Synthetic biology Life 2.0

Aug 31st 2006 | From The Economist print edition
The new science of synthetic biology is poised between hype and hope. But its time will soon come
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American Academy of Nanomedicine

About
The American Academy of Nanomedicine is a forum to exchange ideas, communicate new findings, and encourage collaboration among the diverse disciplines represented in Nanomedicine. Among other things, membership in AANM will provide you with:

* Access to the latest information in research and clinical applications through the society’s quarterly, peer-reviewed journal, Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine.
* The ability to discuss challenges and innovative findings with peers, face-to-face at AANM conferences, focused specifically on Nanomedicine-related topics and issues.

If you are involved in this exponentially expanding field as a basic or clinical investigator, engineer, molecular biologist, physician, or related profession of interest to the advancement of Nanomedicine, then let us know who you are so that we may keep you posted on upcoming events and initiatives.
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Texas Tech Researchers Make Chemical Warfare Protective Nanofibers

August 28, 2006
According to TExas Tech University Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar, an assistant professor at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech, and graduate student Thandavamoorthy Subbiah recently discovered a honeycomb polyurethane nanofabric that can not only trap toxic chemicals, but also be used in a hazardous material suit. Ramkumar’s findings are featured in the Sept. 5 edition of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.
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Vitamin E nanotech innovation marks a big step for formulators

8/30/2006 - The rejuvenating qualities of vitamin E mean it is has long been a popular choice for anti-ageing skin care products, but likewise, it has traditionally been a difficult compound for formulators to work with. Until now that is.
British pharmacists working at King's College, London, announced at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester yesterday the development of a vitamin E gel that is easier to formulate thanks to the use of nanotechnology.
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Nanowater

Hi everybody,
my next column is available.
Click here

for history and future columns see
http://www.bioethicsanddisability.org/column.html
Any comments welcome
Cheers
Gregor

NCMS releases study on nanotechnology in industry

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released a final report titled “2005 NCMS Survey of Nanotechnology in the U.S. Manufacturing Industry”. The study, conducted under NSF sponsorship, documents the nation’s largest cross-industry survey of nanotechnology applications being commercialized by the U.S. manufacturing industry. The report is available at: http://www.ncms.org or http://www.nsf.gov/nano/.

Nearly 600 U.S. industry executives participated in the online NCMS-developed survey, providing insights on strategic issues affecting their organizations’ pursuit of nanotechnology, that included management views, adequacy of research infrastructure, commercialization readiness and a ranking of key barriers. The study compares these industry trends across U.S. regions, and provides information useful in planning corporate strategy, government policy and public investments to stimulate the largely small business-dominated nanotechnology industry, and help maintain the nation’s lead.

“The survey shows the increased significance of nanotechnology to both traditional and emerging fields in the last five years. In 2000, one could identify only a handful of companies with nanotechnology programs. In 2005, 18 percent of the surveyed industries are already marketing products, about 80 percent expect to commercialize nano-products by 2010, and almost everyone expressed confidence their organizations will be involved with nanotechnology in the future after 2010. Such expansion of industrial relevance has been a goal of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI),” said M.C. Roco, key architect of the NNI, and senior advisor for nanotechnology at NSF.

“While applications of two-dimensional nanotechnology products such as coatings, nano-particulates and thin films will proliferate in the near-term across many major industry sectors, the surveyed executives indicated close consensus that the key barriers to commercialization of more complex, three-dimensional nanotechnology products relate to process scalability, financing and regulatory issues,” said NCMS principal investigator Manish Mehta. “These challenges require concerted and innovative, public-private collaborations with unprecedented knowledge-sharing to overcome so as to reap the visionary benefits.”

NCMS is the largest cross-industry collaborative R&D consortium in North America devoted exclusively to manufacturing technologies, processes and practices. It has 20 years of experience in the formation of complex, multi-partner collaborative programs, and is backed by members representing virtually every sector of the manufacturing community.

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Nanotechnology research funding up, venture capital down

Filed in archive Investing by george elvin on August 14, 2006

More than $9.5 billion was spent on nanotechnology research and development worldwide in 2005, a considerable rise as compared to 2004. But $9 billion of that was from governments and corporations, says "The World Nanotechnology Market (2006)" report from Research and Markets.

And VC's may be backing off even more in 2006. Venture capital investments in MEMS and nanotech companies in the first half of 2006 were down 15.4% compared to the first half of 2005, according to Bourne Research.

Nanotech start-ups were the hardest hit, with funding down 38.7%.

"I'm scared of anybody with nano in their name," said Kevin Landis, who manages about $700 million at Firsthand Capital Management in San Jose, California. "With any new wave of technology, there's ample opportunity to invest in companies that don't end up being the winner."

Those words of warning fit well with my observation here a few weeks ago that many nano companies are dropping the "nano" from their names.

But don't worry, there are still plenty of success stories. Altair Nanotechnologies' revenues more than doubled in the second quarter of 2006 compared to the second quarter of 2005. Altair is a leading provider of advanced nanomaterials technology for use in energy, pharmaceutical, life sciences and industrial applications.

Despite the venture capital slump, the prospects for nanotech remain good. By 2008, the total global demand for nanoscale materials, devices and tools will cross $28 billion, says the Bourne report.

The report added that silver nanoparticles, chemical sensors, tri-axis accelerometers were product niches bearing close attention


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Academic nanolabs

The Center for Nano Science and Technology at Notre Dame University lists over 100 weblinks to university-based labs around the world.

AT UN, DELEGATES FINALIZE NEW TREATY PROTECTING RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Sunday, August 27, 2006 New York, Aug 27 2006 10:00PM

After five years of negotiations, countries meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York have agreed on a new treaty to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

"This is the first convention of this magnitude for this century," UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said after the agreement was reached late Friday. He told the negotiators that they were conveying to the world "the message that we want to have a life with dignity for all and that all human beings are all equal."

"This marks a great day for the UN and for persons with disabilities," said New Zealand's Ambassador Don MacKay, who chaired the talks through its final sessions. "It's a good convention and it will make a difference for millions of people."

The successful completion of the treaty, after a day of intense negotiations and compromises that capped years of effort, was met with applause by well over a hundred government delegations and hundreds of representatives of disability organizations who participated in the process of crafting the 40-article pact.

Proponents of the convention maintained that the treaty was necessary because persons with disabilities represented one of the most marginalized groups and that their rights had been routinely ignored or denied throughout much of the world.

While the convention does not create new rights, it specifically prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of life, including civil rights, access to justice and the right to education, health services and access to transportation.

The convention was largely approved by consensus, although there was a vote on a provision concerning "foreign occupation" that was included in the preamble.  With five countries voting against, the provision was adopted.

The convention will be formally sent to the General Assembly for adoption at its next session, which begins in September. It will then be open for signing and ratification by all countries.

It is estimated that 10 per cent of the world's population, or about 650 million people, suffer from disabilities.

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2006-08-27 00:00:00.000

Nanobuzz write up about my Nanoregulation talk

By george elvin on August 11, 2006

Yesterday concluded the Nano & Bio in Society 2006 conference in Chicago. This two-day conference brought together a diverse group of scholars, businesspeople government officials and NGO representatives to contemplate the potential social, ethical, health and environmental impacts of nanotechnology.

In addition to many excellent presentations and a panel discussion I had the honor of taking part in, the conference provided the opportunity for informal discussions among the participants. One that I especially enjoyed was with Professor Gregor Wolbring of Calgary University, who sees "social safety" as a greater concern than any medical safety concerns nanotech may raise.

By social safety, Wolbring means the right of every individual in society to fair and equal treatment and a sense of self-worth. As technologies enabling greater human enhancement become available through nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology, he fears a widening gap between enhanced and unenhanced people.

Superior vision, brain function and strength are just few of the enhancements proposed and eagerly awaited by transhumanists who believe that bodies need constant improvement made possible by new technologies.

But Wolbring sees the spread of enhancement technologies as rife with potential problems. When the majority chooses enhancement, for instance, the minority who reject it will be seen as inferior or disabled. And it may not be a matter of choice, he observes. If you look at healthcare today, opportunities for enhancement and even healing are often denied to society's disenfranchised.

And as more and more people choose enhancement, the very definition of what it means to healthy, normal or able-bodied may shift as well. He suggests that in the future so many of us will choose to be enhanced that the unenhanced may become a rare breed. Conference chair Edgar Voelkl added that enhancement is already taking place at a large scale through cosmetic surgery.

Conferences like this one provide a valuable opportunity to look ahead at the many social, ethical, health and environmental issues latent in nanotechnology. Thanks to Center on Nanotechnology and Society Director Nigel Cameron and Associate Director Michele Mekel for inviting me.

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Continuation of my old blog

Here you find my old blog
http://wolbring.blogspot.com/
There is a problem to access the old one so I decided to just start from scratch.
Hope you find the info posted here of interest.
Cheers
Gregor