By Jim Dukart
NanoCon Show Daily

Concurrent with the educational sessions of NanoCon 2006 in Las Vegas, several companies and organizations are displaying their wares and demonstrating new products and technology.

Magforce Nanotechnologies AG, for instance, is providing information on using iron oxide nanoparticles to fight cancer. The system injects the nanoparticles directly into cancer tumors, then uses a magnetic field (created by a machine that looks like a standard MRI device) to heat, or effectively “cook”, the tumorous cells. The system is currently being tested in five open trials in Germany, and Magforce expects European approval in 2008.

Creavis Technologies, a subsidiary of Degussa AG of Germany, also has products on display that are not yet in the U.S. market. It produces and is displaying a “hydrophobic” (water repellent) coating for countertops, sinks and bathtubs that it says will simplify cleaning and maintenance. The product has been offered to consumers in Germany for the past four months, but has yet to gain EPA approval for sale in the U.S. Creavis is also demonstrating a product a spokesman called “ceramic wallpaper” that it says is stain and moisture resistant and flame retardant.

Numerous other examples abound at the show — preferring nanotech products, applications and solutions in fields ranging from medical to building materials and from military and security to paints, coatings, solvents and nanopowders and materials.