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Bright prospects for single photon counting
POLICY NEWS
Life science company acquires nano know-how LICENSES & ACQUISITIONS
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
Semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoclusters offer a number of advantages over standard fluorescent dyes as cellular and biomolecular labels. This has led life science company Invitrogen to bolster its Molecular Probes business through the acquisition of Quantum Dot Corporation and the BioPixels® business unit of BioCrystal. Invitrogen has also licensed a novel technology from Georgia Tech Research Corp. The terms of acquisitions and licence have not been disclosed. “By adding advanced nanotechnology capabilities to our existing labeling and detection franchise, Invitrogen has
positioned itself at the cutting edge of this exciting field,” explains Gregory T. Lucier, chairman and chief executive officer of Invitrogen. Invitrogen hopes that the acquisitions and licence will lead to the creation of new nanotechnology-based products that will improve the ability of life scientists to visualize cellular processes, molecular interactions, and other factors essential to diagnosing and treating disease. The technologies will add to Invitrogen’s existing organic chemistry-based labels. Quantum Dot Corporation makes Qdot® semiconductor nanocrystals for biomolecular labeling and detection. Qdots emit bright light in a range of colors with excellent photostability and narrow emission spectra. BioPixels provides novel coatings and metal alloys for semiconductor nanocrystals. The combination with Qdots will allow smaller, brighter, lower toxicity particles that do not blink. The license from Georgia Tech Research Corp. concerns noble metal nanoclusters developed by Robert Dickson and Jie Zhang. The clusters of a few Au or Ag atoms exhibit offer up to ten times the fluorescence of semiconductor nanocrystals, giving single-molecule detection capability. Jonathan Wood
US sees fall in foreign physics students
Bright prospects for single photon counting
POLICY
LICENSES & ACQUISITIONS
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has released figures showing that a number of foreign students continued to face visa problems when trying to enter US graduate physics programs in Fall 2004. Half of PhD-granting departments and one quarter of masters departments accepted one or more foreign students who were then denied entry or substantially delayed by visa problems. However, the situation had improved since 2002. The AIP estimates that 12% of admitted foreign students experienced complications in securing a visa and were prevented, at least initially, from gaining entry to a physics department. This was down from 20% in Fall 2002. Visa problems were not restricted to new students. 60% of physics departments said some of their existing students had experienced problems in gaining return visas after leaving the US to travel in the previous year. Faculty and staff researchers in 15% of the departments had also had similar problems. While the proportion of foreign citizens among first year students has decreased in the last few years after decades of sustained increase, the AIP admits the decline is not as great as they might have expected in the face of visa difficulties.
Princeton Lightwave, a manufacturer of optical semiconductor components, has licensed single photon detection (SPD) technology from IBM. The technology has shown high-speed and low-noise single-photon detection in a number of applications. SPD is essential in quantum cryptography systems, which are being developed largely for secure communications in government and financial institutions. Princeton Lightwave hope to combine IBM’s SPD technology with their own InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode that has been optimized for single-photon-counting performance. The aim is to produce a high-performance solution for single photon counting, not only in quantum cryptography, but also in a variety of optical applications and scientific research. Quantum cryptography systems allow the key to an encrypted message or transaction to be sent securely between two people over an insecure channel, such as an unguarded optical fiber. The encryption key is encoded in the states of single photons, which are disrupted if anyone tries to eavesdrop. Sender and receiver can then tell if the message has been sent and received securely.
As part of its $144.3 million, five-year Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, the US National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute has granted $26.3 million in first-year awards to establish seven Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNEs). The Carolina CCNE, at the University of North Carolina (led by Rudolph Juliano), will fabricate ‘smart’ or targeted nanoparticles and other nanodevices for cancer therapy and imaging. The Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer, at the University of California, San Diego (led by Sadik Esener), will focus on a smart, multifunctional, all-in-one platform for targeting tumors and delivering payloads of therapeutics. The Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology (led by Shuming Nie and Jonathan Simons) will develop particles attached to biomolecules for molecular imaging and profiling, and personalized therapy. The MIT-Harvard CCNE (led by Robert Langer and Ralph Weissleder) will focus on diversified platforms for targeted therapy, diagnostics, noninvasive imaging, and molecular sensing. Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Northwestern University (led by Chad Mirkin) will design and test nanomaterials and devices to improve cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. The Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center at California Institute of Technology (led by James Heath) will develop and validate tools for early detection and stratification of cancer through rapid and quantitative measurement of panels of serum and tissue-based biomarkers. The Siteman CCNE at Washington University (led by Samuel Wickline) will develop nanoparticles for in vivo imaging and drug delivery, especially for translational medicine.
Jonathan Wood
Jonathan Wood
Mark Telford
Cultured cells labeled with a cocktail of Qdot® Antibody Conjugates for direct labeling of cellular structures. (Courtesy of Invitrogen.)
26
Cancer nanotech centers founded
DECEMBER 2005 | VOLUME 8 | NUMBER 12
Life science company acquires nano know-how LICENSES & ACQUISITIONS
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
Semiconductor nanocrystals and metal nanoclusters offer a number of advantages over standard fluorescent dyes as cellular and biomolecular labels. This has led life science company Invitrogen to bolster its Molecular Probes business through the acquisition of Quantum Dot Corporation and the BioPixels® business unit of BioCrystal. Invitrogen has also licensed a novel technology from Georgia Tech Research Corp. The terms of acquisitions and licence have not been disclosed. “By adding advanced nanotechnology capabilities to our existing labeling and detection franchise, Invitrogen has
positioned itself at the cutting edge of this exciting field,” explains Gregory T. Lucier, chairman and chief executive officer of Invitrogen. Invitrogen hopes that the acquisitions and licence will lead to the creation of new nanotechnology-based products that will improve the ability of life scientists to visualize cellular processes, molecular interactions, and other factors essential to diagnosing and treating disease. The technologies will add to Invitrogen’s existing organic chemistry-based labels. Quantum Dot Corporation makes Qdot® semiconductor nanocrystals for biomolecular labeling and detection. Qdots emit bright light in a range of colors with excellent photostability and narrow emission spectra. BioPixels provides novel coatings and metal alloys for semiconductor nanocrystals. The combination with Qdots will allow smaller, brighter, lower toxicity particles that do not blink. The license from Georgia Tech Research Corp. concerns noble metal nanoclusters developed by Robert Dickson and Jie Zhang. The clusters of a few Au or Ag atoms exhibit offer up to ten times the fluorescence of semiconductor nanocrystals, giving single-molecule detection capability. Jonathan Wood
US sees fall in foreign physics students
Bright prospects for single photon counting
POLICY
LICENSES & ACQUISITIONS
The American Institute of Physics (AIP) has released figures showing that a number of foreign students continued to face visa problems when trying to enter US graduate physics programs in Fall 2004. Half of PhD-granting departments and one quarter of masters departments accepted one or more foreign students who were then denied entry or substantially delayed by visa problems. However, the situation had improved since 2002. The AIP estimates that 12% of admitted foreign students experienced complications in securing a visa and were prevented, at least initially, from gaining entry to a physics department. This was down from 20% in Fall 2002. Visa problems were not restricted to new students. 60% of physics departments said some of their existing students had experienced problems in gaining return visas after leaving the US to travel in the previous year. Faculty and staff researchers in 15% of the departments had also had similar problems. While the proportion of foreign citizens among first year students has decreased in the last few years after decades of sustained increase, the AIP admits the decline is not as great as they might have expected in the face of visa difficulties.
Princeton Lightwave, a manufacturer of optical semiconductor components, has licensed single photon detection (SPD) technology from IBM. The technology has shown high-speed and low-noise single-photon detection in a number of applications. SPD is essential in quantum cryptography systems, which are being developed largely for secure communications in government and financial institutions. Princeton Lightwave hope to combine IBM’s SPD technology with their own InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode that has been optimized for single-photon-counting performance. The aim is to produce a high-performance solution for single photon counting, not only in quantum cryptography, but also in a variety of optical applications and scientific research. Quantum cryptography systems allow the key to an encrypted message or transaction to be sent securely between two people over an insecure channel, such as an unguarded optical fiber. The encryption key is encoded in the states of single photons, which are disrupted if anyone tries to eavesdrop. Sender and receiver can then tell if the message has been sent and received securely.
As part of its $144.3 million, five-year Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, the US National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute has granted $26.3 million in first-year awards to establish seven Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNEs). The Carolina CCNE, at the University of North Carolina (led by Rudolph Juliano), will fabricate ‘smart’ or targeted nanoparticles and other nanodevices for cancer therapy and imaging. The Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer, at the University of California, San Diego (led by Sadik Esener), will focus on a smart, multifunctional, all-in-one platform for targeting tumors and delivering payloads of therapeutics. The Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology (led by Shuming Nie and Jonathan Simons) will develop particles attached to biomolecules for molecular imaging and profiling, and personalized therapy. The MIT-Harvard CCNE (led by Robert Langer and Ralph Weissleder) will focus on diversified platforms for targeted therapy, diagnostics, noninvasive imaging, and molecular sensing. Nanomaterials for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics at Northwestern University (led by Chad Mirkin) will design and test nanomaterials and devices to improve cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. The Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center at California Institute of Technology (led by James Heath) will develop and validate tools for early detection and stratification of cancer through rapid and quantitative measurement of panels of serum and tissue-based biomarkers. The Siteman CCNE at Washington University (led by Samuel Wickline) will develop nanoparticles for in vivo imaging and drug delivery, especially for translational medicine.
Jonathan Wood
Jonathan Wood
Mark Telford
Cultured cells labeled with a cocktail of Qdot® Antibody Conjugates for direct labeling of cellular structures. (Courtesy of Invitrogen.)
26
Cancer nanotech centers founded
DECEMBER 2005 | VOLUME 8 | NUMBER 12