Month: February 2002

Analysts and pundits are looking over the big increase in nanotech-related R&D funding requested by the Bush Administration on 4 February 2002.

• Coverage of the budget announcement can also be found on the Small Times website ("Bush calls for 17 percent increase in spending for nanotech programs", by D. Brown, 5 February 2002).
• An article from United Press International ("Nanotech initiative's focus: Measurement", by S. Burnell, 10 February 2002) provides some additional commentary, and includes a short interview with Mihail "Mike" Roco, a senior advisor on nanotechnology at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which receives almost one-third of total federal nanotech funding. NSF will support a diversity of programs in different areas, Roco said: "This reflects, in a way, that nanoscale science and engineering will affect society at large. It's basically a foundation on which industry eventually will change its business; it's a way in which maybe we'll change our understanding of the world, even of life." Roco also said a long-term goal is the development of a nanotechnology workforce: "In the long term, NSF will try to address the educational aspects that are critical for this whole enterprise. In 2003, we'll train and educate about 5,000 students and faculty; this is probably a small number if you consider the rate of increase of nanoscale science and engineering. In 10 or 15 years, we'll need in the range of 800,000 nanotechnology workers, so the NSF will focus on preparing this workforce of the future."
• An extensive article by Doug Brown on the Small Times website ("Bush proposes deep cuts to program that funds high-risk nanotechnology", 11 February 2002) points that not all aspects of the Bush budget proposal are positive. According to the article, the Bush administration is seeking cut funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) in the Department of Commerce from about $185 million to $107.9 million , a reduction of over 42%. The ATP has spent about $128 million on nanotechnology in recent years, and companies involved with the ATP projects have met the federal dollars with $121 million of their own money.
• For a general overview of the areas where the U.S. federal R&D budget is being increased and decreased, see the Preliminary Analysis of R&D in the FY 2003 Budget from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Budget and Policy Program. The analysis does not specifically mention nanotechnology funding figures.

from the (world-authority-on-nanotech?) dept.
A rather breathless article in the Australian Daily Telegraph ("AIDS cure closer: expert", 4 February 2002) describes a visit to Australia by Professor Donald Tomalia, whom the article describes as "the world authority on nanotechnology", to trumpet work by Dendritic Nanotechnologies Ltd, the joint-venture of Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company Starpharma and Brisbane-based diagnostic firm Panbio. Tomalia is a leading researcher in the field of starburst dendrimers, a type of complex, tree-like spherical branching polymer molecules, at Central Michigan University in the United States. Dendritic Nanotech was formed in August 2001 to develop products using "dendrimer nanotechnology"

Australia would pioneer the application to humans of the synthetic molecular structures to prevent and cure diseases such as STDs, malaria and Hepatitis B, Prof Tomalia told reporters in Sydney. According to the article, dendrimers were being touted by Dendritic Nanotechnologies as having implications for anything from preventing tumour growth to curing AIDS to detecting biological warfare.

Dr John Raff, CEO of Starpharma, said the Australian federal government had committed A$6 million to the company's research. He said the Australian army was embracing nanotechnology, following in the footsteps of the U.S., which was equipping its army with detection devices against germ warfare. "The opportunities of broadscale protections against a range of respiratory viruses is enormous," he said. "The US army has made a very serious commitment to the nano area. The army intends to give every foot soldier out there devices to detect biological threats. That is now a reality. Australia is just now coming into this very exciting area," he said.

from the long-range-plans dept.
An article in Dallas-Ft. Worth TechBiz ("Local medical device industry could boom with right political support", by Pavan Lall, 21 January 2002) describe innovative companies in the medical device industry in Texas. The article includes a brief nod toward the potential medical applications of nanotechnology:

Nanotechnology will help shrink medical devices, said Christopher Chavez, president and chief executive at Plano-based Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc. ìThe technical issues of nanotech will be resolved downstream, and the improvement of devices will be based on a synthesis of different technologies,î he said. . . . In about 20 years, through a better understanding of the central nervous system, electricity will be accepted as a digital drug, Chavez said. The shrinkage of medical devices will stimulate other technologies as well as make the broad-based use of drugs and chemicals obsolete. ìMachinery and electrode miniaturization will result in very elegant solutions that will be tremendously intelligent,î he said.
Jim Von Ehr, president and chief executive of Richardson-based nanotech company Zyvex Corp., agreed. ìWe have been talking with a number of doctors about things in the medical area and have looked at micro-devices and micro-diagnostics. In the future, there could be a variety of micro-devices that will detect bacteria in a system, chop it into pieces and digest it or even carry oxygen better than a cell in a bloodstream can.î To successfully implement different aspects of medical devices in production, one must understand biological content as well as the relation to software and bioinformatics, Von Ehr said.

It is worth noting that Robert A. Freitas Jr., author or Nanomedicine, the first book-length technical discussion of the potential medical applications of molecular nanotechnology and medical nanorobotics, is a Research Scientist with Zyvex.