Nova Scotia’s (Canada) Sona Nanotech and its gold nanoparticles move

I hope one day to have at least one piece on nanotechnology for each province, the Yukon, and the territories. Unfortunately, today (Nov. 2, 2016) will not be the day I add one previously unsung province, etc. to the list as Nova Scotia has previously graced this blog with a nanotechnology story (my June 5, 2016 posting).

The latest nano news from Nova Scotia is found in a Nov. 1, 2016 article by James Risdon for the Chronicle Herald,

A Nova Scotia biotech startup with big plans for its super-small, non-toxic gold particles is looking to move its lab facilities to Halifax and expand.

Andrew McLeod, Sona Nanotech Ltd.’s president and chief operating officer, said Tuesday the company is already looking for lab space in Halifax and wants to hire three additional employees to handle production, research and business development.

Sona Nanotech has two products, its Gemini and Omni gold particles, intended to be used in the health-care industry for such things as the treatment of cancer and diagnostic testing.

These particles are measured in nanometres.

“You’re talking about something that’s on the order of millionths of the width of a human hair,” said McLeod. [The comparison measurements I’ve seen most frequestion for a single nanometre is 1/50,000 or 1/60,000 or 1/100,000 of a hair.]

While other players make gold particles, Sona Nanotech has developed a way to make its products so that they are free of a toxic chemical ,and that’s opening doors for the Nova Scotia startup whose products can be used inside the human body.

There’s already talk of Sona Nanotech teaming up with an as-yet-unnamed Canadian organization for a cancer research project, but McLeod was tight-lipped about the details.

Congratulations to Sona Nano!

For anyone curious about the business aspects of the story, I recommend reading Risdon’s article in its entirety.

Sona Nanotech’s website can be found here,

Sona Nanotech Ltd. has leveraged its team’s unique knowledge and experience with novel surface chemistry methods and surfactants to create a disruptive leap forward in metallic nanoparticle technology.

Co-founders Dr. Gerrard Marangoni, Dr. Kulbir Singh, and Dr. Michael McAlduff recognized the role that gold nanoparticles can play in a variety of life sciences applications, e.g.,  in-vivo 3-D imaging, GNR-enabled diagnostic test products and other cutting edge medical applications.  Gold nanorods can be enabling technologies for non-invasive targeted cell, tumor, tissue and organ treatments such as photothermal cancer cell destruction, and location specific drug and pain treatment.

The Problem
Gold nanorods have been made to date with toxic CTAB [cationic surfactant cethyltrimetylammonium bromide] which makes them much less attractive for in-vivo medical applications.

The Solution
100% CTAB-FREE – Gemini™ and Omni™ Patent-Pending Gold Nanorods – from Sona Nanotech Ltd.

The Problem
For a given colour contrast, large gold nanospheres are not as stable or mobile as gold nanorods (dip tests).

The Solution
Stable, high loading capacity GNRs [gold nanorods] from Sona Nanotech offer a broad range of rich, high contrast test color options.

So, there you have it.

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