Nano Summit Draws 150

The promise of nanotechnology was weighed with its unknowns and potential downsides during a recent gathering of some 150 invited guests for the 2009 Summit on Environmentally Responsible Development of Nanotechnology, hosted by the Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative.

Experts from around the world gathered at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center last Thursday and Friday to exchange hopes and concerns that can inform policy and practice for the safe and efficient development of nanotech.

Nanotechnology is an important sector in North Carolina's evolving economy. It involves structures between one and 100 nanometers in size--roughly 10,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. Their petite size gives them unique properties.

Companies in North Carolina are already working on nanoparticles that treat disease by carrying new genes to certain cells, and sunlight-powered nano-scale coatings that kill microbes on hard surfaces and fabrics.

Scientists at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro have taken a leadership role in North Carolina by creating the Joint School for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, to be opened in the summer of 2011.

They have subsequently been joined by corporations and other research institutions around the state--Wake Forest University, Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte--in a consortium supporting a statewide Center of Innovation in Nanotechnology (COIN).

Supported by a one-year $100,000 Phase I planning grant and a $2.5 million four-year Phase II grant from the Biotechnology Center, COIN is to become a self-sustaining hub for commercializing nanotechnology throughout North Carolina.

Dozens of people representing North Carolina's nanotechnology sector were presenters and participants in the Summit.