A handful of Pittsburgh companies will strut their itty-bitty stuff at a conference aimed at showcasing an emerging high-tech industry with growing potential for the state -- nanotechnology, which involves the creation and manipulation of materials so small that 100,000 of them would be no bigger than the width of a hair.

Local biotechnology start-ups South Side-based Verimetra Inc. and Hazelwood-based CrystalPlex Corp. are scheduled to make short presentations on their nano-related products to 300 researchers, investors, manufacturers and executives at the "The Business of Nano," which kicks off today at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

Both are examples of companies spun out of the nascent and growing industry -- Verimetra uses nanotechnology to make surgical instruments more precise, while CrystalPlex uses it to make nano-size plastic beads that aid in drug discovery and clinical diagnostics.

Harmarville-based Plextronics, which announced yesterday that it had received $3.5 million in public and private investment and hopes to create 85 jobs over the next three years, also will attend the two-day conference. The company, which makes nano-sized plastics that conduct electricity, said most of the jobs will fill technical and sales positions.

The firm, located in the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center, received $785,000 from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, $150,000 from state-supported Innovation Works, private money from Smithfield Trust Co. and angel investors, and a line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank.

Overall, the state estimates that it's invested $42 million in nanotechnology firms and research since 1999, with the bulk going to Penn State University in State College and Lehigh University in Bethlehem.

"We think it's a technology that's going to break through and create a lot of jobs, " state Secretary of Community and Economic Development Dennis Yablonsky said yesterday. "We're trying to do some match-making."

In addition to the local firms, officials from Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse and Innovation Works are expected to attend the conference.