SEPARATING THE HYPE AND THE BUZZ 030109

Week of March 1, 2009

There were 7 major events and many honorable mentions.

1. FOOD STORAGE MATERIAL SILVER NANOPARTICLES INTERFERES WITH DNA – teams from Taijin and Jiaotong Universities found that silver nanomaterials can directly interact with genomes. Reported in online edition of Nanotechnology (02/02/09) (http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0957-4484/20/8/085102).

2. NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE AMENDMENTS (H.R. 554) PASSES THE HOUSE (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/poen-sdh021109.php).

3. NANO REGULATION BROUHAHA IN EUROPE - The European Parliament currently is drafting a report on regulatory aspects of nanomaterials (http://www.bioworld.com/servlet/com.accumedia.web.Dispatcher?next=bioWorldHeadlines_article&forceid=50024) AND the European Commission's independent Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) publishes its opinion on the most recent developments in the risk assessment of nanomaterials (http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/22145/Additive/European-Commission/ecs-scientific-committee-adopts-opinion-assessing-risks-nanotechnology.html).

4. EPA TO ENFORCE PREMANUFACTURE REVIEWS FOR CARBON NANOTUBES (http://www.merid.org/NDN/more.php?id=1728).

5. TA-SWISS NANOFOOD STUDY released with recommendation on regulation and transparency (http://www.ta-swiss.ch/a/nano_nafo/MedienmitteilungNanoLebensmittel_e.pdf).

6. FP7 FramingNano REPORT released. The report gives an insight on the international debate on risks and concerns related to nanotechnologies (EHS issues and ELSI), and provides an ample overview of the different regulatory approaches proposed or already developed to deal with these issues (http://www.nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=7432).

7. TOP TEN REASONS FOR USING NANOTECH IN FOOD (http://dsc.discovery.com/technology/tech-10/top-10-nanotechnology-food.html).


HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Drug delivery – team designed polymeric nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery. –J. Am. Chem Soc. DOI;10.1021/ja807416t AND Applied Pharma Research s.a. ("APR") announces the acquisition of a new platform technology consisting of a patented nanocoating process for the preparation of new patent protected biotechnology products for the treatment of several critical diseases in multiple therapeutic areas (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/139668.php) AND Researchers at North Carolina State University have successfully modified a common plant virus to deliver drugs only to specific cells inside the human body, without affecting surrounding tissue (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212125139.htm).

• Important Nano and Developing Countries report – Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development Report – with Nano-Dialogues in Zimbabwe in new book NANOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS FOR CLEAN WATER (ISBN-13: 978-0-8155-1578-4).

• Current-carrying capacity of the nanotubes enhanced by U. Illinois team (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090209110644.htm).

• Ohio State University team traces typical life cycle of polymer nanocomposite (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es802101x).

• Researchers at Stanford University have made several new PEGylated surfactants capable of suspending nanomaterials in aqueous solution (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja809086q?prevSearch=[author%3A+hongjie+dai]&searchHistoryKey=).

• New Zealand team used nanoparticles to coat paper to produce magnetic, electrically conductive or optically active specialist paper products (http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0902/S00038.htm).

• Texas A&M team researching PADLOC is what they have already named the futuristic kit – Pathogen Detection Lab-On-a-Chip (http://www.physorg.com/news154628642.html).

• Tel Aviv University team developed a nano-sized laboratory, complete with a microscopic workbench, to measure water quality in real time. Their “lab on a chip” is a breakthrough in the effort to keep water safe from pollution and bioterrorist threats (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090217125732.htm).