Student Competition Features Latest Innovations in Nanotechnology
University officials, entrepreneurs, government leaders and nanotechnology industry representatives recently came together in an effort to move nanotechnology out of research laboratories and into the marketplace. Nano Nexus 2007 was the first ever event of its kind to bring together all of the groups who make it happen. ORAU was the Innovator Sponsor for the event, held April 2 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
The keystone for the conference was the Nano Idea to Product® (I2P®) competition, which featured teams of students (see team profiles below) from different areas of study that had developed early-stage technology commercialization plans using nanotechnology developed at their universities. Fifteen teams from 12 colleges and universities entered the competition in hopes of returning home with the $25,000 grand prize.
In the end, the team from the University of Texas at Austin (profile) took the grand prize for the NANOTaxi, a nano-sized drug delivery device that can target tumor cells and release and FDA-approved drug only in the presence of a cancer-specific enzyme.
Louisiana Tech University (profile) was awarded $3,000 as first runner-up for their recycled paper-fiber coating technology, reFīb, and Vanderbilt University (profile) took home $2,000 as second runner-up for QuaD-MAP, a protein-detection technology that can help clinicians diagnose early stages of cancer.
Three additional teams received honors as finalists in the competition, which came with a $500 prize for each. The finalists were: Georgia Tech-TIGON Nanostrategies, Georgia Tech-DiagNano, Florida State University-High Performance Materials Institute.
Please use the links below to read profiles of each of the teams participating in the Nano Nexus 2007 competition.
- 1st Prize: University of Texas at Austin, NANOTaxi Team
- 1st Runner Up: Louisiana Tech University, reFīb Team
- 2nd Runner Up: Vanderbilt University, QuaD-MAP Team
- Finalist: Georgia Tech, DiagNano Team
- Finalist: Georgia Tech, TIGON Team
- Finalist: Florida State, HPMI Team
- University of Tennessee, Acadia Team
- University of Tennessee, Apacell Team
- University of Tennessee, Orange Fuel Team
- University of Tennessee, Fuel Cell Interface Team
- Duke University, N-TECT Team
- Florida International University, Bioceramic Coating Team
- Imperial College, London, Aptinostics Team
- Tuskegee University, NanoCatCoat Team
- University of Virginia, Smart Nanospheres Team