General company news
• CSIRO has received AUD $36.2 mn (€22 mn) from the Australian government to establish a niche manufacturing facility for exploiting nanotechnology and materials research. The flagship project aims to create a new wave of niche industries and boost the high-value segment of the country's manufacturing sector. "Nanotechnology is arguably the biggest opportunity Australian manufacturing has seen in decades," commented Geoff Garrett, CSIRO's chief executive.
• Industrial Nanotech, the maker of Nansulate, has revealed plans for a manufacturing joint venture in Italy to produce its line of nanotechnology-based coatings. The factory's location will lower shipping costs to Europe, the Middle East and Asia – three of the US firm's strongest markets.
• Pheonix S&T has been awarded a Phase 2 SBIR grant by the National Institutes of Health, US. The firm is developing a multidimensional microfluidic chromatographic device that uses nanoparticles as the separation medium for ultrahigh resolution and ultrahigh speed separations of complex proteins.
• Plextronics, US, has been dubbed "one of the 100 most promising companies driving the future of technology" by Red Herring magazine. In 2006, the plastic-electronics maker was voted a top 50 nanotechnology start-up by Lux Research and was recognized as NREL clean-energy entrepreneur of the year.
Financial results
• BioSante, a developer of calcium phosphate nanotechnology for novel vaccines, has reported a net loss of $1.8 mn (€1.3 mn) for the first quarter ending 31 March 2007 compared with a net loss of $3.2 mn for the same period last year. The pharmaceutical company is expecting a cash burn of $750,000 per month for the second quarter of 2007 as it pushes forward with its gel-based hormone treatments.
• Lumera, US, has announced revenues of $860,000 (€634,000) for the first quarter of 2007, a 71% increase on last year's figures. The polymer specialist has extended its collaboration with the Institute for Systems Biology, US, to identify biomarkers for drug toxicity and cancer.
Industry guides and analysis
• Cientifica has released a report that examines the impact of nanotechnology on the quest for sustainable energy. "There has been much speculation over how nanotechnologies can enable a green and sustainable future," said Tim Harper, Cientifica's CEO. "This is the first report to quantify that impact in dollars, tons of materials and tons of CO2."
• Research and Markets has published a handbook on nanomaterials chemistry. The authors, C N R Rao, Achim Müller and Anthony Cheetham, cover developments such as quantum dots, nanoparticles, nanoporous materials, nanowires, nanotubes and nanostructured polymers.