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Seeman Voted Among Best and Brightest in Biotechnology Category

The World Technology Network (WTN) announced today that Nadrian Seeman, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at New York University, has been named a member of the prestigious organization and deemed one of the most innovative individuals in the world of biotechnology. The list of 100 luminaries is compiled every year by WTN members who vote on individuals who are doing the most innovative work in their field.

Recently, Seeman and his colleagues at NYU developed a device that allows for the translation of DNA sequences, thereby serving as a factory for assembling the building blocks of new materials. The invention has the potential to develop new synthetic fibers, advance the encryption of information, and improve DNA-based computation. The device, developed with NYU Chemistry graduate student Shiping Liao, emulates the process by which RNA replicas of DNA sequences are translated to create protein sequences. However, the signals that control the nanomechanical tool are DNA rather than RNA. The dimensions of the machine are approximately 110 x 30 x 2 nm.

The WTN is a global meeting ground, a virtual think tank, and an elite club whose members are all focused on the business and science of bringing important emerging technologies of all types (from biotechnology to new materials, from IT to new energy sources) into reality.

As one of the 2005 WTN members, Seeman is eligible to be selected as the winner of the 2005 World Technology Award for Biotechnology. The World Technology Awards honor individuals and corporations from 20 technology-related sectors viewed by their peers as being the most innovative and whose work has the greatest likelihood of long-term significance. Award categories include biotechnology, communication technology, energy, environment, finance, health and medicine, IT hardware, IT software, materials/nanotechnology, and space.

The World Technology Awards Gala ceremony, held in association with Time magazine, CNN, and Science magazine among others, will take place on November 15th at San Francisco City Hall in San Francisco. The Gala will conclude the two-day World Technology Summit.

Nominees for the 2005 World Technology Awards are identified based on an intensive, global process over a period of many months. Nominating members are primarily elected WTN Fellows from previous awards cycles, number more than 800, and are spread out over 60 countries.

James P. Clark, founder and Chairman of the World Technology Network, added, “The World Technology Awards program is not only a very inspiring way to identify and honor the most innovative people and organizations in the technology world, but it also is a truly disciplined way for the WTN membership to identify those who will formally join them, as WTN Fellows, as part of our global community. By working to make useful connections among our members, we look forward to assisting Seeman in continuing to help create our collective future and change our world.”

For more information on the World Technology Network, World Technology Awards and World Technology Summit, please visit this website: www.wtn.net.

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