Applied DNA inks tech deal with college

Tiny Applied DNA Sciences Inc. of Stony Brook took a step earlier this week toward broadening its reach in the world of anti-counterfeiting technology, signing a deal with a SUNY college that will allow the company wide access to makers of computer chips and chip components.

The deal allows Applied DNA to use nanotech facilities at the College of NanoScale Science and Engineering at the University of Albany. Company scientists and executives will have the chance to work alongside some of the 300 corporate partners at the complex, said Steve Janack, the college's vice president for marketing.

Applied DNA's business prospects got a recent boost when President Barack Obama signed a law requiring military contractors to "detect and avoid counterfeit parts in the military supply chain." Applied DNA said the private sector could benefit from similar efforts.

Applied DNA chief executive James Hayward said the company may locate a facility at the nanotech complex upstate. Hayward said some $100 billion in counterfeit computer chips are sold worldwide annually. He declined to say how much of that market Applied DNA may one day capture. But the number, he said, "is enough to make my blood course."