Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

March 11, 2009: Dolomite, a microfluidics company, has launched its Mitos Syringe Pump Extra Smooth (XS) (PDF 383KB), a versatile pumping solution making complex and powerful microfluidic technologies possible, the company announced in a news release.

The pump system, the company said, has been built on the success of the original Mitos Syringe Pump, but now incorporates a virtually pulse-free flow rate.

Designed for applications such as droplet generation, reagent dispensing, cell manipulation, microreactions and any application where precise control over fluid flow is required, the Mitos Syringe Pump XS removes pulsation through advanced drive electronics to provide an exceptionally smooth flow.

With the ability to programme two six-port valves and two syringes to operate in a number of different configurations, a broad range of fluid delivery capabilities are possible. Also, according to the company, the unit can be controlled directly via the intuitive user interface or the PC software. Fluid can be dispensed either by volume or flow rate over a definable period of time with the ability to create unique flow profiles.

With an extremely small footprint (260mm × 160mm × 250mm), the Mitos Syringe Pump XS addresses the requirement for a smooth-flow microfluidic system without occupying valuable laboratory space.


(Photo courtesy of Dolomite)

March 11, 2009: New research from Rice University and the University of Oulu in Oulu, Finland, finds that carbon nanotubes could significantly improve the performance of electrical commutators that are common in electric motors and generators.

The research, which Pulickel Ajayan, Rice’s Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. “The technology is widely used in industry, both in consumer gadgets as well as larger electrical machinery, so this could be a very interesting, near-term application for nanotubes.” The combination of mechanical and electrical properties of nanotubes makes this possible.

The carbon nanotubes used in the study are hollow tubes of pure carbon that are about 30nm in diameter. By comparison, a human hair is about 100,000nm in diameter. In addition to being small, nanotubes are also extremely lightweight and durable, and they are excellent conductors of heat and electricity.

Because of these properties, the researchers decided to test nanotubes as brush contacts. Brush contacts are conducting pads held against a spinning metal disc or rod by spring-loaded arms. Current is passed from the spinning disc through the brush contacts to other parts of the device.

To test the feasibility of using carbon nanotube brush contacts, the research team replaced the ordinary copper-carbon composite brushes of an electric motor with small blocks that contain millions of carbon nanotubes. Under an electron microscope, these millimeter-square blocks look like a tightly packed forest.


Pads of nanotube “forests ” were tested as brush contacts. (Credit: P. Ajayan/Rice University)

From Ajayan’s previous work, the team knew that these nanotube forests react something like a “memory foam” pillow; they regain their shape very quickly after they are compressed.

“This elasticity is something that’s not found in existing composites that are used for brush contacts, and that’s the essence of why the nanotube brush contacts perform better: They keep much more of their surface area in contact with the spinning disc,” said Robert Vajtai, faculty fellow at Rice. Vajtai worked on the study with Ajayan and a group of researchers in Finland led by University of Oulu Researcher Krisztian Kordas.

The team believes that the improved contact between the surface of the spinning disc and the brush accounts for the 90% reduction in lost energy.

March 10, 2009: JEOL Ltd. has introduced a new atomic resolution analytical microscope, the JEM-ARM200F.

The microscope sets a new benchmark for advanced, aberration-corrected S/TEM technology with the highest resolution commercially available in its class, according to a news release from JEOL USA, the company’s US subsidiary. Through a rigorous development and design program inspired by JEOL customers, the release said, the JEOL team has produced an entirely new platform of TEM that achieves a guaranteed HAADF-STEM (high angle annular dark field) resolution of 80 picometers, or 0.08nm.

The company said the latest in software automation has been designed into the new ARM200F, with tomography and holography simplified by a user-friendly GUI.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will be the site of the first installation of the new JEM-ARM200F. The microscope will be housed in the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory under the supervision of world-renowned researcher Miguel Yacaman, chair of the College of Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy. There, it will support research in nanotechnology, materials science, medicine, biology, chemistry and engineering.

March 9, 2009: AECOM Environment and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) are collaborating on a new Sustainable Nanotechnology Initiative (SNI) at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

The goal of the SNI is to begin to understand the environmental risks associated with engineered nanomaterials, according to a company news release.

AECOM’s Environmental Toxicology Lab and risk assessment group will collaborate with UCSB to study nanomaterial fate and transport, assist in exposure assessment and risk quantification and modeling, develop outreach programs and related training materials for use by industry involved in handling nanomaterials, and conduct “real world” testing of methods and instrumentation for the detection and characterization of nanomaterials.

“New nanotechnology-related products are already impacting global industry and society, and the Bren School’s SNI is critical to helping industry and the public understand the health and environmental implications of nanomaterials,” said Robert Weber, AECOM Environment Group chief executive. “Our collaboration provides another platform to share expertise, and positions us to better assist our clients in addressing issues associated with some nanomaterials.”

AECOM Environment is also working on nanotechnology projects for other public- and private-sector clients, including aquatic toxicity studies for a major commercial producer of carbon nanotubes which will help determine how wastewater discharge from the production of these materials affects aquatic species, according to the company.

March 9, 2009: Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) will use its microarray technology to collaborate with a team from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and Tongi University that has achieved new insight into how adult cells can be induced to act like embryonic stem cells.

Emryonic stem cells have the ability to form any type of tissue. President Barack Obama has lifted a longstanding ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

“The value of finding alternatives to embryonic stem cells would obviously be tremendous, and the ability to induce pluripotency in adult cells, discovered in 2006, is considered a breakthrough,” said Jian Li of Agilent Technologies Shanghai, one of the article’s coauthors. “Now we’re gaining new understanding into how this pluripotency was actually induced.”

In their findings, published in the journal Cell Research (Cell Research, 2008 18:1177-1189), the researchers observed a developmental signaling network of 16 signaling pathways, including nine that had not previously been assigned roles in maintaining or inducing pluripotency.

The study used Agilent chromatin immunoprecipitation-on-chip (ChIP-on-chip) and gene expression microarrays to study molecules known as “Yamanaka factors” and their roles in inducing pluripotency in mouse cells.

Agilent provided the microarray kits for this research under an Agilent grant issued in 2008.

March 9, 2009: Industrial Nanotech Inc. is launching what the company calls a “grassroots campaign” — through their Web site, blog and social networking sites — to promote its Nansulate coating technology to state governors looking for ways to save energy.

“Based upon the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and in agreement with President Obama’s initiative to become a more energy efficient nation, many states are examining ways to meet the challenge,” Francesca Crolley, Industrial Nanotech’s vice president for operations and marketing, said in a news release.

“Our Nansulate nanotechnology based coatings provide a very affordable way for increasing the thermal insulation value of homes and buildings and significantly reducing energy costs.”

Crolley is urging shareholders and customers to join the company in writing to their governors and urging them to use Nansulate to help save energy and lower energy expenses. The company invited supporters “to join us in this initiative, through video and social network interaction.”

Nansulate is a line of nanotech-based coatings that can insulate, prevent corrosion and make materials resistant to mold.

March 6, 2009: Harris & Harris Group (Nasdaq: TINY), a publicly traded venture capital company that invests in nanotechnology and MEMS, has released information regarding its financial health in response to questions of how the company is doing during the economic downturn.

“Given the current financial and economic environment, we have received a number of questions over the last few days,” according to a company news release. “These questions have focused on how this environment is affecting Harris & Harris Group’s financial position, its status as a financial institution, and more specifically its status as a business development company.”

The company said that as of Sept. 30, 2008, it had about $57.9 million in cash and US Treasury obligations, no outstanding debt, and operating expenses are expected to be about $6 million per year.

“We are not subject to credit agency downgrades, or risk of default or failure from these types of loans that could cause us to fail asset coverage tests or force a fire sale of assets,” the statement said.

As a business development company, the firm said, “our investment objective is long-term capital appreciation rather than current income.”

March 4, 2009: The National Institutes of Health has awarded nanotech life-science company Platypus Technologies LLC $400,000 to develop its liquid crystal technology for an asthma monitor, according to a report in the Business Journal of Milwaukee (Wisconsin).

The two-year Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant will help develop and commercialize patented technology for a supersensitive nitric oxide detector, the paper reported.

Platypus has received more than $18 million in federal dollars to develop its nano-based products for environmental monitoring, infectious disease testing and homeland security, according to the report.

March 4, 2009: Mauro Ferrari, a nanomedicine scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, has received a five-year, $7 million Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer Research Program to develop a targeted new delivery system for breast cancer drugs.

If this new approach proves successful, it could increase the efficiency of drug delivery by concentrating more drug at the site of a tumor. A more efficient drug delivery system has the potential to reduce side effects associated with these drugs.

In global competition, Ferrari was the sole recipient of the DoD Breast Cancer Innovator Award for his proposal submitted in 2008, making him the 17th recipient of this unique award in the last eight years. The Innovator Award is offered to support visionary individuals who have demonstrated creativity, innovative work and leadership in any field who will focus their talents on breast cancer.

“Dr. Ferrari is translating advances in nanotechnology into the prevention and treatment of human diseases; that is why we are here,” said Larry Kaiser, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center at Houston. “His work in the area of cancer is particularly promising and Dr. Ferrari’s leadership in this collaborative approach is significant.”

Right now, when doctors inject a breast cancer drug, only a small percentage reaches malignant cells. The remaining drug circulates through blood vessels and can kill healthy, non-cancerous tissue. Side effects can include fatigue, hair loss and diarrhea.

With conventional chemotherapy, approximately one of every 100,000 drug molecules reaches its intended destination.

Ferrari’s proposed solution to this problem is to package these drugs in miniaturized carriers engineered to search out, recognize and release their payload at the site of the tumor. These nanocarriers are about one hundredth the size of a strand of hair and their contents are measured in billionths of a meter (nanometer).

Preliminary work has begun on the nanocarriers, which could be loaded with therapeutics, diagnostics, or a combination of both and designed to hone in on the blood vessels that support tumor growth. Once there, the biocompatible nanocarriers would degrade into harmless byproducts and release the medication.

Ferrari’s immediate goal is to significantly increase the concentration of a therapeutic drug in a breast cancer tumor in a pre-clinical study.

Getting the nanocarriers through the body’s vast circulatory system and to the site of a breast tumor is no easy task, Ferrari said. The nanocarriers must avoid being corrupted by enzymes, swallowed up by the body’s immune system and trapped inside blood vessels.

To avoid biological barriers, Ferrari uses a multi-stage delivery system. The first stage goes to the inner wall of a blood vessel near the diseased cells. As the nanocarrier degrades, it releases the second stage – tiny nanoparticles that penetrate the walls of the inner blood vessels and enter the diseased cells. The third stage is then released and it consists of either the medication to kill the tumor cells or the contrasting agents used for quality images, or both.

Ferrari’s nanocarriers can be customized to target different breast cancer presentations. They can be designed to release their payloads over a matter of hours or months. Their shapes can be specifically designed to increase the likelihood of reaching the targeted blood vessels that feed tumor cells.

March 4, 2009: The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN), based in the UK, has announced a strategic partnership with the Joint Equipment Materials Initiative (JEMI) to look at atomic layer deposition. A March 31 focus-group event will include presentations from key players in the industry, including Metryx, Beneq, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

Presentations at the meeting, to be held at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot, will give delegates an insight into the technique of ALD and how to control and monitor the processes and scale up to large areas and there will be a focus on applications in lighting displays and high performance CMOS semiconductors.

A panel session — to be hosted by Rob Stevens from RAL, Professor PK Nathan from Brunel University and Ric Allott from UK Displays and Lighting KTN — will focus on the current standing of the UK both academically and industrially, and will look at where market opportunities exist and are created through commercialization of IP as well as strategic partnerships.

The NanoKTN and JEMI said in a news release that they are hopeful that the focus group will meet the objective of stimulating formation of a complete supply chain, for successful implementation of nanotechnology in this industry sector.

Key areas to be explored are the fundamentals of ALD processing, the challenges of precursor materials for ALD, overviews of ALD in the UK and the opportunities and threats in the UK supply chain and applications in displays and lighting.