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Nano-sized particles are so small it takes an electron microscope to see them. Yet they hold huge promise of breakthroughs in industries from solar power to drug delivery.


But at UCLA they have already propelled another breakthrough: an uncommonly close collaboration between university scientists and some of the most innovative technology companies.


Professors and grad students at the California NanoSystems Institute are rubbing shoulders with researchers from such Silicon Valley stalwarts as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Intel Corp., as well as Los Angeles biotech Abraxis BioScience Inc. and several ambitious local startups.


The collaboration is a big step for UCLA, which has often been criticized for being slow in getting its research out of its laboratories, compared to nimble private institutions such as Caltech, a leader in tech transfer.


It’s also a big change from the arm-length relationship the University of California, the nation’s biggest university system, traditionally has had with companies seeking to get their hands on the latest research findings with promising businesses applications (such as by formally licensing out intellectual technology.)


“As an industrial lab we can’t go around to the university and say ‘We want you to work on this, this and that,'” said Stan Williams, a senior fellow in quantum science at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, the research arm of the Palo Alto-based computer maker. “But by being there and exposing them to our own research questions, they may say, ‘These guys think this is important, and if we want to continue to be relevant in the long term, we need to be thinking about these particular areas.”


The NanoSystems Institute was founded in 2000 but its activities had been scattered across the campus. Only recently have researchers begun moving into a new building at the south end of campus aimed at fostering this collaboration, including a large auditorium for symposiums and more intimate spaces for informal networking.


The institute also has been gaining traction with corporate partners. Just last summer, Abraxis signed up as a founding partner, which will give it first dibs on some pharmaceutical advances. The company has already made a name for itself in the cancer field with a breast cancer drug Abraxane, which is delivered to cancer cells on nano-sized protein particles, allowing lower effective doses.


“Public-private partnerships are really the way to go,” said Abraxis Chief Executive Patrick Soon-Shiong, a former UCLA researcher who signed a 10-year partner relationship with the institute. “It’s wasteful to have a lot of people doing the same thing when we could instead leverage.”



Statewide initiative


The institute has its origins in the late 1990s when former Gov. Gray Davis proposed creating four Institutes of Science and Innovation that would forge partnerships with industry to accelerate technological change. UCLA researchers jumped at the opportunity.


The partnerships were seen as a way to help researchers alleviate the annual ebbs and flows of funding due to state budget woes. For industry, it allows additional investment in basic research often beyond the means of companies answering to shareholders each quarter.


Nanotechology was chosen as the focus for the UCLA’s application to the state, which was made in partnership with the University of California, Santa Barbara. Not only does nanotechnology have applications in a range of disciplines, but both campuses already boast renowned experts in the field.


However, in order to get the institutes off the ground, the University of California relaxed conflict of interest rules, since academic researchers would be working closely with their industry counterparts on research that both could eventually profit from. While the university has historically accepted industry research support, it normally comes through unrestricted grants that do not give an advantage to the underwriter to the fruits of that research.


“We took very seriously the charge that we would be interacting very differently with industry, beyond the usual collaborations,” said Leonard Rome, a biochemist and interim director of the institute. “We wanted to create a new, more effective paradigm for public-private partnerships.” Rome is unaware of any comparable effort in the nanotech field in the U.S.


So far, research at the institute has not resulted in any commercial home runs. Indeed, the field of nanotechnology is still one more of promise and hype than results, with the nano adjective now applied to everything from a version of the ubiquitous iPod to new formulations of deodorants.


However, progress is being made. In the bioscience arena, a recently formed early-stage investment group, NanoPacific Holdings Inc., is funding research.


The partnership with NanoPacific, announced last month, gives the holding company first look on technology developed by four professors, from a variety of disciplines, which may be able do everything from more effectively delivering drugs to cancer patients to enabling better penetration of youth-enhancing cosmeceuticals.


“These researchers will continue to use traditional grant funding for their work, only now they’ll be supplemented by private industry,” said Chief Executive Joseph Boystak, a former investment banker who wanted to get in on the ground floor of what he calls “disruptive technology.”


Some professors whose work has matured since the institute’s founding have already signed licensing deals with young companies. El Monte-based Solarmer Energy Inc. plans to use research from a team lead by Professor Yang Yang, a materials science engineer.


The polymers developed by Yang’s team could result in plastic solar cells that are lighter, cheaper and easier to deploy than conventional silicon-based solar cells.


The partnership with Solarmer also goes beyond the traditional technology transfer deal. As part of the deal, the company has become an institute associate partner and is making a $500,000 yearly grant for Yang to continue his research.


“Arrangements like this are a very cost-effective way for companies to get access to new technologies,” said Yang. “For the university in a tight budget situation it helps us to do more research with better equipment.”



Time horizons


In another instance, the institute is supplying incubator lab and office space for a 2 & #733; year old start-up based on research by Assistant Professor Eric Hoek in the civil and environmental engineering department. The startup, which has received venture funding, is developing a more efficient reverse osmosis membrane for purifying water.


“It’s the kind of opportunity that a startup rarely gets,” said Jeff Green, chief executive at NanoH2O Inc. “Not only are we close to Eric’s lab on campus but we’re getting to commercialize our technology in a state-of-the-art research facility.”


Time horizons for new products are widely varied. NanoH2O could have a commercial prototype ready in the next 12 to 18 months. Abraxis might not be able to commercialize any new nano-sized capsule for administering cancer drugs that it may license for another decade.


Some of the institute’s longest standing relationships have even broader objectives in mind. Hewlett-Packard is hoping for cutting-edge technology to make computer circuits even smaller, but an equally important goal of its $8 million cash-and-equipment investment is getting the HP name in the sights of top UCLA graduate researchers.


“It’s all about the students and ensuring we have a high-quality research work force,” said HP’s Williams, himself a former UCLA faculty member and now chairman of the institute’s advisory board. “By being involved as long and deeply as we have, we have a direct tap to the best and brightest young researchers coming up.”

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