Feb. 2, 2004 — NanoSight Ltd. (News, Web), a London developer of nanometer scale imaging technologies, received $182,000 from Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, according to Tim Harper (News, Web), head of nanotech consultancy Cientifica Ltd. (News, Web) and a NanoSight director.

The five-person company is developing technology that can detect particles in liquid down to 20 nanometers, and can distinguish in real time between particles of different sizes.

“This has applications ranging from quality control of nanoparticles, through to biodetection where you want to detect and distinguish between various species of biohazard as rapidly as possible,” Harper said in an e-mail interview, “rather than waiting for the lab results to come back.”

Harper said the company’s technology would be both cheaper and faster than traditional methods that employ either scanning probe or electron microscopes.

NanoSight is currently focused on product development, although it recently granted a license to Smiths Detection to use the technology for biohazard detection, Harper said.