NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotechnology's Radical Future

2006-10-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

Mike Treder
Mike Treder
Science Blog October 05, 2006
Disruptive change triggered by nanotechnology was on the agenda for a recent three-week speaking tour of Australia and New Zealand conducted by Mike Treder, executive director of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN). Between September 2 and September 21, he gave public lectures and held small group discussions on the subject of ‘Disruptive Abundance: Nanotechnology and Human Life’ in twelve cities. “We had big audiences everywhere I went—overflow in some places,” said Treder. “People were very interested to hear about the profound impacts that advanced nanotechnology will bring to society.”
Treder gave public presentations at the Australian National University in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, and at the University of Western Sydney. He also held seminars with university students and faculty in both locations. In Canberra, Treder met with Australian government officials to discuss that country’s plans for a national nanotechnology strategy. In Melbourne, he made a presentation to a group of scientists and researchers from Monash University and from Nanotechnology Victoria, the organization that sponsored his visit to Australia.
An article published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said, “Within 15 years, desktop nanofactories could pump out anything from a new car to a novel nanoweapon, says a technology commentator… While molecular manufacturing is not yet a reality, Treder says researchers are already working on building molecular-scale machines that could eventually move atoms around to make products.”
Public lectures were given in nine New Zealand cities by Treder just prior to his arrival in Australia. He was the featured speaker in the annual Pickering Lecture Tour, presented by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ). “Mike’s presentations generated a lot of interest in the future impact of nanotechnology across the country,” said IPENZ’s Kathryn McGavin.
Progress in nanotechnology eventually will make it possible to build a wide range of products atom by atom, from the bottom up, using nature’s fundamental building blocks, according to Treder. This will result in a manufacturing revolution, offering the potential for huge gains in quality of life, reductions in poverty, clean energy production, vastly improved infrastructures for computing, communication, transportation, and more. However, it also could lead to severe economic disruption, conflicts over intellectual property, omnipresent surveillance, and a potential widening of the gap between rich and poor. Even more ominous is the possibility of a new arms race.
“No one knows for sure how soon all this will happen,” said Treder. “But our analysis suggests it will be sooner than most people realize. The cost of not being prepared for such disruptive change could be catastrophic. It’s urgent that we invest more in understanding the impacts of this powerful new technology.”
Mike Treder is available for other speaking opportunities, as is Chris Phoenix, Director of Research at the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology.

NIH Funds Expand BioForce Product Development

2006-09-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

AMES, Iowa, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Human Genome Research Institute has approved funding of $400,000, with a potential for an additional $400,000 after August 31, 2007, to BioForce Nanosciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BioForce Nanosciences Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BFNH - News). The funding will be used to support the second phase of commercial development for surface patterning tools (SPT(TM)). SPT molecular ink cartridges are used in the Company's core technology, the Nano eNabler(TM) benchtop molecular printing system.
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"The next phase of our SPT cartridge development program focuses on the improvement and expansion of the capabilities and throughput of the devices," noted Dr. Curtis Mosher, Vice President of Research and Development. "SPT cartridge loading and cleaning in place are primary objectives of the ongoing program."
Juntao Xu, a key BioForce research scientist on this project, commented, "Our ultraminiaturized SPT cartridges are manufactured using microfabrication techniques that allow us to readily modify the design, materials and processing steps to enhance tool printing performance. When our SPT portfolio is complete our customers should be able to print spots, lines and complex paths of one or many different molecules or compounds."
Founder and CEO of BioForce Eric Henderson stated, "We were elated to learn of this award. NIH funding provides not only critical financial resources for the project but, importantly, also peer validation of the importance of our commercial vision."
About BioForce Nanosciences, Inc.
BioForce Nanosciences is a nanotechnology tools and applications company, providing innovative and practical products that support the growth of the nanotechnology industry. The Company has spent more than a decade on invention, research and development of patented and patent-pending nanotechnology products. The core technology is the Nano eNabler(TM) benchtop molecular printer, a portal to new opportunities in nanotechnology. The Nano eNabler printing system opens the door to new and important applications in the biomedical and life sciences markets that lead to improved quality of life. BioForce continues to target inventions that further expand the reach of its proprietary technology and expand its robust patent, trademark and IP portfolio.
BioForce Nanosciences, Inc., the Practical Nanotechnology(TM) Company, brings inventions to the marketplace that complement existing innovations, licensing and acquisitions. BioForce is a wholly owned subsidiary of BioForce Nanosciences Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BFNH - News). For more information, visit http://www.bioforcenano.com.
This news release contains forward-looking information that may be affected by certain risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties described in the Company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company's actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking statements. We assume no duty to update these statements at any future date.

Advancing Beneficial Nanotechnology

2006-09-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

About Nanotechnology....................
History of Nanotechnology-
Richard Feynman was the first scientist to suggest that devices and materials could someday be fabricated to atomic specifications: "The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom." Later the term nanotechnology was coined. Today nanotechnology is reshaping technology. Foresight is the leading think tank and public interest institute on nanotechnology. Founded in 1986, Foresight was the first organization to educate society about the benefits and risks of nanotechnology. At that time, nanotechnology was a little-known concept.
Today, with the basic framework of public understanding in place, we are refocusing our efforts on guiding nanotechnology research, public policy and education to address the critical challenges facing humanity.
Foresight’s new mission is to ensure the beneficial implementation of nanotechnology.
Foresight is accomplishing this by providing balanced, accurate and timely information to help society understand and utilize nanotechnology through public policy activities, publications, guidelines, networking events, tutorials, conferences, roadmaps and prizes.
Foresight is a member-supported organization. Our membership, including over 14,000 individuals and a growing number of corporations, is diverse demographically and geographically. They are interested in ensuring that the future of nanotechnology unfolds for the benefit of all. These concerned individuals include scientists, engineers, business people, investors, publishers, artists, ethicists, policy makers, interested laypersons, and students from grammar school to graduate level.
Foresight ® is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible in the US to the full extent provided by law.
Nanotechnology is a group of emerging technologies in which the structure of matter is controlled at the nanometer scale, the scale of small numbers of atoms, to produce novel materials and devices that have useful and unique properties. Some of these technologies impose only limited control of structure at the nanometer scale, but they are already in use, producing useful products. They are also being further developed to produce even more sophisticated products in which the structure of matter is more precisely controlled. The Foresight Nanotechnology Challenges focus on applying these developing technologies to solving important world problems.
Foresight has had a long-standing interest in the capabilities that await at the other end of this development process, when advanced nanotechnology will enable construction of complex systems in which each individual atom is specified and serves a designed function in the system. To read about these capabilities and their consequences:

SMALL WORLD_THE NANOTECHNOLOGY

2006-09-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

INSIDE TECHNOLOGY
Small innovation in genetic tests for drugs

By Jon VanPublished September 25, 2006
Genetic tests to help physicians select the proper medications and dosages for an individual patient should be on the market next year from Nanosphere Inc., a Northbrook-based nanotechnology pioneer.The firm plans clinical trials for pegging an individual's ability to metabolize the blood-thinner warfarin, and also a test to determine the likelihood that a person undergoing surgery will produce blood clots.Such information would enable physicians to tailor preventive therapy to an individual's predisposition toward a condition rather than try a one-size-fits-all approach common to medicine, said Bill Moffitt, Nanosphere's chief executive.At present, most genetic testing is performed at big commercial labs or at academic medical centers and is very expensive. Nanosphere's tests, which should start hitting the market next year, pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration, are designed for use in any hospital or a doctor's office and are relatively cheap, Moffitt said.The tests work by attaching gold nanoparticles to tiny genetic probes designed to bind to genetic variations in a patient's DNA. The gold particles signal genetic variations by changing colors, letting physicians know how the patient is likely to respond to a treatment like warfarin."People have a gene that produces enzymes that aid in the effectiveness and metabolism of the drug," said Moffitt. "The question is whether someone has the common genetic makeup or some variation that makes them metabolize the drug more quickly or more slowly."That information lets the physician increase or decrease the drug's dosage to suit the individual."The FDA is considering regulations that would strongly encourage or require physicians to perform genetic tests before administering warfarin, suggesting that the agency considers such tests valuable in avoiding troublesome side effects from anti-coagulant therapy.Next year's launch of genetic testing products will mark Nanosphere's first commercial venture. Past products have been aimed at lab workers and intended to help advance research collaborations between Nanosphere and its partners rather than create revenue, said Moffitt."These will be our first mainstream products," said Moffitt. They also will be among the first nanotech-based tools created for general use in clinical medicine, he added.LITTLE KNOWN: Even as more products based on nanotechnology begin to find their way into everyday life, nanotech itself remains a mystery to most folks or is off their radar altogether, a new survey finds.In a telephone survey of more than 1,000 adults commissioned by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 42 percent said they had no awareness of nanotechnology at all. About 10 percent said they knew quite a bit about it, and another 20 percent said they'd heard some.For the record, in case you're asked about it:Nano refers to technology applied to materials virtually at the molecular level, anything that measures less than 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, so a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers thick. At this size, just about all the molecules in an object are on its surface, giving the thing different characteristics than bulk materials made out of exactly the same molecules.Advances in microscopes and tools that manipulate matter one molecule at a time have made nanotechnology possible. Experts like Ray Kurzweil, entrepreneur, author and computer guru, expect that nanotech along with biotechnology and robotics will greatly transform society over the next few decades.More than $32 billion in products containing nanomaterials were sold globally last year, according to Wilson Center research.