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I am not a scientist. The last science class I took was “Biology for Poets” my freshman year of college. So I’m the last person anyone would expect to get excited about scientific concepts. And yet to me, Nanotech is exciting stuff. While doing research and interviews for this week’s Making Change story, I learned a lot about nanotechnology. Everytime I understood more about nanotech’s potential, my mind spun in disbelief. Nanotechnology refers the use and manipulation of particles that are between one to 100 nanometers in size. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter - that’s inconceivably small. The only explanation I heard that put it in perspective came from Alan Olson of Ferro Corporation. He said you couldn’t see the particles if they were on a sheet of clear plastic because they’re smaller than light waves. When particles are so tiny they begin to behave differently than, say, your average molecule. As a result, people can do things with nano-particles they can’t do with regular materials. My first exposure to nano-particles was mercifully tactile. Nanofilm, is a 19-year old company started by former CWRU professor Scott Rickert. One of their products is a de-fogger for glasses or goggles. To the untrained eye, this dandy product appears to be nothing more than a thick, slightly damp tissue with a funny smell. But when you rub it on your glasses - as I did for my cycling sunglasses - you spread millions of nanoparticles across the surface that act like the thinnest layer of water. It’s the water-like properties of the coating that prevents fogging. It really works, too. I sweat a heck of a lot when I cycle but for a solid five weeks last summer, my sunglasses didn’t fog up even once. That’s just he beginning of nano-techs potential. Nano-particles can make plastics harder and lighter and make paint more durable. Nanotech is already being used on some clothing fibers to prevent stains and wrinkles. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic are using nanotechnology to create a rough surface on scaffolding that some doctors insert into a fractured bone. Once the doctors place the scaffolds, they fill the fissure with a material that seals the bone and heals the fracture. Dr. Shuvo Roy, the researcher that designed the bumpy scaffolding, says the roughness on the scaffolding’s surface helps the bonding agent cling to the scaffolding, thereby making the remedy more effective. There’s more. Using nano-tech, Pam Davis, a scientist at Case’s Medical School, has found a way to inject DNA into the cells of people with Cystic Fibrosis. CF is a genetic disorder and by injecting properly functioning DNA into the nucleus of a human cell, the damaging effects of that gene are neutralized. Cleveland’s nano-technology sector is just getting to know itself. Last year the Nano-Network was formed to bring nano-businesses and individuals together. Every meeting, the number of participants grows. What started with a hodge-podge group of about 80 people is now well over a few hundred. It’s not just entrepreneurs and university researchers exploring nanotechnology, it’s also some of the big corporations like Lubrizol, Sherwin Williams, and NASA. Mark Brandt, who helped get the Nano-Network going, says everyone was surprised by how large the nano-industry is in Northeast Ohio. This week - October 25 through 29 - has been dubbed “Nano-Week” in Northeast Ohio. There are a series of nano-related conferences and meeting happening, all with the purpose of allowing Northeast Ohio’s nano-community to cross pollinate. The emphasis of Nano Week is on biomedical and pharmaceutical uses of nanotechnology. That’s a logical choice considering that health sciences is already an area in which Northeast Ohio excels. Many people I interviewed pointed out that the region is also rich in polymers and plastics - another good match for nanotech applications. What puzzles me about Northeast Ohio’s nano industry is that with all the activity and interest in nano-technology, why is it only in the past year that everyone is discovering the extent of our capabilities? Part of the problem stems from the parochial nature of the region. Researchers at Case Western don’t always communicate with each other, much less their biomedical peers down the street at the Cleveland Clinic. Pam Davis - the woman who’s out to cure Cystic Fibrosis - told me that Case only recently convened everyone at the university who claims they work in the nano-field. It turns out, Davis says, there are about 60 investigators there interested in nano-technology or already applying it. If Case only recently discovered the wealth of nano-players it has, imagine the difficulties of figuring out who at the University of Akron is working on something that neatly fits in with the needs or research of someone in Cleveland or Kent. Nano-week is a step in the right direction to consolidate knowledge and encourage the emergence of a nanotech-business cluster. The whole point of having a business cluster is to create competition and creativity; to foster entrepreneurial spin-offs; and to lure venture capital to pour money into these new businesses. There is one last component the region needs to build a successful nanotech cluster in Northeast Ohio. Dr. Shuvo Roy, the biomedical engineer at the Cleveland Clinic, framed the challenge best. He said the region needs to market itself. “People flock to a good brand,” Roy said. “When we make a statement about nanotech, when we make a discovery that’s nano-related, people around the country perk up and say, ‘Northeast Ohio is the place where we should be keeping our eyes open. Here’s the place we should have our R & D facilities. Maybe we should have it close to the Cleveland Clinic or University Circle.’” If Northeast Ohio brands itself as a nano-tech powerhouse or - more specifically - a biomedical nano-tech powerhouse, then both businesses and investors will be looking our way when they’re considering their next moves. What’s more, Roy said, the more nanotech the region has, the more it helps build a base to attract some of the $3.7 billion the federal government has set aside for nanotechnology. It’s not such an outrageous idea… especially since its been done before in Austin, in Silicon Valley, in Seattle, in the Raleigh-Durham “Research Triangle.” The only thing that could stop Northeast Ohio from going after the bio-medical nano niche is the region’s own reluctance to try something new. See Also: Small Technology with a Big Impact [October 27, 2004 Feature Story] 
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