Nanopoint, Inc. Revolutionizing Biophotonics in Hawaii

Nanopoint Inc. is a nanotechnology-based, biophotonics company that will revolutionize the study and treatment of diseases, and accelerate the discovery and development of new life saving drugs. Nanopoint’s technology provides the basis for a set of enabling tools including intra-cellular optical imaging instrumentation, imaging software, and a set of consumables to feed the biomedical pharmaceutical, environmental, and energy industries as they undergo significant growth.

“Nanopoint’s…creation of an instrument with the ability to view inside cells may have many more application than the [inventors] have ever dreamed of…it is a novel and groundbreaking approach to investigating living cells in a way that has never been able to be done before.” National Science Foundation, November 2002

Nanopoint is a technology company spun-off from Oceanit, one of Hawaii’s largest and most diverse science and engineering companies, with a long standing history of spinning out commercializable technology with its genesis in government-funded research. Oceanit’s Maui office conducted this early-stage, proof-of-concept research with grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), in collaboration with world-class researchers at Stanford University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Hawaii. This early work successfully demonstrated the feasibility and capability of Nanopoint’s proprietary technologies.

Nanopoint is developing disruptive technology, allowing the capability to image within a live cell at previously “impossible” resolutions. Current imaging technology only works on fixed, or dead cells. The Nanopoint team formulated a proprietary design model based on an optimized geometry, which has enabled an optical probe to successfully penetrate a cell membrane, maneuver within the cell and image cell structures without killing the cell. The design of this intracellular near-field imaging probe had to take into consideration the probe’s materials, including optimal light transmission as well as an optimal geometry of the probe tip for cell penetration without damaging or destroying the cell structure. Nanoscale structures enable high resolution by amplifying hard-to-detect evanescent waves "and use the information contained within them," said Dan O'Connell, Nanopoint's chief science officer. "This level of resolution to view the inside of a living cell is currently not done at all."

This will allow drug companies to see how a cell reacts as a drug is introduced, reducing the risk of Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) from it’s current level of 2 million ADRs a year, at an estimated cost of $136 billion yearly. Nanopoint’s offerings would allow drug companies to also gather more data using less materials from testing, reducing the time necessary to bring a new drug to market.

Nanopoint was recently recognized, from over 200 companies, as one of the top ten overlooked nanotechnology firms by Nano World. For more information, please visit: www.nanopointimaging.com and www.oceanit.com.