News Briefs

Nanotechnologies Inc., an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of high-performance nanoparticles, has appointed Steve Leach as CEO. Most recently, Leach was the director of strategic investments for Dell Corp.'s Dell Ventures, and served for a number of years in strategic planning for Dell's $8 billion Home and Small Business Product Group. . . . Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. of Burlington, Mass., a developer of light-based systems for cosmetic treatments, has received an additional $888,000 and a 12-month contract extension from the Department of the Army to continue developing a light-based self-treatment device for a chronic dermatological condition commonly known as "razor bumps." The condition affects 50 percent of African American and Hispanic military personnel. The initial $2.5 million research contract was awarded to Palomar in February 2004 and was scheduled to last for 19 months. This extension funds the program through October 2006. . . . Commodity use facilitator Inseq Corp. of Mount Arlington, N.J., has entered into a distribution agreement with Cheap Tubes Inc., an importer of carbon nanotubes and related products, giving Inseq the right to distribute the nanotubes and other products with a fixed discount to prevailing market prices through Inseq's planned new industrial commodities exchange, expected to launch later this year. Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical carbon molecules that are about 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and incredibly strong. They also are efficient heat conductors, making them potentially useful in industrial applications including fuel cells, energy storage devices, air and water filtration, flat panel displays, imaging technologies, chemical and physical sensors and structural and thermal composites.