Gathering of world-leading nanotechnologists in NZ

Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday 4 February 2011 - Nanotechnology company Izon Science, is putting its support behind a gathering of world-leading nanotechnologists, physicists and chemists in Wellington next week, as a gold sponsor and contributor. The Fifth International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (AMN-5), hosted by the MacDiarmid Institute, brings together an international gathering of experts to discuss new advances and opportunities in the advanced materials and nanotechnology fields.

Hans van der Voorn, Executive Chairman of Izon Science says, "We're very pleased to support such an impressive gathering of scientists from around the world. It's the largest international gathering of nanotechnologists to be held here and it's also the largest gathering of Izon users. It's a fantastic opportunity to share leading research and developments around the world, to build relationships, and to uncover new opportunities."

The conference brings together leading scientists from offshore such as Nobel Prize-winner Sir Anthony Leggett and Sir Richard Friend, with New Zealand's leading scientists including previous winners of the Prime Minister's Science Prize, Dr Jeff Tallon, Dr Bob Buckley, and Professor Sir Paul Callaghan who was also just named New Zealander of the Year.

Van der Voorn stressed the value of the multi-disciplinary conference, "Nanotechnology enabled developments are usually multidisciplinary, it is not a standalone discipline separate from the other sciences. Nanotechnology enable the development of new products and improvements in existing products in medicine, energy production, batteries, materials, electronics, viruses, vaccines, chemistry, computing, biology, and food.

"The conference will highlight the capability and innovation we have here in New Zealand. We've developed the world's most comprehensive nanoparticle analysis system in a single instrument, and it's a great platform to help us showcase our technology," he says.

Izon is hosting a nanotechnology session at the conference where a number of Izon collaborators and customers from around the world will highlight new research. Contributors include:

- Mark Grinstaff, Boston University, USA on expansile nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and in vivo efficacy in multiple cancer models
- Sunghoon Kwon, Seoul National University, Korea on spinning color barcoded microparticles for faster scalable biochips
- Geoff Willmott, IRL and The MacDiarmid Institute, New Zealand on analytic approaches for interpretation of nanopore translocation events
- Pei Li, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China on amphiphilic polymeric core-shell particles: novel synthesis and potential applications
- Will Anderson, The University of Queensland, Australia on improving the detection and discrimination of polydisperse colloidal suspensions with elastic size- tunable tm nano/micropores
- Aaron Colby, Boston University, USA on tunable ph-responsive nanoparticles for delivering paclitaxel prevent malignant peritoneal mesothelioma in vivo
- Christy Charlton O'Mahoney, Biomedical Diagnostics Institute, Dublin City University, Ireland Characterization of materials for use in particle-capture immunoassays by qNano
- Sam Yu, IZON Science, New Zealand on detailed characterization of drug delivery, engineered & biological particles with single-particle resolution

Other Izon collaborators and users at the conference include the Ian Wark Research Institute at the University of South Australia, Adelaide University, the MacDiarmid Institute, University of Canterbury, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Auckland, IRL, Boston University, Dublin City University, The University of Queensland, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in China. Izon science advisors David Deamer from University of California, Santa Cruz, and David Williams from University of Auckland will also be in attendance.

AMN-5, the largest gathering of international material physicists, chemists and engineers to assemble in New Zealand, runs from 7 to 11 February at the Michael Fowler Centre. The nanotechnology session hosted by Izon Science runs from 1-3pm on Thursday 10 February. For more information see http://www.confer.co.nz/amn-5/

ENDS

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