Monthly Archives: August 2008

More about the upcoming Panomino meeting from Karen Cheung

Karen Cheung (who’s co-director of the meeting [with Karl Bohringer of the University of Washington]) had this to say about the event which takes place Sept. 3 -7, 2008 at Friday Harbor in Washington State,

This meeting provides a forum for Pacific Northwest investigators can share their work in an informal setting. This workshop aims to foster new collaborations and large-scale research programs. Panomino brings together both academic and industrial researchers interested in self-assembly techniques, integrated biosystems, and micro- and nanofabrication technology.

You can read more about the meeting here. If you have checked the Panomino meeting site before, you might want to check again as they have added more information about presentations and programming.

Note: Karen Cheung is at the University of British Columbia.

The mysteries are almost ready

I’ve been working on my nanotech wiki (dissertation project called The Nanotech Mysteries: an initiation into the science and the technology) for the last few weeks and it should ready for showing after Labour Day (Sept. 1, 2008).

Here’s a sneak preview: I’ve got information about nanotech in pop culture, (Nano goes Pop) some of the science that underlies nanotechnology (The Science behind Nano), public engagement material and info. on public opinion polls (Can you hear me Nano Tech),  risks (Risks), and more. More specifically, I include materials on microscopy, physics, Atomistic philosophers, business interests, and the nanotechnology origins story. Plus, I was able to get some images including Winslow Homer’s For to be a Farmer’s Boy and Jack Mason’s BlueBoronic.

There is some more information about the presentation at the Panomino 2008 meeting which is coming up Sept. 3-7, 2008 in Friday Harbor, Washington State. For a list of the presentations go here.

Upcoming conferences in the Pacific Northwest

I love the name (or is it an acronym?) for this one, the Panomino 2008 meeting which will be held in Friday Harbor, Washington State from  Sept. 3-7, 2008. The full name is the Pacific Northwest Microsystems and Nanotechnology meeting and it’s co-sponsored by the University of British Columbia’s Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  The website for the meeting is here. The principal contact for the meeting is: Dr. Karen C. Cheung (UBC) at kcheung@ece.ubc.ca or +1 604.827.4114. This seems to be a scholarly meeting and the website doesn’t provide much info. about the presentations unless you’ve registered.

The other conference is the 5th annual Micro Nano Breakthrough Conference. This is being held Sept. 8-10, 2008 in Vancouver, Washington State. This one seems to be more business-oriented or as they put it “Science, Networking, and Commercialization…” I noticed that one of their keynote speakers is Dr. Mihail Roco who was instrumental in the development of the US’s National Nanotechnology Initiative.  More information about the conference is here.

In the next week, I’m hoping to post my interview with Darren Frew, Nanotech BC’s executive director, regarding his recent meePanoting  with a contingent of Indian scientists. Part of their cross-Canada tour to meet Canada’s nanoscientists, it was held August 10-11, 2008 at the Canada Institute of Nanotechnology in Edmonton, Alberta.

It’s not just the size, it’s the shape of your nanoparticles

There’s an interesting piece on nanomedicine in Scientific American about some research that was conducted by chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone at the University of North Carolina (at Chapel Hill) about the most effective nanotransport for drug therapy. They concluded that the shape of nanoparticle used as the delivery system was an important factor in its effectiveness. There’s more here in an article by Larry Greenemeier.

Richard Jones, in his blog Soft Machines, offers his thoughts about the latest UK public dialogue programme about nanotechnology. This one focused on nanomedicine.  He first provides some information about a recent call for nanomedicine proposals, so keep reading if public dialogue is your interest. The full report for the public dialogue project that Jones mentions is here but if you’re short for time, read Jones’ posting.

Now back to my dissertation project, The Nanotech Mysteries.

Canadian issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology

The International Journal of Nanotechnology has a special quadruple issue on nanotech in Canada which provides a sampling of the research that’s being conducted. Federico Rosei from the Universite de Quebec is the editor for the special issue and he has included papers from BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. The issue is here where you’ll get access to abstracts as the articles are behind a paywall unless you have a subscription or access to a library that has a subscription.

Posting will be sporadic as I’m busy  with my nanotech wiki which is also my dissertation project ’til the end of August.