Mass High Tech - September 15, 2008

Nanobiosym taps Ratan Tata for global advisory board
Mass High Tech

Ratan Tata, head of the multibillion-dollar global conglomerate Tata Group, has joined the global advisory board of Medford-based nanotechnology company Nanobiosym Inc., officials report

Nanobiosym makes Gene-Radar, a portable nanotechnology platform that can quickly detect genetic fingerprints from any biological organism, company officials said. The company’s goal is to produce low-cost handheld devices that could detect disease from a single drop of blood or saliva.

Tata is chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company for the Tata Group, the multibillion dollar conglomerate based in India, that includes Tata Communications Services Ltd., Tata Industries Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd. He is also on the advisory boards of the Mitsubishi Corp., JP Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce.

In September 2007, Nanobiosym received a $2 million defense contract from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, to develop its genetic-detection technology to sense biological threats.

Privately held Nanobiosym was founded in 2004 by Anita Goel, a physicist and physician with degrees from MIT and Harvard University. The firm has received previous government awards from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Defense Advance Research Project Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy.