Monthly Archives: November 2011

DARPA, innovation, passwords, people, and nanotherapeutics

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There have been a few articles recently about (US) DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) that have roused my interest in how they view innovation and business. The first piece I’m mentioning is a request for a proposal (RFP) on nanotherapeutics in a Nov. 22, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Through the U.S. Department of Defense’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, DARPA is currently soliciting research proposals to develop a platform capable of rapidly synthesizing therapeutic nanoparticles targeted against evolving and engineered pathogens (SB121-003: Rapidly Adaptable Nanotherapeutics pdf).

Here’s part of the problem they’re trying to solve,

Acquired resistance compromises our ability to fight emergent bacterial threats in injured warfighters and our military treatment facilities. For burn patients in particular, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex (ABC) is a common cause of nosocomial infection, causing severe morbidity as well as longer hospital stays. Typically, antimicrobial resistant infections require a hospital stay three times as long and are in excess of four times as expensive. Therefore, new and innovative methods to control bacterial infection in the military health system are of critical importance.

Here’s what they want,

Recent advances in nanomaterials, genome sequencing, nucleotide synthesis, and bioinformatics could converge in nanotherapeutics with tailored sequence, specificity, and function that can overcome earlier challenges. Collectively, these core technologies could permit the development of an innovative pharmaceutical platform composed of nanoparticles with tethered small interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucelotides whose sequence and objective can be reprogrammed “on-the-fly” to inhibit multiple targets within multiple classes of pathogens.

This topic is focused on the development of a revolutionary rapidly adaptable nanotherapeutic platform effective against evolving and engineered pathogens. The biocompatible materials used to fabricate the nanoparticle should optimize cellular targeting, intracellular concentration, target sequence affinity, resistance to nuclease, and knockdown of target genes. The platform should leverage state-of-the-art genomic sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis technologies to permit rapid programmability against evolving biologic threats.

I have taken a look at the RFP and, predictably, there’s a militaristic element to the introduction,

DARPA’s mission is to prevent technological surprise for the United States and to create technological surprise for its adversaries. The DARPA SBIR [Small Business Innovation Research] and STTR [Small Business Technology Transfer] Programs are designed to provide small, high-tech businesses and academic institutions the opportunity to propose radical, innovative, high-risk approaches to address existing and emerging national security threats; thereby supporting DARPA’s overall strategy to bridge the gap between fundamental discoveries and the provision of new military capabilities. (p. 1)

In short, we should never be caught with our pants down but we would like to catch our enemies in that position.

I was surprised to find that the responders are expected to create a business plan that includes information about markets, customers, and sales (from the RFP),

5. Market/Customer Sets/Value Proposition – Describe the market and customer sets you propose to target, their size, and their key reasons they would consider procuring the technology.

• What is the current size of the broad market you plan to enter and the “niche” market opportunity you are addressing?

• What are the growth trends for the market and the key trends in the industry that you are planning to target?

• What features of your technology will allow you to provide a compelling value proposition?

DARPA – 3

• Have you validated the significance of these features and if not, how do you plan to validate?

6. Competition Assessment – Describe the competition in these markets/customer sets and your anticipated advantage (e.g., function, performance, price, quality, etc.)

7. Funding Requirements – List your targeted funding sources (e.g., federal, state and local, private (internal, loan, angel, venture capital, etc.) and your proposed plan and schedule to secure this funding.

Provide anticipated funding requirements both during and after Phase II required to:

• mature the technology

• as required, mature the manufacturing processes

• test and evaluate the technology

• receive required certifications

• secure patents, or other protections of intellectual property

• manufacture the technology to bring the technology to market for use in operational environments

• market/sell technology to targeted customers

8. Sales Projections – Provide a schedule that outlines your anticipated sales projections and indicate when you anticipate breaking even. (pp. 2-3)

I do understand that the US has a military-industrial complex which fuels much of the country’s economic growth; I just hadn’t expected that the military would care as much as they do (as per this RFP) about  their suppliers’ business plans and financial health. It makes sense. After all, you want your suppliers to stay in business as it’s expensive and time-consuming to find new ones.

I don’t know if this is a new philosophy for the agency but it does seem to fit nicely with the current director’s Regina Dugan’s approach. From a Q & A between Dugan and Adam L. Penenberg for an Oct. 19, 2011 article in Fast Company,

That seems a key part of your mission since you got here–that it’s not enough to be doing cutting-edge research.
When deputy director Kaigham Gabriel and I got here, we understood that DARPA is one of the gems of the nation. We had been asked to take good care of her. For me, part of that meant really understanding why DARPA has this half-century of success in innovation. And the first element in DARPA’s success is the power that lies at the intersection of basic science and application, in the so-called Pasteur’s Quadrant. Do you know Stokes’s theory of innovation?

Absolutely not.
Donald E. Stokes wrote a theory of innovation in the late 1990s. Till then, most people thought of innovation as a linear process. You do basic science; then you do more advanced science; then you do the application work; then you commercialize it. What Stokes suggested is that it doesn’t happen that way at all. He preferred to think of it in a quadrant fashion, defining one row as very deep science and the other as light science; the two columns were a low-application drive and a high-application drive. Pasteur’s Quadrant happens at the deep-science-, high-application-drive quadrant. That’s DARPA’s absolute power lane. It’s called Pasteur’s Quadrant because serious concerns about food safety drove his research.

A very recent example of how it works for us is the blast-gauge work that we do. Here’s a big problem: TBI, traumatic brain injuries. So the way we approach it at DARPA is to say, “Okay, let’s understand the basic science, the phenomenology. How is it that an encounter with a blast injures the brain? What levels of blasts cause what levels of injury? Is it the overpressure? Is it the acceleration? What is it?” A medical person from DARPA researched this and discovered it was the overpressure. And the DARPA physicist says, “We know how to measure that.” Together, they devise this little blast gauge that’s the size of a couple stacks of quarters [the gauge helps doctors measure a soldier’s blast-exposure level, enabling better assessment of injuries]. They develop it in one year, going through four iterations of the electronics. That’s fast.

All of this leads back to the idea of shipping products. The defense world is like a mini-society. It has to deploy to anyplace in the world on a moment’s notice, and it has to work in a life-or-death situation. That kind of focus, that kind of drive to ship an application, really does inspire greater genius. And the constancy of funding that comes with that–in good times or bad, whether this party or that party is in power–also helps inspire innovation.

Dugan later goes on to describe her first weeks at DARPA (she was sworn in July 2009) where she and the deputy director made it their mission to meet every single person on staff, all 217 of them.

Still on the theme of innovation and DARPA, there’s a Nov. 16, 2011 article, DARPA Is After Your Password, by Neal Ungerleider in Fast Company which has to be of huge interest to anyone who has passwords,

According to DARPA press materials, the agency is focusing on creating cutting-edge biometric identification products that can identify an individual user through their individual typing style. In the future, DARPA hopes smart computers will be able to verify account-holders’ identities through their typing speed, finger motions and quirks of movement.

…

Materials published by DARPA seem to indicate that researchers at the agency believe most contemporary account passwords–at least those adhering to best practices–are clunky, hard to remember, and ultimately insecure. According to program manager Richard Guidorizzi, “My house key will get you into my house, but the dog in my living room knows you’re not me. No amount of holding up my key and saying you’re me is going to convince my dog you’re who you say you are. My dog knows you don’t look like me, smell like me or act like me. What we want out of this program is to find those things that are unique to you, and not some single aspect of computer security that an adversary can use to compromise your system.”

…

Nobody likes entering passwords. Nobody likes remembering passwords. Nobody likes forgetting passwords. Creating a painless, easy, and secure password-replacement system will be a major cash cow for any firm that can effectively bring it to market. [emphasis mine]

My enthusiasm for a world without passwords aside, I do note the interest in having the technology come to market. I wonder if DARPA will accrue some financial benefit, i.e. a licensing agreement. I did quickly skim the RFP but was unable to confirm or disprove this notion.

GRAND offers $7500 for innovative media

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The Canadian government funds a set of initiatives known collectively as the Network Centres of Excellence (NCE). GRAND (Graphics, Animation, and New Media), is located in Vancouver, BC. Here’s how the agency describes itself (from the About GRAND webpage),

GRAND is a research network and commercialization engine whose goal is to address complex issues in digital media and transform multidisciplinary research into user-centred solutions. GRAND will explore the use and application of digital media in a variety of settings including entertainment, healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, and public policy.

GRAND is a federally-funded Network of Centres of Excellence supporting 34 research projects divided into 5 cross-pollinating themes involving researchers at 25 universities across Canada with more than 60 industry, government, and nonprofit partners.

Aug. 19, 2011 there was an announcement that GRAND was getting a funding boost for commercialization projects (from the Aug. 19, 2011 news release),

The Canadian government, through Western Economic Diversification (WD), announced a funding commitment to boost GRAND’s research commercialization initiatives. The two-year agreement will support technology transfer, start-up creation, prototype development and networking events.  WD’s $399,000 will be matched by GRAND and industry for a total investment of $649,000 for the digital media economies of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

…

The program expects to develop nine technology prototypes, conduct 40 technology demonstrations and bring nine technologies to market.

Coincidentally or not, Mark Salopek, GRAND’s Manager of Technology Transfer and Commercialization, made this announcement via a Nov. 18, 2011 article by Dan Verhaeghe on Techvibes,

Grand is offering $7500 to any company that is willing to employ one of the program’s PH.D student researchers to build the frameworks of innovation towards a goal that will help Canada continue to become a world leader in the digital media industry in any of the latter sectors mentioned.

Verhaeghe’s article mentions computing, simulation, 3D, and gaming technology sectors in addition to the graphics, animation, and new media technology sectors mentioned in GRAND’s own profile.

If you are interested in getting more details, contact Mark Salopek by e-mail here. Certainly, I have a few questions, how long would you have to employ someone? Are the funds for a salary? How much work do you have to do to get this money (anyone who’s ever filled out a government grant application will tell you that it is an arduous process)? Is there some sort of reporting process for outcomes and how much work is involved with writing that up? Is there a pool of PhD students to choose from or do you go out and find one yourself? Is there a deadline? Why isn’t there any information about this grant on the GRAND website?

Egyptian scientists win cash prize for innovation: a nano test for Hepatitis C

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A team of Egyptian scientists won the $10,000 prize for 3rd place at Intel’s 7th Annual Global Challenge held at the University of California at Berkeley. The team,  Dr Hassan M E Azzazy, Tamer M Samir, Sherif Mohamed Shawky, Mai M H Mansour and Ahmed H Tolba, won both an Intel Global Challenge Prize and 1st place in the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition for its Hepatitis C test. From the Nov. 16, 2011 article by Georgina Enzer for ITP.net,

The team developed a Hepatitis C test which uses gold nanoparticles to detect Hepatitis C in less than an hour, and at one-tenth the cost of current commercial tests. The team won a $10,000 prize for their innovation.

…

The Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley encourages student entrepreneurs and rewards innovative ideas that have the potential to have a positive impact on society.

The Egypt team, NanoDiagX, led by Dr Hassan M E Azzazy, Tamer M Samir, Sherif Mohamed Shawky, Mai M H Mansour and Ahmed H Tolba won first place in the 7th Arab Technology Business Plan Competition 2011, organised by the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) in partnership with Intel Corporation. The regional competition, which was also in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), features 50 projects from 50 Arab entrepreneurs across 15 countries.

U.S. President Barak Obama has recognized the team’s achievements, from the Nov. 19, 2011 news item on Egypt.com

U.S. President Barack Obama honored the Egyptian team that won third prize of Intel’s Global Leadership after discovering a new cure for hepatitis C virus with nanotechnology.

The Egyptian team, Nano-Diagx, is the first Arab team to win the competition, organized by the Arab Organization for Science and Technology in cooperation with Intel and UNIDO.

…

Azazi [Dr. Hassan Azazi] said his team s most important advantage is the spirit of teamwork, which is uncommon in the culture of the Arab region.

He added the project used nanotechnology and gold to develop a cure for HIV hepatitis, which affects more than 200 million people worldwide and more than 100,000 Egyptians annually, particularly in cancer cases and cirrhosis of the liver.

…

It should be mentioned 28 technological projects participated in Intel’s World Challenge this year. The projects are all from 22 countries; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Thailand, America, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, India, Uruguay, China, Japan, Brazil, Taiwan, Philippines, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Poland, Denmark and Israel.

I came to the conclusion that the team was successful in two competitions, Intel’s World Challenge which attracted 28 entries and the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition which attracted 50 entries even though it’s not stated explicitly in the materials I have read.

Congratulations to the Egyptian team’s accomplishments which become even more noteworthy when you realize the working conditions for many scientists in Egypt. In a Feb. 4, 2011 posting, I excerpted parts of an interview in Nature magazine about Egypt and science,

The article goes on to recount a Q & A (Questions and Answers) session with Michael Harms of the German Academic Exchange Service offering his view from Cairo,

How would you describe Egyptian science?

There are many problems. Universities are critically under-funded and academic salaries are so low that most scientists need second jobs to be able to make a living. [emphasis mine] Tourist guides earn more money than most scientists. You just can’t expect world-class research under these circumstances. Also, Egypt has no large research facilities, such as particle accelerators. Some 750,000 students graduate each year and flood the labour market, yet few find suitable jobs – one reason for the current wave of protests.

If you are interested, here’s the article, ‘Deep fury’ of Egyptian scientists.

Canada-Japan Nanotechnology Workshop at the University of Waterloo

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Today (Nov. 21, 2011) and tomorrow (Nov. 22), the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) at the University of Waterloo is hosting a nanotechnology workshop celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Canada-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology. The Honourable Gary Goodyear Minister of State (Science and Technology) gave the opening remarks (from the Nov. 21, 2011 news release on the Industry Canada website),

“There are tremendous opportunities for international researchers and businesses to come to Canada and invest in research and development,” said Minister of State Goodyear. “This conference allows us to showcase opportunities in nanotechnology and promote stronger linkages with Canadian researchers and innovators. The relationship we are building will benefit the Canadian and Japanese economies.”

The conference drew a number of high-profile delegates, including His Excellency Kaoru Ishikawa, Ambassador of Japan to Canada and Mr. Yasuyoshi Kakita, Director of the Generic Research and Research Platform Division of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

WIN’s workshop webpage offers more details about the Canada-Japan relationship and our mutual interest in nanotechnology,

Nanotechnology is identified in both countries as a priority area by the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) on Canada-Japan S&T Cooperation. Four major nanotechnology collaborations were recently identified by the Embassies of Japan and Canada for their on-going execution of annual workshops, proven mobility and exchange programs, research funding and number of projects initiated. These are: (in order of MOU signing).

– National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) & National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) – 2006
– NanoQuebec & Nagano Techno Foundation – 2009
– Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) & National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) – 2010
– McGill University & RIKEN – 2010

The Canada-Japan nanotechnology workshop is designed to bring Canadian and Japanese stakeholders together to highlight their success at a national level and for individual researcher teams to advance their collaborative projects. Scientists including Canadian Research Chairs in the field of nanotechnology, government representatives and administrators from leading universities and nanotechnology organizations will be on hand to discuss the future of nanotechnology and recommend paths ahead.

By coming together we will help define a nanotechnology road map for Canada and Japan cooperation that will identify future areas for research funding, commercialization and trade for our respective Governments and Embassies. [emphasis mine]

I’m not sure how they’re going to be able to define a nanotechnology road map for cooperation with Japan when there isn’t any kind of nanotechnology roadmap for Canada. You can check that out for yourself here.

I hope there will be more news from the workshop as it progresses.

Scientific spat and libel case in UK has Canadian connection

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Neil Turok, Director of the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics located in Waterloo, Canada, has been described as being insufficiently qualified to assess a fellow scientist’s work. Alok Jha, science correspondent for the UK’s Guardian newspaper, writes about the situation which includes a libel suit against Nature magazine in his Nov. 18, 2011 article,

A scientist who is suing one of the world’s most prominent scientific journals for libel compared himself to Albert Einstein in the high court on Friday [Nov. 18, 2011] as part of his evidence against the journal. Professor Mohamed El Naschie, also claimed that an eminent physicist brought in by the journal as an expert witness to analyse the value of his work was not sufficiently qualified to do so.

El Naschie is suing Nature as a result of a news article published in 2008, after the scientist’s retirement as editor-in-chief of the journal Chaos, Solitons and Fractals. The article alleged that El Naschie had self-published several research papers, some of which did not seem to have been peer reviewed to an expected standard and also said that El Naschie claimed affiliations and honorary professorships with international institutions that could not be confirmed by Nature. El Naschie claims the allegations in the article were false and had damaged his reputation.

On Friday, Nature called Professor Neil Turok, a cosmologist and director of the Perimeter Institute in Canada, as an expert witness to assess some of the work published by El Naschie.

…

In his evidence, Turok said he found it difficult to understand the logic in some of El Naschie’s papers. The clear presentation of scientific ideas was an important step in getting an idea accepted, he said. “There are two questions – one is whether the work is clearly presented and readers would be able to understand it. It would be difficult for a trained theoretical physicist to understand [some of El Naschie’s papers]. …  The second question is about the correctness of the theory and that will be decided by whether it agrees with experiments. Most theories in theoretical physics are speculative – we form a logical set of rules and deductions and we try, ultimately, to test the deductions in experiments.

There’s more at stake here than whether or not Turok is qualified or El Naschie’s work is up to the standards in his field, this is also about libel and libel laws in England. There have been some intended consequences from the current set of laws. Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia essay,

Libel tourism is a term first coined by Geoffrey Robertson to describe forum shopping for libel suits. It particularly refers to the practice of pursuing a case in England and Wales, in preference to other jurisdictions, such as the United States, which provide more extensive defences for those accused of making derogatory statements. According to the English publishing house Sweet & Maxwell, the number of libel cases brought by people alleged to be involved with terrorism almost tripled in England between 2006 and 2007.

Jha goes on to finish his first article on El Naschie’s libel case with this,

Sile Lane, a spokesperson for the Libel Reform campaign said: “Scientists expect publications like Nature to investigate and write about controversies within the scientific community. The threat of libel action is preventing scientific journals from discussing what is good and bad science. This case is another example of why we need libel law that has a clear strong public interest defence and a high threshold for bringing a case. The government has promised to reform the libel laws and this can’t come soon enough.”

I last wrote about the libel situation in the UK in my Nov. 12, 2010 posting, International call to action on libel laws in the UK.

Ford Motor Company goes greener with nanocoating

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It seems to be a day for volatile organic compounds (VOC) as I mentioned them earlier today in my Nov. 18, 2011 posting about Pricoil Ghana and their technology. Ford Motor Company has developed a nanocoating which allows vehicle windshields to be attached in a more cost-efficient and eco-friendly fashion. From the Nov. 18, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Ford wants to innovate the way vehicle windshields are installed through a new patented process that makes the attachment less costly, simpler and more eco-conscious than current practices.

One patent covers cleaning and activating the edge of the windshield glass in less than 10 seconds. A second Ford patent covers the application of a plasma-reacted nano-coating that modifies the surface for bonding of the adhesive that holds the windshield in place. The entire patented process takes less than one minute.

Larry Haack, technical expert, Ford Research & Innovation, said there are several benefits of the new patented technology including elimination of the primers that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

A deal has been signed with Plasmatreat so the technology can be used universally. From the news item,

Ford recently signed a nonexclusive, worldwide license agreement with Elgin, Ill.-based Plasmatreat U.S. L.P. that grants the right to use Ford’s new process patents and incorporate the Ford technology into Plasmatreat’s own equipment and patented processes. Also, Ford will provide technical assistance to Plasmatreat and its customers to implement technology using Ford’s experience and know-how.

Here’s a little information about Plasmatreat from the Company webpage,

Plasmatreat is a worldwide enterprise with leading technology, wide-ranging experience, renowned research projects and a large partner network. We are innovators and work with our customers to pioneer applications and break new ground. The potential for ground-breaking applications is unlimited.

Since 1995 the company, which now operates globally, has focused its activities on the development of atmospheric-pressure plasma processes. With technology centers in Germany, the Unites States, Japan and China as well as sales offices and agencies around the globe we have a local presence wherever our expert knowledge and our experience in the field of tailored surface treatment solutions are needed.

The company also has offices in Canada, unsurprisingly, in Mississauga (where there are lots of automobile manufacturing plants).

Pricoil and nanotechnology-enabled products in Ghana

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Pricoil Ghana received an award for African technology innovation from Frost & Sullivan in early November 2011. (Canada’s Vive Nano received a similar award [North American technology innovation] in 2010 as noted in my June 25, 2010 posting.) From the Nov. 18, 2011 news item on Modern Ghana.com,

Pricoil Ghana has won the African Infrastructure Chemicals and Materials Technology Innovation Award for the Year 2011 at the African Excellence Awards Banquet in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Award was in recognition of the company’s ability to leverage nanotechnology in the waterproofing industry.

“Nanotechnology is a relatively new technology in the global market and Pricoil’s introduction of the technology into the African market in Ghana is being recognized by this award,” a citation accompanying the award noted.

Frost and Sullivan, a Global Research Platform with over 50 years experience and the awardees said Pricoil Ghana had addressed some key industry challenges facing the continent through the use of their technology innovation strategies.

Frost and Sullivan, the awardees, indicated that products using solvents had been noted to contain volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) which had been shown to have adverse effects on human health and the environment and could be harmful to people. Globally, there is a widespread movement toward the uptake of water based manufacturing processes, moving away from solvent based production.

…

Frost and Sullivan further stated that in the Ghana market, there were approximately 10 large companies involved in the supply of waterproofing material. The major products which are used in the market are touch on products such as bituminous material.

I got a little more information about the award from the Nov.3, 2011 news release from Frost & Sullivan,

Frost & Sullivan presented awards to thirteen innovators and industry leaders at its prestigious 2011 African Excellence Awards Banquet last night. The annual awards banquet, held at The Westin hotel, honoured companies for outstanding performance across a spectrum of industries, ranging from renewable energy to infrastructure, chemicals and materials, broadband, uninterruptible power supplies, data centres and private power production.

“Frost & Sullivan acknowledges exceptional industry achievements and demonstration of best practices by presenting awards to top companies in regional and global markets,” said Frost & Sullivan’s Operations Manager and Consulting Director for Africa, Hendrik Malan. “Awardees have demonstrated innovation, competitiveness and leadership in meeting the particular demands of doing business in Africa. The products and services that we recognise are examples of how to effectively manage business in the current economic climate.”

As for Frost & Sullivan itself (I always find the investigation of just who is giving the award interesting), I saw this in a Wikipedia essay,

Frost & Sullivan, Inc. is an American firm which provides market research & analysis, growth strategy consulting and corporate training services. Its headquarters are located in San Antonio, Texas, with offices in over 20 countries across the world.

Congratulations to the folks at Pricoil.

Beethoven inspires Open Research

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“Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose.” That was written in 1945, proving “plus ça change; plus c’est la même chose.” It’s taken from an essay, As We May Think, by Vannevar Bush for the July 1945 issue of The Atlantic magazine. Here’s the editor’s introduction,

As Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush has coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. In this significant article he holds up an incentive for scientists when the fighting has ceased. He urges that men of science should then turn to the massive task of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge. For years inventions have extended man’s physical powers rather than the powers of his mind. Trip hammers that multiply the fists, microscopes that sharpen the eye, and engines of destruction and detection are new results, but not the end results, of modern science. Now, says Dr. Bush, instruments are at hand which, if properly developed, will give man access to and command over the inherited knowledge of the ages. The perfection of these pacific instruments should be the first objective of our scientists as they emerge from their war work. Like Emerson’s famous address of 1837 on “The American Scholar,” this paper by Dr. Bush calls for a new relationship between thinking man and the sum of our knowledge. —THE EDITOR

These days with the open data and open access initiatives, there seems to be a new interest in making science more accessible and this time it’s coming from the grassroots. Over at Techdirt, Glyn Moody in his Nov. 18, 2011 posting highlights a new project for making science research accessible. It’s called ‘Beethoven’s open repository’ and here’s more about the project from the organizers (from the Transforming the way we publish research webpage),

We want to change the way research is communicated, both amongst researchers, as well as with health practitioners, patients and the wider public. Inspired by Beethoven, we want to build a research version of his repository and try to tackle the question “What if the public scientific record would be updated directly as research proceeds?“

…

Every year, over 1 million scholarly articles are being published in around 25,000 journals. No researcher – let alone the public – can keep track of all the relevant information any more, not even in small fields. To make things worse, only about 20% of these articles are freely accessible in one way or another, but the majority is not. Our project aims at providing a technically feasible solution: open-access articles that evolve along with the topic they cover.

This would allow researchers, research funders and the public to stay up to date with research in their fields of interest. It would save researchers time because when they write their results up, they could make use of the context provided by the existing articles, and outreach would be built in from the beginning, rather than being perceived as an extra burden that comes after a traditional publication. It would also save funders time because monitoring research progress would amount to checking the change logs of the respective articles. It would also save patients time, especially when a disease makes their clocks tick faster. Last but not least, it would open the doors for science as a spectator sport, and allow for enhanced interaction between citizen science and more traditional approaches to research.

Chris Mietchen is one of the moving forces (organizers) for this effort. From the About Me page,

A biophysicist by training, I have used a number of techniques from the physical sciences to investigate biological systems and their evolution. My focus so far was on the application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques to fossils, embryonic development and cold tolerance but I did some excursions into music perception, measuring brain structure, or vocal production in elephants as well.

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For the prototyping of Beethoven’s open repository of research, I have teamed up with brain scientist M. Fabiana Kubke (@kubke) of the University of Auckland, and we invite everyone to join us in shaping the project.

The organizers are raising funds for ‘Beethoven’s open repository’ at RocketHub. They have also posted this video (which explains the reference to Beethoven as well as other details about their project),

I have featured the issue of access to research previously in my Nov. 3, 2011 posting, Disrupting scientific research. There is also a US federal government public consultation mentioned in my Nov. 7, 2011 posting. The consultation is open to comments until January 2012.

I wish Mietchen and Kubke the best of luck as they raise funds for ‘Beethoven’s open repository’.

JoVE: Journal of Visualized Experiments

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JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) is a combined video and text journal and it’s another name for the Roman god, Jupiter. According to the Wikipedia essay about Jupiter, he was a god of war (I thought it was Mars but apparently more than one Roman god ruled war). From the Wikipedia essay,

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Jupiter or Jove is the king of the gods, and the god of the sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. Jupiter may have begun as a sky-god, concerned mainly with wine festivals and associated with the sacred oak on the Capitol. If so, he developed a twofold character. He received the spolia opima and became a god of war; as Stator he made the armies stand firm and as Victor he gave them victory.

Moshe Pritsker, JoVE’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), does not reveal any influence from mythology on the journal’s website,

Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a video journal for biological, medical, chemical and physical research indexed in PubMed.

1435 articles published
50 articles per month

According to the journal’s November 15, 2011 news release, Canadian universities are particularly interested in video and text,

Twenty-two percent of Canadian research universities now subscribe to the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), due to its growing popularity among faculty and students.

JoVE is the most recent innovation in academic science journals, producing and publishing peer reviewed experimental procedures in video format. It is the first and only video journal indexed in PubMed and MEDLINE.

“I’ve probably had more graduate students requesting JoVE than any other resource,” said Collections Librarian Jim Brett, at the University of Guelph. “The last time I looked at our research statistics for JoVE, I was surprised to see that they were better than we see with some of our top-tier science journals.”

The University of Guelph first subscribed to JoVE in March 2010, and this year they upgraded their subscription to include Bioengineering. Other subscribers include leading Canadian academic institutions such as the Universities of Toronto, McGill, Ottawa and Saskatchewan.

“Many JoVE video articles describing advanced research methodologies are authored by scientists from leading Canadian institutions,” said JoVE co-founder and CEO, Dr. Moshe Pritsker, “so it’s natural that our content is in big demand there too.”

Health Librarian Mary Chipanshi from the University of Regina said the school librarians evaluated JoVE extensively and ran a free trial before deciding to subscribe. The positive feedback she got from three institutions on the Canadian Medical Library Listserve, including the Universities of Saskatchewan and Calgary, clinched her decision.

“We are advertising it right now,” said Chimpanshi, “and the faculty members are excited.”

It’s nice to hear that scientists in Canadian institutions have been such enthusiastic adopters. The news release goes on to give a little more information about JoVE,

The Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is the first and only Pubmed and Medline indexed academic journal devoted to publishing research in the biological sciences in video format. Using an international network of videographers, JoVE films and edits videos of researchers performing new experimental techniques at top universities, allowing students and scientists to learn them much more quickly. As of September 2011 JoVE has released 55 monthly issues including over 1300 video-protocols on experimental approaches in developmental biology, neuroscience, microbiology and other fields.

Geoff Roberts in his Feb. 8, 2011 posting on BostInnovation.com offers a little company history and some business information,

Somerville [Massachusetts]-based JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) is the world’s first scientific video journal. The company, focused on increasing productivity in biological and biomedical research, uses video as its content medium.

The company opened the doors to their Davis Square office in 2006, shortly after securing $1.7 million in funding from angel investors, and achieved profitability by the end of 2009. “From 2009 to 2010 our annual sales increased 4-fold reaching nearly $3 million,” JoVE’s CEO Moshe Pritsker told us.

With JOVE’s unique concept, scientific articles are now composed of 2 components – video and text. “Video-articles enable more efficient knowledge transfer than traditional text articles, allowing much faster learning for scientists in academia and industry,” says Pritsker.

Profitability in a publishing venture? There are some major mainstream media outlets that would be delighted to make that kind of announcement.

I think this blending of video and text is different from some of the other attempts I’ve seen where a traditional journal uses a video component as an extra element rather than as an integral part of the content.

Katherine Sanderson in a Sept. 28, 2011 article for Nature (vol. 477, pp. 621-2 [2011] doi:  10.1038/nj7366-621a ) discusses both JoVE and scientific video website, BenchFly,

… when Rachel Schecter moved from researching yeast as an undergraduate to examining the neuroscience of autism as a PhD student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, she had to learn a whole new set of practical techniques. “I found it especially hard when I was starting out because the people in the lab who can teach you these things are often the busiest with their own stuff,” says Schecter. “So you really have to maximize the time they have to offer you.”

Schecter became a fan of benchfly.com, a website that collects and organizes videos of laboratory techniques. The clips proved useful as tutorials, or as introductions to a method before she worked on it in person with someone from the lab. They cover everything from basic practical techniques, such as how to work in a sterile hood or use a pipette, to more technical procedures, including making primary neuron cultures, implanting electrodes or running a two-photon microscope.

…

Whereas BenchFly tends to show basic techniques, or small tricks to get something going, JOVE demonstrates detailed, specific and recently developed protocols. And in contrast to BenchFly’s do-it-yourself approach, JOVE‘s videos are filmed and produced by an international network of trained camera operators and producers. Production takes place after a text account of the video’s technique is peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. Learning the craft and technical aspects of science is what takes up most of a lab’s time and money, says Pritsker — and videos can help to curb such excesses.

It’s not a perfect solution,

Of course, videos have their limitations. “There is no better way to learn a new technique than to stand beside an experienced practitioner and watch them work”, says Chris Surridge, editor of Nature Protocols. And it’s hard to replicate the benefits of a colleague’s scrutiny and correction.

Still, as Schecter noted, the people in your lab may not have the time to scrutinize and correct your work or, as noted elsewhere in the article (but not reproduced here), you can’t always travel to find those one or two experts in the field to provide guidance and these tools offer an alternative. There’s another possibility too. There may be unanticipated advantages not yet observed in this integration of video and text. Maybe it’s time for a research project?

Irish nanoscience goes to school

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The ‘Nano in My Life’ educational package for students in the senior or transitional year (TY) was launched today, Nov. 17, 2011, by Trinity College Dublin’s CRANN ( Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices). From the Nov. 17, 2011 news  item on Nanowerk,

The ‘Nano in My Life’ package, for the first time, will bring nanoscience – an area of research at which Ireland excels and which is a key enabler for innovation and economic growth – to the Irish classroom. It will encourage students to relate science subjects to innovative careers, with exciting and challenging applications. There are seven modules, each using a range of teaching and learning approaches, including video captured at CRANN, designed to engage students and encourage active learning.

Approximately 10% of Irish exports (€15 billion) are enabled by nanotechnology with tens of thousands of jobs in the ICT [Information and Communication Technology] and medical devices sectors dependent upon this research. Ireland is ranked 6th in the world for nanoscience research and 8th for materials science research (a branch of nanoscience), with CRANN enabling the majority of this research. Earlier in the week, Prof Jonathan Coleman, Principal Investigator at CRANN and Trinity College Dublin’s School of Physics was announced as the ‘Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year’ for 2011.

Commenting on the launch, Mary Colclough, CRANN’s Communications and Outreach Manager said, “There is a real need to introduce secondary school students to cutting-edge nanoscience research which is driving innovation, providing jobs for highly skilled graduates and is now forming an important part of studying science at third level. CRANN is at the cutting edge of nanoscience research, which has the potential to revolutionise a number of industries, so we feel it is important to open students’ eyes to the opportunities that will be available in the future and hopefully inspire the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg.”

Teachers are being encouraged to apply for a package by contacting  nanoinmylife@tcd.ie. BTW, I was not aware of highly ranked Irish nanoscience research has become. Bravo!

There is also a Trinity College Dublin (TCD) YouTube channel which features a number Nano in My Life videos including this one,

I wonder when we’re going to see similar science education initiatives in Canada.