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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Nanodot

Bush Administration proposes $679 million for NNI

As part of the US$2.13 trillion budget proposed for the U.S. federal government for fiscal year 2003, the Bush Administration has requested a total of $679 million for the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a 17 percent increase over FY2002.

The request includes:

According to the Analytical Perspectives: Budget of the United States Government, a document which discusses the Administrationís budge proposals in detail:

The budget provides $679 million for the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative, a 17 percent increase over 2002. The initiative focuses on long-term research on the manipulation of matter down to the atomic and molecular levels, giving us unprecedented building blocks for new classes of devices as small as molecules and machines as small as human cells. This research could lead to continued improvement in electronics for information technology; higher-performance, lower-maintenance materials for defense, transportation, space, and environmental applications; and accelerated biotechnical applications in medicine, healthcare, and agriculture. In 2003, the initiative will focus on fundamental nanoscale research through investments in investigator-led activities, centers and networks of excellence, as well as the supporting infrastructure. Priority areas include: research to enable efficient nanoscale manufacturing; innovative nanotechnology solutions for detection of and protection from biological-chemical-radiological-explosive agents; the education and training of a new generation or workers for future industries; and partnerships and other policies to enhance industrial participation in the nanotechnology revolution. The convergence of nanotechnology with information technology, modern biology and social sciences will reinvigorate discoveries and innovation in many areas of the economy.

The document is available online as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (about 3.2 Mb). Additional budget documents are available at the White House/Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website.

It is worth noting that the document also mentions the following areas that will be addressed by the U.S. Information Technology Initiative: "trust" (security, reliability, and privacy); high-assurance software and systems; and micro- and embedded sensor technologies.

Proposed modification to Sloan-Kettering nanogener

WillWare writes "Last November there was a press release (16 November 2001) about a potential cancer treatment agent called a nanogenerator, under development at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, with subsequent discussion here at Nanodot. The treatment involves a monoclonal antibody connected to a radioactive actinium atom. The antibody somehow targets cancer cells selectively, so that the decaying actinium is brought into the cell. The actinium releases four alpha particles as it decays, which are energetic enough to usually kill the cell. The timing of these particles follows a Poisson distribution over time, so the material must be prepared and transported on a careful schedule.

It would be nice if the actinium atom could be replaced by something that could be activated from an energy source external to the patient's body. This would allow for long-term storage, rather than needing to process the stuff soon before treatment. The absorption spectrum for water alternates several times between transparent and opaque, so it should be possible to get energy to the "weapon" using EM radiation that has minimal effect on surrounding tissue.

One strategy could be to use a benign molecule that breaks into toxic pieces when stimulated. This would be a one-time use weapon. This would leave the question of ensuring that the toxic products would not do further damage after the cancer cell was killed.

If the weapon could be fired repeatedly, it would overcome the limitation that actinium releases only four alpha particles. The function of the weapon itself could be merely to transduce received EM energy to a frequency that is absorbed by water, thereby heating and hopefully killing the cancer cell. It may be possible to find such a transducer simply by searching databases of known molecules and their absorption spectra."

ACS reports advances in nanowire production methods

According to a press release (1 February 2002) from the American Chemical Society (ACS), two independent groups have published reports in Nano Letters, an ACS publication, on methods for making lattices that they say will enable nanowires to be constructed with otherwise incompatible materials. Such mixed bundles may be useful in making electronics and other devices on an increasingly smaller scale:

In both cases, manufacture is relatively straightforward and results in stable nanowires that can operate at room temperature, Yang reports. Based on the findings of both research groups, tiny components known as nanowires that meld together a variety of materials could soon be routinely and cheaply built using little more than a special mixture of gases deposited on a foundation material.

Additional information on the Berkeley teamís work can be found in this press release (31 January 2002) issued by Nanosys, Inc. Yang is a cofounder of Nanosys, a company focused on the development of nanotechnology-enabled systems. These systems incorporate novel and patent-protected zero and one-dimensional nanometer-scale materials such as nanowires, nanotubes and nanodots (quantum dots) as their principal active elements. Another cofounder of Nanosys is Charles Lieber, a Harvard chemistry professor and winner of the 2001 Foresight Feynman Prize for Experimental work. Lieber has also been conducting significant research into the production and properties of nanowires and other nano-scale materials.

Medication may help slow aging (in fruit flies)

According to an article from the UK-based New Scientist masquerading as a press release ("Keep young and beautiful", by Claire Ainsworth 26 January 2002), a drug called 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) may help to "extend your lifespan while maintaining your youthful health and vigour. What's more, in the US it's already approved for human use. There is just one snag: to reap the benefits, you have to be a fruit fly."

A team of researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the California Institute of Technology made the discovery by accident when they were testing PBA on flies with neurodegenerative disease. They found that feeding the drug extended maximum lifespan of healthy flies by over 50 per cent, and their average lifespan by one-third. PBA works by blocking the activity of histone deacetylases, enzymes involved in switching genes on and off, including the one for superoxide dismutase, a protein well known for its anti-ageing effects. The researchers will be testing the drug on mice very soon.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol 99, p 838).

ACT reports method for parthenogenic embryonic stem cells

According to a press release (1 February 2002), researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) of Worcester, Mass. report in the 1 February 2002 issue of Science that they have developed a large variety of specialized cell types — including heart and brain cells — from embryonic monkey stem cells through a process called parthenogenesis. The researchers reported that they had generated a "pluripotent" stem cell line. From that cell line, they already have produced brain neurons, heart muscle, smooth muscle, beating ciliated epithelial cells and a number of other kinds of cells, demonstrating, they said, "broad differentiation capabilities of primate stem cells derived by parthenogenesis." The parthenogenetic process leads to stem cells without creating embryos that normally require an egg from the mother and a sperm from the father. Parthenogenesis is defined as a process by which embryonic development is initiated directly from an unfertilized egg cell.

Additional coverage can be found in articles from Reuters News Service, United Press International, the New York Times, and Nature Science Update.

An interesting perspective on the announcement can be found in another press release don`t think the fact that a parthenogenetic embryo is not viable solves the ethical problems for those who object to using human embryos for stem cells," says Dr Donald Bruce, Director of Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland, which has been examining ethical issues of cloning and stem cells since 1996.

Novartis Pathways features article on medical nanorobots

An article by Robert A. Freitas Jr. ("Nanomedicine: robots in the bloodstream") appeared in the October-December 2001 issue of Pathways, a quarterly journal published by Novartis, a major pharmaceutical company. In his article, Freitas, the author of Nanomedicine, reports on recent work on artificial biological nanomotors, nanotweezers, and dendrimers, and features descriptions and illustrations of respirocytes, clottocytes and microbivores, which are medical nanorobot concepts proposed by Freitas. He writes: "In just a few decades physicians could be sending tiny machines into our bodies to diagnose and cure disease. These nanodevices will be able to repair tissues, clean blood vessels and airways, transform our physiological capabilities, and even potentially counteract the aging process."

Freitas concludes: "Although nanotechnology is in its infancy, researchers are steadily making major breakthroughs. If we can learn to harness and precisely control the ability to manipulate molecules, then many aspects of our lives will change forever. In particular, the ability to carry out medical procedures at the molecular level will revolutionize medical practice. The next few decades will be very interesting indeed."

Pathways has a circulation of 20,000 and is sent to health care professionals in 53 countries around the world, so publication of the article represents a small but significant step into the mainstream for the concept of nanorobotic medicine.

More information on the specific medical nanorobots proposed by Freitas can be found in the technical articles that have appeared on the Foresight Nanomedicine web pages or in the IMM Reports that appear as part of his column on nanomedicine in the Foresight Update newsletter:

French conference looks at medical nanotechnology

from the World-Watch dept.
The French newspaper Le Monde has posted a brief description of a presentation on "Therapeutic applications of nanotechnolgies" by Patrick Couvreur, a professor at the University of Paris-Orsay and a researcher with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), who spoke 31 January 2002 at a conference on "Nanotechnology and new medications". The web page provides links to audio files of the conference (in French).

If you donít read French, try the Babelfish/AltaVista machine translator.

Australia reprioritizes research funding, including nanotechnology

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.

Adult stem cell line may serve for regenerative medicine

from the regenerative-medicine dept.
Numerous reports appeared in late-January 2002 in response to a press release (23 January) that reports on a claim by Dr. Catherine M. Verfaillie and colleagues at the University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute (SCI) that they have isolated a type of stem cell found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body. Previously, only stem cells from early embryos were thought to be able to do this. If the finding is confirmed, it will mean cells from your own body could one day be turned into all sorts of perfectly matched replacement tissues and even organs. The finding generated a high level of interest because, if confirmed, there would be no need to resort to therapeutic cloning — cloning human embryos to get matching stem cells from the resulting embryos. Nor would you have to genetically engineer embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to create a "one cell fits all" line that doesn't trigger immune rejection. The discovery of such versatile adult stem cells will also fan the debate about whether embryonic stem cell research is justified.

Additional coverage can be found in articles from the New York Times ("Scientists Herald a Versatile Adult Cell", by N. Wade and S.G. Stolberg, 25 January 2002) and United Press International ("Adult stem cell findings lauded", 24 January 2002).

In related news that demonstrates the importance of this line of research, Dr. Verfaillie announced in another press release (30 January 2002) that her team has demonstrated, for the first time, the ability of adult bone marrow stem cells to expand in vitro as endothelial cells (which line blood- and lymphatic vessels) and then engraft in vivo and contribute to new growth of blood vessels (neoangiogenesis). The report appeared in the 1 February 2002 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Verfaillie and her colleagues announced late last year that these cells, called multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs), demonstrate the potential to differentiate beyond mesenchymal cells, into cells of the visceral mesodermal origin, such as endothelium, and may be capable of differentiating into nonmesodermal cell types, such as neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and liver.

ACT claims to grow artificial kidney from stem cells

According to a report from the UK-based New Scientist (" ëFunctionalí kidneys grown from stem cells", by Claire Ainsworth, 29 January 2002), researchers at Advanced Cell Technology in the U.S. claim to have grown functional bovine kidneys using stem cells taken from cloned cow embryos. The report says the ACT researchers, working in collaboration with a group at Harvard University, coaxed the stem cells into becoming kidney cells, and then "grew" them on a kidney-shaped scaffold. The two-inch-long mini-kidneys were then transplanted back into genetically identical cows, where they started making urine. If confirmed, the work raises the prospect of using stem cells taken from human patients with kidney failure to create new organs for transplant. ACT did not reveal details, and the work has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. As the NS article notes, no details are available as to exactly what these miniature kidneys are, and whether they are in fact complete, functional organs. The kidney is a very complex organ, with an intricate supply of blood vessels that are key to its ability to filter blood.

Additional coverage appeared in the New York Times ("Company Says It Used Cloning to Create New Kidneys for Cow", by K. Chang, 31 January 2002).

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