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February 9, 2009″ Picosun Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, is taking part in a European Union funded project aimed at dramatically increasing the efficiency of solar cells, the company announced in a news release.

The project, named ROD-SOL (short for Rods for Novel Solar Cells) endeavors to create new, more cost effective nanomaterials for solar cells. The European Union has allocated about $3.7 million from its 7th European Research Program for the $5.2 million budget of ROD-SOL.

“Picosun is extremely proud to be one of only four industrial partners in this enormously important project,” Juhana Kostamo, Picosun’s managing director, said in a news release. “Thin films are going to be the key for success in this project.”

According to Silke Christiansen, the coordinator of ROD-SOL from the Institute of Photonic Technology in Germany, one of seven science partners of the project, the optimization of the growth of silicon nanorods on inexpensive substrates, such as glass or synthetic foil for future thin film solar cells is one of the goals of the project. These nanorods are expected to serve as ideal light traps to capture the energy of light for transformation into electricity.

In order to cover current world-wide requirements of electric power with photovoltaics, a square having 380 km sides would be sufficient. This corresponds to the surface area of countries like Tajikistan, Bangladesh or Nepal, or less than half of the surface area of countries like Italy, the Philippines or Finland.

“The more effective solar cells are is the make and break of the future potential use of photovoltaics. ROD-SOL aims at raising the efficiency of solar cells by more than half from their current capacity,” said Kostamo in the news release. “The urgency to find sustainable new ways to generate energy is obvious to us all.”

Science partners of the project are from Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and USA. Industrial partners are from Finland, Germany and Slovenia. Dr. Henning Wicht, a leading expert in solar energy, working as a Senior Director and Principal Analyst, Photovoltaics and MEMS Research at iSuppli Corp, is one of the key persons bringing an extra insight to the rapid development of the solar cell technology and solar energy market during the course of the project.

February 9, 2009: California State University, Northridge, has received $500,000 from the W.M. Keck Foundation for a two-year project that exposes undergraduate engineering and science students to the study and research of nanotechnology.

The money from the Keck Foundation will fund the purchase of a field emission scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy — which can visualize and characterize complex phenomena that occur at the nanoscale — for the Advanced Materials Laboratory in CSUN’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The microscope and spectroscopy will be used by students in the two-year Integrating Nanotechnology into Undergraduate Education Project. The project is designed to immerse students in nanotechnology through participation in research, interdisciplinary courses, pre-college activities and interaction with professionals in industry who work in nanotechnology.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am,” manufacturing systems engineering and management professor Behzad Bavarian, the project’s coordinator, said in a news release. “The purchase of the microscope is a great contribution to our program. It allows us to truly incorporate nanotechnology into undergraduate education.”

Bavarian said the microscope and spectroscopy “set the stage for new collaborative research opportunities with industry partners whose support will enable continuation of the project’s work.

“The processes and outcomes of such research will, in turn, be formed in modules that will vitally enrich CSUN’s existing undergraduate engineering and science curricula, and provide the basis for new interdisciplinary courses,” Bavarian said. “Students who take these interdisciplinary courses will be well prepared for work in sophisticated research.”

Students in the Nanotechnology in Undergraduate Education (NUE) program will take interdisciplinary courses in the sciences and engineering as well as have an opportunity to work closely with faculty and industry professionals as they do research and develop products using nanotechnology.

One component of the project involves the creation of two successive cohorts of 10 junior-level engineering and science majors — NUE Fellows — who will spend two years doing research for one of eight joint projects being conducted by university faculty and local industry.

As part of the program, CSUN faculty — building on their experiences working with the undergraduate students in the program — also will develop an introductory engineering course focusing on nanotechnology that will be sent to local high schools.

The goal is to get young people, particularly those in underrepresented communities, excited about going to college and pursuing degrees in science or engineering and, specifically, working in the field of nanotechnology, Bavarian said.

“Such pre-college nanotechnology exposure, along with participation in related robotics workshops and competitions, fires young imaginations and encourages pursuit of higher education in nanotechnology and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields,” he said.

February 9, 2009: The Institute of Materials Science, based in Hanoi, is selling carbon nanotubes at half the price of international competitors, according to a report in theVietNamNet news site.

The report said the institute’s lab can produce 100g-300g of carbon nanotubes per day, with production costs of around $0.06 per gram compared to $1 per gram elsewhere in the world.

The article quotes Phan Ngoc Minh, the institute’s deputy director, as saying that it is difficult to commercialize carbon nanotubes in Vietnam. Minh and his team have found their first customers in the Hai Duong Pumping Machine Company and the Hung Yen Technological Teacher Training University, according to the report.

February 6, 2009: Evident Technologies Inc. has been awarded a U.S. patent covering the ability to synthesize a semiconductor nanocrystal structure with a metal layer, which dramatically enhances the brightness and stability of the semiconductor nanocrystal complex.

Patent No. 7,482,059 “represents another major advance of semiconductor materials science and further enhances the breadth of the company’s expansive intellectual property portfolio,” the company announced in a news release.

“The issuance of this key patent highlights Evident Technologies’ position as a leader in the development of proprietary semiconductor nanocrystal technologies and provides Evident with broad protection in a rapidly growing segment of the market,” Clint Ballinger, Evident’s CEO, said in the news release.

“In response to growing industry demand, our scientists have worked diligently over the past several years to develop new bright, stable semiconductor nanocrystals.”

February 6, 2009: A new market news review, 2008 Nanoparticle News Review from BCC Research, provides a comprehensive overview of the global nanoparticle industry, offering detailed insight into current and emerging technologies and markets, the company announced in a news release.

BCC’s bi-monthly newsletter Nanoparticle News examines all major market segments within the area being researched, and provides an analysis of market drivers, major players, patent activity and other key market factors that are influencing or will influence market growth over the next four to 10 years.

Topics highlighted in this review include: progress in nanotechnology; processing and characterization of nanoparticles; applications in electronics, optics and optoelectronics; energy and environment issues; biotechnology and drug delivery; and carbon nanostructures.

A detailed market assessment reveals that the global market for nanotechnology will increase from $11.6 billion in 2007 to an estimated $12.7 billion by the end of 2008. It should reach $27 billion in 2013, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3 percent, according to BCC.

February 6, 2009: Rice University materials scientists have put a new “twist” on carbon nanotube growth. The researchers found the highly touted nanomaterials grow like tiny molecular tapestries, woven from twisting, single-atom threads.

Carbon nanotubes are hollow tubes of pure carbon that measure about one nanometer, or one-billionth of a meter, in diameter. In molecular diagrams, they look like rolled-up sheets of chicken wire. And just like a roll of wire or gift-wrapping paper, nanotubes can be rolled at an odd angle with excess hanging off the end.

Though nanotubes are much-studied, their growth is poorly understood. They grow by “self assembly,” forming spontaneously from gaseous carbon feedstock under precise catalytic circumstances. The new research, which appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds a direct relationship between a nanotube’s “chiral” angle — the amount it’s twisted — and how fast it grows.

“Our study offers some clues about this intimate ‘self assembly’ process,” said Rice’s Boris Yakobson, professor in mechanical engineering and materials science and of chemistry. New theory suggests that each tube is ‘woven’ from many twisting threads. Each grows independently, with new atoms attaching themselves to the exposed thread ends. The more threads there are, the faster the whole tapestry grows.


Nanotubes grow like tiny molecular tapestries, woven from twisting, single-atom threads. (Image courtesy of Rice University)

Yakobson, the lead researcher on the project, said the new formula’s predictions have been borne out by a number of laboratory reports. For example, the formula predicts that nanotubes with the largest chiral angle will grow fastest because they have the most exposed threads — something that’s been shown in several experiments.

“Chirality is one of the primary determinants of a nanotube’s properties,” said Yakobson. “Our approach reveals quantitatively the role that chirality plays in growth, which is of great interest to all who hope to incorporate nanotubes into new technologies.”

The study was co-authored by former Rice research scientist Feng Ding, now assistant professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Avetik Harutyunyan of the Honda Research Institute USA in Columbus, Ohio. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Welch Foundation and the Department of Defense.

February 5, 2009: US Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) has introduced new nanotechnology legislation in Congress that he said will address a need to commercialize basic research and to address potential health and safety risks associated with nanotechnology.

The Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities (NANO) Act draws upon a Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology convened in California in 2005.

“One of the things I have heard from experts in the field is that while the United States is a leader in nanotechnology research, our foreign competitors are focusing more resources and effort on the commercialization of those research results than we are,” Honda said in a statement on his Web site.

Among other things, the bill would create a public-private investment partnership to address the nanotechnology commercialization gap, establish a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for “nano-CAD” tools; establish grant programs for nanotechnology research to address specific challenges in the areas of energy, environment, homeland security, and health and establish a tax credit for nanotechnology education and training program expenses.

Honda was among the original sponsors of the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003, which officially kicked off the United States’ first-in-the-world government sponsored nanotechnology development program.

February 5, 2009: Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced its SureSelect Target Enrichment System, a tool the company says greatly streamlines DNA-sequencing research by enabling scientists to sequence only genomic areas of interest with next-generation sequencing instrumentation.

The system will initially be available for the Illumina Genome Analyzer system and Agilent is in the process of optimizing the platform for the SOLiD System from Applied Biosystems, a division of Life Technologies Corp., Agilent announced in a news release.

“There have been amazing advances in next-generation sequencing in recent years, driving down the cost of whole genome sequencing dramatically,” Nick Roelofs, Agilent’s vice president and general manager for the Life Science Solutions Unit, said in the news release.

“We’ve succeeded in developing a front-end method for isolating complex subsets of genomes that greatly enhances the efficiency of next-generation sequencing technologies by focusing them on the areas most interesting to DNA researchers. Agilent’s new platform will significantly reduce sample complexity, allowing researchers to analyze a greater number of samples per study with fewer resources.”


Agilent’s new SureSelect Target Enrichment System removes a major bottleneck from next-generation DNA sequencing by enabling scientists to sequence only genomic areas of interest, exons for example. (Business Wire Photo)

Target Enrichment, also referred to as “targeted resequencing,” “genome partitioning,” or “DNA capture,” is useful when a researcher is only interested in sequencing a particular segment of the genome, just the translated part, for example. In this case, the Agilent SureSelect platform can be used to capture a subset of exons or other genome targets and wash away the rest of the genome prior to sequencing.

SureSelect replaces other labor-intensive methods of targeted re-sequencing such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques that are a major bottleneck in most next-generation sequencing workflows.

February 5, 2009: University of Michigan scientists report highly encouraging evidence that a super-fine oil-and-water emulsion, already shown to kill many other microbes, may be able to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic lung disease that affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States. Patients have mucus-clogged lungs that leave them vulnerable to repeated, ever more serious respiratory infections.

“A key finding in the study is that we have a product that shows very good activity against a variety of bacteria that are very resistant to all known antibiotics. These really are superbugs,” says John J. LiPuma, first and corresponding author of the study in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The research is a collaboration between LiPuma, professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School, and James R. Baker Jr., director of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences at U-M and the study’s senior author. Nanoemulsions developed at Baker’s institute consist of soybean oil, water, alcohol and surfactants forced by high-stress mechanical extrusion into droplets less than 400 nanometers in size.

These emulsions have already proved to be non-toxic, potent killers of bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, H. influenzae and gonorrhea, of viruses such as herpes simplex and influenza A, and of several fungi. Nanoemulsion treatments for cold sores and toenail fungus are in Phase 3 clinical trials.

“We have a product that looks like it could be safely administered to the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis,” LiPuma says. If future trials show that patients can tolerate effective doses of the nanoemulsion, he adds, “This could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of cystic fibrosis.”

The novel physical mode of action — the nanoemulsion appears to kill bacteria by disrupting their outer membranes — makes developing resistance unlikely, LiPuma says.


A super-fine oil-and-water emulsion appears to quell the ravaging, often drug-resistant infections that cause nearly all cystic fibrosis deaths. (Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Health System)

“Given that this technology works differently from antibiotic drugs, it provides a potential alternative for treatment in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Since the material has already shown success in treating skin infections, we believe it has potential to treat antibiotic-resistant lung infections,” says Baker.

If the technique proves safe and effective, people would inhale the nanoemulsion using a nebulizer and be able to reduce the severity and frequency of infections that spiral out of control due to resistance to current antibiotics.

The University of Michigan has filed for patent protection on the CF nanoemulsion, and licensed this technology to Ann Arbor-based NanoBio Corp. Baker is a founder and equity holder of NanoBio. NanoBio and LiPuma’s lab will cooperate in the next steps toward bringing the treatment to market. LiPuma is optimistic that if animal and human trials go well, a nanoemulsion treatment for cystic fibrosis infections could be available in as little as five years.

February 4, 2009: Protea Biosciences Inc. has launched a new microfluidic protein recovery technology platform, the GPR-800, which offers simultaneous recovery of eight proteins from gels in less than 20 minutes, the company announced in a news release.

“Our new GPR-800 benchtop instrument uses an advanced, proprietary, multichannel microfluidic chip technology, and is an important advance in the proteomics field,” said Protea marketing director Reid Asbury said in the release. “Because it allows the biologist to prepare ‘mass spectrometry ready’ protein samples in a fraction of the time, we believe the GPR-800 represents a major breakthrough and productivity advancement for today’s busy proteomics research laboratory.”

The GPR-800 system uses a novel protein surfactant that solubilizes the protein, then degrades, eliminating any interference with the mass spectrometer, the release said. It also allows recovery in a closed system, with minimal dead volume, assuring no introduction of contaminants, according to the company.


Protea’s GPR-800 Gel Protein Recovery System. (Image courtesy of Protea Biosciences Inc.)