Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. (Shrink), an innovative nanotechnology company, announced that it has entered into a multi-year development and manufacturing agreement with EV Group, a 30 year old Austria-based leader in the nano-imprint lithography process designing and equipment manufacturing. The mutually exclusive two year agreement calls for EV Group and Shrink to develop and manufacture Shrink's structured substrates for its StemDisc stem cell and cell culturing platform.
Some of the key design features of the StemDisc are: Each StemDisc contains an eight-well footprint, and each well contains approximately 850 individual honeycomb shaped microwell cell culturing environments; Each StemDisc microwell environment is approximately 450 microns across and over 100 microns deep, and is made from sub 200 micron thick optically transparent polymers, allowing the researchers' microscope unprecedented access to the biological sample; and The bottom aspect of the cell culturing environment is round, mimicking the natural shape of many of the tissue samples which may be studied in the StemDisc.
"We are pleased to announce Shrink's relationship with EV Group, a world class nanotechnology applications developer and equipment manufacturer with a global presence. Over the past two years, Shrink StemDisc product footprint will serve as a platform for our entry into the growing cell culturing business. We believe that StemDisc offers unique competitive advantages relative to its peers and are excited as an organization as we roll out our initial products later this year and into the first quarter of next year," said Mark L Baum, CEO of Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Baum added, "Throughout the development process, we have counselled with EV Group and they have assisted us in creating manufacturing solutions that will allow Shrink to move from the prototype stage to the ability make many thousands of devices. As important, our relationship with EV Group has been structured for us to move beyond our initial product, the StemDisc450, as we add new products to the StemDisc family of products."
EV Group VP and general manager of North America stated, "Our Agreement with Shrink follows many months of work between Shrink's StemDisc development group and our staff in Tempe, Arizona. Our team's dedication to Shrink's desire to create a robust process to manufacture many thousands of StemDisc devices in an efficient and cost effective process using EV Group's state-of-the-art Application Lab has borne fruit as we begin to make devices as soon as the end of this year. This project will hopefully be one of many we work on with Shrink as EV Group leverages its significant intellectual capital in the form of process development for small and medium sizes business around the world."
Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. is a one-of-a-kind FIGA organization, which focuses on leveraging contributions from experts in Finance, Industry, Government and Academia. Operating as a high-technology development-stage company, Shrink owns and develops proprietary and patent-pending nano-sized technologies, components and product systems.
EV Group (EVG) is a world leader in wafer-processing solutions for semiconductor, MEMS and nanotechnology applications. Through close collaboration with its global customers, the company implements its flexible manufacturing model to develop reliable, high-quality, low-cost-of-ownership systems that are easily integrated into customers' fab lines.