Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Oxonica Appoints Michael Natan CTO, Sharron Penn COO

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Oxonica Appoints Michael Natan Chief Technical Officer, Sharron Penn Chief Operating Officer

Posted on November 1, 2006

Oxonica (AIM: OXN) a leading international nanotechnology group, continues to strengthen its organization with the appointment of Dr. Michael Natan as Chief Technical Officer for the Oxonica Group and Dr. Sharron Penn as Chief Operating Officer for its Mountain View operations. In his new role, Dr. Natan will be responsible for designing and prioritizing Oxonica's technical strategies and providing technical leadership for the company's development and commercialization initiatives. In her new role, Dr. Penn will be responsible for the operational management and application development of Oxonica's Mountain View facility, focused on clinical diagnostics and security applications. Dr. Barry Park will continue to have overall responsibility for operations as the Group's COO.

In December, 2005, Oxonica plc acquired Nanoplex Technologies, Inc., where Dr. Natan served as Chief Executive Officer, President and was a co-founder, and where Dr. Penn led the efforts to develop Nanoplex's proprietary nanomaterials for use in brand protection and life science applications. Nanoplex was founded in 2002 to exploit commercial opportunities associated with novel, optically-addressed metal nanoparticles. Oxonica is now developing commercial products for the medical diagnostics market based on those technologies.

From 1991-1999, Dr. Natan was an assistant, associate, and full professor of chemistry at Penn State University, where he authored over 50 papers and 8 patents on nanoparticle-related technologies. From 1999-2001, he was the Chief Technical Officer of SurroMed, Inc., where he led a team of 50 scientists and engineers focused on biomarker discovery. Dr. Natan currently serves on the Enabling Bioanalytical Technology study section at NIH, and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences. Dr. Penn was previously Director of Product Development and Head of Operations at Oxonica Inc, a role she also filled at Nanoplex Technologies Inc. Prior to joining Nanoplex, she was the Director of Research for Instrumentation Sciences at Amersham Biosciences, where she guided development for advanced sequencing instrumentation, microfabricated sample preparation devices and laboratory automation software. Dr. Penn has authored over 40 scientific, peer-reviewed papers and patent applications.

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About Oxonica plc:
Oxonica (AIM: OXN.L) is one of the leading International nanomaterials groups with products already launched into international markets and is listed in London on the AIM market. It was spun-out from Oxford University in 1999 and currently employs 56 professional staff. Oxonica's mission is to focus on the development of innovative commercial solutions for international markets using its expertise in the design and application of nanomaterials. It owns a portfolio of demand driven products that offer substantial benefits to the target markets of energy, healthcare, materials and security.

The Group currently has four operating divisions: Oxonica Energy, Oxonica Healthcare, Oxonica Materials and Oxonica Security. Oxonica has already launched products into international markets. Lead products include:

EnviroxTM Fuel Borne Nanocatalyst - a nanocatalyst improving fuel economy and reducing emissions
OptisolTM UV Absorber - a revolutionary photostable UV protection system designed to optimise the performance of quality sunscreens and anti-premature aging products

Oxonica is also active in searching for the next generation of products and is already engaged in developing transformational detection technologies which will enable a new generation of ultrasensitive multiplex diagnostic tools for the clinical diagnostic life science and security markets. In addition, the company is developing other UV absorber technologies into polymer systems and coatings, based on similar technologies to that used in OptisolTM.

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