NanoTecNexus

Nanobots

Invasion of the Chinese Nanobots

Posted by Tim on 12 Dec 2008 at 11:36 am under Nanotech

One of our old nanotech favourites, rabid sinophobe Lev Nazorov returns this week with a classic illustration of what happens when you read a bit of Drexler and let your imagination run wild. Nazorov is rather obsessed with the Chinese threat to the US and contends that “China’s ultimate plan would involve the use of “molecular nano assemblers,” which are small self-replicating machines capable of moving through the ocean and destroying the US’s nuclear submarines. At that point America’s ability for “Mutual Assured Destruction” through nuclear weapons would be lost and China could either destroy the US with further nano-weapons or enforce an unconditional surrender.”

Targeted Nanoparticles Deliver Therapeutic DNA to Cancer Cells

December 2008 - Targeted Nanoparticles Deliver Therapeutic DNA to Cancer Cells Given that cancer is a disease caused by gene mutations, cancer researchers have been striving to develop gene therapies aimed at correcting these mutations. However, these efforts have been hobbled by the difficulty in safely and efficiently delivering anticancer genes to tumors. Nanoparticles, however, may solve these delivery issues, and two recently published studies, using two different types of nanoparticles, lend credence to that hypothesis. Miqin Zhang, Ph.D., PI of the Nanotechnology Platform for Pediatric Brain Cancer Imaging and Therapy project at the University of Washington in Seattle, led a group of researchers that developed a targeted polymer nanoparticle that efficiently delivered a model gene into two types of cancer cells. More importantly, the gene functions properly once it enters the targeted cells. In the second study, Mansoor Amiji, Ph.D., PI of the Nanotherapeutic Strategy for Multidrug Resistant Tumors Platform Partnership at Northeastern University, and doctoral student Padmaja Magadala, M.S., used gelatin-based nanoparticles and a different targeting agent to efficiently deliver the same model gene to human pancreatic tumor cells. As in the first study, the delivered gene functioned properly inside the tumor cells.  More...

Nanotechnology Takes Off - KQED

US Senator Dianne Feinstein

Address on cancer nanotechnology:

Lockheed Martin forms LANCER nanotech research center at Rice U

April 22, 2008 -- "This is very significant for Lockheed Martin and we think we will reap benefits across the business," said Sharon Smith, director of Advanced Technology at Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), in announcing her company's new collaboration with Rice University for nanotechnology research. The strategic partnership, funded with $3 million over three years (but "looking to expand," according to Smith), aims to research and develop new nanotechnologies and nano-based solutions for a wide range of applications in electronics, energy, and security.

The Lockheed Martin Advanced Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at Rice University, or LANCER, will pair researchers from Lockheed Martin with Rice experts in carbon nanotechnology, photonics, plasmonics, and more. Rice University is widely recognized for many important contributions to nanotechnology. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has a history of proactively engaging partners in nanotech R&D.

LANCER, a "virtual" organization, will launch in June 2008 at Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. There will be a faculty director, but no new building and no dedicated space, Smalley Institute director Wade Adams told Small Times. Adams added that Rice has 130 faculty members working on nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology research leads to molecular-scale batteries and motors

Date: 06/06/2006

T field of of nanotechnology has made tremendous progress in recent years. Vast sums of money are being invested in nanotechnology developments here in Europeand researchers in the USA are also extremely active. While a great deal of work is being undertaken in universitiesprivate companies are also running substantial research programmes.

With so many different projects underway and the scope for potential applications being so wide todayan article such as this can only present a small cross-section of the types of development that are bearing fruit.

Back in February 2004researchers at semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologiesin MunichGermanyclaimed they had succeededfor the first timein using carbon nanotubes to manufacture power semiconductors (Fig.1).

The first nanotube switch could control light emitting diodes (LEDs) or electric motorswhich was considered to be a breakthrough for nanotechnologyas scientists previously thought nanotubes were not suitable for the high voltages and currents used in power applications.

Nanotubes are tubular structures consisting of carbon atoms and have a diameter of one millionth of a millimetre. As with almost everything else on a nano scalethe electrical properties of carbon are very different from the properties associated with the material in the bulk state.

Magnetic Nanotags Allow Sensitive Detection of Cancer Biomarkers

December 2008

Magnetic Nanotags Allow Sensitive Detection of Cancer Biomarkers

The detection of cancer-associated proteins, or biomarkers, in blood samples is a potentially powerful tool for early diagnosis of cancer and monitoring of cancer treatment. A team led by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, has developed a compact prototype detector that uses magnetic nanotechnology to spot cancer-associated proteins in a human blood serum sample, with much higher sensitivity than current detectors.

In addition to its high sensitivity, the new detector can monitor multiple biomarkers simultaneously. “This ‘multiplex’ capability is important because the use of multiple biomarkers is likely to provide greater accuracy and reliability than single biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and other potential applications,” said Nader Pourmand, Ph.D., one of three principal investigators (PIs) who directed this work. The researchers describe their results in a paper published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

“With current detectors, you can detect only one protein at a time,” Dr. Pourmand said. “Instead of the standard fluorescent tags, we used nanosize magnetic beads as tags and were able to detect target molecules with tens to hundreds of times greater sensitivity than standard techniques.”

RSS Feed: NanoTechnology

Google Reader

[WP] Productive Nanosystems: A Technology Roadmap

"The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems charts a path beginning with current nanotechnology capabilities to advanced systems. The Roadmap is a first attempt to lay out a step-by-step course of development that must take place to move from one stage to another, with milestones for achieving each step. With the support and collaboration of our partners, The Waitt Family Foundation and Battelle, we identify the gap between the basic nanostructured materials of today, and the potential of productive nanosystems."

Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2151755/Nanotech-Roadmap-2007-main