Category: Media Mentions

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.

A brief item in The Daily News of Halifax, Canada ("Tiny science no small matter", by Andrea MacDonald, 2 February 2002) describes a lecture by Carlo Montemagno, who studies biological molecular motor systems at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute, at Dalhousie University. According to the article, ìThereís a bright future for people who want to look at the business of molecular process,î Montemagno told his audience. Itís difficult to tell whether the writer or Montemagno had tongue in cheek regarding the articleís conclusion: Itís a golden opportunity for nations such as Canada to climb on board, Mantemagno said, as an investment of tens of millions of dollars is all thatís needed to be competitive.

from the World-Watch dept.
A pair of reports in the Canberra Times cover a minor flap that developed when Australian Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson departed from normal practice by directing the Australian Research Council (ARC), the nation's top research body, how to spend a third of its 2003 budget. Making the announcement on 28 January ("Nelson sets priority for research funds" by C. Jackson, 30 January 2002), Nelson said 33 per cent of ARC funding would go to four priority areas of cutting-edge scientific research such as nanotechnology, genomics, complex and intelligent systems and photonics. About A$170 million (about US$86.4 million) would support projects and centres for up to five years; Nelson said that research proposals in the areas of nanotechnology and biomaterials, photon science, genomics and phenomics, and complex and intelligent systems should share one-third of ARC grants allocated in the current application round for 2003. According to the second report ("Minister's decision means some research grants doubled" by C. Jackson S. Grose, 31 January 2002), the result of the reallocation of funds to those four specific areas will result in funds to those areas almost doubling. In the 2002 round, genomic and phenomics received the largest amount of the four, 6.4 per cent. Nanotech and biomaterial work received 5.9 per cent, photon science 2.9 per cent, and 2.8 per cent went to complex and intelligent systems research.

According to the reports, the announcement has thrown the ARC's grants system into turmoil.

According to an article in the Albaby, N.Y. Times Union ("RPI among finalists for Army nanotech project", by K. Aaron, 30 January 2002), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is one of just a few U.S. universities still under consideration to be the host institution of the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the U.S. Armyís Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN). Competition for the UARC was quite keen, and included three universities in New York State alone (see Nanodot posts from 1 November and 28 November 2001). According to the article, the Army will announce which school will host the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies by the end of March. The award would bring the winning university $95 million over five years, though Richard W. Siegel, a professor who is leading the RPI effort, expects that to climb.

from the old-news-warmed-over dept.
An article from Crain's New York Business ("New Yorkís in a nano state of mind with research and VC money", 28 January 2002) provides a rather boosterish perspective on nanotech research and business activity in New York State, but largely rehashes developments that have been taking place there over the past year or so.

from the World-Watch dept.
A series of articles in the venerable French newspaper Le Monde on 18 January 2002 profile Minatec, a new micro- and nano-technology education, research and business incubation center being developed in Grenoble, France, as well as broader nanotech research and development activities in the European Union (EU), and compares them to their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere:

• " Les grandes promesses de l'infiniment petit " ("The grand promises of the infinitely small", by Michel Alberganti). An overview of Minatec research and development goals, primarily related to electronics applications.
• "Minatec cristallise les ambitions de la filière électronique de la région de Grenoble" ("Minatec crystallizes the ambitions of a electronics career for the Grenoble region", by Nicole Cabret). A closer look at Minatec funding, staff, facilities, and its administrative and operational structure.
• "Un univers de nains pour, demain, gouverner le monde" ("A universe of dwarves for, tomorrow, governing the world", by Jean-Francois Augereau). Interestingly, this article cites researchers such as Richard Smalley and Jim Gimzewski in support of the vision of advanced nanotechnology attributed to K. Eric Drexler.
• "Jean Therme, directeur du centre grenoblois du Commissariat à l'énergie atomique" ("Jean Therme, Director of the Grenoble Center of the Atomic Energy Commission"). An interview by Nicole Cabret provides additional information on the establishment and goals of Minatec.
• "L'Europe tente de suivre le rythme des Etats-Unis" ("Europe attempts to follow the rhythm of the United States"). This might be more accurately translated as "Europe attempts to match the pace of the United States", since the article describes the urgent need for the EU to establish nanotech efforts comparable to the U.S., Japan and China/Taiwan.

Previous coverage of Minatec appeared here on Nanodot on 14 January 2002.

If you donít read French, try the Babelfish/AltaVista machine translator. It provides a rough but useful translation of lengthy web pages. The version of the article simplified for printing usually translates faster, because all the banner ads and nav elements have been removed.

from the transition-state dept.
A brief item on the Small Times website ("Krebs leaves nano institute, remains at UCLA", by Jayne Fried, 25 January 2002) reports that Martha Krebs has left her position as director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) for a broader role at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on of the UC campuses that hosts the CNSI. Krebs also has served as associate vice chancellor of UCLA for research, and said she will be devote herself full time to that job. Krebs was a key figure in establishing CNSI, and had moved to California a year ago from Washington, D.C., to become director of the institute. Previously, as science director at the U.S. Department of Energy, Krebs helped establish the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.

According to the report, Jim Health, formerly co-scientific director of CNSI, is now acting director of the institute; he will work with Evelyn Hu, the other co-scientific director prior to change. Heath told Small Times that CNSI will be seeking a chief operating officer, — "probably more of a business or entrepreneurial type than a scientist", Heath said — to assist in running the instutute.

from the nanotech,-eh dept.
An extensive article in the Ontario, Canada National Post ("Small Miracles", by Margaret Munro, 21 January 2002) provides an interesting, if somewhat skeptical, look at nanotechnology in Canada and the United States. While dismissing speculations about advanced molecular nanotechnology as "the stuff of fiction", Munro writes "there is clearly a revolution afoot", but:

Scientists say the revolution will be gradual. "The hype is just that," says Robert Wolkow, a research officer at the National Research Council in Ottawa and one of the country's leading nanotechnologists. "Many really remarkable things will happen. But they're not going to happen next year or even in five years," he says. A more realistic time frame is 10 to 20 years before nanotechnology dramatically changes our lives. But when the revolution comes, says Wolkow, "it will be fantastic."

In addition to profiling a number of interesting nanotech research projects, the article briefly mentions the contention over the feasibility of molecular assemblers that resulted from the September 2001 special nanotech issue of Scientific American, and quotes skeptical Canadian researchers.