Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Shrink Nanotechnologies Expands Scientific Advisory Board with the Appointment of Two Leading Biotechnology Research Experts: Company Progressing Toward Commercialization of its StemDisc™ and CellAlign™ Technologies"

Home > Press > Shrink Nanotechnologies Expands Scientific Advisory Board with the Appointment of Two Leading Biotechnology Research Experts: Company Progressing Toward Commercialization of its StemDisc™ and CellAlign™ Technologies

Abstract:
Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. ("Shrink") (OTCBB: INKN), an innovative nanotechnology company developing products and licensing opportunities in the solar energy production, medical diagnostics and sensors and biotechnology research and development tools businesses, today announced that Bruce R. Conklin, M.D., a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institute and Professor of Medical Genetics and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California San Francisco, and Dr. Kara McCloskey, Professor at the School of Engineering, University of California, Merced, have joined its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

Shrink Nanotechnologies Expands Scientific Advisory Board with the Appointment of Two Leading Biotechnology Research Experts: Company Progressing Toward Commercialization of its StemDisc™ and CellAlign™ Technologies

Carlsbad, CA | Posted on October 20th, 2009

Drs. Conklin and McCloskey, respectively, bring their IPS (or induced pluripotent stem cell) and tissue engineering expertise to the Shrink's suite of biotechnology research tools, StemDisc and CellAlign. Dr. Conklin in particular is a recognized international leader in the movement to use stem cells to discover cutting edge drugs and to eventually use stem cell research to create therapies to cure disease. These important additions further strengthen the SAB, which already includes Dr. Michelle Khine, the scientific founder of Shrink's nanofabrication platform.

"We are extremely honored to have these two distinguished scientists join our advisory board. The Scientific Advisory Board plays a key role in keeping Shrink closely associated with the scientific community and provides both scientific and industry guidance to our evolving technologies, supporting our company mandate, which is to bring these technologies to commercialization," said Mark L. Baum, CEO of Shrink Nanotechnologies. "Shrink now has an exceptional group of scientific advisors who bring complimentary skills and expertise to our novel biological research and development tools."

Shrink is developing biological research and development tools that employ its technology and microfabrication expertise to offer a new paradigm for cell biology, molecular biology, immunodiagnostics and stem cell research.

Shrink's current products include:

StemDisc, designed to improve embryoid body (EB) formation of stem cells at a higher rate and efficiency over current EB formation methods. It also allows for a multitude of applications across many currently existing microwell plate formats, thereby increasing the flexibility of use for researchers.

CellAlign, a platform technology that allows for the structured alignment of biological tissues, particularly tissues which naturally grow in a linear fashion -- cardiac or nerve tissue. The key feature is a microfabricated substrate with non-periodic linear patterned grooves that allow for the alignment of cells along a single axis. One such potential use for CellAlign is the creation of "heart patches" for the treatment of damaged heart tissue during cardiac infarction.

Scientific Advisory Board Member Biographies

Bruce R. Conklin, MD, is a Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology. His research combines genetic techniques and bioinformatics to study G-Protein Couple Receptor hormone signaling involved in murine embryoinic stem cells (mESC) and pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells. The cell lines can be used in to analyze toxic side effects of pharmaceuticals and study the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiac tissues. Dr. Conklin served as the founding director of the Gladstone Genomics Core and is currently the founding director of the Gladstone Stem Cell Core. From 1995 to 2001, Dr. Conklin was the Associate Director of the General Clinical Research Center at San Francisco General Hospital. He is a member of several honorary societies including the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Conklin was the co-chair of the UCSF public science project in 1994, and is co-chair of the UCSF-California Academy of Sciences Affiliation Task Force. Dr. Conklin is the Associate Director of the Gladstone CIRM Scholars Training Program, and the recipient of a CIRM New Stem Cell Lines grant. Dr. Conklin is a key advisor to iPierian, Inc., a Kleiner Perkins-backed biopharmaceutical company located in San Francisco.

Kara McCloskey, PhD, is Professor at School of Engineering, University of California, Merced. She is a chemical engineer who applies standard engineering principles, such as analysis and design, to the field of stem cells and tissue engineering. She has conducted significant research in the field of tissue engineering with a specific focus on the cardiovascular system and stem cells. She has co-authored numerous articles on stem cells and cell properties.

For further information on Shrink Nanotechnologies, StemDisc and CellAlign, and to be kept updated on company announcements, please visit www.shrinknano.com/rdbio.php and sign up for the Shrink Technology newsletter.

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About Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Shrink is a first of its kind FIGA™ organization. FIGA companies are “for profit” businesses that bring together diverse contributions from leaders in the worlds of finance, industry, government and academia. Shrink’s solutions, including its diverse polymer substrates, nano-devices and biotech research tools, among others, are designed to be ultra-functional and mechanically superior in the solar energy, environmental detection, stem cell and biotechnology markets. Shrink has created the ShrinkChip Manufacturing Solution™ which utilizes the unique characteristics of NanoShrink™, Shrink’s core multi-grade plastic material. Made from a unique shrinkable thermo-plastic material, NanoShrink™ enable complex ultra-functional nano-structures to be designed at the macro-scale and shrunken down, while retaining the original designs on a much smaller nano scale. This flexible and elegant design and fabrication solution reduces costs by eliminating the need for expensive clean room equipment, vastly improving time-to-market for products in Shrink’s focused market segments.

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