Edwards' Real Nanotech Index Rebounds

The Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index was up last week almost 3%. After 5 whole weeks of existence, the ERNI is now almost back to where it started from. The standout performances for the week came from nanomaterials maker Raymor, tools manufacturers Veeco and FEI and again the venture capital firms Harris & Harris and Arrowhead Research. On the other hand, Cambridge Display continues to slide and JMAR lost a little more of its miniscule capitalization.

Jack Uldritch, over at Motley Fool, relays the news that international chemical giant BASF is planning to invest $221 million over the next three years into nanotech research and development. BASF has also made a $4.9 billion dollar offer to acquire Engelhard [NYSE:EC], which has its own nanomaterials and nanoparticles program. Reading between the lines, these developments might be advantageous to Nanophase, for whom BASF is a major customer and business partner.



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Disclaimer and Disclosure: Inclusion in the Edwards' Real Nanotech Index does not constitute a "buy" recommendation. At any time, the author may have a long, short, or no position in any of the stocks contained therein.

Gravitational Field Created in the Lab

This is either one of those findings, like cold fusion, which will fall into the waste bin of Artifacts and Irrepeatable Results, or it will turn out to be something really significant. I think that it's too early to tell. Significantly, the authors, M. Tajmar et al of the European Space Agency, claim to have repeated their experiment 250 times, so either their interpretation of what they did is off or there is something really exciting going on. What they have done, apparently, is to rotate a ring of superconducting material at about 6500 rotations per minute (not that fast, really) and measured a gravitational field created thereby.

I came about this story via a blogger named Maynard at Daily Kos, a site usually more given to calls for political action rather than scientific musings. The physicists out there might want to read the original paper, which is linked here. There seems to be some dispute as to whether or not the size of the gravitational field created contradicts Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In their original paper, the authors do not make this claim.

Science Class

In science class today, we have a substitute teacher (me) who does not claim to be a physicist. The subject is gravity, which was pretty much taken for granted until the apocryphal apple fell on Isaac Newton’s head. The everyday experience of stuff falling to Earth didn’t seem to arouse that much curiosity until Newton, who was curious about everything, put his considerable intellect to work, and came up with his inverse square law for gravitational attraction. It must be said that Newton himself was not all that satisfied with his creation; it described gravity but didn’t say anything about how it worked.

Still, Newton had the last word on the subject of gravity until Einstein came along. Einstein didn’t like gravity at all. How can an object in space detect the presence of another object in space without exchanging some sort of information? But the fastest rate at which information can travel, according to Einstein, is the speed of light and light itself, even though it has no mass, seems to be bent by gravity. Ergo gravity can’t really exist. The presence of mass in the universe bends space-time and causes havoc with our presumed Cartesian coordinate systems. There really are no straight lines. The space-time that I am living in is rushing headlong into the center of the Earth, causing considerable strain on my aching joints as I struggle to avoid traveling with it.

Einstein, as you may have heard, had a lot of problems aligning his theories (which have now been largely verified experimentally) with the predictions of quantum theory, which have also been very successful. Quantum theory has its own take on gravity. Gravity is a weak force (compared to intermolecular and interatomic forces) in the universe whose effect is mediated by a particle (wavicle) known as the graviton. Alas, as far as I know, no one has ever actually captured a graviton.

However, if you think about it, gravity is very symmetrical in principle to the magnetic force. Like gravity, magnetism seems to involve force fields that allow action at a distance and can influence the trajectory of objects that are susceptible to magnetism. Think of those tracings of iron filings that illuminate magnetic force fields. A gravitational field is something like that, only it affects everything that has mass.

Gauge theories

To go beyond the above description of gravity requires that we call in a real physicist to give a more detailed explanation or resort to horrible stuff like equations (there is a reason that I’m a biologist).

So I will try to slide by with quotations from a book that I have been reading called The World within the World by John Barrow. “Modern theories of elementary particles and their interactions with one another are called “gauge theories.” The first such theory was Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism.” Here is where stuff starts to get interesting and bears on the creation of gravitation in the laboratory. “The requirement of the gauge symmetry of Maxwell’s equations and their quantum edition forbids the existence of a photon possessing mass…” Mass in the universe is created, it turns out, when gauge symmetries are broken, and that is apparently what Tajmar et al have done with their gravity spinning machine (the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic coil)--photons are actually gaining mass within the superconductor.

Some of their findings are as follows.

“An acceleration field was found to be induced by applying angular accelerations to a superconductor. The field produced is directly proportional to the applied acceleration with a correlation factor higher than 0.96. All mean values are 3.3 times above the facility noise level.”

“The gravitational field is emitted from the superconductor and follows the laws of field propagation and induction similar to those of electromagnetism as formulated in linearized general relativity.”

“For the first time, non-Newtonian gravitational and gravitomagnetic fields of measurable magnitude were observed in a laboratory environment.”

This is a startling result. If true, it is hard to imagine all of the consequences and fall-out.

Buying Nanotech Pioneers

My book, The Nanotech Pioneers: Where are they taking us? is published by Wiley VCH, which is a quality publisher of research-type books. They don’t do much in the way of active marketing, but you have to admire their distribution systems. By way of the web, I have found copies available all over the world--Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain etc.

Wiley gives its authors a 25% discount of the list price on their own books, which is not all that generous when you can consider that I can buy it cheaper retail at Barnes and Noble. A friend of mine is trying to buy a bulk lot of 50 to distribute at a conference that he organizes (this is a GREAT IDEA that I want to promote; Nanotech Pioneers makes a wonderful doorprize for nanotech conferences, or you can do business card drawings at your company booth. It is a lot cheaper than say, an iPOD Nano.). It turns out that my friend can get a bulk price from B & N at $19 a copy vs a list price of $35. Wiley won’t sell it to him any cheaper. Anybody that wants to buy it one copy at a time, the cheapest I have found is through abebooks, which includes booksellers from all over the world. Cheapest is $22.00 from A1 Books of Netcong, NJ. Surprisingly, Amazon.com is among the most expensive places to buy Nanotech Pioneers, selling it at list, or $35. I have seen it listed for over $60.00 in some places, and briefly, for over $200 before it was widely available. Bookselling turns out to be a stranger business than I would have believed.

A Plethora of NanoBiotech Companies

Biomedical Market Newsletter has released the company names included in its 1st Annual Top 750 Nanotech Biotech/Biomed Companies Directory, which is to say a list of companies focused on nanobiotechnology or bionanotechnology, or maybe just nanotech companies that spend a little time thinking about biotech or vice versa. Add to that a couple of hundred distributors and they come up with over a thousand companies total. I have no idea what criteria they use to determine suitability for inclusion in their list, but as a public service I have posted the it below. For a price, you can get an Excel file or PDF files which includes a lot more info about the companies listed, like addresses, websites, and what they do, etc. Inquire at: info@biomedical-market-news.com or biomednews@aol.com

So take this list for what it's worth. Not much maybe, but it’s a place to start if you are researching nanobiotech companies. Many of the names are not companies but institutions, and some are divisions of more major companies. Most of the names sound more like biotech than nanotech, but then there’s a substantial number that I have never heard of. On the other hand there are others, like Business Communications Co. (aka BCC), which I wouldn’t describe as either a nanotech or biotech company. It publishes industry reports, some small fraction of which has to do with nanotech. I should know; I’ve worked freelance with them for years.

There are some great names on the list, like a company called Cheap Tubes. Or the Bionic Bros. Or Peai Est Ou.

THE COMPANIES ARE (drum roll please):

10 P's
3rdTech
454
4Wave
A & S Kostava
AB Medica Spa
Abaxis
Abdulla Fouad Holding Co Medical Supplies Div
Abraxis Oncology Div American Pharmaceutical Partners
Accelr8 Tech
Accelrys
Access Intl
Accuray
Accurion Scientific Instruments Div Nanofilm Tech
Aclara BioSciences
Acrongenomics
Across Barriers
AcryMed
Actelion Pharmaceuticals
Adaptive Screening
ADD Drug Delivery Tech
Ademtech
Adval Tech Holding
Advalytix US Div Olympus Life & Material
Advance Nanotech
Advanced Biotech Italia
Advanced Cell Tech
Advanced Diamond Tech
Advanced Labs
Advanced Magnetics
Advanced Medical Systems
Advanced Nano Products
Advanced Nanotech
Advanced Scientific Systems
Advanced Sensor Tech
Advanced Tech Program NIST
Advectus Life Sciences
Advion BioSciences
Affymetrix
AG Heinze
Agie
AH Diagnostics
AH Rahma Trading
Al Jazira Scientific
Al Mazouri Medical & Chemical Supplies
Al Sedan Trading & Contracting
Alchimer
Alcove Surfaces
Alexis
Alfatrade Enterprise Doo
Alicon
Alio Industries
AL-Labortechnik
Allegro Tech
Alnis BioSciences
Alphametrix
Alphatech Systems
Altair Nanotechnologies
Altsoft
Alys Tech
Ambri
American Pharmaceutical Partners
Amphora Discovery
Amplimedical
AMS 2000
AMS Biotech Europe
Amtec
Analytik Service Obernburg
Anand Brothers
Angstrom Medica
Ani Biotech
ANL Produkter
Anosys
Anvik
AP Materials
Apibio
Applera Deutschland
Application & Promo Electronic Tech
Applied MicroStructures
Applied Molecular Evolution Div Eli Lilly
Aptanomics
APTE Association
Aquanova German Solubilisate Tech
Aquaporin
ARC Seibersdorf Rsrch
Argenta
Argonide
Ariad Pharmaceuticals
Arrayon Biotech
Arryx
Artificial Sensing Instruments
Artimplant
Asta Medica
Asylum Rsrch
Atlas Scientific
Atomic Force F&E
Attophotonics Biosciences
Automation Partnership Div Merck
Avacta
Aveka
Aventis Pharma
Avidimer Therapeutics
Aviva Biosciences
Ay & Ka Ltd
Ayanda Biosystems
A-Z Consulting
Baikowski Chimie
Baselarea
Baxter Deutschland
Baxter Intl
Bayer Material Science
Bayer Tech Services
Becthai Bangkok Equipment & Chemical
Beiersdorf
Beijing Superior Chemicals & Instruments
Beijing Utop
Belantra Sains Teknologi
BE-Nano - Nanotech
BFI Optilas Gamma Optronik
Bio21 Institute / Univ Melbourne
BioAlliance Pharma
BioAlps
BioAnalytica
Biocentric
Biocitek
Biocompatible Materials Science & Engineering
Bio-Consult Spol
BioDelivery Sciences
BioForce Nanosciences
Bio-Gate Bioinnovative Materials
Biogenon
Biogentek
Biognostik
BioHouston
Bioinformatics Institute
Biokom
Biolab
BioMarker
Biomedica Gruppe
Biomedical Diagnostics
Biomedical Proteomics Rsrch Group
Biomedical Rsrch Council
Bionanonet
Bionic Bros
Bionic Surfaces
BioNova Scientific
Biophan Tech
Biopolo Ticino
Bioprocessing Tech Institute
Bio-Products & Bio-Engineering
BioSante Pharmaceuticals
Bio-Sciences
BioSelec
Biosonda
Biosource Intl
Biospa
Biospectrum
BioTech As
Biotech Ctr Zurich
Biotech Line
Biotech Sro
Biotechnology Rsrch & Inf Network
BioTissue Tech
Biotop Life Science Inkubator
BioTrove
BioValley - Basel Area Business Devel
Biozym Scientific
Blaze Photonics Univ Bath
Blue Star Analytical Instruments Dept
Bonsai Tech
Boraglas
Boyce Scientific
Brock & Michelsen
Brookhaven National Lab
Bruker Axs
Bruker Optik
Brunschwig Chemie
BTG
Bucher Biotec
Business Communications
C Sixty
CalciTech
Caltron
Caltron Co Philippines
Caltron Pte Singapore
Caltron Pty Caltric
Caltron Pty Indonesia
Cantion As
CapitalBio
Capsulution NanoScience
Carl Zeiss
Catalys
Celares
Celbio
Center For Interdisciplinary Nanostructure Science & Tech
Center for Nanoanalytics & Nanobiotech
Center for Nanoscale Science & Tech
Center for NanoScience
Center for Nanostructure Tech & Molecular Biology Tech
Center for Projects in Advanced Microelectronics
Center Of Advanced European Studies & Rsrch
Center Excellence for Nanotech
Center Excellence for Ultrathin Functional Films
Centice
Centre de Recherche Matiere Div
Centre de Recherches Tres Basses Temperatures
Centre d'Elaboration de Materiaux et d'Etudes Structures
Centre for Biosafety & Sustainability
Centre Excellence for Nanotechnology Micro & Photonic Systems
CEO Cima NanoTech Israel
Charles Evans & Associates
Cheap Tubes
ChemCon
Chemicell
ChemImage
Chemogenix Gmbh Div Nimblegen
Chemolab
Chimera Biotec
Chimmed
Chindex Beijing Consulting
Chiyoda Technol
Cima NanoTech
Class One Equipment
Clinilab
Clondiag Chip Tech
Club Micro Nanotechnologies
Coger
Coherent Scientific
Cold Spring Biotech
ComGenex
Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Rsrch Organization
Concentris
Condensed Matter Rsrch Centre
Cooperation in Field Scientific & Tech Rsrch
Corporation Intl Tecn
Cosmo Bio
Cowealth Medical Science & Biotech
Crescent Chemicals
Crisel Instruments
CSP France
CTI
CTI Molecular Imaging
Cultek Slu
CyberKnife Korea
Cybernet Systems
Cytocentrics
Dade Behring Holding
Dae Myung Science
Dalco Intl
Dan-El Tech
Danish Technological Institute Microtech Ctr
Debiotech
Dec Medida
Dendritic NanoTech
Dept Cellular Responses & Dynamics
DGTec
Dia Team
Diagnostic Bioserve
DiagnoSwiss
Dianova
DIPSI Industrie
Direvo Biotech
Do-Coop Tech
Dr Zeydanli Hayat Bilimeri
Durviz Sl
Dynal Biotech
Dynex
Dyomics
East Port Scientific
Ebara
Ebiochip Systems
Edax
Edax Germany Ametek
Edax SE Asia
Edax Tsl
Eiffel Tech
Eisenberg Brothers
Ekin Medikal
Eksigent Tech
El BioPharmaceuticals
Elan Corp Plc
Eldan Electronic Instruments
ElecTrade-M
ElectroTest
Elta 90
EMD Biosciences
Emergency Filtration
Engene OS
Enviro Systems
EnviroEtch
Environmental Care
Epigenomics
Eppendorf
Erfindungs Verwertung
ESpin Tech
Etalon-Prilad
ETC Internacional
Europ Continents
European Competence Centre for Biomedical Microdevices
European Competence Centre for Biomed Microdevices Fraunhofer IBMT Unit
European Competence Centre for Biomed Microdevices Netherlands
European Competence Centre for Biomed Microdevices Sweden
European Competence Centre for Biomed Microdevices Switzerland
European Group on Ethics in Science & New Tech
European Molecular Biology Lab
European Nanotechnology Trade Alliance
European Society For Precision Engineering & Nanotech
European Standards Organization Standardization & Rsrch
Evident Tech
Evotec Tech
Exakt Tech
Excellence Network NanoBioTech
F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd Roche Pharmaceuticals Div
Febit Biotech
Federal Office for Professional Education & Tech
Federation Swiss Medical Devices Trade & Industry Assns
FEI
Ferme des Ebisoires
Fermentas
Ferol
FibroGen Europe Div
Finnzymes
First Nano
Flamel Tech
Fondazione Elba
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
Forzelec Intl
France-Comte Electronics Mechanics Thermique & Optique
Fraunhofer Institute for Biomed Engineering
Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering & Biotech
Fraunhofer Institute for Siliziumtechnology Biotech Microsystems
Fresenius Medical Care
Fryer
Fujikin
Fumouze
Fundacja Univ
Gambro Dialysatoren GmbH Div Gambro
Gamidor Diagnostics
GBC Scientific Equipment Pty
GE Healthcare Biosciences; Amersham Biosciences
Gel
Gene
Generex Biotech
GeneScan Europe
Genetics & Tech
Genetix
Genetix Biotech Asia
GeneWorks Pty
Genicon Sciences
Genome Institute Singapore
Genomic Rsrch Lab
Genovoxx
Gesellschaft Diamantprodukte
Gesellschaft Elektrometallurgy
GeSiM
Gilead Sciences
Given Imaging
GK East Optoelectronic Tech
GlaxoSmithKline
Global Diagnostics
Golden Bridge Intl
GPS
Graffinity Pharmaceuticals
Grant Tech
Grenoble Bio Network
GRI
Groneman
GTF AB Goteborgs Termometerfabrik
Gulf Gate Trading
Gulf Scientific
H2O Innovation
Health Plus Intl
Heason Tech Group
Helixx 21
Hellamco
Helmar
Hemo Portugal - Material Clinic Equipment Medico
Hemoteq
Hewlett-Packard Quantum Science
Hielscher
Hielscher Systems
High Pressure Rsrch Ctr
HiSol
Hitec Equipamentos Tech
I+Med Labs
Iatro Quest
IBFE
IBM Zurich Nanoscale Science
IGD Tech
IIP-Tech
Illumina
ImaRx
Imatec
Imec Shanghai
Imedd
Immunicon
Implen
Implen Schweiz
Impotec
Imprint Brasil
iNanov
Indicia Biotech
Indus de Alcobendas
Inel Medicinska Tehnika
Informium
Inmunochem
Innogenetics
Innovative Biotech
Innovative Rheinland/Innovations-Mgmt
Insert Therapeutics
Institut Straumann
Institute for Biopharm Rsrch
Institute for Ctr Competence in Rsrch in Quantum Photonics
Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry Academy Sciences Czech Republic
Institute for Molecular Mfg
Institute Bioengineering & Nanotech
Institute Biology Structure
Institute Biophysics & X-Ray Structure Rsrch
Institute Chemical & Engineering Sciences
Institute Materials Rsrch & Engineering
Institute Materials Science Div NCSR Demokritos
Institute Medical Tech & Health Mgmt
Institute Microelectronics
Institute Molecular & Cell Biology
Institute Molecular Genetics Czech Academy Sciences
Institute Nanotech
Institute Neuroinformatics
InstrAction
Instrucom Industria e Comercio de Produtos Scientific
Instrumenten Gesellschaft
Instrumentos de Medida
Instruments Erling Nielson
Integrated BioDiagnostics
Integrated Engineering Software Sales
Integrated Microsystems Austria
Integrated Nanosystems
Intelligent Enclosures
Inter Medical
Intercovamex SA
Interdisciplinary Rsrch Collaboration
Interlux
InterNet SRL
Interuniversity MicroElectronics Ctr
Intl Council on Nanotech
Intl Laser Centre
Invitrogen
Inydia Biomed Diagnostics
ION-TOF
Ionwerks
Irvine Office Techn Alliances UCI
IsoTis
Italian Trade Commission Los Angeles
Italian Trade Commission New York
ITB
ITRI Biomed Engineering Ctr
Ivagen
Izasa
Jasika
JC Medical
JenLab
JEOL Europe
JEOL
Jetpharma
JM Kyriadis
JPK Instruments
JR Nanotech
Kammrath & Weiss
Kamol Sukosol Electrical
Kasztel-Med
Keithley Instruments
Keithley Instruments China Shenzhen PRC
Keithley Instruments GmbH Austria
Keithley Instruments Intl
Keithley Instruments Singapore/PRC
Keithley Instruments UK
Keithley Instruments Osaka Japan
Keithley Instruments PRC Beijing
Keithley Instruments PRC Shanghai
Keithley Instruments South Korea
Keithley Instruments Srl Italy
Keithley Instruments Taiwan
Keithley Instruments Tokyo Japan
Kem-En-Tec
Kenda Tech
KI Abdulkadir & Partners
Kompetenzzentren & Nanotech
KOS
Kovalent
KWJ Engineering
Lab Top
Labo Controle Largo
Lab Diagnostics
Lab for Thin Films - Nanosystems & Nanometrology
Lab Analysis & Architecture Systems
Lab Chemical de Coordination
Lab Electronics Optoelectronics & Microsystems
Lab Etudes & Proprietes Electroniques Solids
Lab Photonics & Nanostructures
Labotec Group
Labsystems
Laseroptics
Launch Diagnostics
Lehigh University Ctr Advanced Materials & Nanotech
Leibniz Institute Polymer Rsrch
Leica Microsystems
Leti Laboratorios
Life Sciences Greenhouse Central Penn
LifeBits
LiftPort Carbon
LiPlasome Pharma
Liquidia Tech
Liquids Rsrch
Lomb Scientific
London Centre for Nanotech
Long Chain Intl
LOT Oriel
LOT Oriel Italia
LOT Oriel Suisse
LOT-Oriel GmbH
Louisiana Tech Univ Ctr for Entrepreneurship & Info Tech
LRS Labs
Luna Innovations
Maadi Medical Supplies
Mager Scientific
Mag-Force
MagnaMedics
Majer Spzoo
Malaysian Bio-Diagnostics Rsrch
Malvern Instruments
Marillion Pharmaceuticals
Maritim Doo
Master Tool Co Swemel Group
Materials Modification
Max Planck Institute Colloids & Interfaces
Mechanic & Electronic Measurement
Medek Medikal Urunler
Mediagnost
Medial
Medical Tech
MedilabSolutions
Mediline Doo
Medipol
Meditel Systems
Meditsiini Grupp
Medivax Industrial e Commerce
Medix Biochemica
Membrana
Merck Biosciences
Merck KGaA
Meridian Instrument
Metafluidics
Micos
Micro Materials
Microbac
Microchip Biotech
Microchips
Microcid
Microenergy Techn
MicroFAB Bremen
Microfluidic ChipShop
MicroHeart
Micro-Macinazione
Micromeritics China
Micromeritics Instrument
Micromet
MicroMet GmbH Powder Tech Div Norddeutsche Affinerie
Micromod Partikel Tech
Micromuscle
Microsaic Systems
Micro-Sphere
Microwave Power Tech
Millenium Materials Tech Fund
Millennium Chemicals
Millennium Science
Miltenyi Biotec
MineOx
Minus K Tech
Mirada Solutions
MIV Therapeutics
M-Medical
Mo6
Mochem
Molecular Devices
Molecular Devices France
Molecular Devices Korea
Molecular Devices Skatron
Molecular Imaging Products
Molecular Imprints
Molecular Machines & Industries
Molecular Photonics
Molecular Profiles
Molecular Therapeutics
Moller Medical GmbH
Montebello
Montwell
Moore Nanotech Systems
MorphoSys
Morwell Diagnostics
MSO Jena Mikroschichtoptik
MST Factory Dortmund
MTM Labs
MTT
Multicoats
Multi-Systems Engineering
Munich Innovative Biomaterials
MuniTech
Mushriff Enterprises
MycoLogics
NA Unternehmungsberatung
Nabaltec
NAmbition
Namos
Nanion Tech
Nano & Micro Tech Consulting
Nano 4 You
Nano Interface Tech
Nano Maxi Bayern
Nano Oresund
Nano Physics
Nano S Biotech
Nano Science & Tech Consortium
Nano Science & Tech Institute
Nanobac Life Sciences
NanoBio
Nanobiogene
NanoBioTec
Nanobiotix
Nano-Care Deutschland
NanoCarrier
Nanocerox Inc; TAL Materials
NanoConsulting
NanoCyte
NanoDel Tech
Nanodigm
NanoDynamics
Nanofilm Tech
Nanofluidics
Nanogate Coating Systems
Nanogen
Nanogen Recognomics
NanoGram Devices
Nanograph Systems
Nanoident Tech
Nanoledge
NanoLight Tech Div Prolume
Nanolytics
NanoMed Pharmaceuticals
NanoMems Edmonton
Nanomix
Nanomotion
Nanonex
NanoOpto
NanoPass
NanoPharm
Nanophase Tech
Nanoplex Tech
Nanoprobes
Nano-Proprietary
NanoQuebec
Nanoraptor
Nanorex
Nanos Bios Intellectis
Nanoscale Combinatorial Synthesis
NanoScape
Nanoscience Instruments
Nanoscience Tech
NanoSciences
Nano-Size
Nanosol
Nanosolutions
Nanospectra Biosciences
Nanosphere
Nanosurf
Nanosys
Nanotec Electronica
Nanotechnology Foundation TX
Nanotechnology Victoria
NanoTen
Nanotherapeutics
Nanotimes Incubateur
NanoTitan
NanoTools Antikorpertechnik
Nanotype
NanoVance
Nanowave
NanoWin
Nano-X
Nanoxis
Nano-Zentrum Fulda
Nantero
NascaCell
National Ctr Competence Rsrch Nanosciences
National Council on Nanoscience & Nanotech
National Nanotech Initiative
NaWoTec
New Biotech
New Tech In Thin Films
Newport Biotech Consultants
Nienschanz Automatica
Nihon Molecular Devices
Nihon Rufuto
Nimbus Biotech
Noble Polymers
Nordep Healthtech
Nortelco
Northbank Communications
Nov
Novosom
NovusGene
N-Tec
NTera
Nucliber
NutraLease
Obducat
Ocean Optics
Odyssey Pharmaceuticals
OE-Galaxy
Oguzlar Mahallesi
Olmix
Olympus Diagnostica
Omega Scientific
Orion Diagnostika
Orla Protein
Orthovita
Osartis GmbH
Osec Business Network Switzerland
Oxford Biosensors
Oxford Gene Tech
Oxoid
Oxoid Canada
Pacisa & Giralt
Pakistan Hospital & Industrial Lab
Pakistan Microbiological Associates
Parabol Tech
Paratherm
Peai Est Ou
Pediatrics Associates
Penn State Industrial Rsrch
Pera Medikal
PerkinElmer Life & Analytical Sciences
Phaelixe
Phares Drug Delivery
Pharma Consulting
Pharmabeo
PharmaSeq
PharmaSol
Phenion GmbH
Phile Korea Tech
Philips GmbH Deutschland
Photonicnet
Physik Instrumente GmbH
Phywe Systems
Picocal
Platypustech Tech
PolyAn
Preton Rsrch
Procognia
Prodotti Gianni Div Ricerca
Progen Biotechnik
Progress & Creativity
Promesan
ProMeT Merestechnika
Protech Tech Enterprise
Proteigene
Proteome Systems Japan
Proteome Systems North America
Protiveris
PS Prozesstechnik
PsiMedica
Q-Chip
Qgenics Biosciences
Qiagen
Qiagen Benelux BV Qiagen
Qiagen China
Qiagen KK
Qiagen Nordic Qiagen
Qiagen Pty
Qiagen Sciences
Qiagen SpA
Qiagen Vertriebs
QuantomiX
Quantum Dot Corp Div Invitrogen
Queensgate Instruments
Quimica Valaner
Radontek
Raien Ingenieria Sistemas
Raith
Rave
Regentec
Relab Mgmt Holding
Research Biolabs
Research Institute Biomolecule Metrology
Research Instruments
Responsif
RG Shelley
RHK Tech
Rhodia
Rice Alliance for Tech & Entrepreneurship
Roche Diagnostics
Rodnik Software
Roper Scientific
Rosseter Holdings
Rowaco
RZPD Deutsches Ressourcenzentrum for Genomforschung
Sahoury Group Al-Faiha For Labs & Scientific Supplies
Sam Chung Dang Pharm
Sarastro
Saxonia Medical
Schaefer Italia
Schaefer Techniques
Schaefer Tech
Schaefer-Tec
Schering
Schering Berlin
Schering Group
Schrodinger Society Nanosciences
Science Solutions
Scienion
Scientific Devices Australia
Scientific Supplies
Scientific Systems
Scientifica
Scientronics
Sehit Ahmet Guvenc
Semasopht
Sense Proteomic
Sensia
Sensor Tech & Devices
Seoulin Bioscience
Serva Electrophoresis
Servicios de Calibracion Metrology
Seyonic
Shanghai Rebone Biomaterials
Sia Jim
Sigma-Aldrich
Silex Microsystems
Silicon Biosystems
Simoco
Singapore Institute Mfg Techn
Singapore Pte
Single Virus Tracing Group
Sinopharm Chemical Reagent
Sistronics Instruments e Systems
Skyepharma
Skyepharma Production
Solexa
SoluBest
Solubest Ltd
Somicon Membrane Prozesstechnik
Songjee Industrial
South Bay Techn
Southern Cross Biotech
Southwest Nanotech
Spectral Diagnostics
Spectralab
Spectronix Comercio
Sphere Medical
Spinco Biotech
Spinelix
Spire
ST Microelectronics
Starpharma Holdings
Stet
Strem Chemicals
Sud-Chemie
Sulzer Markets & Tech
Sunray
SuNyx Surface Nanotech
Supramolecular Functional Materials Swiss National Science Foundation
Sure Bio-Diagnostics & Pharmaceuticals
Surface Contacts
Surface Logix
SurgRx
SurroMed
Sustech GmbH
Swan Chemical Inc Div Thomas Swan
Swiss Automation Pool
Swiss Ctr for Electronics & Microtech
Swiss Commission for Tech & Innovation
Swiss Federal Labs for Materials Testing & Rsrch Electronics/Metrology
Swiss Foundation for Rsrch in Microtech & Swiss Microtech Association
Swiss Office for Professional Educ & Tech
Swiss Society for Optics & Microscopy
Syngen Biotech Spzoo
Szkarabeusz Kornyezetvedelmi Kereskedelmi
Taigen Bioscience
Takara Shuzo Co Biomed Group
Takeda Pharmaceutical
Tamar Lab Supplies
Targesome
TDA Rsrch
Tec
Tecan Group
Techcomp Singapore
Technanogy
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Monday Morning Drab

Gloomy drizzly day here in Tennessee. Monday morning draggin' in. We're out of coffee. So here's a short post before I go shopping.

More on Micromem

Blog reader Brian points out that I erred in my previous post on Micromem, the Canadian company that is developing MRAM. The lead scientist's name is Harry Ruda, not Henry Ruda. My apologies to Dr. Ruda.

Brian also points out that the company's shortage of funds "has never been a problem in the past. They always raise the needed funds (mostly through the exercise of options and private placements). Ther burn rate is small, due to the joint funding of their research with the OCE (Ontario Center of Excellence) and the work being carried out by the University of Toronto. "

Point taken, but then the company can hardly do a public secondary offering with its stock price hovering at 47 cents. I imagine they will succeed with their financing strategy right up to the point that they don't. I have seen a lot of companies with good technology fail due to undercapitalization.

Nanotech Index Up Slightly





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The Edwards' Real Nanotech Index was up slightly on the week, in a rather uninspiring performance. The closest thing to a trend was the rebound in the venture capital firms, Harris & Harris and Arrowhead Research.

Meanwhile, Nanotechnology.com has released its own proprietary Small Technology Index. The component companies are: Accelrys, Advanced Magnetics, Affymetrix, Agilent, American Pharmaceutical Partners, ANSYS, Applied Films, Cabot Microelectronics, Caliper Life Sciences, Cambridge Display Technology, Cepheid, Chartered Semiconductor, Coherent, Elan, FEI Company, Flamel Technologies, FormFactor, Freescale, Harris & Harris Group, Ilumina, Kopin, Luminex, MTS Systems, Nanophase Technologies, NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals, pSivida Limited, Symyx Technologies, Tessera Technologies, Veeco Instruments and Xilinx. Obviously, there is a lot of overlap with the Edwards' index, but since they do not limit their index strictly to nanotechnology, Darrell and friends have a larger universe of stocks to choose from.

Nice Tech, No Dough

In this space, I have talked about MRAM, or magnetic random access memory, in relation to NVE Corp. Nathan Tinker, of the Nanobusiness Alliance, alerted me to another player in this area, Micromem [MMTIF.OB].
NVE’s technology employs the giant magnetoresistance effect. Micromem’s devices involve something called a Hall sensor. Without getting too technical, a Hall sensor senses the direction of magnetic field and stores that information. The concept has been around for awhile, but Micromem appears to be the first to apply it to computer memory. The company, which is Canadian, has licensed its IP from the University of Toronto, mostly from the laboratory of Henry Ruda, their lead scientist.

For it adherents, MRAM is sort of the holy grail, capable of replacing all current forms of memory, a $30 billion market or so. Not everyone is so confident; Cypress Semiconductor terminated its own program, saying that MRAM would never be used in more than niche markets. Micromem is starting small, building one bit prototypes with the hope of cracking the RFID market.

The Chief Technology Officer for Micromem is Cynthia Kuper, who has a solid pedigree. She’s done postdoctoral work in Richard Smalley’s lab at Rice and is the founder of Versilant Nanotechnologies.

The immediate problem with Micromem would seem to be that they have no money. Their latest SEC filing which covers the period through October 2005, shows a net capital deficit. From that it would appear that they are running on fumes, and only a timely infusion of capital will keep the company going. Reportedly, they are seeking this through private placements with high wealth individuals rather than venture capital firms.

Nanotech Index Down 4%

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The Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index was down over 4% last week, not a good showing at all. NVE Corp. was one of the major culprits; it had been on a roll on higher sales, but was clobbered by several shareholder lawsuits related to its MRAM claims. Both venture capital firms, Harris & Harris and Arrowhead Research were also down on the week. The winners in the index so far are the nanomaterials companies; all four are up, if only slightly, since the index was initiated. FEI Co. is also stronger.

Cambridge Display Technologies announced a $10 million profit today for last quarter but only through the sale of its share in Litrex, a commercial ink-jet printing company. Revenues were up 36% for the year, but operating earnings are still well in the red.

Nanomaterials Companies Announce Earnings

Nanophase [NANX: NASDAQ] and Altair Nanotechnologies [ALTI: NASDAQ] both announced earnings (or rather, lack of same) today. Both companies are components of the Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index.

The good news for Nanophase is that product sales jumped 77% over the year ago quarter, due in part to new product lines, with overall revenue growth up 44%. Additionally, gross margins went from -18% to 7.5%, which is another way of saying that they are no longer losing money on every nanoparticle they sell. However, when you add in all the costs of running a business, they are still losing money, about $1.3 million in the 4th quarter on $1.34 million in revenues. You can read the press release, which includes full year figures, here.

Nanophase is a scrappy little company and has done all the right things in terms of developing their products, rationalizing their manufacturing systems and leveraging their partnerships with larger companies. Now, they just need to sell a lot more product in order to become profitable. Their new agreement with Roche Diagnostics will help, but this doesn't promise to be a large volume deal.

It is a rare day that I don’t get a press release from Altair Nanotechnologies. On the face of it, it seems hard to believe that one tiny company would have the resources to effectively follow up all the potential avenues they seem to be pursuing for commercializing their nanomaterials, including new types of batteries, pharmaceuticals, dental implants, water treatment and pigments for paint and paper. So far, at least, their nanotech dreams don’t show up in their earning statements. Product revenues were $149,000 in all of 2005 from battery electrode materials and thermal sprays. Total revenues, which includes grants and contracts, were $2.8 million versus a $10 million loss for the year. However, the company still has over $20 million to burn, so they can continue down this path for awhile. Read the full release here.

Bargain Basement Nanotech Book

The other day, I bought a book titled Nanotechnoloy: Science, Innovation and Opportunity for $1.25, exclusive of shipping, on E-bay. It is worth every penny. Printed in December, 2005, and edited by Lynn E. Foster, Director of Emerging Technology for Greenberg Traurig, the book is a compendium of articles written by experts. For instance, venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson talks about commercialization of nanoscale electronics, the late Richard Smalley gives his view of the application of nanotechnology to our energy challenges, Mihail Roco has an article on technology integration, and Meyya Meyyappan discusses the role of federal labs. On the whole, the book has a dry academic feel, but it does give a good overview of the steps necessary to go from the elucidation of nanoscale science in the universities to the commercialization of nanotechnology by business. Certainly, it is not an investment guide, but it identifies a lot of issues that investors might want to be aware of.

I skipped, however, to the last delicious chapter, which is the transcription of a talk by Richard Feynman that I had not heard of previously. Titled Infinitesimal Machinery, it was given by Feyman in February 1983 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He expressly revisits the issues brought up in his classic 1959 talk, There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom. He also gives a general description of how to build microelectromechanical devices (MEMS), although he doesn’t call them by that name. “At the end of it all, I keep getting frustrated in thinking about these small machines,” says Feynman. “I want someone to think of a good use , so that the future will really have these machines in it.” Feynman also gives a prescient description of a workable quantum computer with reversible logic gates that generate essentially no heat.

Feynman was that once-a-generation rarity, a brilliant scientist with common sense. In his down-to-earth conversational style, he manages to make unimaginable advances seem not only realistic, but inevitable.

Edwards' Nanotech Index Up on the Week

The Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index was up over 1% last week (see below). The increase was thanks largely to a good performance by NVE Corp., subject of the previous blog post, as well as by nanomaterials companies Altair Nanotechnologies and Raymor, and by the nanotools company, FEI Co.

Nanophase [NANX: NASDAQ] today announced a long-term supply agreement with Roche Diagnostics to supply nanoparticles for certain medical diagnostic applications through 2014. Details are a little sketchy, but the announcement was enough to bounce the price of the stock up over a buck, as this is written. Earnings results are expected from both Nanophase and Altair Nanotechnologies [ALTI: NASDAQ} this week.



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NVE Corp. Spins Electrons into Profits

James Daughton, founder of NVE Corp, [NVEC: NASDAQ and a component of the Edwards' Real Nanotech Index] hopes to convert the natural spin of electrons into dollars. Daughton started NVE in 1989 after fifteen years at Honeywell, where he was a vice president managing solid-state electronics R&D. By 1994, NVE had already commercialized its first magnetic sensor based on a newly discovered property of matter, giant magneto resistance, a consequence of electronic conductivity based on spin. With that product, commercial spin electronics, or spintronics, was born.

Conventional electronics began in earnest as an industry over a century ago when Thomas Edison created the electric light bulb by passing current through a tungsten filament. Edison's electric current relied on the fact that negatively charged electrons flow naturally through a metallic conductor toward a positively charged pole. The entire electronics industry – lighting, heating, refrigeration, television, computers, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc. – and most of our industrialized society depends on this property of electrons.

Conventional electronics relies on charge, but electrons have at least one other trick, a quantum property called spin. So what is spin exactly? Think of each electron as a tiny magnet. The macroscopic magnets with which we are familiar have two poles, north and south. Electrons likewise have two poles, which physicists have helpfully labeled “up” and “down.” This magnetic property of electrons is related to spin.
 
Think of a big charged sphere rotating in space (the Earth, for instance). The spinning electronic field generates a magnetic field with two poles. Unlike the Earth, a single electron only has one pole. In fact natural magnets are generated when spin-oriented electrons line up, with the “up” electrons collecting on the north pole and the “down” electrons on the south pole.

“The term ‘spintronics' evolved during a period of stunning discoveries and developments over the past 15 years regarding magnetic phenomena in the areas of magnetoresistance, magnetism switching, and other magnetic properties,” says Daughton. Credit for coining the word “spintronics” goes to Stuart Wolfe of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), one of the spookiest of government agencies. DARPA has been intimately involved with funding the development of this nascent industry.

The first major products to arise from spintronics are the read-heads on the latest generation of hard drives. These rely on the spintronic property called “giant magneto resistance.” Certain materials change their resistance to electronic current depending upon their orientation in a magnetic field. Read-heads rely on nanotech processes for creating very thin films.
 
A sandwich is made in which two magnetized layers are separated by a very thin non-magnetized layer. The magnetized layers will allow only electrons with a certain spin (either up or down) to pass through. If they are aligned, there will be low resistance, allowing current to pass through. If they are not aligned, resistance is created such that electrons of neither spin will pass through. An analogy can be made to a polarized light filter. One such filter will pass only light coming from a perpendicular angle, thus eliminating glare. If two filters are placed at right angles to each other, almost no light will pass through.
 
In the read-head, the first magnetic layer is fixed in one direction, but the second is not. As it passes above the track of data on a hard drive, the little magnetized domains that represent the 1's and 0's of computer code flip the second layer from parallel to antiparallel, changing the resistance, and thus the current through the read-head. The read-head flies at up to eighty miles per hour over the surface of the disk at a vertical separation of only 10 nanometers, reading or writing as it goes. Current computer hard drives are magnificent examples of nanoscale engineering, although largely unrecognized as such.

NVE currently has an interest in three types of products: sensors, couplers and MRAM, a new type of computer memory.

NVE's sensor products detect the position of a magnet or of a metal to determine position or speed. The biggest market for such sensors is in industrial robots. The sensors are also used in implantable medical devices. St. Jude Medical is one of their biggest customers. NVE is also targeting non-life-support medical devices such as hearing aids, which have a shorter FDA approval cycle. Additionally, NVE is working on what it calls “BioMagnetIC” sensors, after the DARPA project of the same name. NVE has announced a contract to tailor devices for a lab-on-chip applications – “ultra-compact, fast, accurate diagnostic systems to replace entire laboratories,” according to Daniel Baker, NVE's CEO..
 
NVE's couplers are a component of transceivers used to transmit data. NVE's spintronic couplers operate at 110 million bits per second, better than twice as fast as the best optical couplers. So far, NVE's couplers are mainly used in factory and industrial applications. According to Baker, NVE also has “several broadband and telecommunication design wins, although the volumes aren't very large yet.”

NVEC is not developing MRAM itself, but has licensed out its intellectual property to other companies. such as Cypress Semiconductor, Honeywell and Motorola. In principle, MRAM can be made very dense, extremely fast, and is non-volatile, and therefore has the potential to replace all other computer memory. Considerable controversy exists over the value of NVE's MRAM patents. The company's stock price has traded into the 60's versus its current price of 16.75 as this is written. Several stockholder suits have been filed alleging that NVE's management misled investors about its prospects relative to MRAM.

NVE Co., however, is a viable and profitable company with its current product categories, regardless of what happens with MRAM. In its latest quarter, product sales were up 56% and pretax income was 64%, with a gross profit margin of 50%. The company seems well positioned to profit as spintronics replaces conventional electronics for many applications.