Daily News Briefs

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. announced that Michael Graetzel has joined its scientific advisory board. Graetzel is a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is director of the photonics and interfaces laboratory. He is a researcher in nanomaterials, particularly in the field of semiconductors, solar cells, batteries and related alternative energy applications. Altair, based in Reno, Nev., develops technology for manufacturing crystalline and noncrystalline nanomaterials. . . . ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., of Cambridge, Ontario, announced it has received an additional $12.7 million in follow-on automation systems orders from a supplier of flat panel display materials; the total value of orders awarded by this customer is about $28 million. ATS said the systems, to be built primarily at its US West Coast and Asian operations, will be installed in the customer's Asian facilities over the next fourteen months. . . . Shanghai AnXing Scientific Instrument & Materials Import & Export Co. Ltd. (Anxing), of Shanghai, China, and Cellomics Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pa., announced that Anxing will be Cellomics' distribution partner in China. Anxing will provide sales, marketing, service and customer support for Cellomics products, which include the ArrayScan and KineticScan HCS Readers, BioApplications image analysis software, High Content Informatics (HCi) software and HitKit HCS reagent hits. These products are used in drug discovery and systems biology research in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic institutions.