Marcel Bruchez

"Six years ago, Marcel Bruchez, then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, showed that quantum dots -- glowing particles just nanometers wide -- could be used to tag proteins inside cells. Within months, Bruchez had cofounded Quantum Dot to market the new imaging tool to biologists and drug developers seeking a more detailed picture of molecular events. It is ""one of the first commercial applications of nanotechnology,"" says Bruchez."