The Russell Berrie Foundation in Oakland, New Jersey, has announced a $26 million grant to create the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

The $80 million institute will allow the Technion-Israel Institute to consolidate fifty groups already working in some way on the nano-scale — a "nano" is a billionth of a meter— on projects ranging from stem cell research to building self-assembling nanocomputers and finding new ways to fight terrorism. The grant, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Israeli government and supplemented by private donations, will also support the recruitment of academics from Israel and abroad and will make cutting-edge equipment available not only to Technion-Israel researchers but also to anyone from academia or industry in Israel.

"Smaller, faster electronics; new markers for medical diagnostics; nanometer-scale capsules delivering drugs to specific targets; novel types of lubricants; harder, lighter materials; and nonometer-scale light sources are just a few examples of the emerging fruits of nanotechnology," said Technion-Israel physics professor Uri Sivan, who will direct the new institute.