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Birmingham, Newcastle and Nottingham universities have secured more than Pounds 5 million for nanotechnology research.

The grants have been allocated as part of the Department of Trade and Industry's micro and nanotechnology manufacturing initiative.

Birmingham will lead a ?1.5 million collaboration with industry to develop sub-millimetre pressure sensors to determine how a fluid moves and feels; the Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology at Newcastle will receive ?3 million to build laboratories for research across medicine, agriculture and engineering; and Nottingham will get nearly ?750,000 to develop anti-corrosion coatings.