The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is a collaborative enterprise. Its 105 members, all tenured or tenure-track UCLA faculty, are drawn from 24 departments within the School of Medicine, School of Engineering, and the Physical and Life Science divisions in The College and the School of Public Health. Their research falls into four general categories: energy, environment, health, and information technology. It specifically emphasizes renewable energy, alternative fuels, hydrogen storage, water purification, nanosafety and nanotoxicology, three-dimensional batteries, early-stage medical diagnostics, targeted drug delivery, and molecular switches. CNSI has active research collaborations with a number of companies including the institute's Founding Partners, Abraxis Bioscience, BASF, HP, and Intel.

Labs, Labs, and More Labs!

CNSI's 188,000-square-foot building, which opened in 2007, has eleven core facilities that are available for both academic and industry users. The seven-story facility contains shared laboratories including the Advanced Light Microscopy /Spectroscopy, Macro-Scale Imaging, Center for Quantum Research, Electron Imaging Center for NanoMachines, Integrated NanoMaterials, Integrated Systems Nanofabrication Cleanroom, Molecular Screening Shared Resource, Nano and Pico Characterization, Student Training, and Biosynthetic Labs. The laboratory space is engineered for low noise and low vibration to accommodate sensitive equipment such as the various microscopes (scanning electron, transmission electron, scanning tunneling, atomic force, confocal, and stimulated emission depletion) and the eBeam Writer.

UCLA Launches Tech Incubator at CNSI

Eric Hoek, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and a faculty member of the CNSI, led a team of researchers in a four-year project in which they added nanoparticles to a water-purifying membrane to improve its ability to make sea water potable. Their goal was to address the worldwide scarcity of safe drinking water by making desalination technology commercially feasible.

In the laboratory, the nanocomposite membrane performed magnificently, yielding twice as much drinkable water as regular membranes. In an effort to mass-produce these nanocomposite membranes, Hoek in 2005 initiated a collaboration with NanoH₂0, a private company developing next-generation water purification technology. The collaboration was an early example of CNSI fulfilling its mission to fuel economic development by nurturing new technologies and transferring them from the lab to practical applications in the real world.

Recently, CNSI made the decision to invite start-up companies that use UCLA technology to conduct early research at CNSI, with help from a faculty representative and expert business advice from the Anderson School of Management and the School of Law. In a conference on March 24, 2009, CNSI launched a "technology incubator" - the first of its kind for UC - in conjunction with UCLA's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research (OIP-ISR). The event, held in the CNSI auditorium, brought together faculty, entrepreneurs, representatives of industry start-ups, and venture capital firms. The UCLA on-campus technology incubator will be housed in the CNSI building and will offer eight to ten separate start-up projects access to a total of 2,000 square feet of flexible lab space for 18 to 24 months. Only companies that use technology owned by the UC regents will be admitted, and the start-ups will pay a modest rent based on Westwood market rates.

Initially, eight to ten start-up companies will be chosen for the incubator, companies that already have licensed or optioned technology and are starting to raise money. The incubator will also focus on fledgling firms in the proof of concept and early stages of research and development, stages most investment agencies avoid to reduce their risk.

To determine the criteria for what kind of start-ups will be housed in the incubator and how long they should stay, OIP-ISR has established a faculty advisory committee including members from the CNSI, the School of Medicine, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Public Health, the College of Letters and Science, the Anderson School and the School of Law. The success of start-ups in the incubator program will be measured by a set of criteria that are still being determined. The extent of funding, particularly in view of today's economic climate, will be one measure. Another will be the speed with which start-ups accelerate their research by demanding increased access to core lab facilities.

In addition to NanoH₂0, which in July 2007 became part of the incubator and in September 2008 secured $15 million in funding to commercialize its technology, CNSI has added two other start-ups, Matrix Sensors and MediSens Wireless.

Joining in November 2008, Matrix Sensors is a seed-stage company founded in March 2006 by UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor James Gimzewski and Stanford electrical engineering professors Butrus (Pierre) T. Khuri-Yakub and Calvin F. Quate. The founders of Matrix Sensors are the key researchers and inventors in the area of developing capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) technology for chemical and biological sensors.

MediSens Wireless, which joined the Incubator Program in July 2009, has licensed patented technology from UCLA for wireless sensor systems developed by Majid Sarrafzadeh, professor of computer science and engineering at UCLA, and his team. The technology will be used to develop wireless personal body monitoring systems with specific applications for use by diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy (loss of sensation in the foot), and the high fall-risk population with health issues affecting balance. The systems will be capable of real-time monitoring and be used in both medical and non-medical products.

As part of their arrangement, Matrix Sensors and MediSens Wireless have obtained an exclusive license for their technology that will provide the University of California an equity position in Matrix Sensors and royalty on MediSens Wireless's products.

Sources:

California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Web Site

UCLA Health System, Health and Medicine News