Nanotech conference coming to Winston-Salem

For the first time, the Nanotech Commercialization Conference will be held in Winston-Salem.

The conference, which is in its fifth year, is aimed at spurring more research and business collaboration. It will be held April 9-10 at Wake Forest BioTech Place.

It is expected to attract more than 250 attendees and more than 50 speakers, of which there will be a significant Triad representation.

Nanobiotechnology is the science of developing materials at the atomic and molecular level and then using them to develop products and devices.

Hosting the conference “gives us the opportunity to again spotlight the opportunities in advanced manufacturing, coupled with advanced materials development that our community offers,” said David Carroll, director of the Center for Nanotechnology Molecular Materials at the university.  Read more. 

Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow

Listed as #1 on the New York Times list of "Innovations that will change your tomorrow" is Electric Clothes, an innovation of the Wake Forest Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials:

Physicists at Wake Forest University have developed a fabric that doubles as a spare outlet. When used to line your shirt — or even your pillowcase or office chair — it converts subtle differences in temperature across the span of the clothing (say, from your cuff to your armpit) into electricity.

And because the different parts of your shirt can vary by about 10 degrees, you could power up your MP3 player just by sitting still.

According to the fabric’s creator, David Carroll, a cellphone case lined with the material could boost the phone’s battery charge by 10 to 15 percent over eight hours, using the heat absorbed from your pants pocket.