Sona Nanotech

From an idea formed in a small laboratory in a university to a globally distributed product range, the Sona story is one of people, passion, and perseverance. It started in 2013 when Gerrard Marangoni, professor of chemistry at St Francis Xavier University, launched a research project into gold nanorods, intrigued as to why they weren’t being used more widely. “I quickly discovered that the presence of cytotoxins in the gold nanorods is a very important barrier to their adoption,” he said.

The presence of the cytotoxin CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) meant gold nanorods could not be used in-vivo. For more than a decade, manufacturers of gold nanorods had been approaching the CTAB problem by coating, removing or exchanging it and hoping for the best, but Dr. Marangoni had a simpler solution: “Why not make gold nanorods without CTAB altogether?”

So, Dr. Marangoni tasked his research associates, Dr. Kulbir Singh and Dr. Mike McAlduff, with developing toxin-free gold nanorods that could be manufactured cost-effectively and at volume. After four months of experimenting with different methods and chemicals, the team had its ‘eureka’ moment when it finally succeeded in developing gold nanorods free of CTAB.

That’s when Sona Nanotech was born – Sona being the Hindi word for gold.

But after that came two years of hard work to perfect the process and develop the ability to synthesize high volumes of high-quality gold nanorods. Today, Sona has two gold nanorod products – Gemini, for diagnostic uses, and Omni, for medical applications – and is speaking with researchers in academia and industry across the world about commercializing its breakthrough development, with several collaborations already underway.

Sona’s CEO, Darren Rowles, has 15 years’ experience of working closely with gold nanoparticle technology as well as a business-focused mentality, a combination that will take the company to new heights. In 2018 Sona merged with Stockport Exploration, listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and relocated to new laboratory space at the Innovacorp Centre in Dartmouth.