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Category Archives: Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology to help in healing hearts

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Professor Sami Franssila is participating in a research project that could, if successful, revolutionise the treatment of coronary thrombosis and brain damage.

You cannot walk into the clean rooms of Micronova with your snowy boots.

'We fabricate nano-scale objects so any undesired particles, including dust, must be smaller than the objects being made,' Sami Franssila, Professor of Microtechnology explains and points at the researchers working in their protective clothing on the other side of the window.

'The floor is vibration isolated and the air conditioning keeps the temperature and humidity between precise limits.'

Accelerating stem cell differentiation

Precision is also required in the large strategic research opening by Tekes which Franssila and his research group are participating in with the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital. The project has an ambitious goal: getting damaged organs to heal themselves. Achieving this goal requires drugs that are targeted at an organ, such as the heart or the brain, using nanotechnology. The drugs then locally enhance the differentiation of stem cells so that the necessary new heart or nerve cells are created.

'The idea is to heal cell damages locally,' Sami Franssila explains.

'One of the greatest challenges is determining the essential chemicals which affect the differentiation of cells. The work requires micro and nanotechnology as we, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, have to develop an analysis method that is so sensitive that it can be used to examine extremely small amounts of substance consisting of as few as one thousand molecules. In addition to sensitivity, the method also has to be accurate to counterbalance the natural biological fluctuation of the samples taken from the cells,' Franssila continues.

Ten years of cooperation

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Nanotechnology to help in healing hearts

'Education Spring' in the Middle East

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BEGINNING March 2, Professor Hossam Haick will teach the first massive open online course, or MOOC, on nanotechnology in Arabic.

What's more interesting, though, he explained to me the other day over breakfast is some of the curious email he's received from students registering for his MOOC from all over the Arab world.

Their questions include: Are you a real person? Are you really an Arab, or are you an Israeli Jew speaking Arabic, pretending to be an Arab?

That's because Haick is an Israeli Arab from Nazareth and will be teaching this course from his home university, the Technion, Israel's premier science and technology institute, and the place we were having breakfast was Tel Aviv.

His course is titled Nanotechnology and Nanosensors (https://www.coursera.org/course/nanosar) and is designed for anyone interested in learning about Haick's specialty: "novel sensing tools that make use of nanotechnology to screen, detect, and monitor various events in either our personal or professional life".

The course includes 10 classes of three to four short lecture videos -- in Arabic and English -- and anyone with an Internet connection can tune in and participate for free in the weekly quizzes, forum activities and do a final project.

If you had any doubts about the hunger for education in the Middle East today, Haick's MOOC will dispel them.

So far, there are about 4,800 registrations for the Arabic version, including students from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and the West Bank. Iranians are signing up for the English version.

Because the registration is through the Coursera MOOC website, some registrants initially don't realise the course is being taught by an Israeli Arab scientist at the Technion, said Haick, and when they do, some professors and students "unregister". But most others are sticking with it.

(MOOCs have just started to emerge in the Arab world via Coursera, edX, Edraak, Rwaq, SkillAcademy and MenaVersity -- some with original content, much still translated.)

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'Education Spring' in the Middle East

Nanotechnology could enable on-demand manufacture of vaccines

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Researchers from the University of Washington have created a vaccine with the potential to make on-demand vaccination cheaper and quicker, using engineered nanoparticles. Tests with mice show definite promise for the technology's use on humans.

A vaccine is essentially a biological preparation containing elements that resemble the disease it is designed to inoculate against. This has the effect of teaching the body to recognize the harmful foreign agent, and to allow the body's immune system to efficiently destroy it. This information is stored by the body and creates an immunity to future exposure to the disease.

Under the current distribution system, a vaccine must be created en mass at a production facility far from the infection site. The process of transporting large quantities of a vaccine to the required destination is extremely expensive, with the vaccines requiring constant refrigeration and often having a short lifespan.

Looking past the sheer cost of the transportation, even in today's shrinking world of high speed travel, the current system is proving to be inadequate in matching the planet's growing population, with many in the infected areas dying before the vaccine can arrive.

The research, funded by the Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, hopes to revolutionize the current system by creating on-the-spot life-saving vaccines.

The vaccine would work by injecting nanoparticles created with an engineered protein designed to mimic infection, which then binds with calcium phosphate. In an experiment with the nanoparticles that was conducted on mice, it was found that eight months after the injection of nanoparticles, laboratory mice who contracted a disease showed three times the number of protective T-cells than mice who had been injected with the protein without the nanoparticles.

The nanoparticles are roughly 1,000 times smaller than a human hair inset represents the engineered proteins covering the nanoparticles' surface (Photo: University of Washington)

The nanoparticles operate by transporting the protein mimicking the infection to lymph nodes where the nanoparticles come into contact with denritic cells. The denritic cell essentially acts as a messenger between a person's innate and adaptive immune system, informing the body's T cells that the foreign body must be destroyed both now, and in the future.

Were really excited about this technology because it makes it possible to produce a vaccine on the spot," said Franois Baneyx, a professor of chemical engineering at the university. "For instance, a field doctor could see the beginnings of an epidemic, make vaccine doses right away, and blanket vaccinate the entire population in the affected area to prevent the spread of an epidemic.

The ability to create an on-the-spot vaccine using the nanoparticles has the potential to save many lives in developing countries, while cutting down on the costs of transportation and refrigeration usually inherent in vaccination. However Baneyx cautioned that whilst the laboratory tests on mice had yielded promising results, testing had not yet begun on humans.

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Nanotechnology could enable on-demand manufacture of vaccines

IN BRIEF: Vegas high school teachers get lessons in nanotechnology

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Written by: Shane Collins on June 30, 2008.

Vegas high school teachers get lessons in nanotechnology

Local high schools received hands-on experience with nanotechnology June Tuesday through Friday during UNLVs Nanotechnology Summer Institute in efforts to expose young people to the emerging industry.

Engineering professor Biswajit Das directed the event that provided in-depth overviews of nanotechnology and its real world applications. Programs included hands-on laboratory time in the Nevada Nanotechnology Center.

The programs goal was to give high school teachers ideas for lesson plans based around the growing arena of nanotechnology and to simply educate them about the expanding industry.

During the week-long program, teachers from four valley high schools built a silicone wafer etched with their school emblems and examined integrated circuit technology.

- Shane Collins

UNLV English professor wins prestigious award

Claudia Keenan, English professor and director of the creative writing program at UNLV received the 2008 Jerome J. Shestack Prize for her poem Everybodys Autobiography, from the American Poetry Review. Keenan shares this prize with Robert Hass, professor at University of California, Berkeley.

Everybodys Autobiography is an elegy to Keenans father and a commentary on Americas excessive use of fuel. The poem was originally published in the January 2007 issue of American Poetry Review.

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IN BRIEF: Vegas high school teachers get lessons in nanotechnology

Nanosensor Markets – 2014: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Shares, Growth, Trends and Forecast Research Report …

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Albany, NY (PRWEB) February 18, 2014

Nanosensors-devices capable of detecting nanoparticles-are already in use in the medical diagnosis field, but are expected to see near-term commercialization in military, domestic security and environmental monitoring applications, as well as several other areas. NanoMarkets believes that longer-term revenue generation from nanosensors will also emerge from a variety of uses for such sensors in microelectronics manufacturing and in the construction market. In addition, we also believe that the near-term development of nanosensors will be an important enabling technology for the Internet-of-Things" and robotics.

View Full Report With Complete TOC at http://www.researchmoz.us/nanosensor-markets-2014-report.html

This report identifies where and how the commercial opportunities presented by nanosensors will appear and provides detailed projections of the size of these opportunities over the coming eight years. Each nanosensor application is analyzed in detail, showing how it will be brought to market. The report also discusses the strategies being deployed by nanosensor firms and also provides an overview of noteworthy nanosensor commercialization initiatives.

In addition, to being a valuable guide for marketing and product management in the sensor industry, this report will also be required reading for executives in the specialty chemical industry, since it discusses how specific biological and nanomaterials will be used in nanosensors. Coverage of materials includes biological materials and inorganic nanomaterials including graphene and quantum dots. This report also analyzes the business implications notable trends in the fabrication of nanosensors including developments in bottom-up assembly, self-assembly and top-down lithography.

Browse Other Published Reports By NanoMarkets at http://www.researchmoz.us/publisher/nanomarkets-22.html

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Biopreservation Market (Product Types - Equipment, LIMS, and Media; Applications - Regenerative Medicine, Biobanking, and Drug Discovery) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019

This report encompasses market estimations for biopreservation market for the forecast period 2013 to 2019. The market size is forecasted considering 2012 as the base year and is represented in terms of USD million. The report caters to market players in the biopreservation industry who aspire to gain further insights into this market in terms of different product types and application markets.

The global biopreservation market is categorized on the basis of product type, application and geography. The market estimates, from the period 2011 to 2019, for each of these segments is provided in USD million.

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Nanosensor Markets - 2014: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Shares, Growth, Trends and Forecast Research Report ...

University institutes are shaping future of research

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

15-Feb-2014

Contact: Megan Fellman fellman@northwestern.edu 847-491-3115 Northwestern University

In an age of specialization, building networks of outstanding scientists, engineers and clinicians is helping the development of creative solutions to complex societal needs. But how do you successfully surmount the barriers between disparate disciplines?

Northwestern University professor Chad Mirkin is no stranger to the challenges of building diverse teams. He is the founding director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN), a flourishing institute that brings together more than 190 faculty researchers from 25 different disciplines.

Mirkin will discuss the IIN from inception to realization in a presentation titled "University Convergence Institutes" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Chicago. His presentation is part of the symposium "Convergence Science: A Revolution for Health Solutions" to be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. CST Saturday, Feb. 15, in the Comiskey Room of the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

"The IIN provides the essential framework to overcome traditional divisions between university departments and schools," Mirkin said. "It has enabled us to attract researchers with deep expertise in their fields, support and enable creative synergy, enhance translational capabilities and build one of the largest and most productive nanotechnology institutes in the world."

Mirkin is the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Medicine.

Established in 2000, the IIN is home to the first federally funded nanotechnology facility in the nation. It currently represents and unites more than $600 million in nanotechnology research, education and infrastructure and has positioned Northwestern as a world leader in the field.

One nanometer is one billionth of a meter. To put that extremely small size in another context: A nanometer is to a meter what a marble is to the Earth. Materials with nano-sized particles have always existed, but it wasn't until relatively recently -- thanks to advances in scientific instrumentation -- that scientists could observe nanoparticles and manipulate them.

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University institutes are shaping future of research

Cooperation among diverse scientific disciplines urged for results

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CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Cross-pollination of ideas among scientific disciplines is key to creative solutions, a U.S. nanotechnology pioneer says.

Building networks of outstanding scientists, engineers and clinicians will promote development of creative solutions to complex societal needs in an age of specialization, Northwestern University Professor Chad Mirkin says.

Mirkin is the founding director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, an institute that brings together more than 190 faculty researchers from 25 different disciplines.

Mirkin discussed the IIN from inception to realization in a presentation titled "University Convergence Institutes" at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago.

"The IIN provides the essential framework to overcome traditional divisions between university departments and schools," Mirkin said in a Northwestern release Saturday.

The IIN is an umbrella organization for interdisciplinary research into transformative nanotechnologies including nanomedicine, nanomaterials and devices, nanotechnology for energy, the environment, security and defense, and nanotechnology solutions for food and water.

"It has enabled us to attract researchers with deep expertise in their fields, support and enable creative synergy, enhance translational capabilities and build one of the largest and most productive nanotechnology institutes in the world," Mirkin said.

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Cooperation among diverse scientific disciplines urged for results

Nanotechnology Helps 3-D TV Make a Comeback Without Glasses

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At this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it became clear that the much-ballyhooed age of 3-D TV was coming to a quiet and uncelebrated end.One of the suggested causes of its demise was the cost of the 3D glasses. If you wanted to invite a group over to watch the big sporting event, you had better have a lot of extra pairs on hand, which might cost you a small fortune.

Eliminating the glasses from the experience has been proposed from the first moment 3-D TVs were introduced to the marketplace. In 2010, Toshiba and Nintendo shared their plans to bring glasses-free 3-D to portable devices.

There have been a number of approaches proposed for accomplishing the feat. Now researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) are leveraging nanomanufacturing techniques to do the job.

Jayan Thomas, an assistant professor at UCFs NanoScience Technology Center, has received a US $400 000 grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue the use of nanoprinting techniques for turning polymers into displays whose images appear in 3-D to the naked eye. The kind of 3-D displays Thomas envisions conjure images of the holograms used to display messages in the Star Wars movies.

The TV screen should be like a table top, Thomas said. People would sit around and watch the TV from all angles, like sitting around a table. Therefore, the images should be like real-world objects. If you watch a football game on this 3-D TV, you would feel like it is happening right in front of you. A holographic 3-D TV is a feasible direction to accomplish this without the need of glasses.

The nanomanufacturing techniques Thomas uses are similar to the printing process he developed for creating nanomaterials to be used in supercapacitorsa process that we covered last year. That technique involved printing polymer nanostructures on a substrate that served as a scaffold upon which electrode material made of manganese dioxide is deposited. That technique is a variation on the simple spin-on nanoprinting (SNAP) technique.

With these nanomanufacturing techniques, Thomas has developed a polymer composite that improves the process of making the 3-D images in the first place. When you are watching 3-D television, what you are really seeing is two perspectives of an image, so it is actually not very close to a real world object. The 3-D glasses help to provide a 3-D appearance of the image.

"Our technology uses multiple cameras positioned above and around an object to photograph it from multiple perspectives," explains Thomas. "We are then doing a couple of new things; we need to make the recording process so fast that the human eye will not see the images refreshing from the multiple perspectives. This requires new materials optionsa new plastic type display on which to play what are ultimately holographic images."

Whether this technique proves to be any more successful than those offered by MIT and other research groups, remains to be seen. In any case, we may not yet have seen the end of 3D TV, as long as it doesn't require glasses.

Illustration: Randi Klett; Photos: iStockphotos

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Nanotechnology Helps 3-D TV Make a Comeback Without Glasses

Bulgarian Company Wins Financing for Nanotechnology Project

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AMG Technology became the first Bulgarian company to win financing for a highly technological international project under the Eurostars program.

The micro company, which employs eight people, works in the sphere of nanotechnologies and produces four kinds of apparatuses, one of which is made solely by AMG Technology.

The company will receive from Eurostars fundgin of BGN 492 700 for the TRIPLE-S Microscope project, which will develop a very powerful and innovative microscope. The company will invest additional BGN 158 800.

The total cost of the project is EUR 2.3 M and must be completed within three years.

AMG Technology will work with two other small companies from Austria and the Laboratory for Bionanotechnological Instruments of the Polytechnic University in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The TRIPLE-S Microscope project was ranked 15-th out of 510 entries in the Eurostars competition.

Eurostars is a programme that supports research-performing small and medium enterprises, which develop innovative products, processes and services, to gain competitive advantage. Eurostars does this by providing funding for transnational innovation projects, the products of which are then rapidly commercialized.

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Bulgarian Company Wins Financing for Nanotechnology Project


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