In New Way to Edit DNA, Hope for Treating Disease

By NICHOLAS WADE
Published: December 28, 2009

Only one man seems to have ever been cured of AIDS, a patient who also had leukemia. To treat the leukemia, he received a bone marrow transplant in Berlin from a donor who, as luck would have it, was naturally immune to the AIDS virus.

If that natural mutation could be mimicked in human blood cells, patients could be endowed with immunity to the deadly virus. But there is no effective way of making precise alterations in human DNA.

That may be about to change, if a powerful new technique for editing the genetic text proves to be safe and effective. At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Carl June and colleagues have used the technique to disrupt a gene in patients’ T cells, the type attacked by the AIDS virus. They have then infused those cells back into the body. A clinical trial is now under way to see if the treated cells will reconstitute a patient’s immune system and defeat the virus.

The technique, which depends on natural agents called zinc fingers, may revive the lagging fortunes of gene therapy because it overcomes the inability to insert new genes at a chosen site. Other researchers plan to use the zinc finger technique to provide genetic treatments for diseases like bubble-boy disease, hemophilia and sickle-cell anemia.

In principle, the zinc finger approach should work on almost any site on any chromosome of any plant or animal. If so, it would provide a general method for generating new crop plants, treating many human diseases, and even making inheritable changes in human sperm or eggs, should such interventions ever be regarded as ethically justifiable.

Zinc fingers are essential components of proteins used by living cells to turn genes on and off. Their name derives from the atom of zinc that holds two loops of protein together to form a “finger.” Because the fingers recognize specific sequences of DNA, they guide the control proteins to the exact site where their target gene begins.

After many years of development, biologists have learned how to modify nature’s DNA recognition system into a general system for manipulating genes. Each natural zinc finger recognizes a set of three letters, or bases, on the DNA molecule. By stringing three or four fingers together, researchers can generate artificial proteins that match a particular site.

The new system has been developed by a small biotech company, Sangamo BioSciences of Richmond, Calif., and, to some degree separately, by academic researchers who belong to the Zinc Finger Consortium.

Sangamo was founded in 1995 by Edward O. Lanphier II, a former executive with a gene therapy company. Reading an article by Aaron Klug, the British crystallographer who discovered the zinc finger design, he saw the technique’s potential for genetic manipulation. He bought a company Dr. Klug had founded and worked with him and researchers like Carl O. Pabo to improve the technique and develop combinations of zinc fingers to match any sequence of DNA letters.

“We now have a full alphabet of zinc fingers,” Mr. Lanphier said, “but when we started the company it was like typing a novel with two fingers.”

Zinc finger proteins have many potential uses. One is to link them to agents that turn on or turn off the gene at the site recognized by the fingers.

More powerfully, the zinc fingers can be deployed as a word processing system for cutting and pasting genetic text. Two sets of zinc fingers are attached to a protein that cuts the DNA in between the two sites matched by the fingers. The cell quickly repairs the break but sometimes in a way that disrupts the gene. This is the approach used in destroying the gene for the receptor used by the AIDS virus to gain entry to white blood cells.

Or, if DNA for a new gene is inserted into a cell at the same time as the zinc fingers that scissor the DNA, the new gene will be incorporated by the cell’s repair system into the DNA at the break site. Most gene therapy techniques use a virus to carry new genes into a cell but cannot direct the virus to insert genes at a specific site.

“I think it’s a broadly applicable technology which has already allowed experiments that would not have been possible before,” said J. Keith Joung, a biologist who designs zinc finger proteins at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Daniel F. Voytas, a plant geneticist at the University of Minnesota, said the zinc finger technique would allow breeders to change the oil composition of any plant, the types of carbohydrates produced or the way carbon dioxide is captured. “We can go in and make any change we want to any plant species,” Dr. Voytas said.

Zinc fingers can also be used for “trait stacking,” the positioning of several beneficial genes at a single site. This avoids heavy regulatory costs because genetically altered plants must be tested for safety for each site that is modified.

The zinc finger technology has taken many years to prepare because of the difficulty of designing the fingers and also of preventing them from cutting the genome in the wrong places. Only a handful of laboratories are currently using the technique, but proponents expect to see rapid growth.

The Zinc Finger Consortium, founded by Dr. Joung and Dr. Voytas, makes the method available free, and researchers need only pay for materials. But there are some 200 steps in Dr. Joung’s recipe for making zinc fingers, and it takes time and dedication to do them all correctly.

The alternative is to buy zinc fingers. Sangamo has a commanding patent position and has licensed Sigma-Aldrich, a large life science company in St. Louis, to make zinc finger proteins for researchers. Sigma-Aldrich’s charge for a zinc finger protein that cuts the genome at the site of your choice is $39,000, with a discount for academic researchers. Zinc fingers that cut well-known human genes cost $12,000. Sigma-Aldrich has used the technology to generate rats with genetic defects that mimic human disease. A schizophrenic rat can be had for $100.

David Smoller, president of Sigma-Aldrich’s biotechnology unit, licensed the technology from Sangamo in 2006 when he felt the company had proved it worked. “This technology is just amazing,” Dr. Smoller said. “It’s a game changer.”

Sangamo has licensed the use of zinc fingers to Dow Agrosciences for creating new crop plants, and has reserved medical uses for itself. It has four Phase 2 clinical trials in progress, including treatments for diabetic neuropathy andamyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

In an ambitious effort to cure AIDS, Sangamo and the University of Pennsylvania started a clinical trial in February.

The AIDS virus enters the T cells of the immune system by latching on to a receptor called CCR5, but about 10 percent of Europeans have a mutation that disables the CCR5 gene. People who inherit two disabled copies of the gene do not have CCR5 on the surface of their T cells, so the AIDS virus has nothing to grab. These people are highly resistant to H.I.V.

In the zinc finger approach, the patient’s T cells are removed, and zinc finger scissors are used to disable the CCR5 gene. The treated cells are allowed to multiply, then reinjected into the patient. In experiments with mice, the treated cells turned out to have a strong natural advantage over the untreated ones, since those are under constant attack by the AIDS virus.

Whether or not zinc fingers will make gene therapy practical remains to be seen. “It’s a little too early to know since clinical trials are in their early stages,” said Dr. Katherine A. High, a hemophilia expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Matthew H. Porteus, a pediatric geneticist at the University of Texas, said, “I think it has the potential to solve a lot of the problems that have plagued the gene therapy field.” But Dr. Porteus noted that even the most carefully designed zinc fingers seemed to do some snipping away from their target site, a potentially serious safety problem.

Zinc fingers could be the gift that stem cell researchers have been waiting for. Stem cells taken from a patient may need to be genetically corrected before use, but until now there had been no way of doing so.

Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, a stem cell expert at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass., reported in August that he had successfully singled out three genes in induced embryonic stem cells with the help of zinc finger scissors designed by Sangamo. “This is a really important tool for human embryonic stem cells,” Dr. Jaenisch said. The technology has not yet reached perfection. Some of the zinc fingers Sangamo provided “worked beautifully,” he said, but some did not.

Zinc fingers may also make technically possible a morally fraught procedure that has been merely a theoretical possibility — the alteration of the human germ line, meaning the egg or sperm cells. Genetic changes made in current gene therapy are to body cells, and they would die with the individual. But changes made to the germ line would be inherited. Many ethicists and others say this is a bridge that should not be crossed, since altering the germ line, even if justifiable for medical reasons, would lower the barrier to other kinds of change.

Several scientists were reluctant to discuss the issue, or dismissed it by saying that even zinc fingers did not meet the error-free standards that would be required for germ-line engineering. But zinc finger scissors are so efficient that only 5 to 10 embryos need be treated to get one with the desired result. This could make it practical to alter the germ line.

Since the germ lines of rats and zebra fish have already been altered with zinc finger scissors, “in principle there is no reason why a similar strategy could not be used to modify the human germ line,” Dr. Porteus said. The kind of disease that might be better treated in the germ line, if ethically acceptable, is cystic fibrosis, which affects many different tissues.

The disease could be corrected in unfertilized eggs, using the zinc finger technique, Dr. Porteus said. But he added, “I don’t think our society is ready for someone to propose this.”

Source

Development and Utilization of a Protein Emitting Near-infrared Light Which Easily Penetrates through Living Tissue

Method to detect cancer cells utilizing the bioluminescence reaction of Cypridina noctiluca

( Translation of AIST press release of September 8, 2009 )

Points

• A fluorescent dye introduced in the Cypridina luciferase emits near-infrared light through in vivo chemical reactions.
• An antibody-conjugated near-infrared light-emitting probe can be used to visualize and locate cancer cells.
• A technique for cancer cell detection that does not require irradiation with external radiation or ultraviolet light has been developed; this method can lead to innovations in medical technology.

Summary

Yoshihiro Ohmiya (Principal Research Scientist), the Research Institute of Genome-based Biofactory (Director: Yoichi Kamagata) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (President: Tamotsu Nomakuchi) and Chun Wu (Research Scientist), the Cell Dynamics Research Group, the Research Institute for Cell Engineering (Director: Hajime Ohgushi) of AIST, in collaboration with Michitaka Ozaki (Professor) of Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University (President: Hiroshi Saeki), have developed a technique to locate cancer cells by synthesizing a near-infrared light-emitting protein and then conjugating it with a therapeutic antibody to produce a probe for cancer cells.

The near-infrared light-emitting protein was synthesized by introducing a near-infrared light-emitting organic fluorescent dye in the sugar chain of Cypridina luciferase. This fluorescent dye emits near-infrared light when energy transfer occurs in in vivo chemical reactions. Because near-infrared light can easily penetrate living tissue, the near-infrared light emitted within the body can be observed externally. This type of near-infrared light-emitting protein has never been synthesized before.

Moreover, the researchers demonstrated that the liver cancer cells implanted within the body of a mouse could be monitored using the near-infrared light-emitting probe along with a CCD camera.

The probe was produced by conjugating the near-infrared light-emitting protein with a therapeutic antibody protein. This newly developed probe for cancer cells emits near-infrared light by chemical reactions. Thus, this method for cancer cell detection does not require external irradiation with radiation or ultraviolet light. This probe can be used for the assessment of therapeutic antibodies, real-time pathological diagnosis, etc., and can lead to innovations in medical technology.

The details of this study will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on September 7, 2009 (Eastern Time, USA).

Schematic diagram of near-infrared light-emitting probe

Social Background for Research

It is important to develop cancer medicine to protect the health of Japanese people, and the development of intraoperative photo-dynamic diagnosis that can enable the complete removal of minute cancer tissues without the need for large-scale facilities is highly anticipated. On the other hand, the use of monoclonal antibodies as new cancer therapeutics (the so-called therapeutic antibodies) has attracted considerable attention. Therapeutic antibodies recognize cancer-cell-specific antigens and attack cancer cells. Therefore, it is very important to elucidate the in vivo behaviors of therapeutic antibodies in order to assess the antibodies. Moreover, minute cancer tissues can be identified by visualizing the cancer cells using antibodies.

Currently, techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) using an accelerator, are used to monitor the in vivo migration of antibodies; however, PET requires large-size equipment and large-scale facilities, is time-consuming, and is expensive, which greatly limits the use of PETs in clinical environments. Although optical probes, such as green fluorescent protein (GFP), can also be used to monitor therapeutic antibodies, the range of fluorescence of GFP is within the range of visible light (wavelength: 400–700 nm) which cannot easily penetrate living tissue; therefore, the use of GFP is limited. An alternative to GFP is utilization of near-infrared light (wavelength: 700–1400 nm), which can easily penetrate living tissue through the so-called “optical window (wavelength: 650–1000 nm)”. However, although the use of near-infrared light has been highly anticipated, it has seldom been demonstrated in practical applications.

History of Research

AIST has recognized the considerable potential of bioluminescence system of Cypridina noctiluca and has been conducting research in the large-scale production of Cypridina luciferin and Cypridina luciferase. In collaboration with Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University and Liv Tech Inc., AIST has been developing a light-emitting probe, namely, a light-emitting protein conjugated with DLK-1 antibody (one of candidate therapeutic antibodies) as well as applications of the probe for the visualization of liver cancer cells.

Details of Research

The near-infrared light-emitting protein, which emits near-infrared light by the in vivo chemical reactions via artificial bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET), was synthesized by introducing a near-infrared light-emitting organic fluorescent dye to the sugar chain of Cypridina luciferase. Because near-infrared light is barely absorbed by the hemoglobin in blood (Fig. 1), near-infrared light emitted within the living body can be monitored externally using, for example, a CCD camera. Previously developed near-infrared light-emitting fluorescent dyes require external light sources to supply the energy required for the emission of fluorescent light. However, the newly developed near-infrared light-emitting protein does not require an external light source because it can emit light by in vivo chemical reactions.

Figure 1 Emission spectrum of the near-infrared light-emitting protein and Cypridina luciferin in blood

The near-infrared light-emitting probe was produced by conjugating a near-infrared light-emitting protein with DLK-1 antibody, one of therapeutic antibody candidates. This probe was added to the cell culture medium containing DLK-1 antigen-expressing cells, and incubated for approximately 120 minutes. After the cells were washed, Cypridina luciferin was added to the medium. As a result, emission of near-infrared light was observed only in the DLK-1 antigen-expressing cells (Fig. 2). This indicates that the near-infrared light-emitting probe has two abilities: to recognize the DLK-1 antigen and to emit near-infrared light.

Figure 2 Near-infrared images of cells expressing the DLK-1 antigen (left) and cells not expressing the DLK-1 antigen (right) obtained using the near-infrared light-emitting probe

Figure 3 Appearance of the mouse with implanted liver cancer cells (left) and the real-time image of cancer cells expressing DLK-1 obtained using the near-infrared light-emitting probe

Cancer cells expressing the DLK-1 antigen were implanted in mice. When the implanted cancer cells grew to approximately a few mm, the near-infrared light-emitting probe was intravenously injected into the mice. Twenty-four hours after the probe injection, Cypridina luciferin was intravenously injected into the mice. 　Emission of near-infrared light was observed at the site of cancer cell implantation when the mice were imaged using a CCD camera (Fig. 3). A filter that blocks light of wavelength less than 570 nm was used to observe the emission of light in the wavelength range around the near-infrared region, and clear images with little background were obtained.

Future Schedule

We will apply this newly developed technique to various antibodies, and develop many applications including the development of antibody therapeutics, antibody-based intraoperative diagnosis, real-time pathological imaging, and antibody-based assessment of regenerative cells.

Source

Microcapsules to combat climate change - intelligent construction materials boost energy efficiency and comfort

12/26/2009 1:08:47 PM

More and more energy used for cooling

There is an urgent need for intelligent, low-energy alternatives to air-conditioning systems. Recent years have witnessed a steady increase in the amount of energy used to cool offices, commercial premises and housing. “We already use around 15 percent of our primary energy in Germany to generate energy for cooling,” reports Prof. Dr. Volker Wittwer, former deputy director of the Fraunhofer ISE. And the trend is upwards: while the amount of energy required each year for cooling in Europe stood at approximately 40 terawatts in 1995, this figure is expected to triple by 2010, rising to more than 120 TWh per annum.

The ice cube effect

To produce a passive cooling effect, the researchers made use of phase change materials – known as PCMs – such as paraffin. During their transition from solid to liquid, PCMs absorb large quantities of energy, thereby preventing rooms from getting hotter. “It functions in a similar way to an ice cube: while the ice cube is melting the temperature remains at 0°C, and it doesn't rise above 0°C until everything has melted,” Wittwer explains, outlining the basic principle. Paraffins melt in the comfortable room temperature range that lies between 20°C and 26°C, in the course of which they absorb massive amounts of heat from their environment and prevent the temperature from increasing. At night, when the ambient temperature drops, the wax solidifies and the capsules release the heat they absorbed, making them ready to repeat the process the next day.

The right packaging

The principle is not a new one – in fact the idea of using phase change materials to control the temperature in buildings first emerged around 60 years ago. However, attempts to incorporate PCMs in construction materials were unsuccessful for many years. The breakthrough was finally achieved when Professor Wittwer came up with the idea of packing the wax into tiny casings and integrating it in conventional construction materials such as plaster, putty and lightweight panels

Collaboration between the research community and industry

Researchers from BASF took on the task of developing the right kind of encapsulation. “We were looking for ways of encapsulating the phase change materials in microscopic containers, or ‘microcapsules’,” explains Dr. rer. nat. Ekkehard Jahns from BASF. Microencapsulation offers a number of advantages: for example, the fact that the solid to liquid phase transition occurs in tiny spheres means that no wax can leak out, while the large surface areas and small volumes of the capsules means that the heat can quickly be absorbed into the material and the cold rapidly released. The diameter of the microcapsules is only around 5 µm, which is less than half the thickness of a human hair. “That makes it easier for us to incorporate the spheres in construction materials such as gypsum plaster, which can be applied to the wall in whatever form is required. The plaster does not look any different from conventional materials,” Jahns continues. “And there are plenty of other construction materials that are suitable for the integration of microcapsules, such as aerated cement blocks, plasterboard and wood products.”

Range of applications

The new construction materials are of particular interest for lightweight structures. A layer of PCM plaster approximately 1.5 cm thick has the same heat capacity as a concrete or brick wall. “That means we can reap the benefits of lightweight design while still storing heat,” states Dr.-Ing. Peter Schossig from ISE. “Modern phase change materials help us to go a long way towards solving the problem of rooms overheating, not only in offices but also in portable prefabricated buildings and older-style loft apartments. Newly developed construction materials containing microencapsulated latent heat storage materials can make a major contribution towards enhancing buildings, especially when it comes to increasing thermal comfort and making spaces more comfortable,” Schossig emphasizes.

Suitability for practical applications

Construction materials containing microencapsulated latent heat storage materials have already proven their suitability for practical applications. They have been incorporated in numerous buildings, including the Badenova building in Offenburg and the Haus der Gegenwart (Contemporary House) in Munich. Although the raw materials are available for purchase under the brand name Micronal PCMR, they are not yet available to buy in home improvement centers. “The explanations they require are still too elaborate at this point. The key is to integrate the new construction materials in the building's energy concept right from the planning stage,” Schossig stresses. But how long will these new building materials last? “The materials have a lifespan of between 30 and 50 years,” Schossig states. They also offer further advantages, such as the fact that they do not require maintenance and do not suffer damage as a result of hammering in nails or drilling holes.

Major benefits from tiny spheres

“PCMs offer enormous economic potential. By 2050 we are hoping to cut energy consumption by 50 percent, and much of these energy savings will have to come from buildings. To do this efficiently, we need new technologies, and our materials will make a major contribution towards developing them,” declares Professor Volker Wittwer with conviction.

Source

Citrus surprise: Vitamin C boosts the reprogramming of adult cells into stem cells

December 24, 2009

Image from Wikipedia

Famous for its antioxidant properties and role in tissue repair, vitamin C is touted as beneficial for illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer and perhaps even for slowing the aging process. Now, a study published online on December 24th by Cell Press in the journal Cell Stem Cell uncovers an unexpected new role for this natural compound: facilitating the generation of embryonic-like stem cells from adult cells.

Over the past few years, we have learned that adult cells can be reprogrammed into cells with characteristics similar to embryonic stem cells by turning on a select set of genes. Although the reprogrammed cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), have tremendous potential for regenerative medicine, the conversion is extremely inefficient.

"The low efficiency of the reprogramming process has hampered progress with this technology and is indicative of how little we understand it. Further, this process is most challenging in human cells, raising a significant barrier for producing iPSCs and serious concerns about the quality of the cells that are generated," explains senior study author Dr. Duanqing Pei from the South China Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Pei and colleagues measured the production of reactive oxygen species or ROS during reprogramming and discovered a potential link between high ROS and low reprogramming efficiency. They became particularly interested in antioxidants, hypothesizing that they might suppress ROS and cell senescence, which seems to be a major roadblock for the generation of iPSCs.

The researchers found that adding vitamin C, an essential nutrient that is abundant in citrus fruits, enhanced iPSC generation from both mouse and human cells. Vitamin C accelerated gene expression changes and promoted a more efficient transition to the fully reprogrammed state. Somewhat to their surprise, they found that other antioxidants do not have the same effect, but vitamin C does seem to act at least in part through slowing cell senescence.

"Our results highlight a simple way to improve iPSC generation and provide additional insight into the mechanistic basis of reprogramming," concludes Dr. Pei. "It is also of interest that a vitamin with long-suspected anti-aging effects has such a potent influence on reprogramming, which can be considered a reversal of the aging process at the cellular level. It is likely that our work may stimulate further research in this area as well."

More information: Esteban et al.: “Report: Vitamin C Enhances the Generation of Mouse and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.” Publishing in Cell Stem Cell, January 8, 2010. http://www.cellstemcell.com

Source: Cell Press

Source

Nanoparticles can heal abscesses

December 26th, 2009 - 3:03 pm ICT by IANS

Washington, Dec 26 (IANS) Researchers are relying on nanoparticles to heal skin abscesses caused by strains of bacteria that resist other medicines.

Abscesses are deep skin infections that often resist antibiotics and may require surgical drainage.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers developed tiny nanoparticles that carry nitric oxide, a gas that helps the body fight infection.

When applied to abscesses engineered in 60 mice, the particles released nitric oxide that travelled deep into the skin, clearing up the infections and helping to heal tissue.

“Our work shows that nitric oxide-releasing nanoparticles can effectively treat experimental skin abscesses caused by antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, even without surgical drainage,” says Joshua D. Nosanchuk, senior study author and associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology.

“This is important,” he notes, “because several million people are treated for staph infections every year in the US,” he said, according to a statement from the college.

“Increasingly, these infections are caused by methicillin-resistant Staph aureus - or MRSA - the serious and potentially fatal ’superbug’ that we tackled in this study,” added Nosanchuk.

The study appeared in PLoS One.

Source

Quantum Ventures Inc. - FORM 10-Q - November 12, 2009

[SNIP]

Therefore, it would seem that solar power will ultimately be the solution to the energy needs of the world. However, in 2007 solar power is still not ready for every day commercial deployment. This is due to the cost of installing such systems and therefore, the cost of the electrical energy they generate being much higher than the current alternatives. All currently available solar technologies rely on the photoelectric effect, in which an incoming solar photon knocks an electron from a bound orbit in a semi conducting material such as silicon and then is collected through a conducting layer to be delivered as electrical current to a load. The current commercially available technology for direct conversion of sunlight to electrical energy (PV solar) is capable of somewhere between 5% and 15% conversion efficiency. This means that for every 1000 Watts of incident full sunlight (which is the approximate value for one square meter of the earths’ surface) a commercially available panel today will put out between 50 and 200 watts of electricity. The number of hours in a day, on average, in which the sun shines at maxim brightness varies across the face of the earth. In the lower latitudes it can be as high as 8 hours per day and in more northerly climates it can be as low as 2 or 3 hours daily, on average, throughout the year.

When the efficiency of the solar panel is combined with the availability of sunlight one begins to get to the business proposition of solar panels, that is: what quantity of electrical energy is produced yearly for how much investment in the solar system. Presently, this equation does not provide a viable economic model (without considerable government subsidy) for the deployment of solar power due to the high costs and low efficiencies of the available cell and panel solutions. CIO has developed a proprietary technique for converting the suns radiation into electrical current that does not operate as all other available technologies do via the photoelectric effect as described by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago.

Market Opportunities:

The electric power industry is one of the world’s largest industrial segments, with annual revenue of approximately $1.06 trillion in 2004, according to Datamonitor. Global electricity demand has grown consistently at a rate between 2% and 5% annually for the past decade, according to the Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy, or EIA. Worldwide demand for electricity is expected to increase from 14.3 trillion kilowatt hours in 2003 (implying an average selling price of $.075 per kilowatt hour) to 26.0 trillion kilowatt hours by 2025, according to the United States Department of Energy’s International Energy Outlook. New investments in generation, transmission and distribution to meet growth in the demand for electricity, excluding investments in fuel supply, are expected to total roughly $10 trillion by 2030, according to the IEA.

For the sake of comparison, the total world demand for electrical energy of 14.3 Trillion KW Hrs/year would involve the annual solar irradiance on a piece of desert land near the equator of approximately 85 Km on a side and assuming the CIO panels were used with 30% efficiency the entire world electrical demand could be met with panels covering a similar square of 155 Km on a side. Assuming that such panels could be manufactured for $1/Wp and that for each 1 Wp a total of 2 KWHrs/yr of electricity is derived then all of the panels required to generate present total world electricity needs of $14.3 T KWhrs/yr could be produced for $7.1 Trillion. Amortizing this over the 30 year life of the panels would give $0.016/KWhr.

Our Growth Strategies

Quantum Solar Power Corp. intends to be a manufacturer and marketer of solar panels based on the unique and patent pending solar technology. Multiple solar panels each of approximately 1 square meter in size will be used by customers to create large arrays of electricity generating capacity, when combined with other products will allow for the creation and transmission of electricity either for consumption by the owner or for selling to a utility. The process for manufacturing is based on known techniques in nanotechnology including guided self assembly and bottom up processing. It is expected therefore that in comparison with semiconductor patterning techniques which are used in standard solar cell manufacture that the capital equipment will be less expensive to purchase and to operate and that operating yields will be improved thus contributing to lower per panel costs.

Read more:
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:FgJBkFe_ooYJ:www.faqs.org/sec-filings/091113/Quantum-Ventures-Inc_10-Q/+Canadian+Integrated+Optics+(IOM)+Limited&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca#ixzz0aWLXogUh


QV cost=$0.016/KWhr
QV sales=$0.075/KWhr
QVprofit margin=$0.059/KWhr!
:-)(-:

Ref:

QUANTUM SOLAR POWER

(OTC BB: QSPW.OB)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=QSPW.OB

Form 8-K/A for QUANTUM SOLAR POWER CORP.

22-Dec-2009

Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

ITEM 1.01 ENTRY INTO A MATERIAL DEFINITE AGREEMENT

On December 14, 2009, we entered into an agreement with Canadian Integrated Optics (IOM) (Limited), an Isle of Man corporation, wherein we agreed to purchase all of their solar cell technology in consideration of 71,500,000 restricted shares of common stock. As part the transaction, Desmond Ross will return 47,000,000 shares of our common stock that he owns to treasury. Closing of the transaction will occur shortly.

In the Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 16, 2009, we incorrectly identified Canadian Integrated as Canadian Integrated Optics (IOM)(Limited) when in fact the correct name should have been Canadian Integrated Optics (IOM) Limited. This amended Form 8-K is intended to correct the foregoing name discrepancy.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/091222/qspw.ob8-k_a.html

Glitter-sized solar photovoltaics produce competitive results

December 22 2009

Enlarge

These are representative thin crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells -- these are from 14 to 20 micrometers thick and 0.25 to 1 millimeter across. Credit: Murat Okandan

Sandia National Laboratories scientists have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used.

The tiny cells could turn a person into a walking solar battery charger if they were fastened to flexible substrates molded around unusual shapes, such as clothing.

The solar particles, fabricated of crystalline silicon, hold the potential for a variety of new applications. They are expected eventually to be less expensive and have greater efficiencies than current photovoltaic collectors that are pieced together with 6-inch- square solar wafers.

The cells are fabricated using microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques common to today's electronic foundries.

Sandia lead investigator Greg Nielson said the research team has identified more than 20 benefits of scale for its microphotovoltaic cells. These include new applications, improved performance, potential for reduced costs and higher efficiencies.

"Eventually units could be mass-produced and wrapped around unusual shapes for building-integrated solar, tents and maybe even clothing," he said. This would make it possible for hunters, hikers or military personnel in the field to recharge batteries for phones, cameras and other electronic devices as they walk or rest.

Even better, such microengineered panels could have circuits imprinted that would help perform other functions customarily left to large-scale construction with its attendant need for field construction design and permits.

Said Sandia field engineer Vipin Gupta, "Photovoltaic modules made from these microsized cells for the rooftops of homes and warehouses could have intelligent controls, inverters and even storage built in at the chip level. Such an integrated module could greatly simplify the cumbersome design, bid, permit and grid integration process that our solar technical assistance teams see in the field all the time."

For large-scale power generation, said Sandia researcher Murat Okandan, "One of the biggest scale benefits is a significant reduction in manufacturing and installation costs compared with current PV techniques."

Part of the potential cost reduction comes about because microcells require relatively little material to form well-controlled and highly efficient devices.

From 14 to 20 micrometers thick (a human hair is approximately 70 micrometers thick), they are 10 times thinner than conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch brick-sized cells, yet perform at about the same efficiency.

Enlarge

Sandia project lead Greg Nielson holds a solar cell test prototype with a microscale lens array fastened above it. Together, the cell and lens help create a concentrated photovoltaic unit. Credit: Randy Montoya

100 times less silicon generates same amount of electricity

"So they use 100 times less silicon to generate the same amount of electricity," said Okandan. "Since they are much smaller and have fewer mechanical deformations for a given environment than the conventional cells, they may also be more reliable over the long term.

"Another manufacturing convenience is that the cells, because they are only hundreds of micrometers in diameter, can be fabricated from commercial wafers of any size, including today's 300-millimeter (12-inch) diameter wafers and future 450-millimeter (18-inch) wafers. Further, if one cell proves defective in manufacture, the rest still can be harvested, while if a brick-sized unit goes bad, the entire wafer may be unusable. Also, brick-sized units fabricated larger than the conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch cross section to take advantage of larger wafer size would require thicker power lines to harvest the increased power, creating more cost and possibly shading the wafer. That problem does not exist with the small-cell approach and its individualized wiring.

Other unique features are available because the cells are so small. "The shade tolerance of our units to overhead obstructions is better than conventional PV panels," said Nielson, "because portions of our units not in shade will keep sending out electricity where a partially shaded conventional panel may turn off entirely.

"Because flexible substrates can be easily fabricated, high-efficiency PV for ubiquitous solar power becomes more feasible, said Okandan.

A commercial move to microscale PV cells would be a dramatic change from conventional silicon PV modules composed of arrays of 6-inch-by-6-inch wafers. However, by bringing in techniques normally used in MEMS, electronics and the light-emitting diode (LED) industries (for additional work involving gallium arsenide instead of silicon), the change to small cells should be relatively straightforward, Gupta said.

Each cell is formed on silicon wafers, etched and then released inexpensively in hexagonal shapes, with electrical contacts prefabricated on each piece, by borrowing techniques from integrated circuits and MEMS.

Offering a run for their money to conventional large wafers of crystalline silicon, electricity presently can be harvested from the Sandia-created cells with 14.9 percent efficiency. Off-the-shelf commercial modules range from 13 to 20 percent efficient.

A widely used commercial tool called a pick-and-place machine — the current standard for the mass assembly of electronics — can place up to 130,000 pieces of glitter per hour at electrical contact points preestablished on the substrate; the placement takes place at cooler temperatures. The cost is approximately one-tenth of a cent per piece with the number of cells per module determined by the level of optical concentration and the size of the die, likely to be in the 10,000 to 50,000 cell per square meter range. An alternate technology, still at the lab-bench stage, involves self-assembly of the parts at even lower costs.

Solar concentrators — low-cost, prefabricated, optically efficient microlens arrays — can be placed directly over each glitter-sized cell to increase the number of photons arriving to be converted via the photovoltaic effect into electrons. The small cell size means that cheaper and more efficient short focal length microlens arrays can be fabricated for this purpose.

High-voltage output is possible directly from the modules because of the large number of cells in the array. This should reduce costs associated with wiring, due to reduced resistive losses at higher voltages.

Other possible applications for the technology include satellites and remote sensing.

Provided by Sandia National Laboratories

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Nanomachines May Someday Operate Far More Efficiently Thanks to Important Theoretical Discoveries

Nanoscale machines expected to have wide application in industry, energy, medicine and other fields may someday operate far more efficiently thanks to important theoretical discoveries concerning the manipulation of famous Casimir forces that took place at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory.

The groundbreaking research, conducted through mathematical simulations, revealed the possibility of a new class of materials able to exert a repulsive force when they are placed in extremely close proximity to each other. The repulsive force, which harnesses a quantum phenomenon known as the Casimir effect, may someday allow nanoscale machines to overcome mechanical friction.

Though the frictional forces in nanoscale environments are small, they significantly inhibit the function of the tiny devices designed to operate in that realm, explained Costas Soukoulis, a senior physicist at the Ames Lab and Distinguished Professor of physics at Iowa State University, who led the research effort.

Soukoulis and his teammates, including Ames Laboratory assistant scientist Thomas Koschny, were the first to study the use of exotic materials known as chiral metamaterials as a way to harness the Casimir effect. Their efforts have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to manipulate the Casimir force. The findings were published in the Sept. 4, 2009 issue of Physical Review Letters, in an article entitled, "Repulsive Casimir Force in Chiral Metamaterials."

Understanding the importance of their discovery requires a basic understanding of both the Casimir effect and the unique nature of chiral metamaterials.

The Casimir effect was named after Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir, who postulated its existence in 1948. Using quantum theory, Casimir predicted that energy should exist even in a vacuum, which can give rise to forces acting on the bodies brought into close proximity of each other. For the simple case of two parallel plates, he postulated that the energy density inside the gap should decrease as the size of the gap decreases, also meaning work must be done to pull the plates apart. Alternatively, an attractive force that pushes the plates closer together can be said to exist.

Casimir forces observed experimentally in nature have almost always been attractive and have rendered nanoscale and microscale machines inoperable by causing their moving parts to permanently stick together. This has been a long-standing problem that scientists working on such devices have struggled to overcome.

Remarkably, this new discovery demonstrates that a repulsive Casimir effect is possible using chiral metamaterials. Chiral materials share an interesting characteristic: their molecular structure prevents them from being superimposed over a reverse copy of themselves, in the same way a human hand cannot fit perfectly atop a reverse image of itself. Chiral materials are fairly common in nature. The sugar molecule (sucrose) is one example. However, natural chiral materials are incapable of producing a repulsive Casimir effect that is strong enough to be of practical use.

For that reason, the group turned its attention to chiral metamaterials, so named because they do not exist in nature and must instead be made in the lab. The fact that they are artificial gives them a unique advantage, commented Koschny. "With natural materials you have to take what nature gives you; with metamaterials, you can create a material to exactly meet your requirements," he said.

The chiral metamaterials the researchers focused on have a unique geometric structure that enabled them to change the nature of energy waves, such as those located in the gap between the two closely positioned plates, causing those waves to exert a repulsive Casimir force.

The present study was carried out using mathematical simulations because of the difficulties involved in fabricating these materials with semiconductor lithographic techniques. While more work needs to be done to determine if chiral materials can induce a repulsive Casimir force strong enough to overcome friction in nanoscale devices, practical applications of the Casimir effect are already under close study at other DOE facilities, including Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. Both have expressed considerable interest in using the chiral metamaterials designed at Ames Laboratory to fabricate new structures and reduce the attractive Casimir force, and possibly to obtain a repulsive Casimir force.

Posted December 7th, 2009

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Hot Electrons Could Double Solar Power

A novel approach could turn more sunlight into electricity.

By Kevin Bullis FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

For decades researchers have investigated a theoretical means to double the power output of solar cells--by making use of so-called "hot electrons." Now researchers at Boston College have provided new experimental evidence that the theory will work. They built solar cells that get a power boost from high-energy photons. This boost, the researchers say, is the result of extracting hot electrons.

Hot solar: This solar cell is made of thin layers of amorphous silicon with aluminum dots serving as back electrical contacts. It provides evidence that it may be possible to double the output of solar cells. Credit: Michael Naughton

The results are a step toward solar cells that break conventional efficiency limits. Because of the way ordinary solar cells work, they can, in theory, convert at most about 35 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity, wasting the rest as heat. Making use of hot electrons could result in efficiencies as high as 67 percent, says Matthew Beard, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, who was not involved in the current work. Doubling the efficiency of solar cells could cut the cost of solar power in half.

Conventional solar cells can only efficiently convert the energy of certain wavelengths of light into electricity. For example, when a solar cell optimized for red wavelengths of light absorbs photons of red light, it produces electrons with energy levels similar to those of the incoming photons. When the cell absorbs a higher-energy blue photon, it first produces a similarly high-energy electron--a hot electron. But this loses much of its energy very quickly as heat before it can escape the cell to produce electricity. (Conversely, cells optimized for blue light don't convert red light into electricity, so they sacrifice the energy in this part of the spectrum.)

The Boston College researchers made ultra-thin solar cells just 15 nanometers thick. Because the cells were so thin, the hot electrons could be pulled out of the cell quickly, before they cooled. The researchers found that the voltage output of the cells increased when they illuminated them with blue light rather than red. "Now we're getting the electrons from the blue light out before they lose all of their excess energy," says Michael Naughton, a professor of physics at Boston College.

The problem is that because they're so thin, the solar cells let most of the incoming light pass through them. As a result, they convert only 3 percent of the energy in incoming light into electricity. "I think it's promising," Beard says. But he adds that so far they're only showing "a pretty small effect."

Naughton says that his team plans to address this problem using nanowires. The basic idea,put forward by many different researchers now, is to make forests of nanowires that will absorb light along their lengths. And because each nanowire is thin, the electrons won't have far to travel to escape to a conductive layer on its surface. This could make it possible to replicate the hot electron effect seen in the thin solar cells. Naughton and colleagues are commercializing such nanowires via a startup called Solasta, based in Newton, MA, which is being funded by the respected venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The researchers also hope to increase the number of hot electrons they collect from the absorbed light. To do this, they are turning to an approach taken by Martin Green, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia and a leader in using hot electrons in solar cells. This method involves incorporating a layer of quantum dots, which act as a sort-of filter, selectively extracting higher-than-normal-voltage electrons, Beard says. Naughton says that Solasta has already demonstrated that it's possible to incorporate such quantum dots into the company's nanowires.

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