If any do come along eventually, would treat them with extreme caution. Bubble, bubbleThis rise and fall is disconcertingly familiar and seems to be following the market bubble pattern set by other hot, cantmiss industries over the past few years. The buzz surrounding this new technology caused nanotech stocks to do spectacularly well in when small and microcap stocks in general were the markets best performers. Both the Munder and Jacob funds are Analyst Pans in Morningstars technology category. Biotechnology is another field that has experienced market bubbles in the past.

think its good thing for investors that there are no mutual funds specializing in nanotech companies. Flamel TechnologiesFLML, news, msgs has used it to create more accurate magnetic resonance imaging scans. That is the worst possible time to invest because the smart money, such as it is, has already been made.

Start investing with 100. Explore ournew ETF center. What the heck is nanotechnology? Lets take quick look at what nanotech actually is.

Sue or the science of making and manipulating very, very tiny objects at the level of individual cells or molecules is indeed cool from scientific perspective. While some biotech funds have fared reasonably well over time, others, particularly more narrowly focused ones, have suffered from the same problems as Internet funds have. Sullivan, microcap manager with no particular expertise in biotech. Whats more, the diversification benefits normally found in mutual funds are largely negated in such offerings. Any money put into such funds should be money youre prepared to lose.

But theres no guarantee of that, and trying to pick out the longterm winners at this early stage is certainly gamble. Those that have bitten the or merged into other funds include such classics as Zero Gravity Internet, Westcott Nothing But Amerindo B2B, Turner B2B ECommerce and StockJungle. com Pure Play Internet.

Nineteen of the stocks in the Merrill Lynch Nanotech Index have market caps under 250 million. Flamel TechnologiesFLML, news, msgs has used nanotechnology to create an improved drugdelivery system that it licenses to big pharmaceutical companies. While some biotech funds have fared reasonably well over time, others, particularly more narrowly focused ones, have suffered from the same problems as Internet funds have. nanometer is onebillionth of meter. The technology is used in many different industries, notably electronics, industrial materials and biotech, and it usually improves the performance of existing products rather than create new ones.