NASA Ames Hosts Live Broadcast of Transit of Venus

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MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- News media and the public are invited to observe the transit of Venus broadcast live from atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, beginning at 3:04 p.m. PDT Tuesday, June 5, 2012 in the Exploration Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The June 5th transit will be the final opportunity to witness the rare astronomical reunion until 2117.

The transit occurs when Venus passes directly between Earth and the sun. Viewers will see Venus as a small dot drifting across the golden disk of the sun. There have been 53 transits since 2000 B.C. The rare event occurs in pairs, with the last transit occurring June 8, 2004.

Jeremiah Horrocks, a young English astronomer, recorded the first observation of a transit in 1639. In 1769, survey crews, including Captain James Cook, gathered transit data from various locations around the world that were used to calculate the distance between Earth and the sun and the size of the solar system.

Today, transit events are used to detect planets beyond the solar system. NASA's Kepler space telescope measures the change in brightness from distant stars when a planet passes in front of the star. Kepler has confirmed 61 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates using the transit technique.

In addition to seeing the broadcast, attendees will have an opportunity to participate in hands-on activities and safely view the transit of Venus through solar filter glasses and telescopes. Kepler mission scientist, Natalie Batalha, will discuss the Kepler mission and the transit event's significance. Other Kepler and planetary scientists will be on hand to answer questions.

Reporters must send requests for media credentials to Michele Johnson at michele.johnson@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. PDT Monday, June 4, 2012. Batalha and other NASA officials will be available for interviews beginning at 1 p.m. PDT in the Exploration Center.

WHEN:

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 (all times PDT)

- 1:50 p.m.: Welcome from NASA Ames - 22:30 p.m.: The Kepler Mission and the Transit of Venus, Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist, NASA Ames - 2:30 p.m. 8 p.m.: Solar observing and Hands-on activities - 2:45 p.m. - 8 p.m.: Live NASA EDGE broadcast from Mauna Kea, HI - 3:04 p.m.: Venus begins its six-hour transit

WHERE:

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NASA Ames Hosts Live Broadcast of Transit of Venus

NASA Glenn Partners with Cleveland Public Library to Inspire the Next Generation of Scientists and Engineers

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CLEVELAND - NASA's Glenn Research Center is partnering with the Cleveland Public Library to support the Library's 2012 Summer Reading Club, "Feed Your Mind, Read!" The reading program will be held from June 11 through Aug. 4 and is designed to keep children's minds active over the summer break. Glenn is supporting the Library's efforts by providing outreach and engagement events focused around science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

Events at two Library branches will kick off the 2012 campaign: the Rockport Branch will host an event Saturday, June 2, 6-8 p.m., and the Woodland Branch celebration will be on Friday, June 8, also 6-8 p.m. Families attending the event will be able to participate in hands-on educational activities and demonstrations and talk with Glenn employees about NASA's missions and educational opportunities.

Activities include demonstrations about comets and deep-space communications, outdoor physical challenges, online games and building your own Hubble telescope, foam rocket and edible Mars Curiosity Rover. Also available will be the popular "Picture Yourself in Space" photo booth, where children and adults can receive a free souvenir photo taken as an astronaut.

NASA subject matter experts and members of Glenn's Speakers Bureau are also getting in on the adventure and will share information about NASA during visits to local library branches from 1 to 2 p.m., on Wednesdays from June 13 until Aug. 1.

NASA topics and speakers include:

June 13 - Langston Hughes Branch Extreme Green: Growing Biofuels - Dr. Bilal Bomani, Biomedical Researcher Find out how NASA scientists are turning a common wild plant into a clean and renewable food and energy source.

June 20 - Fulton Branch Career Development: Careers at NASA - Danny Rodriguez, Contract Specialist Learn how diversity plays a key role in enhancing the NASA workforce and how you may have "the right stuff" to work at NASA.

June 27 - Eastman Branch NASA Sustainability: Sustainability and Recycling - Michelle Kenzig, Environmental Protection Specialist Discover ways Glenn reduces and eliminates impacts on the environment and what you can do to help.

July 11 - Fleet Branch Food Technology: Eating in Space, Astronaut Greg H. Johnson Learn what it takes to feed astronauts, and see samples of authentic NASA foods that are packaged and ready for space travel.

July 18 - Rice Branch Gardening in Space: Christopher Hartenstine, Informal Education Project Coordinator Explore the challenges that come with food planning on long-term space exploration missions. Create a solution for solving those challenges and do some "space gardening" of your own.

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NASA Glenn Partners with Cleveland Public Library to Inspire the Next Generation of Scientists and Engineers

Boeing Delivers 1st Space Launch System Hardware to NASA

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boeing Company (BA) has delivered NASA three flight computer software test beds, the first critical element for flight software development in support of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Flight software controls the launch vehicle during preflight tanking operations and in flight.

The test beds were delivered on April 25, ahead of schedule, to the Software Development Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. They are now being integrated with NASA's application software.

"These are the most capable flight computers ever developed for human spaceflight," said Dane Richardson, manager for the Boeing SLS Avionics and Software Team. "They have the highest processing capability available in a flight computer and triple modular redundant processors. The technology is proven from years of satellite applications, and it's reliable enough to take SLS beyond Earth's orbit."

In triple modular redundant processing, three processors within each flight computer interpret the data, then "vote" to be sure they all agree on the response before sending that solution from the computer. The three flight computers on the vehicle then compare those answers and send commands to the vehicle for execution.

"The triple redundant processors make each computer reliable in the harsh radiation environment. Similarly, the three computers working in concert make the vehicle reliable," explained Richardson. "The configuration is called the flight computer operating group."

"Delivering NASA the flight computer software test beds early gives them more time to develop the most capable flight software for SLS," said Jim Chilton, vice president for Boeing Exploration Launch Systems and SLS program manager. "The Boeing SLS avionics team will continue to work closely with NASA to ensure seamless integration of NASA software and the Boeing hardware and operating system as we move forward in rocket design and development."

In 2011, NASA executed a contract modification that changed existing Upper Stage Production and Instrument Unit Avionics contracts into a single contract for design, development and production of the cryogenic stages and avionics for SLS.

SLS will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond Earth orbit. With its ability to conduct both crew and cargo missions, it also will back up commercial and international-partner transportation services to the International Space Station.

Under NASA's phased development plan for SLS, Boeing is designing the two cryogenic stages concurrently to maximize the affordability of rocket development and operations. The initial flight-test configuration, scheduled to fly in 2017, will provide a 70-metric ton capacity using only the first stage. The complete two-stage vehicle configuration will provide a lift capability of more than 130 metric tons to enable missions beyond Earth orbit and support deep space exploration.

Visit http://www.beyondearth.com for more information about the future of human space exploration.

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Boeing Delivers 1st Space Launch System Hardware to NASA

NASA preparing to launch its newest X-ray eyes

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ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is being prepared for the final journey to its launch pad on Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean. The mission will study everything from massive black holes to our own sun. It is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 13.

"We will see the hottest, densest and most energetic objects with a fundamentally new, high-energy X-ray telescope that can obtain much deeper and crisper images than before," said Fiona Harrison, the NuSTAR principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., who first conceived of the mission 20 years ago.

The observatory is perched atop an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket. If the mission passes its Flight Readiness Review on June 1, the rocket will be strapped to the bottom of an aircraft, the L-1011 Stargazer, also operated by Orbital, on June 2. The Stargazer is scheduled to fly from Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California to Kwajalein on June 5 to 6.

After taking off on launch day, the Stargazer will drop the rocket around 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). The rocket will then ignite and carry NuSTAR to a low orbit around Earth.

"NuSTAR uses several innovations for its unprecedented imaging capability and was made possible by many partners," said Yunjin Kim, the project manager for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We're all really excited to see the fruition of our work begin its mission in space."

NuSTAR will be the first space telescope to create focused images of cosmic X-rays with the highest energies. These are the same types of X-rays that doctors use to see your bones and airports use to scan your bags. The telescope will have more than 10 times the resolution and more than 100 times the sensitivity of its predecessors while operating in a similar energy range.

The mission will work with other telescopes in space now, including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which observes lower-energy X-rays. Together, they will provide a more complete picture of the most energetic and exotic objects in space, such as black holes, dead stars and jets traveling near the speed of light.

"NuSTAR truly demonstrates the value that NASA's research and development programs provide in advancing the nation's science agenda," said Paul Hertz, NASA's Astrophysics Division director. "Taking just over four years from receiving the project go-ahead to launch, this low-cost Explorer mission will use new mirror and detector technology that was developed in NASA's basic research program and tested in NASA's scientific ballooning program. The result of these modest investments is a small space telescope that will provide world-class science in an important but relatively unexplored band of the electromagnetic spectrum."

NuSTAR will study black holes that are big and small, far and near, answering questions about the formation and physics behind these wonders of the cosmos. The observatory will also investigate how exploding stars forge the elements that make up planets and people, and it will even study our own sun's atmosphere.

The observatory is able to focus the high-energy X-ray light into sharp images because of a complex, innovative telescope design. High-energy light is difficult to focus because it only reflects off mirrors when hitting at nearly parallel angles. NuSTAR solves this problem with nested shells of mirrors. It has the most nested shells ever used in a space telescope: 133 in each of two optic units. The mirrors were molded from ultra-thin glass similar to that found in laptop screens and glazed with even thinner layers of reflective coating.

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NASA preparing to launch its newest X-ray eyes

NASA Seeks Early Stage Innovations For Space Technologies From U.S. Universities

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WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking proposals from accredited U.S. universities focused on innovative, early-stage space technologies that will improve shielding from space radiation, spacecraft thermal management and optical systems.

Each of these technology areas requires dramatic improvements over existing capabilities for future science and human exploration missions. Early stage, or low technology readiness level (TRL) concepts, could mature into tools that solve the hard challenges facing future NASA missions. Researchers should propose unique, disruptive or transformational space technologies that address the specific topics described in this new solicitation.

"Both science and human deep space missions pose serious challenges that require new, innovative technological solutions," said Space Technology Program Director Michael Gazarik at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Radiation, thermal management and optical systems were all identified in the National Research Council's report on NASA Space Technology Roadmaps as priority research areas. This call seeks new ideas in these areas."

Space radiation poses a known danger to the health of astronauts. NASA is seeking proposals in the area of active radiation shielding (such as "shields" of electromagnetic force fields surrounding a spacecraft to block incoming radiation) or new, multifunction materials that are superior to those that exist today are sought. NASA also is interested in new technologies for active monitoring and read-out of radiation levels astronauts receive during long space trips.

Current space technology for thermal management of fuels in space is limited. NASA is seeking early-stage technologies to improve ways spacecraft fuel tanks and in-space filling stations store cryogenic (very low temperature) propellants, such as hydrogen, over long periods of time and distances. NASA also is seeking novel, low-TRL heat rejection technologies which operate reliably and efficiently over a wide range of thermal conditions.

The next generation of lightweight mirrors and telescopes requires advanced optical systems. NASA is seeking advancement of early-stage active wavefront sensing and control system technologies that enable deployable, large aperture space-based observatories; technologies which enable cost-effective development of grazing-incidence optical systems; and novel techniques to focus and detect X-ray photons and other high-energy particles.

NASA expects to make approximately 10 awards this fall, based on the merit of proposals received. The awards will be made for one year, with an additional year of research possible. The typical annual award value is expected to be approximately $250,000. Second year funding will be contingent on the availability of appropriated funds and technical progress. Only accredited U.S. universities may submit proposals to this solicitation. Notices of intent are due by June 21, 2012, with proposals due July 12.

To view the Early Stage Innovation NASA Research Announcement and information for submitting proposals, visit: http://go.usa.gov/P31

The solicitation is a part of NASA's Space Technology Program, managed by the Office of the Chief Technologist. For more information about the Space Technology Program and the crosscutting space technology areas of interest to NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct

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NASA Seeks Early Stage Innovations For Space Technologies From U.S. Universities

NASA Visualization Explorer (for iPad)

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NASA isnt only about looking outward to space; theyve had a fleet of satellites look at Earth from space for more than 40 years. NASA Visualization Explorer (for iPad) combines images, videos, and simulations from both the cosmos and our own planet in a series of informative and visually stunning stories, each highlighting a different finding or aspect of NASAs work.

Exploring Explorer

When you open the app, clicking on a menu icon at the screens lower left corner brings up the full menu of available stories, identified by title, date, and an associated image. Clicking on any one of these stories brings up an image (or video) and caption, while along the bottom are thumbnails with more images and/or videos related to the caption. You can shrink the caption to show a full-screen image, or advance to the next story (or previous one) by clicking a right or left arrow.

A button on the lower right corner on the screen lets you share a story on Facebook or Twitter, e-mail it, or open it in Safari on the NASA Visualization Explorer Web site, which also includes the content of all the stories.

Clicking on a gear icon to the right of the menu icon takes you to information about the app. The About tab discusses the apps creation by the Goddard Space Flight Center, while Instructions gives you a basic primer for using the app, and theres a link for sending feedback to the apps development team.

Serious Internet Required

In using this app, youd benefit from a fast Internet connection, as some of the videos can take a long time to load. One can access some previously viewed content when not online, but for much of the material (and to download any new stories), your iPad needs to be connected to the Internet.

Climate, Comets, & Vegas

I found the first entry, titled Artificial World Captures Reality particularly interesting, as it describes NASAs use of computer models that it uses in both short-term weather models and long-term climate models. NASA satellites in earth orbit relay immense amounts of data back to Earth each day, and scientists create a numerical model based on the data. As new data comes in, they tweak the model in an attempt to get a better approximation of reality. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center uses a supercomputer-based climate model called GEOS-5, whichat least in the short termis able to predict shifts in weather patterns.

Many of the stories are timely, like one about the survival and amazing performance of sun-grazing Comet Lovejoy, including videos of its reappearance after an exceedingly close encounter with our star, and a later video of the comet, now sporting a long tail, taken from the International Space Station. Another story that gained some play in the press was the discovery by NASAs Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope of antimatter bursts released by thunderstorms. It, too, is featured in NASA Visualization Explorer.

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NASA Visualization Explorer (for iPad)

WAC Lighting Showcases Future of Solid State Lighting With Two New Organic LED Luminaires

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GARDEN CITY, NY--(Marketwire -05/30/12)- Creating a symbiosis of eco-friendly nanotechnology and modern aesthetics that simply inspires, WAC Lighting continues to push boundaries with two new Organic LED luminaires that transform the future of lighting into a unique platform for today. WAC, a global manufacturing leader of decorative and architectural lighting, introduces the Vela Organic LED chandelier with a matching OLED wall sconce.

"Designed and engineered to stimulate curiosity and aesthetic appeal among the design and specification community, our next generation OLED luminaires raise the bar with a unique lighting experience of vision and sustainability," explained WAC Lighting President, Shelley Wald.

The Vela OLED Chandelier is defined by a dramatic contemporary profile laser-crafted of aluminum, with 12 OLED panels that illuminate surfaces below, and 12 additional OLEDs that shine upward to render a soft ambiance that evokes a lighter sense of space and visual comfort. The chandelier delivers a high light output of 2040 lumens while offering a CRI (color rendering index) of 80 and an efficacy of 35.2 lumens per watt. The luminaire features a total of 24 OLEDs with a CCT (correlated color temperature) of 4000K while using just 58 watts of power. Aircraft cables suspend the chandelier from the ceiling, with a height adjustment up to 36 inches.

"Our OLED luminaires are eco-friendly and sustainable," continued Ms. Wald. "They showcase a unique light source from an ultra-thin aesthetic design, integrated with the most advanced nanotechnology available today."

The Vela OLED wall sconce is designed in a unique decorative aluminum profile with six sophisticated OLED panels on its perimeter. Four square panels are connected in the center, by cross-shaped arms that are attached to two OLED panels on the ends. Housed within this exceptionally thin luminaire, the panels provide a wide, even illumination without glare. Perfect for use in hallways or as a decorative focal point, the brushed aluminum finished sconce uses 16.4 watts with OLED panels offering a 4000K CCT, a CRI of 80, and an efficacy of 31.1 lumens per watt while delivering 510 lumens. With a depth of merely 2.25 inches, the sconce is 24 5/8 inches long and 13 inches wide.

Inherently sustainable and precision engineered, the luminaires are individually crafted with the world's most revolutionary light source in WAC's wholly owned, zero landfill manufacturing campus. With instant on/off and dimming capabilities, the Vela family delivers mercury free, consistent beams of light without glare and a 10,000-hour rated life. The OLEDs are uniformly luminous and evenly spaced on the luminaires with utility, proportion and style.

Options include new materials and independently controlled micro-LEDs on a single circuit to enhance light intensity.

Documents and/or Photos available for this release:

OLED Wall WACOLED Chandelier

To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to http://www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and enter Release ID: 330646

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WAC Lighting Showcases Future of Solid State Lighting With Two New Organic LED Luminaires

Nanotechnology breakthrough could dramatically improve medical tests

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Public release date: 31-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Steven Schultz sschultz@princeton.edu 609-258-3617 Princeton University, Engineering School

A laboratory test used to detect disease and perform biological research could be made more than 3 million times more sensitive, according to researchers who combined standard biological tools with a breakthrough in nanotechnology.

The increased performance could greatly improve the early detection of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders by allowing doctors to detect far lower concentrations of telltale markers than was previously practical.

The breakthrough involves a common biological test called an immunoassay, which mimics the action of the immune system to detect the presence of biomarkers the chemicals associated with diseases. When biomarkers are present in samples, such as those taken from humans, the immunoassay test produces a fluorescent glow (light) that can be measured in a laboratory. The greater the glow, the more of the biomarker is present. However, if the amount of biomarker is too small, the fluorescent light is too faint to be detected, setting the limit of detection. A major goal in immunoassay research is to improve the detection limit.

The Princeton researchers tackled this limitation by using nanotechnology to greatly amplify the faint fluorescence from a sample. By fashioning glass and gold structures so small

"This advance opens many new and exciting opportunities for immunoassays and other detectors, as well as in disease early detection and treatment," said Stephen Chou, the Joseph C. Elgin Professor of Engineering, who led the research team. "Furthermore, the new assay is very easy to use, since for the person conducting the test, there will be no difference from the old one they do the procedure in exactly the same way."

The researchers published their results in two recent journal articles. One, published May 10 in Nanotechnology, describes the physics and engineering of the fluorescence-enhancing material. The other, published April 20 in Analytical Chemistry, demonstrates the effect in immunoassays. In addition to Chou, the authors include post-doctoral researchers Weihua Zhang, Liangcheng Zhou and Jonathan Hu and graduate students Fei Ding, Wei Ding, Wen-Di Li and Yuxuan Wang.

The work was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and the National Science Foundation.

The key to the breakthrough lies in a new artificial nanomaterial called D2PA, which has been under development in Chou's lab for several years. D2PA is a thin layer of gold nanostructures surrounded glass pillars just 60 nanometers in diameter. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; that means about 1,000 of the pillars laid side by side would be as wide as a human hair.) The pillars are spaced 200 nanometers apart and capped with a disk of gold on each pillar. The sides of each pillar are speckled with even tinier gold dots about 10 to 15 nanometers in diameter. In previous work, Chou has shown that this unique structure boosts the collection and transmission of light in unusual ways -- in particular, a 1 billion-fold increase in an effect called surface Raman scattering. The current work now demonstrates a giant signal enhancement with fluorescence.

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Nanotechnology breakthrough could dramatically improve medical tests

Edmonton Economic Development Corporation: Nanotechnology Institute Key to Regional Alliance

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EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwire -05/30/12)- On the western edge of the University of Alberta's main campus lies the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT), one of the world's most advanced research facilities and Canada's quietest laboratory space.

One of the members of the Greater Edmonton Regional Technology Alliance, NINT's specialty is the world of individual atoms or molecules. The institute's research is about how to integrate nano-scale devices and materials (e.g. nano-coatings) into complex nanosystems connected to the outside world (e.g. heat or wear-resistant pipes or lab-on-chip devices similar to a blood glucose test for diabetics). For comparison, a strand of human hair measures up to 100,000 nanometres wide.

By enabling the nanotech community's collaboration and access to its facility and expertise, NINT helps Edmonton nanotechnology firms with commercialization and licensing.

Other Regional Alliance members include Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), TEC Edmonton, novaNAIT, Northern Alberta Business Incubator, Business Link, TR Labs, the National Research Council's Industrial Research and Assistance Program, and Startup Edmonton.

"NINT is helping us all to better understand the emerging science of nanotechnology. As the only centre of its kind in Canada, it puts us in a leadership position. Being located at the University of Alberta creates great synergies," says Mike Wo, EEDC executive director of economic growth and development.

Mirroring the Regional Alliance, 12 private-sector companies have started a Greater Edmonton Nanotechnology Alliance to speak with a common voice for the emerging industry.

The Edmonton Research Park (ERP) houses dozens of research companies and is managed by Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC). The ERP is also a stakeholder in TEC Edmonton, a joint venture with the University of Alberta. For more information, visit http://www.edmonton.com Learn more about Edmonton through the stories of people who've experienced it at http://www.edmontonstories.ca

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Leading Physicist Becomes New Executive Director of the National Institute for Nanotechnology

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EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(Marketwire -05/31/12)- An expert in nano-electronics will lead Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) into its second decade. The NINT governing council has named Dr. Marie D'Iorio as its new Executive Director. Trained as a physicist, Dr. D'Iorio's expertise is in nano-electronics. She had been acting as NINT's interim Director General since last year.

"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Marie D'lorio to NINT and the University of Alberta," said Indira Samarasekera, President of the University of Alberta. "She is a remarkable leader who has, over the decades, had a prominent role in the science and technology sector, both nationally and internationally. I am thrilled that she will be focusing her time, energy and talents here as the Executive Director of NINT, building upon the momentum we have worked so hard to create."

During her time as acting Director General of NINT, Dr. D'Iorio led the strategic planning process for NINT's second decade. The resulting plan aims to increase industrial collaboration and re-organize the Institute's research and development activities into four application areas, including energy generation storage and hybrid nano-scale electronics.

"Nanotechnology can help Canadian companies be more competitive and NINT is key to them finding the right applications for their sector," said John R McDougall, President of the National Research Council of Canada. "Marie D'Iorio's mission is to expand NINT's engagement with Canadian industry and help them benefit from the potential of small tech."

Marie D'Iorio joined NRC in 1983, where she established the first very low temperature, high magnetic field laboratory in Canada to study low dimensional electron systems in semiconductor heterostructures. She served as Director General of the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Microstructural Sciences from 2003 to 2011.

"The National Institute for Nanotechnology proves that collaboration is a valuable cornerstone of Alberta's nanotechnology strategy," said the Honourable Stephen Khan, Alberta's Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education. "With the support of our federal and academic partners at NINT and Dr. D'lorio's focus on collaboration with industry, we can build on our province's nanotech capabilities and open even more opportunities in this field."

The National Institute for Nanotechnology is Canada's leading research and technology development organization working at the nano-scale. Founded in 2001, it is a joint initiative of the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Alberta, the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada. Its mission is to transform nanoscience ideas into novel, sustainable nanotechnology solutions with socioeconomic benefits for Canada and Alberta.

Biography

A photography of Dr. Marie D'lorio is available upon request.

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Leading Physicist Becomes New Executive Director of the National Institute for Nanotechnology

Girls Inc.and SEFCU to provide internships at Nano College

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Posted at: 05/31/2012 5:13 PM | Updated at: 05/31/2012 6:22 PM By: John McLoughlin

UAlbany's Nanoscale College is joining forces with SEFCU and with Girls, Inc, for a five-year combination of summer camps in the high tech and even some paid internships to help about 150 young girls hopefully become tomorrow's scientists and engineers.

Seventh-grader Maiya Dargan is hoping that she is chosen among the first 30 girls

Maiya wants to be a computer scientist, and this brand-new program will expose these Albany girls to several weeks here at the Nanoscale Center, to hopefully encourage them all to pursue science.

Women are greatly under-represented in the so-called stem disciplines science, technology, engineering, and math.

In just a 10 year span community colleges saw a 25 per cent drop in stem degrees granted to women.

SEFCU, the credit union is donating $340,000 of the $800,000 cost of this new program.

This program will also give the girls year round guidance in business and personal skills

Those first 30 girls will be spending five days a week, for about four weeks on the Nanoscale campus, rubbing elbows with the scientists for about four weeks each summer, until there are 150 girls in the program with paid internships in years three through five.

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Girls Inc.and SEFCU to provide internships at Nano College

New molecular structure offers first picture of a protein family vital to human health

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ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) The 20 proteins in the Wnt family are some of the most important proteins in controlling how an organism develops and grows, but for 30 years scientists have not known what these vital proteins actually look like. The proteins have eluded standard visualization techniques, in large part because they do not dissolve well in the water-based liquids normally used for biochemical studies. But once Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator K. Christopher Garcia, and Claudia Janda, a post-doctoral fellow in his Stanford University School of Medicine lab, thought of an approach to make the proteins behave better, they succeeded in solving the first structure of a Wnt protein.

Their work, published online May 31, 2012, in Science Express, reveals an unexpected three-dimensional shape that offers clues to how Wnt proteins function and clarifies the nature of its Frizzled receptor target for drug developers working to design anti-Wnt therapies for cancer and other diseases. "Having finally gained structural access to Wnts, I think this is going to open up a whole new era in molecularly dissecting the role of Wnt proteins in biological processes," says Garcia.

Wnt proteins were discovered 30 years ago by Harold Varmus, the current director of the National Cancer Institute, and Roel Nusse, who is now an HHMI investigator at Stanford University. They observed that Wnt1, the gene for a Wnt protein, was very active in breast cancer cells from mice. Over the past decades, researchers have shown that Wnt proteins play key roles in embryonic development, tissue regeneration, bone growth, stem cell differentiation, as well as many human cancers. In essence, Wnt proteins help give cells their identity and tell them how to behave.

"This is one of the most important ligand-receptor systems in both human and invertebrate biology. Wnts cut across every field, which is why I got involved. But many excellent groups have tried to express them in the lab and solve their structures, so we realized that something non-intuitive would be required to crack the problem," says Garcia.

In 2003, Nusse's team found out why scientists who had been trying to isolate Wnt proteins had been plagued with so many difficulties: the proteins contained lipids, fatty molecules that prevent the protein from dissolving in water-based solutions. Scientists realized they could stabilize the protein by instead keeping it in mixtures that contained detergents, helping pave the way for a plethora of biochemical experiments on isolated Wnts. But such detergent-containing mixtures still present obstacles for crystallizing and visualizing proteins by structural analysis techniques; simply put, the detergents get in the way.

"This really causes a great deal of difficulty in working with these proteins," says Garcia. But he and Janda had an idea: what if they expressed both a Wnt protein, and the receptor it bound to in the same cell? Perhaps, they thought, the receptor would shield the Wnt protein's exposed lipid, making it able to dissolve in the solution they needed.

The technique worked -- they were able to produce Wnt8 bound to Frizzled-8, one of 10 Frizzled receptors that the 20 Wnt proteins bind to to carry out cellular effects.

"It's one of the most unusual protein structures I've ever seen," says Garcia. "It looks like a crab with its two pinchers reaching around and grabbing the Frizzled receptor. When we originally solved this, we could see no relationship between the structure of Wnt8 and any other structure that has ever been described. However, we are beginning to see the evolutionary origins of the Wnt fold. This story is developing."

Garcia expects the other Wnt proteins likely have similar structures, with the respective Frizzled receptors shielding the lipid attached to the protein, meaning their method should work on other Wnts. He now wants to delve into those structures, answering questions about which Wnt-Frizzled pairs are responsible for what biological roles, how co-receptors bind to the pairs, and how the structure can be changed to optimize the interactions.

"What we can see now are some clues in the structure as to why Wnts are so hard to express, because of the exposure of the lipid," says Garcia. "So now we can think about ways to remodel the protein that will solve the expression problem without altering function."

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New molecular structure offers first picture of a protein family vital to human health

Agendia Raises $65 Million in a Private Round of Equity Financing

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IRVINE, Calif. and AMSTERDAM, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Agendia, an innovative molecular cancer diagnostics company and leader in personalized medicine, today announced that the company has raised USD $65 million in a private round of equity financing.

"The support we have received in this round of financing is a strong reflection of our recent growth and confidence in the commercialization of our product pipeline in the future," said David Macdonald, CEO of Agendia. "We will use these funds to expand commercialization of our current breast cancer Symphony suite of tests, as well as for development of our personalized medicine pipeline. We have recently launched our Symphony suite in an FFPE format, and we are preparing to launch our ColoPrint recurrence test for stage II colon cancer prognosis and prediction."

The financing round was led by the Debiopharm Group (Debiopharm), a leading drug development company based in Switzerland, with significant support from all of Agendia's current investors, including; The Van Herk Group, ING Corporate Investments, Breedinvest and Gilde Healthcare. Agendia also brought in other new investors for the financing round, including Korys, the investment structure of the Colruyt family and others.

"Debiopharm has been very impressed by the quality of the work and recent substantial progress made by Agendia to overcome the hurdles it faced in the past. Agendia pioneered and advocated the implementation of personalized cancer management strategies. Its offering (both commercially and scientifically) has advanced molecular cancer diagnosis in its growing role. Becoming successful in this still challenging area will lead to substantial improvements for the selection of cancer therapies and, therefore, also enhance the cost-effectiveness of highly innovative and valuable treatments for subsets of patients. In other words, to us, Agendia will support genuine win-win strategies and facilitate the reduction of the gap between the diagnostic and the drug world," said Thierry Mauvernay, Delegate of the Board of Debiopharm.

"We are absolutely delighted to bring Agendia into our investment portfolio," stated Vincent Vliebergh, CEO of Korys. "The company's molecular diagnostic tests for breast cancer, developed and validated in close collaboration with leading academic centers,enable physicians to determine the most effective treatment for each individual patient, leading to better health outcomes and lower costs. As such, we see Agendia as a catalyst in the shift to more personalized medicine, and we look forward to working with the company to make this vision come true."

About Agendia:

Agendia is a leading molecular diagnostic company that develops and markets genomic-based diagnostic products, which help support physicians with their complex treatment decisions. Agendia's breast cancer Symphony suite was developed using unbiased gene selection, analyzing the complete human genome, ensuring 100% definitive results for cancer patients. Symphony includes MammaPrint, the first and only FDA-cleared IVDMIA breast cancer recurrence assay, as well as BluePrint, a molecular subtyping assay, TargetPrint, an ER/PR/HER2 expression assay, and TheraPrint, an alternative therapy selection assay. Together, these tests help physicians determine a patient's individual risk for metastasis, which patients will benefit from chemo, hormonal, or combination therapy, and which patients do not require these treatments and can instead be treated with other less arduous and less costly methods.

In addition to the Symphony suite of tests, Agendia has a rich pipeline of genomic products in development. The company collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, leading cancer centers and academic groups to develop companion diagnostic tests in the area of oncology and is a critical partner in the ISPY-2 and MINDACT trials.

For more information, please visit http://www.agendia.com.

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Agendia Raises $65 Million in a Private Round of Equity Financing

Building molecular 'cages' to fight disease

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ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) UCLA biochemists have designed specialized proteins that assemble themselves to form tiny molecular cages hundreds of times smaller than a single cell. The creation of these miniature structures may be the first step toward developing new methods of drug delivery or even designing artificial vaccines.

"This is the first decisive demonstration of an approach that can be used to combine protein molecules together to create a whole array of nanoscale materials," said Todd Yeates, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a member of the UCLA-DOE Institute of Genomics and Proteomics and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.

Published June 1 in the journal Science, the research could be utilized to create cages from any number of different proteins, with potential applications across the fields of medicine and molecular biology.

UCLA graduate student Yen-Ting Lai, lead author of the study, used computer models to identify two proteins that could be combined to form perfectly shaped three-dimensional puzzle pieces. Twelve of these specialized pieces fit together to create a molecular cage a mere fraction of the size of a virus.

"If you just connect two random proteins together, you expect to get an irregular network," said Yeates, senior author of the study. "In order to control the geometry, the idea was to make a rigid link holding the two proteins in place as if they were parts of a toy puzzle."

The specifically designed proteins intermesh to form a hollow lattice that could act as a vessel for drug delivery, he said.

"In principle, it would be possible to attach a recognition sequence for cancer cells on the outside of the cage, with a toxin or some other 'magic bullet' contained inside," said Yeates. "That way, the drug could be delivered directly to certain targets like tumor cells."

At this stage, the assembled protein cages are porous enough that a drug placed inside would likely leak out during the delivery process, Lai said. His next project will involve constructing a new molecular cage with an interior that will be better sealed.

Another use for the versatile protein structures might be as artificial vaccines. Some traditional vaccines use an inactive surface protein from a virus to trick the body's immune system into thinking it is under attack. This method isn't always effective, because sometimes the protein in question doesn't look enough like the virus to trigger a strong response from the body's defenders.

However, by decorating the surface of a molecular cage with segments of virus-derived proteins, the tiny structures might better mimic a virus, stimulating an immune response even stronger than a traditional vaccine and better protecting the human recipient from illness.

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Building molecular 'cages' to fight disease

Brennan Heart

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30-05-2012 12:48 READ DESCRIPTION! Artist... : Brennan heart & Wildstylez Track Title... : Lose My Mind Label... : Brennan Heart Music CatID... : BHM001 -------------------------------------- Iwont give away any download links Like this track or others i uploaded. Go to and buy them there. -------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT NOTICE: If you are the owner of the track or the official label, please send me a private message via youtube to delete the track except of contacting youtube ! I will accept your decision and i will delete the track as soon as possible.

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Brennan Heart

TRANCE- Zone of the Enders: Despotic Mind [Homestuck; The Kids] – Video

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30-05-2012 19:42 Song: Zone of the Enders Song Artist: Despotic Mind Media: Homestuck More: I cannot BELIEVE Despotic Mind isn't on youtube. At all! So I felt like uploading some songs, for others' sake. Totally obsessed. And I just threw some Homestuck pictures in there for the hell of it. Enjoy~ None of the content is mine. Links for all the images, in order:

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TRANCE- Zone of the Enders: Despotic Mind [Homestuck; The Kids] - Video

TRANCE- Alone With Myself: Despotic Mind [Mirai Nikki; Akise Aru] – Video

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30-05-2012 20:47 Song: Alone With Myself Song Artist: Despotic mind Media: Mirai Nikki More: One of the three Despotic Mind songs I'm uploading, due to not seeing them on youtube anywhere. A shame, really. :/ Threw in some Mirai Nikki pictures just for the hell of it. None of the content is mine. Links to the images, in order:

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TRANCE- Alone With Myself: Despotic Mind [Mirai Nikki; Akise Aru] - Video

TRANCE- Succession of Witches: Despotic Mind [Xenosaga] – Video

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30-05-2012 22:37 Song: Succession of Witches Song Artist: Despotic Mind Media: Xenosaga Series More: The third and final Despotic Mind song I will be uploading, due to their absence on youtube. Again, I threw in a couple of images for the sake of it, Xenosaga ones this time around. My personal favorite of DM's songs. None of the content is mine. Image Links (in order):

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TRANCE- Succession of Witches: Despotic Mind [Xenosaga] - Video