enhanced ability to use their hind legs and walk.
However it was stressed that the results were preliminary and there is no magic bullet and it may not necessarily work on humans, but it helps a new technology to develop treatments for spinal injuries.

Paolo Dario, Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, explained the dawn of a new medical era in the September edition of the American financial magazine “The Economist”. Surgical operations with open wounds are increasingly being replaced by non-invasive techniques extending even to systems that enable operations without a single scar.
Bio-microrobotics has a decisive role in this development. Like the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, ETH Zurich is also a part of the EU’s ARES research project (Assembling Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical System), a consortium of robotics experts from four European higher education institutions. Together, the researchers want to make micro-robots usable for medical applications. The plan is that, in the future, robots no bigger than a conventional capsule will perform a series of tasks in the gastro-intestinal tract, e.g. a gastroscopy or a tissue biopsy.
Although pill-shaped micro-cameras have existed for seven years now and are currently being used successfully in surgery to study the gastro-intestinal tract, these systems are passive. The camera takes thousands of pictures as it passes through the gastro-intestinal tract, but its position during this time cannot be controlled. This should soon change, because the ARES scientists are currently developing micro-robots with controllable insect-like legs with which the “robot pills” would be able to move around in the stomach. Other groups are working on special devices for tissue biopsy. In the future, such instruments could be used to make a precise examination of damaged regions in the gastro-intestinal tract while at the same time taking tissue samples for subsequent investigation. Multi-segment, self-assembling stomach robots
One of the biggest challenges facing the robotics scientists relates to the enormous miniaturisation of the electronic systems. Room for the system’s entire technology, including the power supply, must be found within a few cubic millimetres. In the micro-cameras that are already established, the battery alone takes up 60 percent of the capsule’s volume. Hence one key question: how can a series of surgical robot functions be brought into a form that the patient can swallow and which is at the same time compatible with the body?
In a recent publication, Zoltan Nagy, a doctoral student at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems of ETH Zurich (IRIS) since 2006, presents the following approach to a solution: the patient swallows not one but several “robot pills” fitted with individual functions, such as the controller or forceps for tissue sampling. The pills can be swallowed one after another and assemble themselves automatically to form a larger, more powerful system only when they reach the stomach. For this purpose, Nagy developed a magnetic mechanism that enables the parts of the robot to join together automatically in the stomach to form an entire system. The individual components are polarized at right angles to the surface, so they arrange themselves in a predictable sequence when they come together.
The system was tested in an artificial stomach with a 75 percent success rate. Because a rigid chain of several robot components moves only with difficulty through the stomach and intestine, Nagy has also developed intermediate links that make the system more mobile. This would enable the surgical system to move as a whole through the stomach and intestine, like a multi-link chain. A magnetic system has the added advantage that the magnetic field changes in a characteristic way when the individual members of the chain come together. This change is measurable and can be communicated to a computer and used as an indicator of the exact position and arrangement of the robot snake. Probing the limits of feasibility
The use of such a system in the human body is still a long way off. Firstly, the energy supply within the precarious space conditions is still largely unsolved. However, according to Nagy, this problem could soon be eliminated by using a combination of a battery and induction. Secondly, biocompatibility presents the scientists with major challenges. If trials on humans take place one day, the scientists must be able to guarantee that the magnetic mechanism and the functions of the robots cannot cause any tissue injury. The entire system must also be capable of being dismantled into its individual parts at any time if complications occur.
This is why Nagy does not expect any in-vivo tests of his self-assembling system in the near future. In any case that is not his top priority aim. “ARES is concerned primarily with expanding the limits of feasibility in bio-microrobotics. I have presented one possible mechanism for the self-assembly of a robot that has potential for surgical application. At present, it is impossible to predict which system will gain acceptance in practice in the future.” Literature reference
http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/081105_stomachbot/nagy_stoma... A model of a self-assembling stomach robot: a magnetic mechanism connects three modules together via intermediate linkages.
Nagy Z, Oung R, Abbott JJ, Nelson BJ. Experimental Investigation of Magnetic Self-Assembly for Swallowable Modular Robots, in Proc. IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp. 1915-1920, Nice, France, 2008. doi: 10.1109/IROS.2008.4650662

When someone scribes a line with a humble pencil the resulting mark includes bits of the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology - graphene.
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice that could allow electronics to process information and produce radio transmissions 10 times better than silicon-based devices. It is among the strongest materials known and has an attractive array of benefits. These sheets have potential as electrodes for solar cells, for use in sensors, as the anode electrode material in lithium batteries and as efficient zero-band-gap semiconductors. Mass production of graphene Research on graphene sheets has been restricted, though, due to the difficulty of creating single-layer samples for use in experiments. But in a recent study published, researchers from University of California's (UCLA) California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) propose a method which can produce graphene sheets in large quantities.
Led by Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering, and Richard Kaner, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, the researchers developed a method of placing graphite oxide paper in a solution of pure hydrazine (a chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen), which reduces the graphite oxide paper into single-layer graphene.
Such methods have been studied by others, but this is the first reported instance of using hydrazine as the solvent. The graphene produced from the hydrazine solution is also a more efficient electrical conductor. Field-effect devices display output currents three orders of magnitude higher than previously reported using chemically produced graphene.
The coverage of the graphene sheets can be controlled by altering the concentration and composition of the hydrazine solution. This hydrazine method also preserves the integrity of the sheets, producing the largest area graphene sheet yet reported, 20 micrometers by 40 micrometers. A micrometer is one-millionth of a meter, while a nanometer is one billionth of a meter.
The scientists believe these graphene sheets are by far the largest produced. Chemically converted graphene can now be studied in depth through a variety of electronic tests and microscopic techniques not previously possible.
There are two methods currently used for graphene production - the drawing method and the reduction method, each with its own drawbacks. In the drawing method, layers are peeled off of graphite crystals until one is produced that is only one-atom thick. When likely graphene suspects are identified from the peeled layers, they must be extensively studied to conclusively prove their identity. In the reduction method, silicon carbide is heated to high temperatures (1100° C) to reduce it to graphene. This process produces a small sample size and is unlikely to be compatible with fabrication techniques for most electronic applications.
"This technology (hydrazine reduction) utilizes a true solution process for graphene, which can dramatically simplify preparing electronic devices," said Yang, who is also faculty director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at the CNSI. "It thus holds great promise for future large-area, flexible electronics." Graphene for radio electronics Princeton University has built transistors - tiny on-off switches - on their printed graphene crystals. Their transistors displayed high performance and were more than 10 times faster than silicon transistors in moving "electronic holes" - a key measure of speed. They suggest that the new technology could find almost immediate use in radio electronics, such as cell phones and other wireless devices that require high power output. Depending on the level of interest from industry, the technique could be applied to wireless communication devices within a few years they predict.
A research team from Manchester University in the UK has now demonstrated highly transparent and highly conductive films that can be produced cheaply by dissolving chunks of graphite into graphene and then spraying the suspension onto a glass surface. The research team has demonstrated what it believes to be the first liquid crystal devices with graphene electrodes. It is believed that only a few small, incremental steps remain for this technology to reach a mass production stage. Graphene could replace indium tin oxide Graphene could also replace indium tin oxide as an electrode material in displays. Transparent conducting films are an essential part of many gadgets including common liquid crystal displays for computers, TVs and mobile phones. The underlying technology uses thin metal-oxide films based on indium. But indium is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity and its supply is expected to be exhausted within just 10 years.
Also read an earlier article Graphene - highest mobility and processable.
For more attend Printed Electronics USA 2008 and Printed Electronics Europe 2009.
Top image: Two overlapping images of the same graphene sheet produced by hydrazine reduction; the top image was produced using atomic force microscopy, while the bottom was produced with scanning electron microscopy. This is the first reported instance of a graphene sheet being large enough for both tests to be run on the same specimen. (Image credit: Vincent Tung, Matthew Allen, Adam Stieg of UCLA).
References: Princeton University, UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute

This week, the Brazilian ministry for Science and Technology announced investment of over 200 million euro in 101 national institutes for science and technology, including 7 in nanotechnology. NanoforumEULA's recent fact finding mission on Nanotechnology in Brazil identified excellent cooperation opportunities between European and Brazilian nanotechnology networks.
In Brazil, dedicated Nanotechnology research networks have been funded by the Brazilian government and Worldbank since 2001 under a number of subsequent calls for proposals. This has led to the building up of human resources and research infrastructure in a number of different fields including Microsystems and nanoelectronics, and nanomaterials. In the coming years, the Brazilian government intends to fund a number of nanotechnology research institutes. A call for proposal for National Science and Technology Institutes under the PACTI I programme has closed 18 September and selected networks are expected to start beginning of 2009. The call included for the first time the topics of Nanotoxicology and of communicating nanoscience by nanoscientists. Until now, the network on Nanotechnology, Society and Environment RENANOSOMA has been active in research on social aspects of nanotechnology and in public engagement with nanotechnology. This network consists of social and human scientists. There is apparently limited cooperation between the natural science and technology networks on nanotechnology and RENANOSOMA. CNPq/MCT received 261 proposals demanding over R$1.5 billion (~ €500 million) (for all areas, including nanotechnology). 61% of proposals targeted a specific call, 39% responded to the open call for proposals. 67% of proposals originated from the South-East, 11% from the Northeast and South, 6% from the Centre-West and 5% from the North. The selection committee must distribute 50% of funding in the South-East, 35% in the North, North-East and Centre-West and 15% in the South, thereby stimulating regional development in less developed regions of the country. The selection process started 27 October. (Source: website MCT, 28-10-2008: www.mct.gov.br) The selected projects will be funded in two stages, 3+2 years, and a total of R$600 (~ €205) million will be invested in 101 institutes including 7 explicitly in nanotechnology. The final result of the selection process has been published 27 November 2008. (Source website NCPq, 27-11-08: http://www.cnpq.br/saladeimprensa/noticias/2008/1127.htm, see list below.) The established network RENAMI will continue in parallel according to Prof Petrus d’Amorim Santa Cruz. Region Network Coordinator Centre-West INCT Nanobiotechnology of Centre-West and North Ricardo Bentes de Azevedo, UNB Northeast INCT Nanotechnology for Integrated Labels INAMI Oscar Malta, Petrus d’Amorim Santa Cruz, UFPE South INCT Catalysis in Molecular and Nanostructured Systems Faruk Jose Nome Aguilera, UFSC Southeast INCT Nanobiopharmacy Robson Augusto Souza dos Santos, UFMG Southeast INCT Carbon Nanomaterials Marcos Assuncao Pimenta, UFMG Southeast INCT Semiconductor Nanodevices Patricia Lustoza de Souza, PUC/RJ Southeast INCT Micro and nanoelectronic systems Jacobus Swart, CTI
Results of the fact finding mission There is a lot of research activity in nanosciences and nanotechnology in Brazil. Government funded dedicated nanotechnology networks have been operational since 2001. Results were presented from the NAMITEC network on nanoelectronics and RENAMI network on materials as well as other activities. NAMITEC and RENAMI are among ten nanotechnology research networks currently funded by the Brazilian ministry for Science and Technology MCT (see annex 1, which also reviews literature and internet sources on nanotechnology research and strategy in Brazil). A number of new research laboratories for nanotechnology are currently under construction. These investments in new research infrastructure are funded by the Brazilian government (MCT) but also by industry. Especially Petrobras is a major investor in research infrastructure on university campuses, e.g. investing R$12 (~€4) million in a building on the campus of PUC-Rio. Our hosts demonstrated a strong interest in cooperation with European research groups in nanotechnology. Many groups are already cooperating nationally as well as internationally. Learning how to do technology transfer and spin-out high tech companies has a high priority among researchers. The research activities in Brazil are well-coordinated by the Brazilian government in a strategic plan. The amount of funding is naturally relatively low compared to Europe or the USA, which calls for focusing the research activities in Brazil on national priorities. A national IPR strategy is starting. UNICAMP owns most patents followed by PETROBRAS. The Action Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation, 2007-2010 In this PACTI action plan, Nanotechnology is included in the action line III: Research, Development and Innovation in strategic areas. It is one of two future carrying areas together with biotechnology. Economic sectors relevant to the country which are affected by nanotechnology include:  food production,  biotechnology,  electricity and electronics,  aerospace,  textiles,  metal-mechanics and  energy (including oil and gas). (PACTI, p 144) The action plan includes:  the development of a medium to long term strategic plan for nanotechnology development in Brazil,  strengthening the existing nanoscience and nanotechnology research competences in the country through support for education, human resource development and consolidation of research infrastructure for characterising and manipulating nanostructured materials,  implementing actions for innovation support in nanotechnology areas considered strategic for the country, stimulating interaction between Science and Technology Institutes and companies (PACTI, p 144-146) Milestones:  In the period 2007-2010, 10 regional reference laboratories for characterising and manipulating nanostructured systems should be consolidated;  Support at least 20 cooperative research projects per year between laboratories and companies;  Support at least 15 basic research projects/year;  Evaluate Rede BrasilNano in 2008 and 2010;  Educate 100 nanotechnology professionals per year (technician, master, doctor and post-doc);  Stimulating interaction between companies and research networks by organising annual conferences;  Stimulating international cooperation with two more countries in 2008 and 2009. (PACTI p 147) The total budget for nanotechnology in PACTI is R$69.99 (~€23) million in 4 years, from MCT/FNDCT (National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development) and MCT/other actions PPA. (specified on PACTI p 148) Industrial interest in nanotechnology in Brazil Nanotechnology R&D in Federal Universities is funded by special sectorial funds, to which companies in that particular sector are obliged to contribute. On top of this, PETROBRAS is investing directly into enlarging its own research centre CENPES in Rio de Janeiro and a new building on the campus of the PUC in Rio. They also invest in research projects involving academic researchers. Nanotechnology is included in PETROBRAS work on sustainable energy, sensors and catalysis. Some agrifood sectors like the citrus fruit and sugar cane sector are also innovative and invest in relevant research to improve the quality of their products. The agribusiness research centre EMBRAPA is a key player in nanotechnology (instrumentation, toxicology and agrifood applications), working with academic research groups as well as companies. EMBRAER, the aerospace research centre, INMETRO (metrology), INPA (Amazon research) and CETENE (North East) are also cooperating in nanotechnology research. Estimates of the numbers of companies active in nanotechnology in Brazil vary between 30 and 40. According to a Swiss survey, most of these are very small spin-offs. Brazilian local companies are mostly interested in cost reduction. Only companies exporting to Europe and the USA are interested in added value. (Györvary, CSEM). During the fact finding mission, 8 spin-offs, 12 established Brazilian companies and 5 foreign companies were referred to. Spin-offs: Gaviasensor (PUC), Nanobionics (CCS-UNICAMP), Supranano (USP), Perinova (USP), DSD (UFMG), NANUM (UFMG), Ponto Quantico (PQS&D Ltda, UFPE), LUMITEC (USP, RENAMI). Established Brazilian companies: Petrobras (energy), Boticario, Natura (cosmetics), Novo Filme, D&L Welding Fumes, Braskem, GETEC, PADTEC, OXITENO, Santista Textil (textile), Digimed (analytics), and CERAMICA Sergipe S.A (ceramics). Foreign companies (including with activities in Brazil): NovaLED (Dresden, Germany), FEI company (Netherlands), HP Brasil, BOSCH Brasil and CSEM Brasil. Comparison with 2002 mission The German fact finding mission in 2002 visited government bodies and academic research organisations selected by the Brazilian funding council CNPq in Sao Paulo, Campinas, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. This partly overlapped with the present mission. In 2002, the research institutes were well-equipped, but the research was mainly basis science. Some groups were already working on nanoscience. At that time it was difficult for the research groups to find industrial partners, and the necessary structure to support such public-private cooperation was in an early phase. The German mission explored opportunities for 2+2 networks involving an academic and an industrial partner in Brazil as well as in Germany, but considered this hard to achieve at that time. Existing individual contacts between researchers in Germany and Brazil could be extended to more institutional cooperation programmes. In 2008, the interest in Brazilian industry for nanotechnology is clearly more developed and the focus of nanotechnology research networks is shifting from building up a research infrastructure and investing in human resources for research towards technology transfer and public-private cooperation. The South East (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro) is most advanced, but the federal government policy stimulates regional development through investment in Science and Technology in less developed regions. The ministry for science and technology (MCT) is primarily responsible for Science and Technology Policy including international cooperation. Websites of hosts of the fact finding mission INMETRO: inmetro.gov.br/ UFRJ – COPPE, overview of nanotechnology activities: nanoday.coppe.ufrj.br/temas.html PUC-Rio: puc-rio.br/ CTI: cti.gov.br UNICAMP, NAMITEC network in nanoelectronics: ccs.unicamp.br/namitec/. Federal University of Minas-Gerais UFMG: ufmg.br/english/ Federal University of Pernambuco UFPE ufpe.br SUFRAMA, Manaus: suframa.gov.br/minapim/

The University dramatically expanded its nanotechnology research capabilities this month, with the opening of a 1,000-square-foot ‘clean room’ that will allow scientists to fabricate cutting-edge devices for use in defense, industry, and medicine.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, President Michael J. Hogan, and a host of other elected officials and University representatives acknowledged the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 20 at the Institute of Materials Science (IMS) in the Edward V. Gant Science Complex.
The Nanobionics Fabrication Facility – as the dust-free ‘clean room’ is formally known – supplements state-of-the-art research technology worth more than $20 million that is currently available at the IMS, including high-power electron microscopes, atomic force microscopes, and advanced spectrometers.
Hogan called the $2 million facility a “significant milestone” in UConn’s continuing program to build new interdisciplinary scientific initiatives.
“This new nanobionics clean room is one part of UConn’s comprehensive nanotechnology infrastructure that we think is second to none in Connecticut,” Hogan said.
“The possibilities of nanotechnology are innumerable, with the potential to revolutionize every facet of applied science and modern technology – from high-tech manufacturing to military devices to fuel cells to new methods of health care.”
The University has invested more than $7 million of its own funds in support of nanotechnology research facilities and faculty as part of its revised academic plan. Nearly 80 faculty members from UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Schools of Engineering, Medicine, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, and Agriculture are now actively engaged in nanotechnology research. Together they have received more than $25 million in research grants over the past three years.
Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating biological, chemical, and other material particles on an ultra-small scale – smaller than one-hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair.
The clean room offers both wet and dry processing capabilities. Researchers working inside the room must wear white Gore-Tex suits and special shoe covers and gloves to protect the sterile environment, which allows for no more than 1,000 microdust particles per cubic meter of air.
The clean room is expected to advance UConn research into such things as a nanosized implantable glucose sensor for diabetics. It will also help Robert Birge, holder of the Harold S. Schwenk Sr. Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, in his quest to develop an artificial retina.
Nejat Olgac, the head of UConn’s Advanced Laboratory for Automation, will use the room to help with the ongoing development of a nanoscopic device that can transfer genetic material into cells with greater accuracy and effectiveness – a potential boon for nanomedicine.
In addition, nanotechnology is expected to have a major impact on next-generation energy concepts, such as state-of-the-art solar and fuel cells.
The nanobionics fabrication facility was made possible in part through a U.S. Army Center grant, in conjunction with pooled resources and equipment from the University’s nanobionics-associated faculty and IMS.
In addition, UConn 2000 funding supported the necessary infrastructure improvements to make the clean room, said Professor Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos, director of the Nanobionics Fabrication Facility and associate director of IMS.
“Nanobionics lies at the intersection of nano- and bio-technology, where artificial nanomaterials and devices are complemented with biological function,” Papadimitrakopoulos said.
“This facility intends to enable researchers across the state to realize advanced devices, along with bridging different disciplines to cross-fertilize new concepts.”
UConn is the only place in the state that high-technology businesses can come to access equipment that can characterize, synthesize, manipulate, or assemble matter on the nanoscale level.
Each year, more than 40 Connecticut companies use UConn’s expertise in nanotechnology and materials science for their research and development efforts.
“The basic scientists in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, such as Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos in our Department of Chemistry, are providing knowledge about the nature of matter that is at the foundation of work in nanotechnology,” said Jeremy Teitelbaum, dean of the College.

Owe Orwar, Professor of Physical Chemistry at Chalmers, has received a SEK 25 million research grant from the European Research Council, ERC. The call for applications was directed at interdisciplinary science for senior researchers and Orwar has been granted funding for a nanoscience programme entitled "Soft-Matter Nanotechnology to Create Artificial Life Forms".
"First and foremost I don't regard this as a personal award. It is an award for the research group and the extraordinary students from all corners of the world who through their energy and enthusiasm have it possible to conduct science that is highly relevant," says Owe Orwar.
The research programme deals with the complex control of soft materials on a nanoscale. This is a combination of chemistry, physics and biology will lead to new technologies based on cell-imitating functions such as chemotaxy, which is the controlled movement of material driven by a concentration gradient, as well as new display materials, nanosensors, nanorobotics and a great deal besides.
"There is a virtually unlimited range of possibilities. Another important part of the programme deals with acquiring a better understanding of how chemical reactions take place in cell environments through microfluid-controlled geometry and topology operations in cell-like systems," says Owe Orwar.
He points out that the funding from the ERC is also recognition of all the national and international partners and those who have supported the research in the past, primarily the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, but also the Swedish Research Council, the National Institute of Health (USA) and the EU.
"This is also an award for Chalmers. The backing from former President Jan-Eric Sundgren, and the current president Karin Markides, has been outstanding. The support from Professor Bengt Kasemo at the Department of Physics is also deeply appreciated," says Owe Orwar.
The prestigious call for applications by the ERC is directed at well-established, leading researchers. The average age among the applicants was 51 years. At 44, Owe Orwar is the youngest in the group to receive this important award. The ERC awards a total of €542 million to the successful projects chosen from the 2,167 applications submitted. Orwar was the only Swede to receive an award in the field of interdisciplinary science with 7.25 points out of a maximum of 8.
"The Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, MC2, and the clean room were prerequisites for success. The management at the Department of Chemistry, with Krister Holmberg leading the way, along with colleagues at the Chemistry and Bioscience departments have been a further crucial factor behind this success. The working environment is almost perfect for succeeding in this type of science," says Owe Orwar.
Orwar has previously started two biotechnology companies, Cellectricon and Nanoxis, and a third is in the pipeline. He believes that the current EU-funded programme, together with an SSF-funded project, will eventually lead to the establishment of more companies.
Contact and further information: Owe Orwar, tel +46 (0)31 -772 3060 orwar@chembio.chalmers.se
Source: Chamlmers University of Technology

Green Earth Nano Science, Inc., (GENS) a nanotechnology solutions provider and a global supplier and licensor of proprietary photocatalyst* technology, recently signed an Exclusive Master Distributor license agreement with Permaweld Pvt Ltd; India's leading "specialty maintenance product supplier" with two decades of vertical focus on NEW technologies and now Green Technology products that help "industry extend the maintenance interval by overcoming specific maintenance problems with their superior technology products". This results in better productivity from critical Assets. Permaweld is seen as a suitable partner, as a growing corporation with an existing network of existing business in KEY industrial segments and geographical areas of India. Permaweld Pvt Ltd provides and will help develop a national network with a unique entrepreneurial spirit and far-reaching possibilities for added-value using Gens Nano nanotechnology.
Green Earth Nano Science, Inc. is a Canadian corporation finalist in 2008 Green Log Award with Head Office located in Toronto Canada. GENS is one of the first of a new class of companies specialized as independent licensor-distributors of "green" nanotechnology based products and commercialization of new sustainable environmental technologies.
Gens Nano coatings are 100% Green products and their series of photocatalyst coatings transform any treated surface into an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, mold free surface. The coating also helps reduce pollution and improve air quality environment, protect building interior or exterior from environmental contamination. These hygienic coatings are formulated to incorporate light activated Nano Titanium Dioxide (TiO2), which helps to deactivate bio-contamination and neutralize pollutants. Gens Nano coatings are easy to apply, they dry at room temperature and are designed for a variety of applications and substrates. GENS products and services are branded and marketed under registered brand "Gens Nano"
The Distributor for India M/S Permaweld Pvt Ltd has been vertically focused since 1988 in providing comprehensive maintenance solutions under one roof to industry; through specially engineered high quality maintenance products and services. With 20 years of specialized experience with varied industry segments PERMAWELD can be trusted to provide unique solutions for all types of industrial plant and machinery found in continuous Process Plants, Steel, Mining, Petrochemical, Refineries, Paper, Automobile, and Automotive component, Thermal and Nuclear Power Plants. PERMAWELD is certified as an ISO 9001-2000 company for its marketing focus and the customer retention services provided for specialized maintenance products.
The Indian market and its one billion plus population, presents a lucrative and diverse opportunity for GENS NANO with these technology products, services, and commitment. Not withstanding the current slow down in Global economies it is surmised that such products should have a greater need as they preserve the "asset and reduce recurring maintenance costs" for Industry. India's infrastructure, transportation, energy, environmental, health care, heritage and high-tech sectors will require products and services which will exceed tens of billions of dollars in the medium-term as the Indian economy globalizes and expands. India's GDP, currently growing at around 7 percent, makes it one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Construction of nearly everything from airports to container ports to teleports and new industries are setting the stage to remake India.
Uday Pasricha, Managing Director and Business Partner of Pernaweld PVT LTD. stated: "We are thrilled to introduce GENS NANO coating into India; we have no doubt that with investment and some gestation, our efforts to introduce these products and our results will ignite other Asian markets as well. India has a great hidden potential and we have started to develop key markets as well as manufacturers who will incorporate GENS NANO into their product lines as a low-maintenance feature and a green, eco-friendly product. "
Miroslaw Chrzaniecki, Executive Director of Green Earth Nano Science Inc. (GENS) Global Operations, reported: "India is growing at a very fast pace and its current trade openness creates a good timing for the introduction of our innovative photo catalyst nanotechnology, along with all upcoming products we have in our R&D portfolio; we are very pleased with this strategic alliance for India."