In one of the largest nanotechnology patent deals to date, a
startup based in Cambridge, MA,
called Nano Terra has licensed rights
to more than 50 patents from Harvard
University. The wide-ranging
set of patents–the result of research done in the Harvard chemistry lab of George Whitesides–covers
everything from techniques for designing materials that assemble themselves
into microscopic lenses and data storage devices, to tools for patterning
complex nanoscale circuits over large, irregularly shaped surfaces.
Cellular printing: A rubberlike stamp containing microscale features was used to create specific shapes (a square and a triangle) that control the locations and spacing of cells.
Nano Terra says that it will use the massive intellectual-property
portfolio as the basis for a business strategy that will market its ability to
quickly adapt the tools covered by the patents to create products that its
clients either could not make themselves or could not make cheaply. Founded in
2005 by Whitesides and his former Harvard chemistry fellow Carmichael Roberts, Nano
Terra has already signed development agreements with the Department of Defense,
the German specialty chemical company Merck, and
the materials giant 3M, based in St. Paul, MN.
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Unlike a number of other nanotech companies, which focus on
specific structures such as carbon nanotubes or nanocrystals and have developed
working prototype devices, Nano Terra is focusing on supplying manufacturing
techniques, says cochairman Roberts. The company’s approach is also a departure
from earlier Whitesides ventures, which have included a number of successful health-related
companies, such as the biotechnology giant Genzyme, based in Cambridge, MA and
the startup Surface Logix, based in
Brighton, MA. (See “Carmichael
Roberts.”) Nano Terra’s licenses specifically exclude biomedical
applications for the related technology.
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Roberts points to a few examples of technologies described
by the patents that could be valuable to manufacturers. A process called
contact printing, for example, uses a rubber-based stamp bearing a pattern of
micro- or nanoscopic lines so small that they are invisible to the naked eye.
The stamp is then inked, and the pattern is transferred to a large surface. The
ink is designed to attract metal molecules, which, when deposited on the inked surface,
arrange themselves into wires along the lines of ink. The contact-printing techniques
could work over the large, curved surface of a windshield, embedding it with invisible
wires to defrost it, Roberts says.
There are many other potential applications, Roberts says.
For example, the military might be interested in developing novel coatings for
windshields that keep them clear of sand. Nano Terra’s technology could also be
used to improve the properties of military uniforms. Indeed, the company’s
tools could be used to improve a wide variety of materials by altering their
surfaces.
The 50-plus patent licensing agreement with Harvard is unusual
in its size, says Lita Nelsen, director of the technology licensing office at
MIT. The institute, she says, has “never done anything that huge.” It’s
likely that not all the patents are breakthroughs; many simply improve on
earlier work. But, she says, “George Whitesides has been very
prolific.”
