February 19, 2009: NanoBio Corp., a biopharmaceutical company developing dermatological products, anti-infective treatments and intranasal vaccines, has received $12 million in series B equity financing with Perseus LLC and other existing investors, the company announced in a news release.

More than $80 million in funding has been directed toward the development of the company’s NanoStat technology platform, according to the Ann Arbor, Mich., based firm.

The Series B funding will be used by the company to complete a phase 1 study investigating a novel topical treatment for acne, preclinical studies on a nebulized therapy for cystic fibrosis, and a phase 1 study for an intranasal seasonal influenza vaccine.

This funding follows several recent product announcements by NanoBio, including:

• Phase 2b data indicating that the company’s topical herpes labialis product speeds healing as effectively as the leading oral systemic drugs but without safety or toxicity concerns
• Preclinical data demonstrating that the company’s novel nanoemulsion technology kills highly resistant bacteria found in patients with cystic fibrosis
• Preclinical data indicating that a single administration of NanoBio’s novel intranasal influenza vaccine elicits immune responses in ferrets more than 20 times higher than those generated by two injections of currently approved vaccines

February 17, 2009: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has issued what it calls “interim guidance” for medical screening and hazard surveillance for workers who could be exposed to engineered nanoparticles.

The document advises taking “prudent measures” to control occupational exposures. Those measures were also explained in an earlier NIOSH document.

Also recommended is standard industrial hygiene: identifying processes that involve production and use of engineered nanoparticles and continued use of established medical surveillance to detect any increase in the frequency of adverse health effects.

“Leaders in business, the health community, and public policy have widely agreed on the need for prudent occupational safety and health strategies in the growing nanotechnology industry,” Christine Branche, NIOSH acting director, said in a prepared statement. “NIOSH is pleased to help provide scientific guidance for such strategies, which are integral for maintaining U.S. leadership in the global nanotechnology market.”

NIOSH, which is a subsidiary of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that there is insufficient evidence to recommend specific medical screening of workers who may be exposed to engineered nanoparticles.

February 17, 2009: Luna Innovations Inc., of Roanoke, Va., is working with a team at Virginia Tech to see if buckyballs can be used to help protect people from the deadly affects of nerve gases like sarin and VX.

Marion Ehrich, co-director of Virginia Tech’s Laboratory for Neurotoxicity Studies will spend three years working with fullerenes — hollow, caged molecules commonly referred to as buckyballs — provided by Luna Innovations to develop novel methods for delivering chemical antidotes.

The company and Ehrich will use buckyballs that have been modified to enhance their water solubility and catalytic and antioxidant properties.

“Organophosphorous compounds represent a class of extremely potent chemical warfare agents that can cause incapacitation and death within minutes of exposure,” Ehrich said in a news release.

The 1994 and 1995 Japanese subway attacks conducted by terrorists using sarin gas and the attacks on the northern Iraqi Kurds perpetrated by former dictator Saddam Hussein are both examples of chemical terrorism and warfare using organophosphate compounds.

“The water-soluble fullerenes developed by Luna Innovations are an absolutely critical part of this novel approach to developing better counter-measures,” said Ehrich. “We’re delighted to be collaborating with them.”

Helping to pay for the research is a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

February 16, 2009: NanoVentures Australia Ltd. will take over where NanoVic left off in helping to commercialize nanotechnology in Australia.

The new group was formed after NanoVic’s six-year nanotech investment and commercialization mission for the Victorian government was completed.

Now, NVA’s primary mandate is to commercialize the technologies developed under NanoVic’s agreements in ways that were not feasible under NanoVic’s corporate structure.

NVA has a small grant from the Victorian government to enable the transition, and has recruited the NanoVic team. NVA will not invest in research projects, but as an independent commercial entity, NVA can be a partner in applications to state and commonwealth funding pools, such as ARC, NH&MRC and Climate Ready.

The new NVA Board is comprised of experienced industry and investment executives, including Tina McMeckan (Circadian), Shirley Lanning (Watermark), and Greg Smith (SciVentures).

The primary portfolios within NVA include advanced nanomaterials, water and environmental technologies, therapeutic delivery systems and medical diagnostics.

February 16, 2009: St. Paul, MN-based startup Cima Nanotech Inc. and Tokyo-based Toray Industries Inc. are getting ready to release a transparent, conductive coating material made with self-aligning nanomaterials, according to reports in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal and EE Times.

Cima, a six-year-old company, and the 38,000-employee Toray have been working together on the project for three years. Cima’s technology allows silver nanoparticles to assemble themselves into transparent coatings that can be marketed to electronics makers for use in plasma TVs and other flat-panel displays, or can be market to makers of solar cells.

Cima recently raised $7 million in venture capital from Asian investors.

February 13, 2009: Researchers from the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen and the National Center for Scientific Research in France have developed a general method to study membrane proteins that can be used to screen several thousand proteins. According to the researchers, the method will substantially cut down on the time it takes to develop useful drugs.

The research results are published in the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the US (PNAS).

Membrane proteins are located at the surface of cells and they have a very important role in the communication between the cells in our body. Defective membrane proteins are involved in diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological diseases, just to mention at few. The researchers have developed a system, where they tie a tag to the protein that attach it to a surface and make it possible to investigate it in the laboratories.

Until now membrane proteins have been difficult to study when they are away from their natural environment in the cell, where there a belt of lipids surrounds them. This belt is essential for their survival and proper function.

“With our new method we can study membrane proteins faster and more accurate using less material than before,” researcher Karen Martinez of the University of Copenhagen said in a news release. “We are using a kind of swimsuit for the proteins called amphipols. The amphipol substitute for the lipids, surround the membrane protein, and make it soluble in water while keeping its function intact. We attach a tag to the amphipol that will assemble to a surface like a key-lock system. When we have attached the proteins to a surface they can be adapted to several measuring instruments.”

The researchers have tested their method on several different proteins and the results are very promising. When looking for new drugs, the researchers wants to study the interaction between membrane proteins and other molecules – e.g. potential drugs. It can also be used for the detection of virus, bacteria and parasites.

An antibody recognizes a membrane protein dressed in an amphipol “swimsuit” attached to a solid surface. (Photo by Delphine Charvolin)

February 11, 2009: The Foresight Institute, a nanotechnology think tank, has appointed Dr. J. Storrs Hall as its new president.

Prior to joining Foresight, Hall was a researcher at Rutgers University, a research fellow of the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and the founding chief scientist of molecular modeling company Nanorex Inc. He is a prolific writer on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, machine ethics, and other social impacts of technology with more than 30 years research experience in academia and industry, according to a news release from Foresight.

“With Dr. Hall’s expertise, Foresight’s range can broaden to include a wider variety of coming technologies,” said Christine Peterson, founder and former president of Foresight Institute. “His integrated vision of how nanotech interacts with other advanced fields will enable us to more effectively promote technology’s benefits and head off potential downsides.”

Peterson will remain with the organization as vice president.

The Foresight Institute was founded in 1986 to educate the public about nanotechnology. The Institute’s 1st Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology preceded the signing of the National Nanotechnology Initiative by 10 years. The Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology has honored top nanotechnology research scientists since 1993.

February 11, 2009: The US House of Representatives has passed the NNI Amendments Act (H.R. 554), which reauthorizes the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

The bill, which passed by voice vote, will strengthen and provide transparency in federal research efforts to understand the potential environmental, health, and safety risks of nanotechnology. It is identical to a bill that passed the House last year, but died when the Senate ran out of time to act on it.

“Nanotechnology is already in our cell phones, cosmetics, paints and refrigerators,” Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, said in a statement released after the vote. “It will soon help to protect the lives of our police officers and military servicemen, and is showing promise in the treatment of cancer and in promoting wound healing. There is no doubt that the potential of this technology is vast.

“The bill passed today foster commercialization while ensuring public health and safety, and build upon a successful interagency effort in nanotechnology.”

The National Nanotechnology Initiative, or the NNI, supports cooperative research efforts across a spectrum of disciplines. It has done this in part by establishing a network of national facilities supporting nanoscale research and development.

The new nanotech bill requires that the NNI agencies develop a plan for the environmental and safety research component of the program that includes explicit near-term and long-term goals, specifies the funding required to reach those goals, identifies the role of each participating agency and includes a roadmap for implementation.

The bill also assigns responsibility to a senior official at the Office of Science and Technology Policy to oversee this planning and implementation process and to ensure the agencies allocate the resources necessary to carry it out.

“A well-designed, adequately-funded, and effectively-executed research program in this area is the essential first step to ensure that sound science guides the formulation of regulatory rules and requirements,” Gordon said in the statement. “It will reduce the current uncertainty that inhibits commercial development of nanotechnology and will provide a sound basis for future rulemaking.”

The bill also encourages public-private partnerships and authorizes large-scale, focused, multi-agency research and development initiatives in areas of national need. Efforts could be organized around developing a replacement for the silicon-based transistor or developing new nanotechnology-based devices for harvesting solar energy.

The Senate is working on its own version of the legislation.