Practical Applications for Printable Nano-materials

Below is an interview with Dr. Ashok Maliakal, a researcher at Bell Labs, the R&D center for Lucent Technologies. It appeared online in Advanced Packaging. What I have copied in below is the beginnning of the interview but if you select the link or go to the Advanced Packaging website, you will get the complete interview. It is really interesting. "Maliakal researches and builds non-structured organic and hybrid materials, which will eventually be used to create mass-produced, low-cost electronics. The printable materials must maintain a dielectric constant larger than that of conventional polymers to conduct on flexible, unusual substrates, such as a plastic sheet. Maliakal's hybrid material forms good films with three times the permittivity of other known polymers — he has introduced an IC that prints onto a substrate in much the same way a photo prints off an inkjet printer."

Advanced Packaging - AP Interview:
Researcher Explores Printable Nano-materials: "Printed nano-materials present electronics designers with the potential for small, flexible, light-weight, and inexpensive devices beyond silicon. Conductive nano-materials are printed with familiar techniques, comparable to those used to press newspapers and magazines. Consumer, communications, and security � including military - markets await practical applications for printed ICs and circuitry. Ashok Maliakal is a researcher for flexible, printed ICs at Bell Labs, the R&D center for Lucent Technologies. He works with a team of researchers to create the wearable, printable, non-silicon ICs that will soon emerge on the technology market. Maliakal talked to AP about the usefulness of plastic, moldable ICs, and explained the current material limitations that shape his research."

New "Quantum Dot" Synthesis Technique that Impacts Nanomedicine & Biomedical Imaging Applications.

Hello again! I'm back. I've been on hiatus for the last part of the summer. Hopefully I haven't lost those of you who used to check in regularly.

Below is an announcement regarding a paper that uses room temperature synthetic strategies incorporating sonography to make quantum dots. I haven't read the paper yet, but, if you are the enthusiast about quantum dots that I am, you may want to pick it up and have a look.


Researchers from the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology have just announced the publication of a new procedure for the synthesis of CdSe/ZnS-coated "Quantum Dots" (Murcia, Shaw, Woodruff, Naumann, Young, & Long "Facile Sonochemical Synthesis of Highly Luminescent ZnS-Shelled CdSe Quantum Dots" Chemistry of Materials, 2006, 18, published on Web 03/31/06). Quantum Dots are highly fluorescent nanoscale-sized solid particles that are finding increasing applications as imaging probes in the burgeoning field of nanomedicine. Due to their sheer brightness and high photostability, Quantum Dots have the ability to act as molecular "beacons" that allow the movements, targeting, and localization of compounds and proteins to which they are attached to be tracked in a biological medium or whole organism, thus impacting the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease states. While, to date, quantum dot materials have been costly when purchased commercially or inconvenient for biomedical laboratories to synthesize via standard, high-temperature techniques, the new synthesis developed at IUPUI makes use of room temperature sonochemistry to generate quantum dots spanning the full range of colors in the visible spectrum. This new, low temperature procedure may also facilitate the large-scale synthesis of quantum dots and allow inclusion of temperature sensitive materials in the synthesis procedure itself.

Nanocrystal mapping

An international team of scientists from Australia, England and the U.S. has found a way to get full 3-D images of the interior of nanocrystals. Their technique, known as coherent X-ray diffraction imaging, "will help in the development of X-ray free-electron lasers, which will allow single-molecule imaging."

There is a link below to the journal Nature, V. 442, (7098), pp 63-66, July 6, 2006, where the article can be purchased.

Crystal mapping : Nature: "Crystal mapping



Synchrotron X-ray radiation, produced by electron accelerators at central facilities, can now be produced in extremely narrow coherent beams. When these X-rays illuminate a crystal of nanometre dimensions a diffraction pattern emerges that is highly resolved. This provides a powerful new tool for structural analysis, as the fine features of the diffraction pattern can be interpreted in terms of sub-atomic distortions within the crystal attributable to its contact with an external support.
News and Views
: Microscopy: X-ray nanovision
Startling three-dimensional images of nanoparticles have been obtained with an X-ray microscope, showing crystal deformation in unprecedented detail. The trick is not to focus the X-rays, but to diffract them.
Eric D. Isaacs"

Report: NAND and NOR Nanocrystal Flash Memory, July 2006

In the event that you are a business person or proposal writer who would be interested in the state of nanotechnology inflash memory, this report might be of interest to you.

If you follow the link, you will see a table of contents outlining silicon nanocrystals and hafnium oxide nanocrystals, plus various alloys of either.

Read on for more information.

Report: NAND and NOR Nanocrystal Flash Memory, July 2006: "Development effort in Nanocrystal memory cells is ongoing with at least 5 of the top 10 flash memory suppliers as well as in several embedded memory suppliers and a significant number of universities and labs.. Nanocrystal storage is being forecast by some as a technology for the 45 nm technology node or beyond as an extension of the floating gate or trapping site storage flash memories. Current effort can be found in metal nanocrystals, high-k dielectric constant oxide replacement materials, and in novel vertical gate devices using nanocrystals. 40+ pages"

Accelrys: NanoBiology Initiative

This is a society that you can join, if you are interested. I am not sure if they work like a consortium or an R&D house but there is plenty of information here and contact information at the website if you are interested.

They are set up to place special emphasis on designing and predicting the intermolecular interactions and behavior of materials starting from atomistic or coarse-grained descriptions and extending these to the nanoscale and beyond, thus capturing true size-dependent properties.

Accelrys scientists and engineers will act upon member recommendations to implement cutting-edge technologies that can be combined with applications for protein and DNA engineering, materials modeling, and workflow technology, thus enabling nanobiologists to design a variety of life-changing devices.

See below and the link for more info.

Accelrys: NanoBiology Initiative: "Nanobiology�the largest growing sector of nanotechnology�is poised to have a radical impact on personalized medicine, healthcare, systems biology, biodefense and the environment.
The Accelrys NanoBiology Initiative, scheduled for launch on April 1, 2006, is a collaborative, member-funded and -guided initiative aimed at developing cutting-edge software solutions that enable biological applications of nanotechnology.
By collaborating with members from industry, government and academia, as well as a team of scientific advisors led by Dr. Leroy Hood (President of the Institute for Systems Biology), Accelrys will develop a core set of technologies that can be applied across applications and industries."

Nanosys to Expand its Flash Memory Collaboration with Intel Corporation and Micron Technology

Nanosys has announced that it is collaborating with Intel and Micron Technology to develop NAND. This is potentially a very important and very exciting deal with alot of possibilities for them.

Nanosys:

"Palo Alto, CA - (June 29, 2006) . Nanosys announced today that it has expanded its nanotechnology-enabled memory collaboration with Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc. The collaboration utilizes Nanosys' proprietary nanostructures to address high density NAND flash memory opportunities in areas such as consumer electronics, portable storage, and personal communications .

"We are extremely pleased to be working with two of the top leaders in the area of non-volatile memory," said Calvin Chow, Nanosys' chief executive officer. "Together, Intel and Micron bring an unparalleled set of capabilities that will help accelerate the development and incorporation of our nanostructures into non-volatile memory devices."

"Our collaboration with Nanosys is part of our extensive R&D efforts to extend the technology roadmap for non-volatile memory," said Ed So, vice president, Intel Corporation and director of California Technology and Manufacturing. 'This collaboration, along with our strategic relationship with Micron, further underscores our technology leadership and commitment in non-volatile memory."

"We are excited to be a part of this collaboration" said Frankie Roohparvar, vice president of NAND Development at Micron. "Micron has taken on a leadership role in NAND technology and Nanosys' technology offers a very practical and promising approach towards addressing the continued scaling needs of the fast-growing non-volatile memory market."

Nanosys' nanotechnology-enabled memory technology is designed to be compatible with current manufacturing processes and equipment, while allowing for higher storage densities, lower cost per bit, and improved reliability. "

Silicon nanocrystal memory

I have been reading a bit more on Silicon nanocrystals and thinking about their applications which got me back to this announcement made by Freescale regarding their ability to make 24Mbit non-volatile memory. I thought that I'd post it here for your review as well.

This work was done at Freescale's Austin Technology and Manufacturing Center, which according to their website is Freescale's 8-inch wafer manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. Their facilities include a 120,000-square-foot factory which specializes in advanced CMOS processes such as strained silicon and silicon-on-insulator and produces high-performance microprocessors and microcontrollers for the computing, networking and wireless markets.

Freescale manufactures world's first 24Mbit silicon nanocrystal memory:

"A non-volatile memory technology which is denser, faster and more cost-effective than conventional flash memory technology is now closer to production. Freescale has manufactured the world's first 24-megabit memory array based on silicon nanocrystals, a major step toward replacing conventional floating gate-based flash memories.

The 24-Mbit memory array technology was manufactured at Freescale's Austin Technology & Manufacturing Center using 90-nanometer CMOS bulk technology. The production of a working 24-Mbit memory device requires that silicon nanocrystals be deposited with excellent uniformity and integration approaches that keep the nanocrystal properties intact during subsequent processing. In successfully achieving this, Freescale has overcome major challenges to introducing this technology into production.

As the industry begins manufacturing at smaller geometries - 90-nm and smaller - embedding floating gate-based flash becomes difficult to produce cost-effectively. At those dimensions, the chip area consumed by the 9-12V high-voltage transistors required to write and erase the conventional flash module cannot be scaled down. Furthermore, engineers cannot reduce the high voltage in floating gate-based flash without compromising reliability or risking memory failures and loss of data.

Silicon nanocrystal memories are part of an advanced class of memory technologies called thin-film storage. They are more scaleable than conventional floating gate-based flash technology, as their tunnel oxide thickness can be reduced without impacting data retention. The charge is stored on isolated nanocrystals and is lost only from those few nanocrystals that align with defects in the tunnel oxide - while the same defects "

Clothes launder own fabric

I just ran across this article from June 2004 and thought that I would post it up here as an example of the many ways people are using nanotechnology to try and change/improve our lives.

The article reports that scientists have invented an efficient way to coat cotton cloth with tiny particles of titanium dioxide. These nanoparticles are catalysts that help to break down carbon-based molecules, and require only sunlight to trigger the reaction. The inventors believe that these fabrics could be made into self-cleaning clothes that tackle dirt, environmental pollutants and harmful microorganisms.

I have not heard any follow up to this article, but I will see if I can find some more information to see if the proof of concept became a viable product.

Since you can only see it with a subscription or a visit to the science library, the link will not give you the complete document. It will allow you, if you are interested, to pay for a copy of it.

news@nature: "Clothes launder own fabric"

Regnerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative (RMNI)

10 days and counting until the Canadian Institute of Health Research workshop called the Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine Initiative. This is the 4th annual event and will be held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Check it out if you are interested. Select the link to view the agenda.

Draft Agenda (as of May 23, 2006) - CIHR: "Draft Agenda (as of May 23, 2006)
Fourth Annual Nanomedicine Workshop
June 19-20, 2006
University of Alberta, Edmonton"

News from Elan Drug Delivery, Inc.

Riding the high of FDA approval, the Associate Director of Process Technology, Edward Tefft, will be giving a talk entitled "Commercial Applications of Nanocrystal(TM) Drug Delivery Technology" at the International Congress of Nanobiotechnology and Nanomedicine 2006.

Read more below or at the link if this subject interests you.

Elan: News Article:

"CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 2006--Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) today announced the approval of a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the reintroduction of TYSABRI(R) (natalizumab) as a monotherapy treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) to slow the progression of disability and reduce the frequency of clinical relapses. TYSABRI will be available upon the completion of key activities related to the risk management plan, including FDA review of educational and training materials, internal validation of systems based on final FDA requirements and training of internal personnel. As such, the companies anticipate TYSABRI will be available in July.

The FDA granted approval for reintroduction based on the review of TYSABRI clinical trial data; revised labeling with enhanced safety warnings; and a risk management plan (TOUCH Prescribing Program) designed to inform physicians and patients of the benefits and risks of TYSABRI treatment and minimize potential risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Because of the increased risk of PML, TYSABRI monotherapy is generally recommended for patients who have had an inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, alternate MS therapies.

'Today represents a significant step forward for people with relapsing MS. The reintroduction of TYSABRI offers new hope as an important therapeutic choice for patients living with this disabling disease. TYSABRI has demonstrated compelling efficacy in MS, and we believe the TOUCH Prescribing Program, designed in collaboration with the FDA, will help patients and physicians assess the benefits and risks of TYSABRI and make informed decisions about therapy,' said James C."

Start up: QD Vision

This is an interesting article on the start up company, QD Vision, and their efforts to make displays using QD nanocrystals. Maybe one day all all the LED panels will sport this new technology - I'm sure Seth Coe-Sullivan, the chief technology officer at QD Vision, will hope so.

For more information read on and at the link below.

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact:

"Seth Coe-Sullivan, chief technology officer at Watertown, MA, startup QD Vision, fastens alligator clips to two edges of a transparent wafer the size of a cell-phone screen and flips a switch: a rectangle filling the center of the wafer suddenly turns from reflective silver to faint red. A lab worker turns off the room lights to heighten the effect -- but this isn't necessary. Coe-Sullivan turns a knob and the device begins glowing brilliantly.

This is QD Vision's first display -- a monochromatic 32-by-64-pixel test bed for a technology Coe-Sullivan hopes will replace those used in today's high-definition TVs. Thin and flexible, the next-generation display will be easy to see in sunlight and less power hungry than the one in your current laptop, he says. It will also cover more of the visible color spectrum than current displays and produce such high-contrast images that today's flat-screen displays will look dull and washed out by comparison.

At its heart are nanoparticles called quantum dots, nanoscale semiconductor crystals. By altering the size of the particles, researchers can change the color they emit: for example, a six-nanometer-diameter particle would glow red, while another of the same material but only two nanometers wide would glow blue.

Where these particles really shine is in the purity of the colors they emit. Displays create millions of colors from a palette of just three: each pixel is made of a red, a green, and a blue subpixel, and varying their relative intensities varies the pixel's apparent color. In LCDs and organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), a new kind of display, the subpixel colors are impure. The red, for example, while made mostly of red light, also contains smaller amounts of other colors. With quantum dots, however, the red subpixel emits only red.

This purity means quantum dot-based displays have more-saturated color than LCDs, OLEDs, and even bulky cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), which are still prized for their excellent color rendition. What's more, Coe-Sullivan says, the range of colors possible in a quantum dot display is 30 percent greater than in CRTs: "We're increasing the depth of the green that screens can display, and the depth of the blue-green, et cetera. It's actually a different color than can be seen on an LCD, OLED, or CRT."

Nano World Superior nanowire transistors

This is a neat article discussing the use of semiconductor wires (Ge core, Si shell) instead of silicon transistors to improve their performance by 3-4 times.

It is work being carried out by Charles Lieber and his colleagues.

Read on below and at the link for more information.

Nano World Superior nanowire transistors:

"Transistors made with semiconductor wires just nanometers or billionths of a meter wide can exceed the performance of current state-of-the-art silicon transistors by three or four times, experts tell UPI's Nano World.

Moreover, the nanowire devices show 'more attractive scaling in performance as they are made smaller,' said researcher Charles Lieber, a chemist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. 'This shows clearly that there is a reason, not simply hype, to consider developing nanowire devices for electronic applications with the expectation that their performance can exceed the best possible in industry.'

Specific applications for nanowire transistors in future 'include use in building high-performance logic circuits as well as host of electronics applications on unconventional substrates, such as plastics, where such high-performance devices have not been possible,' Lieber added.

Modern computers work by symbolizing data as a series of ones and zeros, binary digits known as bits. This code is most often conveyed in electronic devices via field-effect transistors or FETs, which use voltage to control the flow of current between two terminals, behaving like switches that can either be flicked one way or the other to represent a one or a zero.

Lieber and his colleagues manufactured transistors made with 15-nanometer-thick wires possessing cores of germanium and shells of silicon. 'It is a tour de force of materials growth control and interface engineering to create these structures,' said physicist Curt Richter, leader of the nanoelectronic device metrology project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD."

EU Supports Research on Nanomotors

Image: Structure of a bacterial flagellar motor. The stator is anchored to the cell membrane and encloses the rotor (diameter 50 nm), which turns at a rate of up to 1700 revolutions per second.
(Courtesy R. Berry, Oxford University)

The nanomotor is covered under the EU's New and Emerging Science and Technology (NEST) program which supports unconventional and visionalry research in a nanotechnology field. A program supported by NEST and described using the image above, is named NANOMOT and is aimed at developing nanomotors and joining them and their components into systems resembling construction kits.

MPI Biophysical Chemistry: NANOMOT:

"Small, smaller, smallest:
EU supports research towards the construction of nanomotors

Within an initiative aimed at supporting visionary research projects, the European Union has set aside research funds for the development of biological nanomotors. An international consortium of scientists, co-ordinated by Prof. Helmut Grubmuller at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, envisages many applications for the results of this research, primarily in the field of biological medicine. The foundations for this will be laid by the creation of a 'construction kit' of tailored nanomotor components."

University Activity in MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems

Below is a link to an article from Small Times magazine in which they rate universities in the US using a 5 star system in categories such as research, education, facilities, and industry outreach. It's interesting to see where various schools exceed and where they don't.

Select the link to see where your favorites are shining.

Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems: "A complete list of universities who participated in the survey and additional information about their micro and nanotech resources are included in the May/June 2006 issue of Small Times magazine. Highlights are included here. "

Tiny gold weapons may fight cancer

This is a great overview article about work being done under the direction of Chad Mirkin at the nanotechnology cancer center established last year at Northwestern.

The article reports that although the technology of using gold nanocrystals help find cancerous cells is advancing at a fast pace, there is still more work to be done before the testing will be done in animals,

Tiny gold weapons may fight cancer:

Extremely tiny gold particles may significantly boost gene-based treatments for cancer and other maladies, Northwestern University scientists say.

The research, published in this week's edition of the journal Science, is among the first fruits of a nanotechnology cancer center established last year at Northwestern. It concerns nanoparticles of gold that are attached to genetic material that scientists call 'antisense DNA' because it works to block cell activity rather than promote it.

When antisense DNA is tied to commercial drugs such as Lipofectamine and Cytofectin, they decrease gene activity and reduce protein production, but tying the genetic material to gold nanoparticles is markedly more effective, Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern's Center for Cancer Nanotechnology, said.

"It's like throwing a monkey wrench into the cell's machinery," said Mirkin. "When gold nanoparticles are coated with antisense DNA they're very dense and persist in the cell longer than free DNA does."

The studies were done at the cellular level in a lab, and Mirkin said much more work lies ahead before the technology can be tested in animals."

Applied Materials to Expand Nanomanufacturing Technology Solutions with Acquisition of Applied Films

I thought that this was an interesting article. Applied Films is a provider of thin film deposition equipment to many markets (ex. flat panel display, the architectural glass and solar cell, the consumer products packaging and electronics industries).

It seems that many smaller nanotech companies are growing via acquisition. I am not an analyst by any stretch of imagination, but I do seem to see a trend beginning here. Interesting.....

Please read on below or at the link for more information.

Applied Films: Applied Materials to Expand Nanomanufacturing Technology Solutions with Acquisition of Applied Films:

"Alzenau, (Germany)/Santa Clara, California (USA)/Longmont, Colorado (USA), May 4, 2006 ---

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) and Applied Films Corporation (Nasdaq: AFCO) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Applied Materials to acquire Applied Films. Applied Films is a leading supplier of thin film deposition equipment used in manu-facturing flat panel displays (FPDs), solar cells, flexible electronics and energy-efficient glass. This acquisition will complement Applied Materials' thin film nanomanufacturing technology(TM) capabilities and provide Applied Materials with an opportunity to expand into growing new markets.

Under the terms of the agreement approved by both boards of directors, Applied Materials will pay $28.50 per share in cash for each outstanding share of Applied Films, which represents a total purchase price of approximately $464 million, or approximately $303 million net of Applied Films' existing cash and marketable securities. In addition, Applied Materials will assume Applied Films' outstanding stock options and other equity awards.

"The acquisition of Applied Films expands our flat panel business to offer color filter products, and opens the fast-growing solar market for us," said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials. "Both companies have a strong history of developing new and innovative technologies. Together, we expect to speed the development and availability of new products for a variety of emerging applications."

Applied Films’ PVD (physical vapor deposition)-based flat panel display products align well with Applied Materials’ existing FPD thin film deposition capabilities. Applied Materials is a leading supplier of CVD (chemical vapor deposition) and test equipment for manufacturing the display’s transistor layer, while Applied Films is a recognized leader in the production of FPD color filter systems and has developed significant expertise in large area PVD."

Molecular Imaging May Lead To Earlier Diagnosis Of Childhood Respiratory Virus

An epi-fluorescence microscopy image shows human RSV viral RNA in aggregates, called inclusion bodies, and in filament form, growing in green monkey kidney cells, using molecular-scale probes called molecular beacons. (Image courtesy of Phil Santangelo)



Sorry I've been a little quiet lately. I haven't forgotten about this or about those of you who check in regularly to see what is there!

This is a great article about work done at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Please read on for more information below or go to the link.

ScienceDaily: Molecular Imaging May Lead To Earlier Diagnosis Of Childhood Respiratory Virus:

"Scientists have used a powerful molecular imaging technique to see inside living cells infected with the most pervasive and potentially fatal childhood respiratory virus known to medicine -- respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The technique is yielding insight on viruses -- such as RSV, human influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) -- that replicate with the help of proteins encoded by ribonucleic acid (RNA) inside the cell. Ultimately, the research could to lead to early and rapid detection of viral infection and the design of new antiviral drugs.

Scientists and engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia are studying bovine and human RSV with molecular-scale probes -- called molecular beacons -- that are engineered oligonucleotides (short sequences of RNA or DNA) shaped like a hairpin with a fluorescent dye molecule on one end and a quencher molecule on the other end. They are designed to fluoresce only when they bind to a complementary target -- in this case, RSV genomic RNA.

"For the first time, we were able to visualize an important part of the RSV virus -- its genome -- in live, infected cells," said Phil Santangelo, a research engineer in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "Our molecular beacons attach to the virus and glow inside infected cells as the virus grows, replicates and infects other cells. We can now see that happen in real time in cultures in the lab."

Nanotechnology Shows Early Promise to Treat Cardiovascular Disease

How many people do you know that take medicine to treat high cholesterol? Maybe even you do yourself. In the link below, work is described that will be published in the June 12 publication of Biomacromolecules. This work shows that early laboratory studies at Rutgers suggests that some nanoengineered molecules, which are designed to block oxidized bad cholesterols from attaching to macrophages, (they refer to them as "nanolipoblockers") may be able to help control accumulation of harmful cholesterol.

Nanotechnology shows early promise to treat cardiovascular disease:

"NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. - A new tactic in the battle against cardiovascular disease - employing nanoengineered molecules called 'nanolipoblockers' as frontline infantry against harmful cholesterol - is showing promise in early laboratory studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

In a paper scheduled for publication June 12 in the American Chemical Society's journal Biomacromolecules and now appearing on that journal's Web site, Rutgers researchers propose a way to combat clogged arteries by attacking how bad cholesterol triggers inflammation and causes plaque buildup at specific blood vessel sites. Their approach contrasts with today's statin drug therapy, which aims to reduce the amount of low density lipids, or LDLs ('bad' cholesterol), throughout the body.

In an ironic twist, the Rutgers approach aims to thwart a biological process that is typically beneficial and necessary. Prabhas Moghe, the principal investigator and associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemical and biochemical engineering at Rutgers, said that vascular plaque and inflammation develop when certain forms of LDL are attacked by white blood cells that scavenge cellular debris and disease agents. 'While these scavengers, called macrophages, perform an essential role in keeping organisms healthy, their interaction with highly oxidized LDL molecules has quite the opposite effect,' he said.

Moghe explains that macrophages accumulate large amounts of oxidized LDL and secrete chemicals that can damage the neighboring tissues and, ultimately, become fatty foam cells. The researchers' approach, therefore, is to create clusters of nanoengineered molecules that target specific receptor molecules on cell membranes and block these oxidized LDLs from attaching to macrophages."

Patent officers crack under pressure in Europe

In light of all of the advancements in nanotechnology and the trend that is taking us closer and closer to a total world economy, I thought that this was an interesting article. The article states that the number of European patents has shot up by nearly 50% over the last decade, leaving patent examiners under alot of pressure to process more and more patents each year. My guess is that all the companies, universities, research consortia etc., trying to get their foot in the door in the nanotechnology game by filing IP, and a competitive advantage over their competition are to blame for some of this.

news @ nature.com - Patent officers crack under pressure - European workers strike against system to boost efficiency.:

"Patent examiners don't exactly have a reputation for staging angry protests. But on Tuesday 9 May they plan to hold a half-day strike at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, Germany, to defend their right to work to a high quality.

They say that management, under pressure from the exploding number of European patent applications, is forcing them to process more and more files each year. The number of patent applications coming in to the office has increased by nearly 50% over the last decade, while the office's productivity has risen by 30%.

Now the EPO is planning to introduce a new system of assessing their work, which the examiners claim will force them to get through even more files, and push them beyond the point at which they can guarantee consistently good work. Quality will be sacrificed for quantity if the system is introduced, says Elizabeth Hardon, chair of the EPO staff union."

New 1.5 nm Molecular Diodes made by Philips Research

For those of you who are electronics ethusiasts, I though that I would include this article. Philips Research and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands report to have fabricated the first arrays of molecular diodes that are as this as 1.5 nm and are suitable for integration into standard plastic electronic circuits.

Read on below or at the link for more info.

Philips, Dutch University Claim Breakthrough in Plastic Electronics - 5/4/2006 - Electronic News:

"Scientists from Philips Research and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands say they have for the first time fabricated arrays of molecular diodes on standard substrates with high yields that could be a promising next step in plastic electronics.

The molecular diodes are as thin as one molecule, 1.5nm, and suitable for integration into standard plastic electronics circuits, according to the researchers. Based on construction principles known as molecular self-organization, molecular electronics is a promising new approach for manufacturing electronics circuits in addition to conventional semiconductor processing, they claim.

Although still a relatively new field, molecular electronics can be regarded as the next evolutionary stage for plastic electronics. Molecular electronics holds the potential to fabricate elements for electronics circuits with a functionality that is embedded in just a single layer of molecules, according to the technology's proponents. "

Paint-on Laser may Avert "Interconnect Bottleneck"

This is a really neat news article about some work being done at the University of Toronto in Canada. To quote the article, Researchers at the University of Toronto have created a laser that could help save the $200-billion dollar computer chip industry from a looming crisis dubbed the “interconnect bottleneck.”

Read on for more information and for a publication reference. The image is from the article.



University of Toronto -- Paint-on laser could rescue computer chip industry: Engineers use quantum dots and a hairdryer to make laser that could avert "interconnect bottleneck" (April 19, 2006) -- Printable Version:

"But this isn't a laser in the stereotypical sense - no corded, clunky boxes projecting different coloured lights. In fact, Professor Ted Sargent, of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, carries a small vial of the paint used to make this laser in his briefcase - it looks like diluted ink.

Lasers that can produce coherent infrared light in the one to two micrometre wavelength range are essential in telecommunications, biomedical diagnosis and optical sensing. The speed and density of computer chips has risen exponentially over the years, and within 15 to 20 years the industry is expected to reach a point where components can't get any faster. But the interconnect bottleneck - the point where microchips reach their capacity - is expected sometime around 2010.

To tackle this problem, Sargent, a Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology, created the new laser using colloidal quantum dots - nanometre-sized particles of semiconductor that are suspended in a solvent like the particles in paint. "We've made a laser that can be smeared onto another material," says Sargent. "This is the first paint-on semiconductor laser to produce the invisible colours of light needed to carry information through fiber-optics. The infrared light could, in the future, be used to connect microprocessors on a silicon computer chip." A study describing the laser was published in the April 17 issue of the journal Optics Express.

According to Sjoerd Hoogland, a post-doctoral fellow and the first author of the paper, "this laser could help us to keep feeding the information-hungry Internet generation." The laser’s most remarkable feature was its simplicity. "I made the laser by dipping a miniature glass tube in the paint and then drying it with a hairdryer," he said. "Once the right nanoparticles are made, the procedure takes about five minutes."

The microchip industry is looking for components that exist on the scale of transistors and are made of semiconductors, which would produce light when exposed to electrical current. With this development, it could be possible to use the electronics already found on microchips to power a laser that communicates within the chip itself.

"We crystallized precisely the size of the nanoparticles that would tune the colour of light coming from the laser. We chose nanoparticle size, and thus colour, the way a guitarist chooses frets to select the pitch of the instrument," Hoogland said. "Optical data transfer relies on light in the infrared—beams of light 1.5 micrometers in wavelength travel farthest in glass. We made our particles just the right size to generate laser light at exactly this wavelength."

Germany recalls Nanotech Product

I thought that this was an interesting article. Public perception is very important. I'll be watching to see what bearing this has on other products in the future and on consumer trust of nanotech products.

March 2006 Daily Update Archive:

"Government officials in Germany have reported what appears to be the first health-related recall of a nanotechnology product, raising a potential public perception problem for the rapidly growing but still poorly understood field of science. At least 77 people reported severe respiratory problems over a one-week period at the end of March, including six who were hospitalized with pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs, after using a "Magic Nano" bathroom cleansing product, according to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin. Symptoms generally cleared up within 18 hours, though some had persistent breathing problems for days. The spray is meant to be used on glass and ceramic surfaces to make them dirt- and water-repellant. "The distributors have launched a recall and advised against using the sprays," according to a statement from the institute, which is conducting tests on the product. Nanotechnology is an emerging field of materials science involving substances smaller than one-ten-thousandth the width of a human hair. The tiny specks have chemical properties that make them potentially useful in engineering and medicine. But some can clog airways or trigger immune responses. Studies of health effects have just begun in several countries, and regulatory agencies are still formulating their stances, but hundreds of nano products are already for sale. It was unclear yesterday what kind of nanomaterial is in the spray, or even whether the particles were to blame. Every case has involved the aerosol spray-can form (the product was previously available in a pump bottle, without complications). And the propellant used in the aerosol has long been used uneventfully in hair sprays and other products. David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in"

Gold Nanoparticle, laser treatment holds promise

The excerpt below describes work coming out of the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. The report states that gold nanoparticles have about a 600x greater affinity for malignant cells than for normals cells and since gold is capable of absorbing ~ 1 million times more laser energy than natural tissues, the gold nanoparticles can be used to mechanically kill cancer cells.

It's very interesting work. Please read on below for more information and references

March 2006 Daily Update Archive: "Exposing clusters of gold nanoparticles to low-pulse laser energy holds promise as both a diagnostic and therapeutic technique for treatment of cancer, drug-resistant bacteria, and viruses, reported researchers. Gold nanoparticles delivered topically in a cream vehicle, injected subcutaneously, or delivered systemically by a monoclonal antibody or viral vector selectively seek out target tissue and cause a potent but highly localized thermal reaction when they are exposed to pulsed laser light, the investigators said. �Our approach uses relatively small and simple gold nanoparticles to offer more effective delivery to the target,� said Vladimir P. Zharov, Ph.D., director of laser research and the Phillips Classic Laser Laboratory of the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. Gold nanoparticles have about a 600-fold greater affinity for malignant cells than for normal cells, and gold is capable of absorbing approximately one million times more laser energy than natural tissues, Dr. Zharov said at the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery meeting. �If we use pulsed laser, we can also produce bubble nanoparticles that mechanically kill cancer cells,� Dr. Zharov said. The use of nanosecond-long laser pulses keeps the energy confined to the target and prevents the spread of thermal damage to surrounding healthy tissue, he added. Dr. Zharov and colleagues are developing several different methods for targeting cancer cell and other pathogens. One approach they're using is to conjugate nanoparticles of gold to monoclonal antibodies that have been raised against tumor-specific surface antigens. At the tumor site the gold particles self-assemble into nanoclusters that can then be targeted with pulsed laser to heat the tissue to several thousand degrees Celsius, resulting in a destructive thermal effect coupled with acoustic effec"

Small Wireless Device Created to Improve Cancer Treatment

Below is some very interesting work that comes out of Purdue University and the Birck Nanotech Center there. Dr. Ziaie and colleagues have shown that they can build a device which can be implanted in tumors and be used to track how much radiation the tumors are receiving. As long as radiation based treatments are in the picture, this would be a valuable addition to a doctor's tools to ensure that areas with tumors are receiving the right amount of radiation.

Read on below or select the link for more information.

Engineers creating small wireless device to improve cancer treatment:

"WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Engineers at Purdue University are creating a wireless device the size of a rice grain that could be implanted in tumors to tell doctors the precise dose of radiation received and locate the exact position of tumors during treatment.

Researchers at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center have tested a dime-size prototype to prove the concept and expect to have the miniature version completed by the end of summer, said Babak Ziaie (pronounced Zee-Eye-Eee), an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"Currently, there is no way of knowing the exact dose of radiation received by a tumor," Ziaie said. "And, because most organs shift inside the body depending on whether a patient is sitting or lying down, for example, the tumor also shifts. This technology will allow doctors to pinpoint the exact position of the tumor to more effectively administer radiation treatments."

Research findings were detailed in a paper that appeared earlier this year in proceedings of the 19th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, a conference organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The paper was written by doctoral student Chulwoo Son and Ziaie.

The device, a "passive wireless transponder," has no batteries and will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the body.

"It will be like a capsule placed into the tumor with a needle," said Ziaie, who has a dual appointment in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

Although imaging systems now used can provide a three-dimensional fix on a tumor's shifting position during therapy, these methods are not easy to use during radiation therapy, are costly and sometimes require X-rays, which can damage tissue when used repeatedly, he said.

Doctors could use the wireless technology, however, to precisely track a tumor by using three or six coils placed around the body to pinpoint the location of the electronic device, Ziaie said."

Dr. Adrian Burden of Singular ID's Presentation on Nanotechnology and Security Applications

The link below will take you to the Nanotrends 2006 website. The conference was held in Berlin Germany on May 8 - 11, 2006. I found the talk given by Dr. Adrian Burden on "Giving Objects Fingerprints" was very interesting. You can get directly to the pdf from the Nanotrends 2006 site. You'll see the title listed.

Dr. Burden included many real examples of products that have been counterfeited and what they look like. Ofcoures this nicely built his case as to why we need these methods for tracking various articles. I would recommend a look if you have the time and interest. It is an interesting and definitely growing nanotechnology application.

Untitled:

"Dr Adrian Burden, Singular ID's CEO, will be giving an invited presentation on the role of nanotechnology in security and anti-counterfeiting applications.

If you missed us at one of the following events, we have made some material available for download below:"

Nanotech at Michigan Tech

Nanotech research lead by Dr. Yoke Khin Yap at Michigan tech has gained attention through both his presentations and his graduate students presentations. The research topics included carbon nanotubes, boron nitride nanotubes, ZnO nanowires, ZnO nanobelts, ZnO nanotubes, and other nano structures.

For more information on Professor Yap, his group, and Michigan Tech, select the link below.

MTU Physics - Research - Research News - Global Nanoscale 2006:

"Nanotech research lead by Dr. Yoke Khin Yap has gained attention in a series of national and international forums. Dr. Yap represented the US in the US-China Nanotechnology Workshop held at the National Science Foundation (NSF) on March 22-24, 2006. About 20 researchers, each from the US and China, presented their latest research on Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE). The goals of this workshop included the exchange of latest technical information, the development of friendship among researchers, and the initiation of international collaborations between the US and China. This workshop was addressed by Dr. Mihail C. Roco from NSF and Dr. Chunli Bai from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Attendees were from Northwestern University, University of Virginia, North Carolina State University, Penn State University, UC Santa Barbara, Peking University, Tsinghua University, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, various institutes from CAS (Institute of Physics, Institute of Chemistry, Institute of Solid State Physics), as well as other institutes. This is an important international forum, since the US and China are ranked 1st and 2nd in terms of the number of papers published in the field of NSE. Dr. Yap was the only attendee from the State of Michigan.
Additionally, Dr. Yap was invited to present his research at the 1st US Army Materials Summit held in Gettysburg on March 13-16, 2006. The goals of this summit were to discuss and identify the key materials and technologies that will drastically enhance the performance of our soldiers. This meeting was attended by researchers and administrative personnel from the Army Research Laboratory, Army Research Office, the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency, and professors invited from California Institut"

Nanoscale avalanche photodiodes for highly sensitive and spatially resolved photon detection

This is a very interesting paper on work coming out of Harvard, published in Nature Materials online on April 16th.

The authors report "avalanche multiplication of the photocurrent" in nanoscale p–n diodes consisting of crossed silicon–cadmium sulphide nanowires.

They made electrical transport and optical measurements to demonstrate that the nanowire avalanche photodiodes (nanoAPDs) have ultrahigh sensitivity with detection limits of less than 100 photons, and subwavelength spatial resolution of at least 250 nm.

Read on below for more information and for a reference to the article if you wish to read it all.

Nanoscale avalanche photodiodes for highly sensitive and spatially resolved photon detection:

"Integrating nanophotonics with electronics could enhance and/or enable opportunities in areas ranging from communications and computing to novel diagnostics (1, 2). Light sources and detectors are important elements for integration1, and key progress has been made using semiconducting nanowires (3-5) and carbon nanotubes to yield electrically driven sources (6-12) and photoconductor detectors (13-17). Detection with photoconductors has relatively poor sensitivity at the nanometre scale, and thus large amplification is required to detect low light levels and ultimately single photons with reasonable response time. Here, we report avalanche multiplication of the photocurrent in nanoscale p-n diodes consisting of crossed silicon-cadmium sulphide nanowires. Electrical transport and optical measurements demonstrate that the nanowire avalanche photodiodes (nanoAPDs) have ultrahigh sensitivity with detection limits of less than 100 photons, and subwavelength spatial resolution of at least 250 nm. Crossed nanowire arrays also show that nanoAPDs are reproducible and can be addressed independently without cross-talk. NanoAPDs and arrays could open new opportunities for ultradense integrated systems, sensing and imaging applications. "

Nanoparticles May Pose Liver Problems

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are to study the effects of nanoparticles on the liver and assess whether nanoparticles -- already found in pollution from traffic exhaust, but also used in making household goods such as paint, sunblock, food, cosmetics and clothes -- can cause damage to the cells of the liver.

I'll keep watching to see more information on this.

ScienceDaily: Nanoparticles May Pose Threat To Liver Cells, Say Scientists:

"Nanoparticles are atoms and molecules 80,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, with various properties according to their composition, which explains their widespread usage. Airborne nanoparticles present in traffic exhaust are already known to enter the lungs and affect human health.
Scientist Dr Celine Filippi explains: 'In experiments carried out elsewhere to mimic environmental exposure, nanoparticles delivered into the lungs crossed the lung barrier and entered the blood. Particles in the blood can reach the liver, amongst other organs. We also know that nanoparticles directly injected into the blood for medical purposes are also likely to end up in the liver.
'We don't yet know if the nanoparticles are safely eliminated from the liver by specialised cells or whether these extremely small particles can enter the liver cells and disrupt their normal functioning. Our research will try to establish whether nanoparticles, which are set to be used increasingly in industry and the manufacture of household goods, can damage the cells of the liver.' "

Professors discuss value of uncommon connections

I really like this article because I think that in this day, the value of a collaborative team of scientists that have widely differing backgrounds is huge and can be one of the most exciting platforms for development of completely novel ideas.

Professors discuss value of uncommon connections: "From an engineer working with a gymnastics coach to a chemist's collaboration with surgeons, MIT researchers continue to conduct the interdisciplinary research that the Institute was founded on.
Speaking at a research symposium in honor of President Susan Hockfield's inauguration this week, four MIT professors described work at the interface of science and technology.



'From the start, the MIT curriculum was multidisciplinary,' said Rosalind H. Williams, director of the Program in Science, Technology and Society. 'This was not respectable at that time [1861], certainly not to our neighbor up the river.' Science was seen as aristocratic, technology as lower-class, said the Robert M. Metcalfe Professor of Writing.

She noted that the convergence of science and technology, 'is novel in history.' The beginning of this trend was in the 1850s, so MIT's founding 'is a very important milestone.'

Williams challenged MIT, however, to pioneer an even broader kind of 'multidisciplinarity': 'We need to bring science, technology and society together.'

For example, 'nanotechnology is not just a matter of molecules, but also of public understanding because fear of it will hurt the field.'

Professor of Chemistry Moungi Bawendi, who works in nanotechnology, agreed. Bawendi's research focuses on quantum dots, or semiconductor particles only a few billionths of a meter in diameter. He noted that 'the societal psychology around quantum dots is extremely difficult to navigate.' "

Qdot Nanocrystals used in In Vivo Imaging

This is an article from the Invitrogen in which they discuss some very interesting work coming out of Harvard and MIT which describes using qdots for sentinel lymph node mapping. "The new method depends on the use of near-infrared-emitting quantum dots to illuminate lymph nodes to guide cancer surgery."

"The near-infrared region of the spectrum promises to be increasingly important in bio-medical applications, particularly in vivo, as near-infrared–emitting quantum dots become more widely available. Tissues and blood absorb very little light in this region and autofluorescence is also minimal. In addition, light scattering is a strong function of the wavelength of the excitation and emission wavelength; dyes that emit in the near-infrared are capable of being imaged with relatively little loss of signal and resolution compared with visible or UV dyes. It is exceptionally difficult to prepare stable near-infrared dyes using traditional organic approaches, and until recently this spectral region has not been adequately exploited."

Read on below and at the link for more information.

Invitrogen - Molecular Probes - Qdot Nanocrystals In Vivo Imaging: "In 'Near-Infrared Fluorescent Type-II Quantum Dots for Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping,' (Kim et al. Nature Biotech. 2004, 22:93-97) researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital describe the development of an improved method for performing sentinel lymph node biopsy, a crucial first step in determining whether a cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The new method depends on the use of near-infrared�emitting quantum dots to illuminate lymph nodes to guide cancer surgery. The near-infrared quantum dots were developed and synthesized at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of chemistry, in the laboratory of Professor Moungi Bawendi. The novel intra-operative, near-infrared�fluorescence imaging system was developed in the laboratory of Dr. John Frangioni, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Roger F. Uren of the University of Sydney provides a perspective on this work in Nature Biotech. 22:38-39.
Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping is a common procedure used to identify the presence of cancer in a single, 'sentinel' lymph node, thus avoiding the removal of a patient's entire lymph system. SLN mapping currently relies on a combination of radioactivity and organic dyes but the technique is inexact during surgery, often leading to removal of much more of the lymph system than necessary, causing unwanted trauma. The current work was performed on laboratory animals, including pigs, considered by scientists to be a good predictor of human results.
The authors first injected near-infrared�fluorescent quantum dots (peak emission 840-860 nm in neutral aqueous buffer) intra-dermally into the paw of a mouse; the quantum dots entered the l"

N.C. leads South in Nanotechnology Related Pursuits

Before I begin, my apologies for being away from this for the past week. I will try to make it up for all those people who tune in weekly or even daily.

With $53 million in NSF funding, North Carolina leads the southern region in nanotechnology based work. For those of you who are familiar with N.C. State University and UNC Chapel Hill, you will likely be familiar with some of the great work that comes out of the state.

Charlotte Business Journal: Report: N.C. leads South in nanotechnology - 2006-04-06:

"About 20 percent of all nanotechnology research in the United States takes place in the South, with North Carolina leading the pack, according to a report from the Southern Growth Policy Board.

Nanotechnology is technology development at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular level.

North Carolina leads the South -- a region that includes 13 board-member states and Puerto Rico--with 1,134 nanotechnology publications, the report says. The state is tied with Virginia for the largest number of National Science Foundation nanotechnology grants at 139.

North Carolina also leads the region in total NSF funding for nanotechnology, at more than $53 million.
North Carolina also claims two of the board's top 25 nanotech publishing universities, N.C. State University and the UNC Chapel Hill, and it leads the region in the number of dissertations on nanotechnology published statewide, at 122.
The Southern Growth Policy Board's regional report, Connecting the Dots: Creating a Southern Nanotechnology Network, outlines the South's strengths and weaknesses in five areas: human capital, knowledge generation, patents, funding and commercialization.

Based in Research Triangle Park, the board is a public policy think tank formed in 1971. Its members are North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Puerto Rico."

Connecting the UK and India

India and the UK have both pledged money towards research and development in nanotechnology. Below talks about their attempts to work collaboratively to make things happen even more quickly.

Small is Beautiful - April 2006 - British Council - India:

"An India-UK collaborative programme in nanoscience and nanotechnology is beginning to take shape with scientists from both countries reciprocating visits. Manjula Rao, who accompanied the Indian nano-scientists� delegation to the UK, provides a taster.
Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve studying and working with matter on an ultra-small scale. One nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre and a single human hair is around 80,000 nanometres in width. It is a broad and interdisciplinary area of research and development activity that has been growing exponentially in the past few years. It is widely recognised as having potential benefits in areas as diverse as drug development, water decontamination, information and communication technologies and the production of stronger but lighter materials. To exploit the economic growth potential of this emerging area of research and development, governments and businesses across the world are making large investments in the sector. India and the UK are no exception, and there has been a significant increase in government support for nanotechnology research in these two countries.

In the UK, government funding alone for R&D in
nanoscience and technology is estimated at 45 million pounds per year from 2003 to 2009, with industry spending in excess of 200 million pounds to provide a boost to future advanced manufacturing in the UK. The Department of Trade and Industry pledged 90 million pounds over six years, for collaborative R&D and a new network on micro nanotechnology facilities and this forms the first step towards developing and implementing a new Technology Strategy. The facilities were developed in the following four priority areas: Micro and nano device manufacture and integration; Nano particles and novel materials; Bio nanotechnology; and Characterisation and metrology.

India too has pledged an allocation in excess of $26 million (across various sectors) for research and development in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is on eof the new sectors set to gain from the Union Budget announced on 28 February. Nanotechnology R&D has reached a high level of competitiveness and dynamism with usually high cross-cutting challenges. It requires creation of new and sophisticated infrastructure and facilities to remain competitive. As investments in nanotechnology are high, the benefits are best realised through collaboration and cooperation at national and international levels.

In an effort to encourage and facilitate collaborative research in this emerging area of science, the British Council supported the visit of a group of five Indian nano scientists to the UK in October 2005. The five scientists came from some of the key research institutes in India involved in nanoscience research. The primary objective of the visit was to provide the delegation an overview of the initiatives and strategic direction of UK nanoscience and technology research and also identify areas of mutual interest for collaboration. The Indian delegation visited several universities and centres of excellence in the UK and returned impressed and determined to initiate collaborative research with some of their UK counterparts. As a next step, the British Council has invited six British nanoscientists to visit key Indian institutions and develop initial ideas into full fledged research proposals for funding under the different Indo-UK and EU programmes. We hope this initiative will lead to long term, mutually beneficial research collaborations that would result in a clear strategic economic advantage to both countries."

Nanoparticle Size and Shape affects Uptake by Cells

I thought that this was an interesting spot light article on some of the work going on in Professor Warren Chan's labs at the University of Toronto, in Toronto Ontario Canada. The study way written up in NanoLetters.

He has shown that both size and shape of the nanoparticles play a role in how easily or with how much difficulty nanoparticles are taken up by cells.

All these studies help scientists understand the most efficient ways to deliver proteins or drugs to cells.

Read on for more information.

Nanoparticle size affects uptake by cells - Nanotechnology and Society - nanotechweb.org:

"'There have been numerous studies using nanoparticles for applications in cell biology, e.g. fluorescence labelling, drug delivery,' Warren Chan of the University of Toronto told nanotechweb.org. 'No-one has really looked at how the nanostructures' size and morphology affect how they go into the cell. Figuring this relationship can help researchers improve detection sensitivity, drug delivery efficiency, etc. In addition, this can help us assess the toxicity of an engineered nanostructure.'

Chan and colleagues studied gold nanoparticles that were between 14 and 100 nm and had both spherical and rod-shaped morphologies. They incubated the nanoparticles with HeLa cells for six hours in a growth medium solution containing 10% serum. Using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy then revealed the concentration of gold inside the cells.

The HeLa cells took up most nanoparticles when the particles were 50 nm. The nanoparticles entered the cells and were trapped inside vesicles in the cytoplasm but did not enter the cell nucleus. The maximum number of 50 nm nanoparticles entering a cell was 6160, while 15 nm and 74 nm particles lagged behind at 3000 and 2988 respectively. "

Nanodots Make Effective Superconducting Wires

This article from the New Scientist Tech references a report that came out in the Journal Science, 311, 1911, 2006. This is interesting work in which scientists have found a way to make superconducting wires using nanodots.

According to the article, the wires, made of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO), will be incorporated initially into lightweight, powerful rotating machinery (ex. generators, motors, etc). However, Venkat Selvamanickam, head of materials research at Superpower Inc., says that "the 'killer app' for these wires will be as the infrastructure of tomorrow's electrical grid. A typical modern electrical grid based on copper wires can ferry current along with just under 90% efficiency. A grid based on an infrastructure of high-temperature superconducting wires could be more than 97% efficient."

Read on below or at the link for more information.

Nanodots may unlock power of superconducting wires:

"The next generation of superconducting wires, which could operate efficiently at the high temperatures needed to make applications such as levitating trains feasible, has been created by researchers.
For 20 years, researchers have worked to develop the perfect high-temperature superconducting wires to replace today's copper-based power grid. But the secret, it now seems, is to build flawed ones. The key may be to position non-conducting nanodots at strategic points within the wire.

Electrical current flowing through superconducting materials experiences virtually no resistance, enabling wires of the material to carry high current loads very efficiently. However, such a powerful current will disrupt itself because it produces a strong, fluctuating magnetic field.

By depositing lines of 10-nanometre-wide, non-conducting dots of barium zirconate at fixed distances along the wire, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, US, have found a way to disrupt current flow in just the right way to tone down these fluctuations."