Due to the tremendous increases in volume of scientific discovery in the integrated fields of nano/bio/cogno/info research, all press releases will be deleted each month. 

CANEUS International and RACT/IAA Partnership to Develop International Global Aerospace Monitoring System:

MOU Signed at the 47th UN COPUOS Session

Vienna, Austria (20 February, 2010) -- -At the forty-seventh session of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, CANEUS International Chairman Milind Pimprikar and International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) project manager Prof. Valeriy A. Menshikov, signed an historic "convention - MOU" for joint development and implementation of the International Global Aerospace Monitoring System (IGMASS) Project.

IAA Prof. Valeriy A. Menshikov, CANEUS Int. Chairman Milind Pimprikar sign MOU

The multi-year cooperation programme is designed to encourage mutual understanding and research and development cooperation between CANEUS constituents and IAA/IGMASS, more broadly, help advance issues for international cooperation by investigating optimal mechanisms of collaboration with the existing International organizations and projects such as UN-SPIDER, GEOSS, DMC, Charter of Catastrophes etc. These goals will be achieved by determining efficient methods of onboard satellite processing, data-handling and transmitting, and with the creation of an orbital segment using small satellites.

This MOU also include joint design, research, development and launch of the microsatellite by RACTS and CANEUS International, through International funding mechanisms.

Specific immediate tasks include composition of "International Committee for Project Implementation" through fostering global cooperation with the support of both the UN and IAA, to facilitate inclusive decision making and detailed work-breakdown structure by July 5th 2010, when the project partners are expected to meet in Latvia.

At the afternoon session (725th) on 11 February 2010, a special presentation on "International aerospace system for global monitoring" was made by Project leader Prof. Menshikov.

The UN-COPUOS has offered to confer the International Global Aerospace Monitoring System and CANEUS an Observer Status and the Programme will be implemented by an "International Committee" constituting CANEUS International and other international partners, in close partnership with the IAA Secretariat. Funding for the programme will be established through an international mechanism.

"We very much welcome the official signing of the MOU today, marking the launch of this important initiative. This initiative embodies core principles of the UN, that of promoting international cooperation, global threats protection and solving of general humanitarian issues.. It is an ambitious undertaking that will enhance trust among countries from Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, so as to secure a peaceful society for present and future generations in the world", said IIA Project Coordinator, Prof. Menshikov.

For more information visit: www.caneus.org

UN and NATO to Support CANEUS Shared Small Satellites for Collective Safety, Security and Prosperity Initiative

 NURC (NATO Underwater Research Centre) La Spezia, Italy, October 20-22, 2010

Vienna, Austria (20 February, 2010) --- On the occasion of the forty-seventh session of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held from 8 to 19 February 2010 at the United Nation Office at Vienna, Austria, CANEUS International Chairman Milind Pimprikar presented the CANEUS Shared Small Satellites for Collective Safety, Security and Prosperity (CSSP) to the UN body.

The core premise of the proposed CANEUS Shared Small Satellite CSSP concept is that a multi-national, shared infrastructure will promote cooperation, trust and interdependence, to the mutual benefit of all partner countries.

Furthermore, complementary skill sets and resources from across nations will be needed to rapidly and cost-effectively transform emerging concepts into this shared communications infrastructure, which is designed to retrieve data collected in unwired regions, with minimum latency, for fusion, analysis, and action.

The representatives from the CANEUS Organization, the ONRG (Office of Naval Research Global), the NRL (Naval Research Laboratory), the NURC (NATO Undersea Research Center), Italian Space Agency, German Space Agency, NASA, and organizations representing the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, will host a focused CANEUS Shared SmallSat CSSP International Workshop at the NURC (NATO Underwater Research Centre in La Spezia, Italy, on October 20-22, 2010,

This Workshop represents a unique and ambitious attempt to bring together the users of ship position and other sensor data, small satellite system developers, space infrastructure, ground support, and services providers, funding communities and policy-makers with stake in collective safety, security and prosperity, from across the world. By convening this broad cross-section of stakeholders, the Workshop will take a practical approach to overcoming technical and programmatic challenges, including: data gathering, data handling, and data distribution concepts, small sat constellation systems and technologies, frequency allocation and bandwidth constraints, legal policies and regulatory considerations, and collaborative framework models.

The Workshop has a unique flow-down format which emphasizes, as its primary deliverables: an international framework to unite potential participants in this cooperative undertaking; the issues, costs and benefits involved; what prospective stakeholders can expect to gain by participation; and a system management model.

The Workshop will develop concepts, timelines and a budget estimate for a low-cost, internationally shared small satellite communications backbone in space with exceptionally low barriers to entry for participating nations. The purpose of this constellation is to make possible data collection from ships at sea and from distributed sensors in locations where conventional communications infrastructure is lacking: the "unwired", and often under-governed, regions of the globe. We estimate that 84% of the globe -- the high seas, the polar regions, jungles, and deserts - are effectively unwired. Data which builds knowledge of activities and conditions in these remote areas underpins responsible control, enhancing safety and security for countries worldwide. For more information visit the website:

http://caneus.org/sharedsmallsats/

Laboratory Fellow Rusty Gray Named President of TMS

Scientist named at annual meeting of the The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, February 24, 2010—Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow George T. ”Rusty“ Gray III was selected as 2010 president of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) during the society’s annual meeting this month in Seattle, Washington.

During a speech to members at the society’s annual awards banquet, Gray vowed to dedicate his tenure as president to excellence and growth to meet the society’s ever-changing needs.

”During my term as president I hope to positively impact TMS’ value to members in the areas of international liaisons, leadership development and the fine-tuning of our value proposition by meeting the ever-changing needs of our diverse membership,“ Gray said.

The annual change in the executive leadership of TMS occurred during the 139th TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition earlier this month. Gray, who previously served as the society’s 2009 vice president, has been an active member of TMS since 1986. He said he plans to work with the volunteers, in cooperation with TMS staff, to maximize the value of the society to its membership.

During his first official speech, Gray said that during his tenure as the 54th president, he wants to establish TMS as:

• The preferred source and dissemination venue for leading edge technical information and knowledge for members;

• the home society for the manufacturing, engineering, research and materials education communities and cultures, bridging science and engineering technologies critical to industry, research, and academic needs;

• the society dedicated to excellence and growth in supporting the evolving field of materials science and engineering through education, and the application of materials to benefit ever-changing needs.

To illustrate his goals through example, Gray described how TMS has shaped his own personal career development from his first technical conference presentation at the TMS fall meeting in 1980 to achieving the top executive office today. Gray challenged members to help him build the future of TMS and global progress by focusing on the new blood in the materials science community.

”Seize any opportunity to mentor a new engineer or scientist, promote your field through organizing symposia, volunteer in your local schools promoting science and math, or advocate how materials are serving mankind in your own community,“ he said.

An employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1985, Gray has pursued both fundamental and applied research primarily in the elucidation of the structure and property behavior of materials subjected to dynamic and shock-wave deformation.

At Los Alamos, Gray rose in ranks from staff member to team leader, eventually achieving laboratory fellow status in 2002. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South Dakota School of Mines and a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gray then spent three years conducting research at the Technical University in Hamburg-Harburg, Germany. 

Gray’s involvement in TMS includes service on the programming, titanium, and mechanical behavior committees, as well as two terms on the board of directors – first as chair of the Structural Materials Division, then, as director of publications.-

Gray is a veteran ”key reader“ of the highly respected TMS-ASM journals, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A and B, and chaired the Board of Key Readers. Of the 26 postdoctoral fellows he’s mentored since 1985, the majority are currently active TMS members who present research at meetings, serve on boards and committees, and organize symposia.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov )

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

About TMS (www.tms.org )

TMS is the professional organization encompassing the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents.

UCLA chemists create synthetic 'gene-like' crystals

for carbon dioxide capture

By Stuart Wolpert February 11, 2010 Category: Research

The research appears in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Science.

"We created three-dimensional, synthetic DNA-like crystals," said UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor Omar M. Yaghi, who is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA and the UCLA–Department of Energy Institute of Genomics and Proteomics. "We have taken organic and inorganic units and combined them into a synthetic crystal which codes information in a DNA-like manner. It is by no means as sophisticated as DNA, but it is certainly new in chemistry and materials science."

The discovery could lead to cleaner energy, including technology that factories and cars can use to capture carbon dioxide before it reaches the atmosphere.

"What we think this will be important for is potentially getting to a viable carbon dioxide–capture material with ultra-high selectivity," said Yaghi, who holds UCLA's Irving and Jean Stone Chair in Physical Sciences and is director of the CNSI's Center for Reticular Chemistry. "I am optimistic that is within our reach. Potentially, we could create a material that can convert carbon dioxide into a fuel, or a material that can separate carbon dioxide with greater efficiency."

The research was federally funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The lead author is Hexiang "DJ" Deng, a UCLA graduate student of chemistry and biochemistry who works in Yaghi's laboratory.

"DNA is a beautiful molecule that has a way to code for information," Yaghi said. "How do you code information in a crystal in the same way that DNA does? DJ and I figured out a way to do this. The sequence of organic functionalities that decorates the pores of the crystals is most certainly a unique code.

"DJ has illustrated that one member of a series of materials he has made has 400 percent better performance in carbon dioxide capture than one that does not have the same code," he said.

In the early 1990s, Yaghi invented a class of materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), sometimes described as crystal sponges, in which he can change the components nearly at will. MOFs have pores — openings on the nanoscale in which Yaghi and his colleagues can store gases that are usually difficult to store and transport. Molecules can go in and out of the pores unobstructed. Yaghi and his research team have made thousands of MOFs.

"We have created crystals of metal-organic frameworks in which the sequence of multiple functionalities of varying kind and ratios acts as a synthetic 'gene,'" Yaghi said. "With these multivariate MOFs, we have figured out a way to incorporate controlled complexity, which biology operates on, in a synthetic crystal — taking synthetic crystals to a new level of performance.

"This can be a boon for energy-related and other industrial applications, such as conversion of gases and liquids like carbon dioxide to fuel, or water to hydrogen, among many others," he said.

Yaghi has been collaborating with his former UCLA chemistry colleague and former CNSI director Sir J. Fraser Stoddart on how to take concepts from biology and incorporate them into a synthetic material.

"We hope the materials we are creating will introduce a new class of structures that have controlled complexity," Yaghi said. "Chemists and materials scientists are now able to ask new questions we have never asked before. Also, new tools for characterizing the sequences and deciphering the codes within the crystals will have to be developed."

Carbon dioxide is polluting Earth's atmosphere and damaging coral reefs and marine life — impacts that are irreversible in our lifetime, Yaghi said.

Co-authors on the study are Christian Doonan and Hiroyasu Furukawa, UCLA postdoctoral scholars in Yaghi's laboratory; Ricardo Ferreira, a UCLA visiting undergraduate; John Towne, a former UCLA undergraduate; Carolyn Knobler, a research associate in Yaghi's laboratory; and Bo Wang, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in Yaghi's laboratory.

Try 100 times

A few years ago, Yaghi spoke at Shanghai's Fudan University, which is known for having one of the best chemistry departments in China. There, he met Deng, who at the time was an undergraduate student at the university. Deng and his colleagues had tried unsuccessfully to make new MOFs.

"DJ told me, 'Professor, we tried a slight variation to make new MOFs and it did not work,'" Yaghi recalled. "I asked, 'How many times did you try?' He said, 'Two or three times.' I said, 'How about 20 times, 30 times? How about 100 times? If it were that easy, why would it need a smart person like you to do it? Success and excellence do not come that easily.' I said, 'If you really want to learn how to do MOF chemistry, you better come and work with me.' I think that shocked him, but here he is."

How did Deng react to Yaghi's offer?

"Definitely," said Deng, who plans to become a chemistry professor. "And," he added, "the story ends with me trying enough times to get it right. It took me about a hundred more times."

"With MOF chemistry," Yaghi said, "it is not all design; there is a lot of trial and error because we are trying to learn what nature is telling us, and learning that code takes time.

"What is special about DJ and the other students who have worked in my laboratory is that no matter how much you raise the bar, they jump high enough to rise above it," Yaghi said. "It takes a special student to do that, but they are out there, and they need to be inspired. Working with students like DJ that I can challenge in this way is every professor's dream."

UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 38,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer more than 323 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Five alumni and five faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-chemists-create-synthetic-153588.aspx

Gold at Forefront of 'Nanotechnology Revolution'

- World Gold Council Research Paper Demonstrates Important Applications in Development Using Gold Nanoparticles

World Gold Council (WGC)-London, February 11- has today published 'Gold for Good: Gold and nanotechnology in the age of innovation', a research paper detailing new scientific and technological innovations using gold. The report, which was produced in conjunction with Cientifica Ltd, the world's leading source of global business and investor intelligence about nanotechnologies, demonstrates how gold nanoparticles offer the potential to overcome many of the serious issues facing mankind over the coming decades.

Gold nanoparticles exhibit a variety of unique properties which, when harnessed and manipulated effectively, lead to materials whose uses are both far-ranging in their potential and cost effective. This report explores the many different applications that are being developed across the fields of health, environment and technology.

Trevor Keel, Nanotechnology Project Manager at World Gold Council said:

"The opportunities and possibilities identified in this report are just a subset of the amazing scope to use gold in the era of nanotechnology. As a readily available and well understood material, gold nanoparticles are ideal for use in a vast array of applications that improve our lives. WGC is looking to promote and invest in the development of gold-based innovations through Innovations Partnerships, so that the full benefits of gold nanotechnology can be realized."

Tim Harper, founder of Cientifica Ltd, said:

"Over the last decade, almost $50 billion of government funding has been invested into nanotechnologies, and this investment is now starting to bear fruit with a steady stream of commercially viable nanotechnologies which are positively impacting human health, the environment and technology. This paper demonstrates the many varied applications in which gold nanotechnology can improve society's standard of living."

Health: Gold has a long history in the biomedical field stretching back almost five thousand years. However the dawn of the 'nano-age' has really broadened the potential of gold in biomedical applications and today, gold nanoparticles are being employed in entirely novel ways to achieve therapeutic effects.

Tumor targeting technologies which exploit gold's inherent bio-compatibility are being developed to deliver drugs directly into cancerous tumours. Additionally, simple, cost effective and sensitive diagnostic tests are being developed for the early detection of prostate and other cancers.

Environment: Environmental concerns have never been more prominent - energy and clean water scarcity, global warming and pollution are all major issues that need to be addressed. Gold nano-particle based technologies are showing great promise in providing solutions to a number of environmentally important issues from greener production methods of the chemical feedstocks, to pollution control and water purification.

Gold-based catalysts are being developed that can effectively prevent the release of highly toxic forms of mercury into the atmosphere, the reduction of chemicals from green feedstock, and also for water purification and contaminant detection. In addition, gold is being used in meeting the challenge of constructing cost effective and efficient fuel cells, a key 'clean-energy' technology of the future.

Advanced technology: Gold is already a well established material in the electronics industry and the use of gold can only increase as the worlds of electronics and nanotechnology interact further in the future. Gold is being developed for conductive nanoparticle inks for plastic electronics because of its material compatibility, inherent durability and proven track record of reliability. Gold nanotechnologies have also been shown to offer functional benefits for visual display technologies like touch sensitive screens and potentially for use in advanced data storage technologies including advanced flash memory devices.

The full paper can be downloaded from:

http://www.gold.org/assets/file/rs_archive/gold_and_nanotechnology_in_the_age_of_innovation.pdf

http://cientifica.eu/blog/white-papers/gold/

Innovation Partnerships

World Gold Council works directly with partner companies via Innovation Partnerships. These support research and development of new practical applications for the metal, drawing on a genuine commercial market requirement for innovation. Partner organisations include (but are not limited to) precious metal, chemical, electronics, materials and biomedical companies, ranging from small enterprises through to established international businesses. Interested companies are invited to contact World Gold Council for further details.

During 2009-2010 World Gold Council is particularly interested in receiving proposals relating to the following areas:

Companies interested in collaborating with World Gold Council are invited to make contact.

World Gold Council

World Gold Council's mission is to stimulate and sustain the demand for gold and to create enduring value for its stakeholders. It is funded by the world's leading gold mining companies. For further information please visit http://www.gold.org

Cientifica

Cientifica Ltd, based in London, is one of the world's best-respected consultancy companies in the field of emerging technologies and technology commercialization. It provides global business intelligence and strategic consulting servicesto industry, governments and investors worldwide.

http://www.cientifica.eu

SOURCE World Gold Council

Research and innovation: European projects

take pride of place at Neuchâtel

CSEM welcomes the annual conference of the European cluster on the convergence of micro- and nano-technologies for the medicine of tomorrow

Neuchâtel, 11 February 2010 – The fourth Concertation and Consultation Workshop of the MNBS (Micro-Nano-Bio Convergence Systems) Cluster, organized jointly by the European Commission and CSEM, will take place in Neuchâtel on 15th and 16th February 2010. The convergence between computer technologies and biology, biomaterials, biophotonics, micro- and nano-technologies and biocaptors is arousing increasing interest in research circles in responding to the industries and markets for new healthcare technologies. The European Union is currently investing over 250 million euros in research programs (FP6, FP7) for the emergence of new technologies and their implementation in increasingly complex products of the future.

In the medical world, and – by extension – in the healthcare environment, this convergence of technologies brings hope and provides a glimpse of the major clinical and therapeutic prospects. These include: the improvement of the solidity, and above all the tolerance, of implanted prosthetic materials; the development of implanted biocaptors piloting the delivery of medication according to dosages implemented in vivo; the intervention in certain cells to compensate for the lack of a gene, or – on the contrary – to inhibit a gene at the origin of a disease; or the repair and reconstruction of tissues damaged by third-degree burns.

The European Commission has grouped all R&D activities in micro-nano-bio systems into a cluster (MNBS) within the framework of information and communication technology (ICT), with a view to bringing together a critical mass of expert players to identify the main priorities, synergies and opportunities for collaboration and to reinforce the socio-economic impact. The ultimate objective is to create a large-scale European initiative which is durable and competitive, and based on a sound partnership between the public and private sectors.

The objective of this annual conference is to encourage scientific and technical exchange through the sharing of experience and information between the various protagonists in the European projects of the MNBS cluster. The invited speakers, around twenty researchers and scientists, will use the opportunity to share the results of their research with the invited audience.

Among other things, this approach encourages the diffusion and exchange of information, stimulates synergies and potential collaborations, and above all helps to identify R&D areas that could respond to new medical challenges. The subjects addressed focus mainly on the convergence of technologies in laboratory tests – development of lab on chip (LOC) for early screening of cancer or chronic illnesses – and in invasive systems for diagnosis or for surgical treatment, in order to minimize their impact and their interaction in the living organism.

To open up the debate and to witness new prospects for collaboration emerging, this event will not take place behind closed doors. Instead, for the first time, it will be open to all professionals and researchers not involved in the projects stemming from this European research programme. Almost a hundred delegates – doctors, researchers, engineers and manufacturers – are expected in Neuchâtel.

Mario El-Khoury, CEO of CSEM, is looking forward to the event. ”The CSEM is very pleased to welcome this MNBS conference, which has been held each year previously in Brussels, and which is dedicated to one of the most strategic topics for CSEM: micro- and nano-technologies in the service of human beings.“

CSEM – an innovation center

CSEM, Centre Suisse d’ Electronique et de Microtechnique (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology), founded in 1984, is a private research and development center specializing in microtechnology, nanotechnology, microelectronics, system engineering and communications technologies. It offers its customers and industry partners tailor-made innovative solutions based on its knowledge of the market and technological expertise derived from applied research. Having founded several start-ups, it contributes to developing Switzerland as an industrial location. To date, a total of 29 such enterprises, with more than 500 employees, have been launched by CSEM. In addition, CSEM has acquired an international dimension by establishing a presence in the Arab Emirates in 2005, and in Brazil in 2007, in order to speed up and encourage the transfer of knowledge and new technologies beneficial to the local economy of these countries.

Approximately 400 highly qualified and specialized employees from various scientific and technical disciplines work for CSEM in Neuchâtel, Zurich, Basel, Alpnach and Landquart. They represent more than 30 nationalities and constitute the basis of the company’s creativity, dynamism and innovation potential.

Further information is available at http://www.csem.ch

About the MNBS cluster

MNBS – Micro-Nano-Bio Convergence Systems

The convergence of micro-nano-bio systems is a major research area within the "Microsystems and Smart Systems Integration" activity supported by the European Commission under its information and communication technology (ITC) priority programme. The European Union finances projects for the development of cutting-edge systems integrating the convergence of micro-nano-bio technologies and ITC.

For more information, please visit

http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/micro-nanosystems/home_en.html

New Webcast

Fundamentals of Photonics: Laser Beam Characterization

  Premiers LIVE: February 18, 2010

Time:1:00 PM EST | 10:00 AM PST | 6:00 PM GMT

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http://newsletters.pennnet.com/utility_products_enl/83645402.html

Researchers reveal 3-D structure of bullet-shaped virus

with potential to fight cancer, HIV

Study of vesicular stomatitis virus leads to model of viral assembly process

By Jennifer Marcus February 08, 2010

Assembly of bullet-shaped VSV virionVesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV, has long been a model system for studying and understanding the life cycle of negative-strand RNA viruses, which include viruses that cause influenza, measles and rabies.

More importantly, research has shown that VSV has the potential to be genetically modified to serve as an anti-cancer agent, exercising high selectivity in killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, and as a potent vaccine against HIV.

For such modifications to occur, however, scientists must have an accurate picture of the virus's structure. While three-dimensional structural information of VSV's characteristic bullet shape and its assembly process has been sought for decades, efforts have been hampered by technological and methodological limitations.

Now, researchers at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute and the UCLA Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and colleagues have not only revealed the 3-D structure of the trunk section of VSV but have further deduced the architectural organization of the entire bullet-shaped virion through cryo-electron microscopy and an integrated use of image-processing methods.

Their research findings appear this month in the journal Science.

"Structures of individual rhabdovirus proteins have been reported in Science and other high-profile journals, but until now, how they are organized into a bullet shape has remained unclear," said study author Z. Hong Zhou, UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and a member of the CNSI. "The special shape of VSV — a bullet head with a short, helical trunk — has lent to its evasion from three-dimensional structural studies."

Based on their research into the structure of VSV, the team proposed a model for the assembly of the virus, with its origin at the bullet tip. Their data suggest that VSV assembles through the alternating use of several possible interaction interfaces coded in viral protein sequences to wind its protein and RNA chain into the characteristic bullet shape.

"Our structure provides the first direct visualization of the N and M proteins inside the VSV virion at 10.6-Å resolution. Surprisingly, our data clearly demonstrated that VSV is a highly ordered particle, with the nucleocapsid surrounded by, instead of surrounding, a matrix of M proteins," said lead study author Peng Ge, a visiting graduate student at UCLA from Baylor College of Medicine. "To our amusement, the sequence in assembling viral protein and RNA molecules into the virus appears to rhyme with the first several measures of Mozart's piano sonata in C-Major, K.545."  (This musical correlation is illustrated in the paper's supplementary movie 2.)

The findings could help lead to advances in the development of VSV-based vaccines for HIV and other deadly viruses, according to the researchers.

"Our structure provides some of the first clues for understanding VSV-derived vaccine pseudotypes and for optimizing therapeutic VSV variants," Zhou said. "This work moves our understanding of the biology of this large and medically important class of viruses ahead in a dramatic way. The next stage of research for our team will be to reveal the details of molecular interactions at the atomic scale using advanced imaging instruments now available at CNSI."

The Electron Imaging Center for Nanomachines (EICN) lab at the CNSI has Cryo-EM instrumentation, including the Titan Krios microscope, which makes atomically precise 3-D computer reconstructions of biological samples and produces the highest-resolution images available of viruses, which may lead to better vaccines and new treatments for disease. 

The Science paper is available at www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/327/5966/689

In addition to Z. Hong Zhou and Peng Ge, the research team included colleagues from the laboratory of Ming Luo, professor of microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Stan Schein, UCLA professor of psychology.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara whose mission is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the next generation of scientists, educators and technology leaders; and facilitate partnerships with industry, fueling economic development and the social well-being of California, the United States and the world. The CNSI was established in 2000 with $100 million from the state of California and an additional $250 million in federal research grants and industry funding. At the institute, scientists in the areas of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, computational science and engineering are measuring, modifying and manipulating the building blocks of our world — atoms and molecules. These scientists benefit from an integrated laboratory culture enabling them to conduct dynamic research at the nanoscale, leading to significant breakthroughs in the areas of health, energy, the environment and information technology.

Rice physicists kill cancer with 'nanobubbles'

Team finds method of IDing, destroying individual diseased cells

HOUSTON -- (Feb. 4, 2010) -- Using lasers and nanoparticles, scientists at Rice University have discovered a new technique for singling out individual diseased cells and destroying them with tiny explosions. The scientists used lasers to make "nanobubbles" by zapping gold nanoparticles inside cells. In tests on cancer cells, they found they could tune the lasers to create either small, bright bubbles that were visible but harmless or large bubbles that burst the cells.

"Single-cell targeting is one of the most touted advantages of nanomedicine, and our approach delivers on that promise with a localized effect inside an individual cell," said Rice physicist Dmitri Lapotko, the lead researcher on the project. "The idea is to spot and treat unhealthy cells early, before a disease progresses to the point of making people extremely ill."

The research is available online in the journal Nanotechnology.

Nanobubbles are created when gold nanoparticles are struck by short laser pulses. The short-lived bubbles are very bright and can be made smaller or larger by varying the power of the laser. Because they are visible under a microscope, nanobubbles can be used to either diagnose sick cells or to track the explosions that are destroying them.

In laboratory studies published last year, Lapotko and colleagues at the Laboratory for Laser Cytotechnologies at the A.V. Lykov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute in Minsk, Belarus, applied nanobubbles to arterial plaque. They found that they could blast right through the deposits that block arteries.

"The bubbles work like a jackhammer," Lapotko said.

In the current study, Lapotko and Rice colleague Jason Hafner, associate professor of physics and astronomy and of chemistry, tested the approach on leukemia cells and cells from head and neck cancers. They attached antibodies to the nanoparticles so they would target only the cancer cells, and they found the technique was effective at locating and killing the cancer cells.

Lapotko said the nanobubble technology could be used for "theranostics," a single process that combines diagnosis and therapy. In addition, because the cell-bursting nanobubbles also show up on microscopes in real time, Lapotko said the technique can be use for post-therapeutic assessment, or what physicians often refer to as "guidance."

Hafner said, "The mechanical and optical properties of the bubbles offer unique advantages in localizing the biomedical applications to the individual cell level, or perhaps even to work within cells."

The research resulted from collaboration between Rice and the Lykov Institute of the Academy of Science of Belarus, which recently established the US-Belarus Research Lab of Fundamental and Biomedical Nanophotonics.

Co-authors of the Nanotechnology paper include Ehab Hanna of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Ekaterina Lukianova-Hleb of the Lykov Institute. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund.

Spray-on liquid glass is about to

revolutionize almost everything

The fissure was induced in order present an image which shows the characteristics of the coating. The image shows the SiO2 coating on a filament of a microfibre.

Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.

The liquid glass spray (technically termed ”SiO2 ultra-thin layering“) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool, a family-owned German company. Research on the product was carried out at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials. Nanopool is already in negotiations in the UK with a number of companies and with the National Health Service, with a view to its widespread adoption.

The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager with Nanopool, Neil McClelland, said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.

Food processing companies in Germany have already carried out trials of the spray, and found sterile surfaces that usually needed to be cleaned with strong bleach to keep them sterile needed only a hot water rinse if they were coated with liquid glass. The levels of sterility were higher for the glass-coated surfaces, and the surfaces remained sterile for months.

Other organizations, such as a train company and a hotel chain in the UK, and a hamburger chain in Germany, are also testing liquid glass for a wide range of uses. A year-long trial of the spray in a Lancashire hospital also produced ”very promising“ results for a range of applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites. Other vineyard applications include coating corks with liquid glass to prevent ”corking“ and contamination of wine. The spray cannot be seen by the naked eye, which means it could also be used to treat clothing and other materials to make them stain-resistant. McClelland said you can ”pour a bottle of wine over an expensive silk shirt and it will come right off“.

In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.

Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to date. It will be available in DIY stores in Britain soon, with prices starting at around £5 ($8 US). Other outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete.

More information: Nanopool: http://www.nanopool.eu/couk/index.htm 

Stopping Bacterial Infections Without Antibiotics 

New research at the A. James Clark School of Engineering could prevent bacterial infections using tiny biochemical machines—nanofactories—that can confuse bacteria and stop them from spreading, without the use of antibiotics.

A paper about the research is featured in the current issue of Nature Nanotechnology. "Engineered biological nanofactories trigger quorum sensing response in targeted bacteria," was authored by Clark School alumnus Rohan Fernandes (Ph.D. '08, bioengineering), graduate student Varnika Roy (molecular and cell biology), graduate student Hsuan-Chen Wu (bioengineering), and their advisor, William Bentley (professor and chair, Fischell Department of Bioengineering).

The group's work is an update on their original nanofactories, first developed in 2007. Those nanofactories made use of tiny magnetic bits to guide them to the infection site.

"This is a completely new, all-biological version," he says. "The new nanofactories are self-guided and targeted. We've demonstrated for the first time that they're capable of finding a specific kind of bacterium and inducing it to communicate, a much finer level of automation and control."

The new nanofactories can tell the difference between bad (pathogenic) and good bacteria. For instance, our digestive tracts contain a certain level of good bacteria to help us digest food. The new nanofactories could target just the bad bacteria, without disrupting the levels of good bacteria in the digestive tract (a common side effect of many antibiotics). Nanofactories target the bacteria directly rather than traveling throughout the body, another advantage over traditional antibiotics.

Bacterial cells talk to each other in a form of cell-to-cell communication known as quorum sensing. When the cells sense that they have reached a certain quantity, an infection could be triggered. The biological nanofactories developed at the Clark School can interrupt this communication, disrupting the actions of the cells and shutting down an infection.

Alternatively, the nanofactories could trick the bacteria into sensing a quorum too early. Doing so would trigger the bacteria to try to form an infection before there are enough bacterial cells to do harm. This would prompt a natural immune system response capable of stopping them without the use of drugs.

Because nanofactories are designed to affect communication instead of trying to kill the bacteria, they could help treat illness in cases where a strain of bacteria has become resistant to antibiotics.

"The work by Dr. Bentley is extremely exciting as he is using the ability of engineering to "build" using nature based components," says Philip Leduc, associate professor in the Departments of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering and the Lane Center for Computational Biology and Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. "Understanding the science of cells is wonderful, but then using these components and constructing systems that leverage biological advantages is a huge step forward. His work in this paper uses his synthetic biology approach to build new nanofactories toward new areas of antimicrobials as well as opening new findings in quorum sensing."

The nanofactories' ability to alter cell-to-cell communication isn't limited to fighting infections.

"Quorum sensing and signaling molecules are actually used to accomplish a lot of things," Bentley explains. "Sometimes disease develops because communication is not taking place—a good example is digestive disorders that involve an imbalance of bacteria in the digestive tract. In that case, nanofactories could be used to start or increase communication instead of disrupting it."

More links at:

http://www.eng.umd.edu/news/news_story.php?id=4644

Student-built satellite selected for flight by NASA

A Rubik's Cube-sized communications satellite designed and built by University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates at the Colorado Space Grant Consortium has been selected for launch by NASA in November 2009. Credit: Colorado Space Grant consortium

A tiny communications satellite designed and built by University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates has been selected as one of three university research satellites to be launched into orbit in November as part of a NASA space education initiative.

The three satellites, dubbed "CubeSats" because of their shape, were built by CU-Boulder, Montana State University and Kentucky Space, which is a consortium of state universities. CubeSats are roughly four inches on a side, have a volume of about one quart and weigh about 2.2 pounds. The satellites are being flown as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNA, mission, said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, or COSGC, which is headquartered at CU-Boulder.

The CU-Boulder satellite, named Hermes, was designed, built and tested by roughly 100 COSGC students on the CU-Boulder campus -- nearly all undergraduates -- over a period of about two and one-half years, said Koehler. The goal of the mission is to improve communications systems in tiny satellites through on-orbit testing of a high data-rate communication system that will allow scientists and engineers to downlink large quantities of information.

"This is great news for the students and for the Colorado Space Grant Consortium," said Koehler. "This is a homegrown CU-Boulder satellite and these students have pushed the capabilities of communication systems by integrating them into a very tiny satellite." Based in the CU-Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science, COSGC is funded by NASA and is a statewide organization involving 16 colleges, universities and institutions around Colorado.

Koehler said it is challenging to find launch opportunities for student satellites like Hermes. The three student satellites will be attached to a Taurus XL launch vehicle that also will launch NASA's Glory mission to study solar radiation. CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics designed and built a multimillion dollar solar payload for the Glory mission known as the Total Irradiance Monitor that will measure the total light coming from the sun at all wavelengths to help determine the energy balance of the planet.

CU-Boulder senior Nicole Doyle, project manager for Hermes and an aerospace engineering sciences department major, said the satellite has two communications systems. "One will allow us to 'talk' to the satellite and the other one will be used to test the high-speed communications system. If we are successful, the hopes are it can be used on other satellites."

The three CubeSat satellites will be attached to the Taurus XL rocket in a mechanical system known as a PPOD developed by the California Polytechnic State University in partnership with Stanford University. Once the rocket reaches about 385 miles high, the satellites will be ejected from the PPOD and will spring off into separate orbits, said Doyle.

The CU-Boulder satellite will be in contact with a COSGC ground station atop the Discovery Learning Center at the CU-Boulder engineering college. A second ground station is being built by the COSGC students in Longmont, about 15 miles northeast of Boulder, to monitor the high-speed communications data system, said Doyle.

"We are all really excited for launch," said Doyle. "We are now in our final push to test the communication sequence system and to finish our environmental testing, which includes vibration and vacuum chamber tests to verify that the satellite can survive in orbit."

Doyle said that when she got to CU-Boulder she was surprised to discover undergraduates had regular opportunities to design, build, test and fly spacecraft. "A number of students in my classes were talking about building satellites, so I decided to see what it was all about. That's when I came into the Colorado Space Grant Consortium," she said.

"This has been an incredible experience for me," said Doyle. "We learn from other CU students who are working on other space projects and who have experience in the kinds of research we are doing with Hermes. This is a great opportunity for students like me who want to work in the aerospace industry after college."

COSGC provides Colorado higher education students access to space through innovative courses, real-world, hands-on space hardware and satellite programs. The students interact with engineers and scientists from NASA and aerospace companies to develop, test and fly new space technologies on high-altitude balloons, sounding rockets and orbiting satellites.

Of the 52 space grant consortiums in the United States, Colorado's has been active in designing, building and flying 10 sounding rocket payloads, three space shuttle payloads, a satellite and hundreds of balloon experiments in the past 20 years, Koehler said.

More information: For more information on COSGC visit: http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/

Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder

Gecko's lessons transfer well

Dry printing of nanotube patterns to any surface

could revolutionize microelectronics and more

HOUSTON – (Jan. 25, 2010) – Watch a gecko walk up a wall. It defies gravity as it sticks to the surface no matter how smooth it appears to be.

What's happening isn't magic. The gecko stays put because of the electrical attraction – the van der Waals force – between millions of microscopic hairs on its feet and the surface.

The principle applies to new research at Rice University reported this week in the online version of the journal ACS Nano. But in this case, the hairs figuratively come off the gecko and plant themselves on the wall.

Rice graduate student Cary Pint has come up with a way to transfer forests of strongly aligned, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from one surface to another  – any surface – in a matter of minutes. The template used to grow the nanotubes, with its catalyst particles still intact, can be used repeatedly to grow more nanotubes, almost like inking a rubber stamp.

Pint is primary author of the research paper, which also details a way to quickly and easily determine the range of diameters in a batch of nanotubes grown through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Common spectroscopic techniques are poor at seeing tubes bigger than two nanometers in diameter – or most of the nanotubes in the CVD "supergrowth" process.

"This is important since all of the properties of the nanotubes – electrical, thermal and mechanical – change with diameter," he said. "The best thing is that nearly every university has an FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer sitting around that can do these measurements, and that should make the process of synthesis and application development from carbon nanotubes much more precise."

Pint and other students and colleagues of Robert Hauge, a Rice distinguished faculty fellow in chemistry, are also investigating ways to take printed films of SWNTs and make them all-conducting or all-semiconducting – a process Hauge refers to as "Fermi-level engineering" for its ability to manipulate electron movement at the nanoscale.

Combined, the techniques represent a huge step toward a nearly limitless number of practical applications that include sensors, highly efficient solar panels and electronic components.

"A big frontier for the field of nanoscience is in finding ways to make what we can do on the nanoscale impact our everyday activities," Hauge said. "For the use of carbon nanotubes in devices that can change the way we do things, a straightforward and scalable way of patterning aligned carbon nanotubes over any surface and in any pattern is a major advance."

Pint said an afternoon of "experimenting with creative ideas" as a first-year graduate student turned into a project that held his interest through his time at Rice. "I realized early on it may be useful to transfer carbon nanotubes to other surfaces," he said.

"I started playing around with water vapor to clean up the amorphous carbons on the nanotubes. When I pulled out a sample, I noticed the nanotubes actually stuck to the tweezers.

"I thought to myself, 'That's really interesting ...'"

Water turns out to be the key. After growing the nanotubes, Pint etches them with a mix of hydrogen gas and water vapor, which weakens the chemical bonds between the tubes and the metal catalyst. When stamped, the nanotubes lie down and adhere, via van der Waals, to the new surface, leaving all traces of the catalyst behind.

Pint, who hopes to defend his dissertation in August, developed a steady enough hand to deposit nanotubes on a range of surfaces – "anything I could lay my hands on" – in patterns that could easily be replicated and certainly enhanced by industrial processes. A striking example of his work is a crisscross film of nanotubes made by stamping one set of lines onto a surface and then reusing the catalyst to grow more tubes and stamping them again over the first pattern at a 90-degree angle. The process took no more than 15 minutes.

"I'll be honest – that was a little bit of luck, combined with the skill of having done this for a few years," he said of the miniature work of art. "But if I were in industry, I would make a machine to do this for me."

Pint believes industries will take a hard look at the technique, which he said could be scaled up easily, for embedding nanotube circuitry into electronic devices.

His own goal is to develop the process to make a range of highly efficient sensing devices. He's also investigating doping techniques that will take the guesswork out of growing metallic (conducting) or semiconducting SWNTs.

Pint and Hauge co-authored the paper with Junichiro Kono, a Rice professor in electrical and computer engineering and in physics and astronomy; Matteo Pasquali, a professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering; former Rice graduate students Ya-Qiong Xu, now an assistant professor of electrical engineering and physics at Vanderbilt University, and Tonya Cherukuri; graduate students Noe Alvarez and Erik Haroz; undergraduate students Sharief Moghazy and Salma Mahzooni; and Stephen Doorn, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Rice-based Lockheed Martin LANCER program supported the research.

An electrifying advance toward tomorrow's power suits

Fabrics treated with this new electrically-conductive ink may power a new generation of futuristic clothing that charges iPods, cell phones and other electronics. Credit: American Chemical Society

Could powering an iPod or cell phone become as easy as plugging it into your tee shirt or jeans, and then recharging the clothing overnight? Scientists in California are reporting an advance in that direction with an easier way of changing ordinary cotton and polyester into "conductive energy textiles" -- e-Textiles that double as a rechargeable battery. Their report on the research appears in ACS' Nano Letters.

"Wearable electronics represent a developing new class of materials with an array of novel functionalities, such as flexibility, stretchability, and lightweight, which allow for many applications and designs previously impossible with traditional electronics technology," Yi Cui and colleagues note. "High-performance sportswear, wearable displays, new classes of portable power, and embedded health monitoring systems are examples of these novel applications."

The report describes a new process for making E-textiles that uses "ink" made from single-walled carbon nanotubes — electrically conductive carbon fibers barely 1/50,000 the width of a human hair. When applied to cotton and polyester fabrics, the ink produced e-Textiles with an excellent ability to store electricity. The fabrics retained flexibility and stretchability of regular cotton and polyester, and kept their new e-properties under conditions that simulated repeated laundering.

More information: "Stretchable, Porous, and Conductive Energy Textiles", http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/nl903949m

Provided by American Chemical Society

Breakthrough Breast Cancer Therapy Reduces Mastectomies; Saves Breast

Heat treatment with chemotherapy kills large tumors; Approved by FDA; Next stage clinical trials start this year at OUHSC

OUHSC Public Affairs

Oklahoma City, OK -- A new treatment developed and tested by University of Oklahoma researchers not only killed large cancer tumors, but reduced the need for mastectomies by almost 90 percent. The latest results appear in an upcoming issue of the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Building on this success, researchers at the OU Health Sciences Center, plan to start the next phase of clinical trials this year to test the therapy on even larger tumors.

”This therapy is a major advancement for women with later stage breast cancer. Right now, most patients with large tumors lose their breast. With this treatment along with chemotherapy, we were able to kill the cancer and save the breast tissue,“ said William Dooley, M.D., a researcher at the OU Cancer Institute and the director of surgical oncology at OU Medicine.

Dr. Dooley is leading a group of researchers from OU, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, the Comprehensive Breast Center in Florida and St. Joseph’s Hospital in California.

They are working on a treatment called Focused Microwave Thermotherapy. The technique, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, uses a modified version of the microwave technology behind the ”Star Wars“ defense system.

In the most recent study, researchers tested the therapy on tumors that were an inch to an inch and a half in size. These large tumors usually require mastectomies. When researchers used the heating therapy within two hours of patients receiving chemotherapy, the tumor was more susceptible to the chemotherapy and shrunk rapidly. The percentage of patients needing mastectomies was reduced from 75 percent to 7 percent.

”The trial was very successful. We were able to completely reverse those odds,“ Dooley said. ”We redesigned the machine and will begin clinical trials this year to determine whether the therapy works on tumors that are larger than one and a half inches and smaller than 5 inches in size.“

In theory, Dooley said the technique could be used on any organ that could be ”held relatively still.“ Scientists are now working to integrate heat-sensitive nanotechnology that would more precisely target cancer cells. They also plan to study a byproduct of the rapid disintegration of the tumor – a boosted immune system. Dooley said it looks like the rapid release of cancer proteins into the blood stream is causing an immune response that could reduce the chance of cancer recurrence.

Find the latest research results online at springerlink.com/content/g105331202416323/.

As Oklahoma’s only comprehensive academic cancer center, the OU Cancer Institute is raising the standard of cancer treatment in the state through research and education. The center is working toward an application to the National Cancer Institute to be designated as a ”Comprehensive Cancer Center,“ the gold standard of cancer research and care. Later this year, the OU Cancer Institute will move into a new 210,000-square-foot building. The facility will bring all outpatient cancer programs under one roof at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. For additional Information, visit www.OUCancer.org.

Source: Oklahoma University Cancer Institute

New ‘nanoburrs’ could help fight heart disease

 Targeted nanoparticles can home in on damaged vascular tissue and may be used to deliver drugs that help clear arteries

Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

January 19, 2010

Building on their previous work delivering cancer drugs with nanoparticles, MIT and Harvard researchers have turned their attention to cardiovascular disease, designing new particles that can cling to damaged artery walls and slowly release medicine.

The particles, dubbed ”nanoburrs,“ are coated with tiny protein fragments that allow them to stick to damaged arterial walls. Once stuck, they can release drugs such paclitaxel, which inhibits cell division and helps prevent growth of scar tissue that can clog arteries.

”This is a very exciting example of nanotechnology and cell targeting in action that I hope will have broad ramifications,“ says MIT Institute Professor Langer, senior author of a paper describing the nanoparticles in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Langer and Omid Farokhzad, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and another senior author of the paper, have previously developed nanoparticles that seek out and destroy tumors. Their nanoburrs, however, are among the first particles that can zero in on damaged vascular tissue.

Mark Davis, professor of chemical engineering at Caltech, says the work is a promising step towards new treatments for cardiovascular and other diseases. ”If they could do this in patients — target particles to injured areas — that could open up all kinds of new opportunities,“ says Davis, who was not involved in this research.

On target

Currently, one of the standard ways to treat clogged and damaged arteries is by implanting a vascular stent, which holds the artery open and releases drugs such as paclitaxel. The researchers hope that their new nanoburrs could be used alongside such stents — or in lieu of them — to treat damage located in areas not well suited to stents, such as near a fork in the artery.

The nanoburrs are targeted to a structure known as the basement membrane, which lines the arterial walls but is only exposed when those walls are damaged. To build their nanoparticles, the team screened a library of short peptide sequences to find one that binds most effectively to molecules on the surface of the basement membrane. They used the most successful, a seven-amino-acid sequence called C11, to coat the outer layer of their nanoparticles.

The inner core of the 60-nanometer-diameter particles carries the drug, which is bound to a polymer chain called PLA. A middle layer of soybean lecithin, a fatty material, lies between the core and the outer shell, which consists of a polymer called PEG that protects the particles as they travel through the bloodstream.

The drug can only be released when it detaches from the PLA polymer chain, which occurs gradually by a reaction called ester hydrolysis. The longer the polymer chain, the longer this process takes, so the researchers can control the timing of the drug’s release by altering the chain length. So far, they have achieved drug release over 12 days, in tests in cultured cells.

Uday Kompella, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Colorado, says the nanoburr’s structure could make it easier to manufacture, because the targeted peptides are attached to an outer shell and not directly to the drug-carrying core, which would require a more complicated chemical reaction. The design also reduces the risk of the nanoparticles bursting and releasing drugs prematurely, says Kompella, who was not involved in this research.

Another advantage of the nanoburrs is that they can be injected intravenously at a site distant from the damaged tissue. In tests in rats, the researchers showed that nanoburrs injected near the tail are able to reach their intended target — walls of the injured carotid artery but not normal carotid artery. The burrs bound to the damaged walls at twice the rate of nontargeted nanoparticles.

Because the particles can deliver drugs over a longer period of time, and can be injected intravenously, patients would not have to endure repeated and surgically invasive injections directly into the area that requires treatment, says Juliana Chan, a graduate student in Langer’s lab and lead author of the paper.

The team is now testing the nanoburrs in rats over a two-week period to determine the most effective dose for treating damaged vascular tissue. The particles may also prove useful in delivering drugs to tumors.?? ”This technology could have broad applications across other important diseases, including cancer and inflammatory diseases where vascular permeability or vascular damage is commonly observed," says Farokhzad.

Source: MIT

NAS honors 17 for major contributions to science

WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will honor 17 individuals with awards in recognition of extraordinary scientific achievements in the areas of biology, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and psychology.

The 2010 recipients are:

JOHN ALROY, associate researcher at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the recipient of the NAS AWARD FOR SCIENTIFIC REVIEWING. Alroy is being honored for developing the Paleobiology Database, which has produced an extraordinarily extensive synthesis of paleontological data that has been driving the field of paleobiology forward in ways that would have been previously impossible. The prize of $10,000 -- given this year in the field of geosciences -- recognizes excellence in scientific reviewing. The award is supported by ANNUAL REVIEWS, Thomson Reuters, and THE SCIENTIST in honor of J. Murray Luck.

NORMAN R. AUGUSTINE, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., is the recipient of the NAS AWARD IN AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING. Augustine is being honored for his service to the nation as a dedicated aeronautical engineer, a leader in the aerospace defense industry, a public servant, a civic leader, and a thought leader in the engineering profession. The award, established by Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Hunsaker, comes with a $15,000 prize and recognizes distinguished contributions to aeronautical engineering.

LOUIS E. BRUS, Samuel Latham Mitchill Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, is the recipient of the NAS AWARD IN CHEMICAL SCIENCES. Brus is being honored for his leading role in the development of a fundamental building block for nanoscience, colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, and for his contributions to our understanding of the quantum effects that control their optical properties. Supported by the Merck Company Foundation, the award -- consisting of a medal and prize of $15,000 -- honors innovative research in the chemical sciences that contributes to a better understanding of the natural sciences and to the benefit of humanity.

SALLIE W. CHISHOLM, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the ALEXANDER AGASSIZ MEDAL. Chisholm is being honored for pioneering studies of the dominant photosynthetic organisms in the sea and for integrating her results into a new understanding of the global ocean. The award, which consists of a medal and $15,000 prize, recognizes original contribution in the science of oceanography.

ANDRE K. GEIM, Langworthy and Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester, is the recipient of the JOHN J. CARTY AWARD FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. Geim is being honored for his experimental realization and investigation of graphene, the two-dimensional form of carbon. Established by the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., the Carty Award -- a medal and $25,000 prize recognizing noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment in any field of science -- is being presented in the area of physics in 2010.

MARGARET J. GELLER, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, is the recipient of the JAMES CRAIG WATSON MEDAL. Geller is being honored for her role in critical discoveries concerning the large-scale structure of the universe, for her insightful analyses of galaxies in groups and clusters, and for her being a model in mentoring young scientists. The award -- consisting of a medal, a $25,000 prize, and a gift of $25,000 to an institution of the recipient's choosing -- recognizes contributions in astronomy.

ALAN D. HOWARD, professor in the department of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, is the recipient of the G.K. WARREN PRIZE. Howard is being honored for his seminal contributions on the theory of fluvial erosion, sedimentation, and landscape evolution. Established by Emily B. Warren in memory of her father, the award honors noteworthy and distinguished accomplishment to fluviatile morphology and closely related aspects of the geological sciences and is accompanied by a $10,000 prize.

GERALD F. JOYCE, professor in the departments of chemistry and molecular biology at the Scripps Research Institute, will receive the first STANLEY MILLER MEDAL OF THE NAS AWARD FOR EARLY EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCES. Joyce is being honored for his pioneering experiments on the self-sustained replication and evolution of RNA enzymes (ribozymes), which illuminate key conceptual steps in the origin of life. The NAS Award for Early Earth and Life Sciences was established by the NAS Council by combining two awards -- the Charles Doolittle Walcott Award and the Stanley Miller Medal. The Stanley Miller Medal recognizes outstanding research on the early Earth and comes with a medal and a $10,000 prize.

MICHAEL J. KAHANA, professor in the department of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and FRANK TONG, associate professor in the department of psychology at Vanderbilt University, will each receive a TROLAND RESEARCH AWARD. Kahana is being honored for innovative experimental, theoretical, and computational work leading to new insights regarding the dynamics of human episodic memory. Tong is being honored for pioneering the use of neural decoding techniques to explore mechanisms in the human brain mediating perception, attention, and object recognition. The Troland Research Awards of $50,000 each are given annually to young investigators to recognize unusual achievement and to further empirical research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology.

JEANNIE T. LEE, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a professor of genetics and pathology at the Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the recipient of the NAS AWARD IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. By using X-chromosome inactivation as a model system, Lee has made unique contributions to our understanding of epigenetic regulation on a global scale, including the role of long, non-coding RNAs, interchromosomal interactions, and nuclear compartmentalization. Sponsored by Pfizer Inc, the award -- consisting of a medal and prize of $25,000 -- recognizes a recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist.

MARCIA NEUGEBAUER, adjunct research scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, is the recipient of the ARCTOWSKI MEDAL. Neugebauer is being honored for definitively establishing the existence of the solar wind, critical to understanding the physics of the heliosphere, and for elucidating many of its key properties. The award -- consisting of a medal, a $20,000 prize, and a gift of $60,000 to an institution of the recipient's choosing -- recognizes outstanding contributions to the study of solar physics and solar-terrestrial relationships.

ROGER A. NICOLL, professor in the departments of cellular and molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, is the recipient of the NAS AWARD IN THE NEUROSCIENCES. Nicoll is being honored for his seminal discoveries elucidating cellular and molecular bases for synaptic plasticity in the brain. The award recognizes extraordinary contributions to progress in neuroscience and comes with a $25,000 prize.

JANET D. ROWLEY, Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, is the recipient of the JESSIE STEVENSON KOVALENKO MEDAL. Rowley is being honored for her discovery of recurring chromosome translocations that characterize specific hematological malignancies, a landmark event that caused a major shift in the paradigms relating to cancer biology in the 1970s and paved the way for development of specific treatment for two leukemias. The award, consisting of a medal and a prize of $25,000, recognizes important contributions to the medical sciences.

MARK TYGERT, assistant professor in the department of mathematics at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, is the recipient of the NAS AWARD FOR INITIATIVES IN RESEARCH. Tygert is being honored for his development of fast algorithms in mathematical physics, operator compression, and linear algebra, using deep, innovative ideas based on randomization and harmonic analysis. The prize of $15,000 is awarded to recognize innovative young scientists and encourages research likely to lead toward new capabilities for human benefit. The award -- established by AT&T Bell Laboratories in honor of William O. Baker and supported by Alcatel-Lucent -- is being presented in 2010 in the field of numerical methods.

WATT W. WEBB, professor of applied physics and S.B. Eckert Professor in Engineering at Cornell University, is the recipient of the ALEXANDER HOLLAENDER AWARD IN BIOPHYSICS. Webb is being honored for pioneering the applications of rigorous physical principles to the development of optical tools that have broadly impacted our ability to examine biological systems. The award, consisting of a prize of $20,000, recognizes contributions from an outstanding biophysicist.

An awards ceremony for the recipients will take place on April 25 during the Academy's annual meeting. Also to be honored is EUGENIE C. SCOTT, executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), who was chosen to receive the Academy's PUBLIC WELFARE MEDAL. Scott is being honored for championing the teaching of evolution in the United States and for providing leadership to the NCSE. The medal was established to recognize distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare and has been presented since 1914.

About National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Since 1863, the National Academy of Sciences has served to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government.

Source: National Academy of Sciences

MOLECULAR GENEALOGY IN THE ARCTIC SEDIMENT

Molecular biologists on the move: An unusual place to find heat-loving microorganisms. How they found their way to Spitsbergen is the subject of research by an international team supported by the FWF.

Heat-loving bacteria found in the Arctic seabed have their origins in oil springs and the depths of the Earth's crust. This is the finding of a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, which used molecular biology to study "misplaced" bacteria such as these. The possibility that molecular biology could also help track down oil fields gives the project an interesting economic twist.

They were discovered over 50 years ago but their origins have remained a mystery. Living in the sediment of the Arctic seabed around Spitsbergen are bacteria that only really thrive in temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius. In fact, the term "living" can only be applied in the loosest of terms, as the bacteria found here exhibit little in the way of metabolic activity and spend their existence as dormant spores. But it is their metabolism that is of most interest, since some of them are "sulphate-reducing microorganisms" (SRMs) and as such are capable of breaking down organic material in the absence of oxygen and the presence of sulphate. It is precisely this capability that gave the first indications of where these microbial migrants could originate from.

FROM THE DEPTHS

"While we would describe conditions in certain parts of our planet as inhospitable, others feel right at home there. Thermophilic SRMs love environments where temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius and where there is a distinct lack of oxygen. In conditions such as these, these microorganisms are able to break down organic material," explains Project Leader Dr. Alexander Loy from the Department of Microbial Ecology at the University of Vienna, adding: "Underwater oil springs and ecosystems deep in the Earth's crust offer just such conditions and were our first thought when trying to pin down the origins of thermophilic SRMs in Arctic sediment."

To test out this hypothesis, Dr. Loy and his team first used appropriate molecular biological methods to determine the relationships of the thermophilic bacteria. This work, which was supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, focused on 16S rRNA, a component of bacterial "protein factories". Due to the essential nature of 16S rRNA for all living beings, it has changed relatively little over the course of evolution. And these few changes enable scientists to draw conclusions about relationships between bacteria. If two species have some of these changes in common, it can be assumed that they are closely related.

RELATIONSHIPS IN PERCENTAGES

The work quickly yielded results and, in September 2009, initial findings from Dr. Loy's team and data from colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen (Germany), and the Universities of North Carolina (USA) and Aarhus (Denmark) were published in SCIENCE. Dr. Loy on the results of this "family history" research: "The closest relatives of the thermophilic bacteria in the Arctic come from oil fields in the North Sea. Up to 96 percent of the 16S rRNA in these species is identical to that of the species found in Arctic sediment." These results provided the first indications of where the bacteria could come from.

Further evidence came from an analysis of the number of endospores present in the Arctic seabed, which was conducted by Dr. Loy's international colleagues. Based on the numbers detected, it has been calculated that 100 million bacterial spores are deposited for each square metre, each year. This was the second key indication of the origin of these bacteria. It is evident that a big enough population must exist to ensure a continuous supply. Only oil fields and ecosystems in the Earth's crust, where high temperatures provide ideal conditions for heat-loving bacteria, could be responsible for such numbers.

If the thermophilic SRMs in Arctic waters do originate from underwater oil springs, the methods used could also have applications in oil exploration. Although this particular aspect was not a focal point of Dr. Loy's FWF project, it could have a very practical side effect.

Original article:

"A Constant Flux of Diverse Thermophilic Bacteria into the Cold Arctic Seabed" C. Hubert, A. Loy, M. Nickel, C. Arnosti, C. Baranyi, V. Brüchert, T. Ferdelman, K. Finster, F. M. Christensen, J. R. de Rezende, V. Vandieken, and B. B. Jørgensen. Science, 18th September 2009, VOL 325, doi: 10.1126/science.1174012

LANL Announces Top 10 Science Stories of 2009

Los Alamos achievements from supercomputing to biofuels

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, January 8, 2010-Los Alamos National Laboratory has identified the Top 10 Laboratory science stories of 2009 based on global viewership of online media content and major programmatic milestones.

"Often our top breakthroughs in terms of scientific impact are also the ones that garner the most attention in the media," said Terry Wallace, Laboratory principal associate director of science, technology, and engineering.  "This was certainly the case for Roadrunner and for the Ardi discovery.  Sometimes, the best measure of impact is programmatic, such as the successful DARHT two-axis hydrotest, or our teams using nanotechnology for energy breakthroughs.  In combination, this collection of advances points to the diverse capabilities at Los Alamos that we harness for national security science."  Much of the science and technology at Los Alamos stems from or benefits the Lab's key national security mission performed for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Top 10 LANL Science Stories for 2009 are:

#1)  Roadrunner:  The Roadrunner supercomputer at Los Alamos is the first computing system in the world to reach a petaflop, computer jargon for 1 million billion calculations per second, a record that stood for a year and a half.  But the real accomplishment is that Roadrunner reached that goal using an entirely new computing architecture.  The secret to its record-breaking performance is a unique hybrid design.  The full system consists of 278 server racks containing 6,562 AMD Opteron� dual-core processors and 12,240 PowerXCell 8i� Cell processors, a special IBM-developed variant of the Cell processor used in the Sony PlayStation®3. The node-attached Cell accelerators are what make Roadrunner completely different than typical computing "clusters."  Roadrunner also is one of the most energy efficient supercomputers.  Using approximately 3 megawatts of power at sustained petaflop performance, the system produces about 500 megaflops per watt, more than twice the efficiency of the average supercomputer.

#2)  Ardi:  A Los Alamos National Laboratory geologist is part of an international research team responsible for discovering the oldest nearly intact skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus, who lived 4.4 million years ago.  The discovery reveals the biology of the first stage of human evolution better than anything seen to date.  The fossil, nicknamed "Ardi," is the earliest skeleton known from the human branch of the primate family tree. The discovery provides new insights about how hominids-the family of "great apes" comprising humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans-may have emerged from an ancestral ape.  The discovery and associated research were named Science magazine's Breakthrough of the Year for 2009 and selected by Time magazine as the #1 science story of 2009.

#3)  Climate modeling & monitoring: LANL innovations in high-resolution climate modeling and monitoring led to new insights into the impacts of climate change at global and regional scales.

The changing conditions in the ocean due to increased acidity from increased CO2 is one of the unknowns in future climate change projections.  LANL's Climate, Ocean, and Sea Ice Modeling effort for DOE and the National Science Foundation develops the highest-resolution dynamic models of the world's oceans and polar icecaps. Although up to 80 percent of the world's oxygen is generated by photosynthetic processes in ocean phytoplankton and other sea plants, the effects of this photosynthesis on removing CO2 from the atmosphere have not been included previously because of the lack of available computing power.  Harnessing the petaflop capacity of LANL's Roadrunner supercomputer (see #1 above), Lab researchers recently examined the effect of mesoscale ocean eddies (a few miles in size) on the transport of nutrients crucial for the growth of phytoplankton.  These eddies cause vertical transport of nutrients, which is crucial for the growth of phytoplankton.  The model can then calculate surface chlorophyll concentrations, and compare to satellite images.  This model is dramatically better than the previous state of the art in resolution and its ability to capture biological complexity.

The regional effects of global climate change on western U.S. forests also are important to understanding future impacts, especially as forests comprise an important CO2 sink.  The widespread die-off of piñon trees in the southwest is now being followed by a larger-scale pine mortality in the mountain west.  LANL scientists documented a new mechanism for this mortality, called carbon starvation.  It has been widely presumed that trees die of hydraulic failure (drying out).   Instead, they die from closure of the tiny pores on the surfaces of leaves that permit the exchange of gases between the atmosphere and the leaf.  When the pores are closed (to prevent water loss during extreme drought), the photosynthetic uptake of carbon also stops, starving the trees.  This type of mortality has been documented on all six vegetated continents and is increasing, with climate change, across all biomes (forest, desert, grasslands, tundra, and aquatic ecosystems).  This work is an enormous step forward in demonstrating that regional climate change drives a global-scale response of vegetation mortality.  Massive forest die-offs can change vegetated areas from carbon sinks to carbon sources.

#4)  MagViz:  LANL's MagViz team pioneered the use of modified magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) technology to distinguish and alert airport security staff to potentially dangerous liquids and gels in airport carry-on baggage.  Using extremely low magnetic fields and high-powered computer analysis, the MagViz equipment was demonstrated for its Department of Homeland Security sponsors and potential Transportation Safety Administration users at the Albuquerque International Sunport (http://www.youtube.com/LosAlamosNationalLab#p/a/u/4/xT2zncrtU-s).   A new area of development is a bottled-liquid scanner system based on the same technology.

#5)  First dual-axis hydrodynamic test:  LANL scientists and engineers fired the first-ever double-viewpoint, multiframe hydrodynamic test at DARHT, the Laboratory's Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility - leading to future experiments at LANL and across the nation's nuclear security enterprise, supporting the stockpile stewardship and weapons assurance mission.  "Initial data return was excellent," said the hydrodynamic experiments division leader, David Funk.  "The baseline experiment captured five time-dependent X-ray images and a variety of data from other diagnostics of pressure, temperature, and timing.  This data provides the nation with one of the most rigorous tests of our capability to predict weapons performance."

#6)  Hurricane prediction:  A system of sensors developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory for the National Nuclear Security Administration's nonproliferation mission has also begun to give meteorologists their most detailed view of the relationship between hurricanes and lightning.  By examining the rate and nature of lightning in the hurricane's eye wall, scientists may begin to be able to predict the potential strengthening of these destructive storms.

#7)  Fuel from plants:  Los Alamos National Laboratory has teamed with Solix Biofuels, Inc. to use an award-winning LANL sound-wave technology to optimize production of algae-based fuel in a cost-effective, scalable, and environmentally benign fashion.  Acoustic focusing-the novel use of sound waves at the heart of the Los Alamos Acoustic Flow Cytometer, a 2007 R&D 100 Award-winning technology-is being commercialized in partnership with Solix to harvest biocrude, or "green gold," an alternative to crude oil that can be refined into biodiesel, gasoline, or even jet fuel.  The technology is to be deployed in 2010 to Solix's Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility near Durango, Colorado, for real-world production of lower-cost biofuel.

In addition, research breakthroughs using the LANL Protein Crystallography Station (part of the Lab's LANSCE facility) to probe the structure of cellulose are making the prospect of affordable, efficient production of cellulosic fuels closer to reality. The Protein Crystallography Station is the only resource of its kind in the United States and the first protein crystallography beam line to be built at a spallation neutron source.

#8)  IBEX:  The invisible structures of space are becoming less so, as scientists look out to the far edges of the solar wind bubble that separates our solar system from the interstellar cloud through which it flies.  Using the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager, led by LANL, the NASA Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/index.html) has sent back data that indicates a "noodle soup" of solar material has accumulated at the outer fringes of the heliosphere bubble.  The Los Alamos camera detects particles that are heated and stream away from that boundary, specifically the density and temperature of atoms that form the core of that layer.

#9)  Laser-particle acceleration for cancer therapy:  Laser-particle acceleration is an emerging area of physics expected to enable significant future advances in cancer radiotherapy.  An international team of physicists led by LANL has accelerated protons to world-record high energies that otherwise only achievable with large accelerator facilities.  Proton radiation at the achieved energy range can be used, for example, to treat eye cancer.  The new record-proton-acceleration energies were demonstrated at LANL's Trident facility-the world's highest-contrast, high-intensity, high-energy laser.  Physicists bombarded specially designed thin films created using nanotechnology with short bursts of laser energy. The electric fields generated from this bombardment were used to accelerate protons to energies higher than ever before achieved-capable of destroying cancer cells.

#10)  Nanotechnology for Energy Frontiers:  Two LANL teams were awarded lead roles as DOE Energy Frontier Research Centers to develop new materials for energy.

The Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics will capitalize on recent advances in the science of how nanoparticles interact with light to design highly efficient materials for the conversion of sunlight into electricity.  The purpose of this EFRC is to develop novel physics, materials, and architectures for harvesting solar light and converting it into electrical charges with efficiencies above equilibrium thermodynamic limits.  Such materials can boost the efficiency of solar-energy conversion.

The Center for Extreme Environment-Tolerant Materials has as its objective to understand, at the atomic scale, the behavior of materials subject to extreme radiation doses and mechanical stress in order to synthesize new materials that can tolerate such conditions.  This EFRC will develop a fundamental understanding of how atomic structure and interfaces contribute to defect and damage evolution in materials, with such potential applications as structural materials, fuel cladding, and waste forms in the next generation of nuclear power reactors and structural materials in transportation, energy, and defense.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov)

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Study: Quantum fluctuations are key in superconductors

First direct evidence of quantum critical point in iron-based 'pnictides'

HOUSTON -- (Jan. 8, 2010) -- New experiments on a recently discovered class of iron-based superconductors suggest that the ability of their electrons to conduct electricity without resistance is directly connected with the magnetic properties of those electrons.

Results of the experiments appear in the Jan. 8 issue of Physical Review Letters. The tests, which were carried out by a team of U.S. and Chinese physicists, shed light on the fundamental nature of high-temperature superconductivity, said Rice physicist Qimiao Si, a co-author on the study.

If better understood, high-temperature superconductors could be used to revolutionize electric generators, MRI scanners, high-speed trains and other devices.

In the study, scientists from Rice University, the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Physics and Renmin University in Beijing examined several iron-arsenide compounds. These are the "undoped" parents of the iron "pnictides" (pronounced: NICK-tides), a class of materials that were found to be high-temperature superconductors in 2008.

The experiments set out to test theoretical predictions that Si and collaborators published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last March. They predicted that varying the size of some atoms in the parent compounds could allow physicists to tune the material's quantum fluctuations. These types of fluctuations can create tipping points called magnetic "quantum critical points," a state that exists when a material is at the cusp of transitioning from one quantum phase to another.

Using neutron-scattering facilities at NIST and ORNL, the team bombarded the materials with neutrons to decipher their structural and magnetic properties. The tests, which supported Si's theoretical predictions, determined that the strength of magnetic order in the materials was reduced when arsenic atoms were replaced with slightly smaller phosphorus atoms.

"We found the first direct evidence that a magnetic quantum critical point exists in these materials," Si said.

The results were made possible by the efforts of Nanlin Wang, a physicist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics, and his research group. They created a series of samples with varying amounts of phosphorous substituting for arsenic.

The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in copper-oxide ceramics in 1986 led physicists to realize that quantum effects in electronic materials were far more complex than anticipated. One of these effects is quantum criticality. Criticality occurs near a tipping point that a material goes through when it changes phases. Many phase changes -- like ice melting into water -- occur because of thermal fluctuations. But quantum criticalities and quantum phase changes arise solely from quantum fluctuations.

"Our finding of a quantum critical point in iron pnictides opens the door for new avenues of research into this important class of materials," said University of Tennessee/ORNL physicist Pengcheng Dai, a neutron scattering specialist.

Si said, "The evidence from this study bolsters the hypothesis that high-temperature superconductivity in the iron pnictides originates from electronic magnetism. This should be contrasted to conventional low-temperature superconductivity, which is caused by ionic vibrations."

The Rice research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.

Global - Thailand

Thailand nanotech plan moves ahead

Pratchaya W., 5 January 2010

Nanotechnology research: Thailand is going full steam ahead

[BANGKOK] Thailand is expanding its nanotechnology strategy into the energy and agriculture sectors after reporting success in the first phase of its national nanotechnology policy.

Developments such as nano-based solar cells and batteries, and nano-plastic packaging to enhance food quality, could be in the pipeline according to Sirirurg Songsivilai, executive director of the state-run National Nanotechnology Center (Nanotec).

Speaking on the sidelines of the third Thailand Nanotechnology Conference last month (21–22 December), Songsivilai claimed a national strategic plan for nanotechnology, launched in 2007, had been a success initially in the textile, chemical and medical sectors. Among new products are fabrics and Thai herbal medicines that are both 'nano-coated', he said.

Under the plan, 300 million Thai baht (about US$9 million) will be spent on nanotechnology by the government each year.

The move into energy and agriculture, which started late last year, is in line with world trends, added Songsivilai.

"Energy and the environment have gained more and more attention, and this is well-matched to what we are pushing forward. The farming sector is also our main economic base and should be developed further."

The strategic plan calls for nano-products to account for as much as one per cent of the country's GDP by 2013 — equivalent to US$3 billion. It also aims to raise health and environmental standards to international levels with the use of nanotechnology, and to lead the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in nano-based education and research and development.

Songsivilai said Nanotec had set up seven associate centres in universities nationwide, with about 400 researchers in total. To attract new researchers — the strategic plan aims for 100 a year up until 2013 — the centre has so far awarded about 100 scholarships to students to study up to PhD level overseas, and 200 more in the country.

He said the main challenge for capacity building is how to recruit researchers who have critical and holistic thinking.

Joydeep Dutta, director of the Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology at Thailand's Asian Institute of Technology, said the country's nanotechnology development was far behind other countries — ten years, at least.

But he believes that Thailand can catch up with others, particularly by creating a concrete policy to put nanotechnology on school curriculums. He said the sector is on the right track by targeting agriculture and energy.

"It's just the beginning," he said. "We need extensive capacity building and, more importantly, we need critical thinking in the field."

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/thailand-nanotech-plan-moves-ahead.html

Global - Turkey

University makes leap with nanotechnology

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet - Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sabanci University in Istanbul has obtained a prominent figure for its nanotechnology department from Irvine Sensors Corp., one of the world’s leading firms in nanotechnology.

Volkan Özgüz, known for his studies in the field of electronic miniaturization, has been nominated as the director of Sabanci University’s Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, or SUNUM.

Announcing the transfer at a press meeting on Tuesday, Güler Sabanci, chairperson of Sabanci University’s Board of Trustees, said the university now has the proper climate for research and development as well as applied research.

”The climate is proper and the gate of opportunities seems ready. We see that it is the proper time for Turkey. Our university’s 10-year experience already makes it ready for a leap. I hope we will be able to make this leap.“

Product development

”Comparatively, Sabanci University has an advantage. We do not have departments but an interdisciplinary infrastructure. We see this research infrastructure is a significant advantage in nanotechnology research,“ said Sabanci. Özgüz has returned to Turkey with 20 years of experience, she also said.

”SUNUM will try to develop products proper to rapid industry use. It makes me excited to hear from scientists that Turkey has a significant opportunity ahead. I stress that research is not the only important factor but that the word application should also be focused on. Product and speed will display the actual success of the successful nanotechnology center.“

SUNUM was established last year with an investment of 50 million Turkish Liras and the support of the State Planning Organization. ”The volume of the world’s nanotechnology market is 2.5 billion euros. Between 2014 and 2018, the foreign-funded nanotechnology projects at our university are expected to total 55 million liras,“ said Sabanci University Rector Professor Nihat Berker.

SUNUM will firstly prioritize agriculture as well as water and environmental cleanliness, said Özgüz. ”The construction sector may also be interesting. There are also studies in medicine.“

”Many experts agree that nanotechnology is the most important technology among the ones to leave its mark on the 21st century,“ Özgüz said. ”The countries to convert their R&D studies rapidly into products in terms of health, security and living quality will affect their citizens’ life significantly.“

Özgüz expressed the goal to make SUNUM’s infrastructure operational within one year. ”Our aim is to become among the world’s top 10 nanotechnology centers within three years,“ he said.

Source: © 2009 Hurriyet Daily News

URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=university-makes-leap-with-nanotechnology-2010-01-06

Global - The Netherlands

We invite the submission of abstracts for the workshop --

Ethics on the laboratory floor; Explorations for a methodology

Date: June 1-2, 2010

Location: University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

Organization: Centre for Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences

These last years, there has been a growing interest in the engagement of ethicists in the context of scientific engineering research, with the aim to anticipate the ambiguous impacts that technological innovations have on the quality of human life. In this way, ethicists are thought to be able to contribute to the constitution of the technological product at a stage when it is still malleable.

Several scholars have developed views on how an ethicist in this context should work, but there is not yet a detailed ‘method’. With this workshop, we want to contribute to the development of such a method. We want to focus especially on the themes of reflection and deliberation, for the enhancement of ‘reflection’ and the broadening of ‘deliberation’ is often understood to be the primary aim of the work of an ethicist in the scientific research context. Yet it remains unclear what this involves.

Questions are raised such as: what is reflection/deliberation? How should ethicists enhance reflection? What are the consequences of such an enhancement of reflection on the deliberation about research choices? How much should this deliberation be broadened? And what is the specific input of an ethicist in this deliberation?

This workshop aims to act as a platform to discuss and critically engage with these questions. Confirmed invited participants are Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Rosalyn Berne, Ulrike Felt, Armin Grunwald, Alfred Nordmann and Arie Rip.

We invite abstracts (500-1000 words) from philosophers and social scientists. Theoretical philosophical papers about deliberation, reflection and moral linguistics are welcome, but also descriptions and analyses of concrete joint deliberation processes on the laboratory floor about ethical issues. Sub-themes are:

Reflection/deliberation

Future scenarios

Ethical language and communication

The institutional context

For more information about these sub-themes and related questions, please look at our workshop website

http://www.utwente.nl/ceptes/ceptes_activities/deliberation_engineering/

The deadline for submission is March 1, 2010.

The authors of selected papers will be notified by email.

Abstracts should be sent to: ceptes-workshop@gw.utwente.nl

How to spur energy storage innovations

December 17th, 2009-Imagine flying all the way from coast to coast, completely guilt-free, in an airplane that doesn’t emit a single particle of greenhouse gas or air pollutants. That could happen someday, perhaps brought to reality thanks to the incentive of a $10 million prize that has been proposed by a team of MIT students.

Ever since the first privately financed piloted rocket was launched into space in 2004, spurred by the $10-million Ansari X-Prize, the foundation that established that prize has been creating similar awards to encourage other technological leaps. Follow-up prizes have been offered for the creation of a practical 100-mile-per-gallon car, and for a privately funded robotic lunar mission, among others.

The foundation is always looking for new ideas to promote advances in areas that need an extra boost because they are not attracting enough commercial research and development effort. The X-Prize Lab@MIT, a collaboration between the Institute and the X-Prize Foundation aimed at creating concepts for new prizes, led by instructor Erika Wagner of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, just completed its third semester-long class devoted to developing new prize ideas. This time, the subject was energy storage, and the final presentations by the four teams of students in the class were held on Friday, Dec. 11.

Graduate students Daniel Codd (mechanical engineering), Wendelin Michel (AeroAstro), and Paul Tu (MIT Sloan School of Management) proposed the ”Clean Aviation“ X-Prize. The concept, they explained, would be to hold a race from California to New York, in which all the competing planes would have to be powered entirely by electricity and produce no emissions. The planes would be allowed two stops during the journey, which would have to be completed within 24 hours. The first to cross the finish line would get a $7.5 million prize, while the plane that covered the longest distance on a single leg of the flight would win $2.5 million.

”World aviation burns 200 million gallons of fuel per day,“ explained Tu in his team’s presentation. ”That’s equivalent to one Olympic-size pool every minute.“ That situation is unlikely to change without an outside impetus, he said, because of the expense of developing alternatives and ”the entrenched interests of major aviation companies and petroleum companies.“

Michel explained that while this is not the first proposal for a green-aviation challenge, it’s the only one requiring an all-electric, emissions-free system. The plan calls for holding the race three years after the contest is announced, and then if no team is able to complete the challenge, holding a second contest two years later for a reduced prize. ”It would be open to all possible entrants, from people working in a garage to Boeing.“

That plan, with its coast-to-coast race, would likely produce the most visually interesting, media-appealing contest, but the other three teams also came up with concepts for interesting challenges that could lead to technological advances with potentially widespread applications. One team, for example, proposed a prize for the creation of a small (miniature refrigerator-sized), mass-producible power storage module suitable for use in individual homes, as a way of offsetting the peak loads that dominate electric utilities’ needs for new power plants. The goal would be to have the units priced at $100 each, to spur widespread adoption, and the prize would include an initial order for 50,000 units to be installed in a single area of a city.

Widespread adoption of such a technology, the team said, could eliminate the need for half of all power plants, since half of the nation’s generating capacity is in place just to meet peak loads. Once developed, said team member Tim Grejtak, a junior in mechanical engineering, ”we anticipate this would be an entirely market-driven approach,“ with units being sold in typical big-box consumer outlets.

The other proposals were for similar kinds of self-contained storage systems, but at different scales and aimed at different applications. One team proposed a prize for units capable of storing enough electricity to be usable by the electric utilities themselves as load-leveling systems. They propose a prize for a 25-megawatt unit, able to deliver its power over a six-hour period. The other team suggested a device suitable for use in villages in the developing world, where they could power computers in a school, for example. The devices, which would deliver 5 kilowatts of electricity for up to 10 hours, would be a way to help bring power to the 1.6 billion people around the world who currently lack access to reliable electric power.

Ultimately, the decision about which, if any, of these proposals will be launched as X-Prize competitions rests with the X-Prize Foundation itself. The foundation was created and is run by Peter Diamandis ’83, SM ’88, who initially set it up to administer the first X-Prize, which led to back-to-back flights into space by the one-person rocket called SpaceShipOne, in 2004. The successor to that craft, the eight-person SpaceShipTwo, was unveiled last week and is expected to begin carrying ordinary citizens (and quite a few celebrities) into space in about two years, ushering in a new era in space transportation.

At least one of the expert judges, who rated the different plans that were presented last week, thinks these proposals deserve to move forward. Robert Metcalfe ‘69, co-inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com, mentioned that at the foundation’s headquarters in Playa Vista, Calif., there is a large whiteboard on the wall that lists all the ideas currently under consideration as future X-Prizes. ”You have never seen anything so exciting“ as that listing of potential prizes, he said. The four new ideas presented by the MIT students, he said, are ”not yet up on that board, but will surely get there.“

Source: MIT

Tracking newcancer-killing particles with MRI

Nanoparticle could allow diagnosis, treatment in one visit

HOUSTON -- (Dec. 14, 2009) -- Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have created a single nanoparticle that can be tracked in real time with MRI as it homes in on cancer cells, tags them with a fluorescent dye and kills them with heat. The all-in-one particle is one of the first examples from a growing field called "theranostics" that develops technologies physicians can use to diagnose and treat diseases in a single procedure.

The research is available online in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. Tests so far involve laboratory cell cultures, but the researchers said MRI tracking will be particularly advantageous as they move toward tests in animals and people.

"Some of the most essential questions in nanomedicine today are about biodistribution -- where particles go inside the body and how they get there," said study co-author Naomi Halas. "Noninvasive tests for biodistribution will be enormously useful on the path to FDA approval, and this technique -- adding MRI functionality to the particle you're testing and using for therapy -- is a very promising way of doing this."

Halas, Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering, is a pioneer in nanomedicine. The all-in-one particles are based on nanoshells -- particles she invented in the 1990s that are currently in human clinical trials for cancer treatment. Nanoshells harvest laser light that would normally pass harmlessly through the body and convert it into tumor-killing heat.

In designing the new particle, Halas partnered with Amit Joshi, assistant professor in BCM's Division of Molecular Imaging, to modify nanoshells by adding a fluorescent dye that glows when struck by near-infrared (NIR) light. NIR light is invisible and harmless, so NIR imaging could provide doctors with a means of diagnosing diseases without surgery.

In studying ways to attach the dye, Halas' graduate student, Rizia Bardhan, found that dye molecules emitted 40-50 times more light if a tiny gap was left between them and the surface of the nanoshell. The gap was just a few nanometers wide, but rather than waste the space, Bardhan inserted a layer of iron oxide that would be detectable with MRI. The researchers also attached an antibody that lets the particles bind to the surface of breast and ovarian cancer cells.

In the lab, the team tracked the fluorescent particles and confirmed that they targeted cancer cells and destroyed them with heat. Joshi said the next step will be to destroy whole tumors in live animals. He estimates that testing in humans is at least two years away, but the ultimate goal is a system where a patient gets a shot containing nanoparticles with antibodies that are tailored for the patient's cancer. Using NIR imaging, MRI or a combination of the two, doctors would observe the particles' progress through the body, identify areas where tumors exist and then kill them with heat.

"This particle provides four options -- two for imaging and two for therapy," Joshi said. "We envision this as a platform technology that will present practitioners with a choice of options for directed treatment."

Eventually, Joshi said, he hopes to develop specific versions of the particles that can attack cancer at different stages, particularly early stage cancer, which is difficult to diagnose and treat with current technology. The researchers also expect to use different antibody labels to target specific forms of the disease. Halas said the team has been careful to choose components that are either already approved for medical use or are already in clinical trials.

"What's nice is that every single component of this has been approved or is on a path toward FDA approval," Halas said. "We're putting together components that all have good, proven track records."

Bardhan and BCM postdoctoral researcher Wenxue Chen are co-primary authors of the paper. Additional Rice co-authors include Emilia Morosan, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and graduate students Ryan Huschka and Liang Zhao. Additional BCM co-authors include Robia Pautler, assistant professor of neuroscience and radiology, postdoctoral researcher Marc Bartels and graduate student Carlos Perez-Torres.

The research was sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Welch Foundation and the Department of Defense's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative.

View the paper at http://tinyurl.com/nanocomplex.

Source: Rice University

Rice physicists find reappearing quantum trios

Study of ultracold atoms proves theory about universal quantum mechanism

HOUSTON -- (Dec. 11, 2009) -- Using atoms at temperatures colder than deep space, Rice University physicists have delivered overwhelming proof for a once-scoffed-at theory that's become a hotbed for research some 40 years after it first appeared. In a paper available online in Science, Rice's team offers experimental evidence for a universal quantum mechanism that allows trios of particles to appear and reappear at higher energy levels in an infinite progression. The triplets, often called trimers, form in special cases where pairs cannot.

"It's such a remarkable phenomena," said team leader Randy Hulet. "There are examples, like the Borromean rings (see below), where having a third component is crucial. Any two of the rings will unbind if the third is removed, and these trimers are similar. The particles want to bind, but no two can do it. They need the third one to make it happen."

The trimers were first predicted almost 40 years ago by theoretical physicist Vitaly Efimov. The most striking feature of Efimov's prediction was that the effect was both universal and repeating. That meant that the trimers could form from anything, be it as large as an atom or as small as a quark. And it also meant that Efimov's trimers would form repeatedly, up and down the energy scale in a stepwise fashion. Efimov, now at the University of Washington, even predicted the spacing in energy of the trimers; he said they would appear every time the binding energy increased by a factor of 22.7.

"A lot of people didn't believe him," said Hulet, Rice's Fayez Sarofim Professor of Physics and Astronomy. "That's partly because physicists can handle two-body problems quite well and many-body problems fairly well, but when there are just a few objects, like the three bodies in these Efimov trimers, there are just too many variables."

As Hulet points out, there is still no general mathematical solution for the most classic of all "three-body" problems -- the sun-Earth-moon problem.

"You can do a numerical calculation, of course," he said. "You can calculate to arbitrary precision what the sun, Earth and moon are doing relative to one another at any given time, but you cannot write out a formula for that on paper. There is no general solution for that or any other three-body problem."

What Efimov offered in 1970 was not a general solution for the three-body problem, but it was the next-best thing -- a universal relationship that would hold true for any particle but only under a particular set of circumstances.

Hulet said nuclear physicists tried for decades to find experimental evidence of Efimov trimers using nuclear particles, but they found that there wasn't a strong enough attractive interaction between the particles to satisfy the conditions laid out by Efimov.

In the 1980s, physicists began using a combination of powerful lasers and magnetic fields to trap and cool atoms to ultracold temperatures. As thermodynamic heat is driven from the atoms, they move slower and slower. That let physicists study atoms in a new way, and as the techniques progressed, physicists were eventually able to remove so much thermodynamic energy from these trapped atoms that they began to manifest the effects of quantum physics.

Efimov trimers are one manifestation of quantum physics, and Hulet said a number of research groups worldwide have been racing to study them for several years. The first Efimov trimer was observed in 2006, and the first set of two connected trimers was observed in early 2009.

In their experiments, Hulet, postdoctoral researcher Scott Pollack and graduate student Dan Dries designed a test for Efimov's prediction about universal scaling -- the notion that trimers emerged again and again in a stepwise fashion. The team used a property of ultracold atoms called a "Feshbach resonance" to tune the interactions between lithium atoms. As they dialed up and down the energy scale, they saw Efimov's trimers appear and reappear again and again. The team confirmed another Efimov prediction as well by finding four-body "tetramers" in close proximity to each trimer. In all, Hulet, Pollack and Dries found 11 different signatures for trimers and tetramers, each exactly where Efimov and others had predicted.

Efimov was in the room when Hulet presented the first results of the tests at a scientific meeting in Rome.

"He was so excited that he came up and gave me a high five after the talk," Hulet said. "In his original paper, he had a figure that looked just like what we had found. It was such an amazing prediction, and to see it borne out like this is very special."

Hulet's research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Keck Foundation and the Welch Foundation.

Source: Rice University

Nanomedicine: ending 'hit and miss' design

Rice, TMC team wins stimulus funds for nanoparticle standardization

HOUSTON -- (Dec. 10, 2009) -- One of the promises of nanomedicine is the design of tiny particles that can home in on diseased cells and get inside them. Nanoparticles can carry drugs into cells and tag cells for MRI and other diagnostic tests; and they may eventually even enter a cell's nucleus to repair damaged genes. Unfortunately, designing them involves as much luck as engineering.

"Everything in nanomedicine right now is hit-and-miss as far as the biological fate of nanoparticles," said Rice University bioengineering researcher Jennifer West. "There's no systematic understanding of how to design a particle to accomplish a certain goal in terms of where it goes in a cell or if it even goes into a cell."

West's lab and 11 others in the Texas Medical Center -- including three at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative -- are hoping to change that, thanks to a $3 million Grand Opportunity (GO) grant from the National Institutes of Health. NIH established the GO grant program with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

One problem facing scientists today is that nanoparticles come in many shapes and sizes and can be made of very different materials. Some nanoparticles are spherical. Others are long and thin. Some are made of biodegradable plastic and others of gold, carbon or semiconducting metals. And sometimes size -- rather than shape or material -- is all-important.

West demonstrates this using a video on her computer that was created by Rice GO grant investigator Junghae Suh. The movie was created by snapping an image with a microscope every few seconds. In the video, dozens of particles move about inside a cell. Half of the particles are tagged with a red fluorescent dye and move very slowly. The rest are green and zip from place to place.

"These are made of the same material and have the same chemistry," said West, Rice's Isabel C. Cameron Professor and department chair of Bioengineering. "They are just different sizes. Yet you can see the profound differences in how they are moving in the cell. As we start to explore out further in the range of sizes and in altering the chemistry of the particles, we think we're likely to see even bigger impacts on where things go inside the cell."

The job of determining whether that's the case falls to Suh, assistant professor in bioengineering at Rice. Unlike other studies in the field, which rely on snapshots of dead cells, Suh's method lets researchers track single particles in living cells. Her lab will use the method in side-by-side comparisons of particles provided by the other 11 laboratories in the study.

In all, eight classes of nanoparticles will be studied. These include long, thin tubes of pure carbon called fullerenes, tiny specks of semiconductors called quantum dots, pure gold rods and spheres, as well as nanoshells -- nanoparticles invented at Rice that consist of a glass core covered by a thin gold shell. In addition, Suh's lab will examine organic particles made of polyethylene glycol and of chitosan.

"We will use a method called single-particle tracking to capture the dynamics of nanoparticle movement in live cells," Suh said. "Using confocal microscopy, we first create movies of the particles as they transit the cells. Then, we use image-processing software to extract information about how fast they move, what regions they're attracted to, etc. By comparing the movement and fate of the various nanoparticles designed by the multiple research laboratories, we hope to identify correlations between a nanoparticle’s physicochemical properties and their intracellular behavior."

At the end of the two-year study, the team hopes to have a database that charts the expected response of particles of a given size, type and chemistry. Ultimately, the hope is to provide researchers with a tool that will help predict how a particular particle is likely to behave. That, in turn, could help researchers speed the development of new treatments for disease.

"We want to understand where the particles go inside the cell, what organelles they associate with, whether or not they associate with any of the cytoskeletal structures and how they move inside the cell," Suh said. "For different applications, you're going to want your particles going to different places. We need to know where they go and how they behave so we can design the right particle for a particular job."

"We are thrilled to get the opportunity to really join forces to study this," Suh said. "It's just the sort of problem that requires the kind of support NIH is providing with ARRA funding. It's a problem that really requires a multidisciplinary, interinstitutional approach.“

The project’s other principal investigators include Rebekah Drezek and Lon Wilson, both of Rice; Mauro Ferrari, Paolo Decuzzi, David Gorenstein, Jim Klostergaard, Chun Li, Gabriel Lopez-Berestein and Anil Sood, all of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; and Wah Chiu of Baylor College of Medicine.

GO grant funding is provided by the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. NIH established the GO grant program to support projects that address large, specific research endeavors that are likely to deliver near-term growth and investment in biomedical research and development, public health and health care delivery.

Source: Rice University

At Stanford, nanotubes + ink + paper = equal instant battery (w/ Video)

Bing Hu, a post-doctoral fellow, prepares a small square of ordinary paper to with an ink that will deposit nanotubes on the surface that can then be charged with energy to create a battery.

Stanford scientists are harnessing nanotechnology to quickly produce ultra-lightweight, bendable batteries and supercapacitors in the form of everyday paper.

Simply coating a sheet of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires makes a highly conductive storage device, said Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering.

"Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple supercapacitors," he said.

Like batteries, capacitors hold an electric charge, but for a shorter period of time. However, capacitors can store and discharge electricity much more rapidly than a battery.

Cui's work is reported in the paper "Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices," published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dip an ordinary piece of paper into ink infused with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, and it turns into a battery or supercapacitor. Crumple the piece of paper, and it still works. Stanford researcher Yi Cui sees many uses for this new way of storing electricity. : Jack Hubbard, Stanford News Service.

"These nanomaterials are special," Cui said. "They're a one-dimensional structure with very small diameters." The small diameter helps the nanomaterial ink stick strongly to the fibrous paper, making the battery and supercapacitor very durable. The paper supercapacitor may last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles - at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. The nanomaterials also make ideal conductors because they move electricity along much more efficiently than ordinary conductors, Cui said.

Cui had previously created nanomaterial energy storage devices using plastics. His new research shows that a paper battery is more durable because the ink adheres more strongly to paper (answering the question, "Paper or plastic?"). What's more, you can crumple or fold the paper battery, or even soak it in acidic or basic solutions, and the performance does not degrade. "We just haven't tested what happens when you burn it," he said.

The flexibility of paper allows for many clever applications. "If I want to paint my wall with a conducting energy storage device," Cui said, "I can use a brush." In his lab, he demonstrated the battery to a visitor by connecting it to an LED (light-emitting diode), which glowed brightly.

A paper supercapacitor may be especially useful for applications like electric or hybrid cars, which depend on the quick transfer of electricity. The paper supercapacitor's high surface-to-volume ratio gives it an advantage.

"This technology has potential to be commercialized within a short time," said Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley. "I don't think it will be limited to just energy storage devices," he said. "This is potentially a very nice, low-cost, flexible electrode for any electrical device."

Cui predicts the biggest impact may be in large-scale storage of electricity on the distribution grid. Excess electricity generated at night, for example, could be saved for peak-use periods during the day. Wind farms and solar energy systems also may require storage.

"The most important part of this paper is how a simple thing in daily life - paper - can be used as a substrate to make functional conductive electrodes by a simple process," Yang said. "It's nanotechnology related to daily life, essentially."

Cui's research team includes postdoctoral scholars Liangbing Hu and JangWook Choi, and graduate student Yuan Yang.

Provided by Stanford University

Global - Egypt

Egypt: Nanotechnology comes to AUC

Bikya Masr Staff

  8 December 2009 in Egypt, News, Tech

CAIRO: Scientists at The American University in Cairo (AUC) are currently engaged in what the university called ”ground-breaking research“ in nanoscience and technology-oriented fields that are expected to change the way the world lives in the near future. Through the Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center (YJSTRC) at the university, using state-of-the-art equipment in the physical sciences, engineering, nanotechnology and bionanotechnology, AUC is conducting cutting-edge research in these fields.

In a press statement, AUC said the new research includes ”the development of novel diagnostic tests for sensitive detection of the hepatitis C virus; detection of cancer biomarkers, as well as creating a new generation of nanodevices that include smart bricks with tiny sensors, which can analyze building safety and warn of fires and earthquakes.“

Accordingly, the hope is that these new sensors will be able to be mounted in and around cars in order to assist airbags in deploying properly, warn of low tire pressure and sense objects around the vehicle. They are hopeful that the devices will be invisible and consume a minute amount of power.

Nanotechnology is the science of the very small, dealing with atoms and molecules, and with dimensions varying from 100nm down to 1nm.

”One has to visualize how small a nanometer is. It is 1x 10-9 meters or one one-billionth of a meter long. They are incredibly small and professors working on the nanoscale are looking at a world most people simply would not recognize,“ Sherif Sedky, physics professor and associate director of YJSTRC said, adding that AUC professors are constructing miniaturized devices.

These devices are commonly referred to as microelectromechanical (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) systems, which are used in a broad range of applications which includes, but is not limited to, imaging, communication systems, blood pressure regulation, muscle stimulators, high density storage media and lab on chip.

”The field is only 15 years old, but nearly every system you can think of has some MEMS component in it, from pharmaceuticals and mobile phones to the wing of an airplane and the fabric of stain-resistant shirts,“ Sedky added.

Recently, Sedky and the microfabrication group that he heads at the YJSTRC have been a patent jointly owned with the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) in Belgium for their development of new techniques that control the physical properties of thin films. These will be suitable for a broad range of miniaturized devices that can be integrated with driving and control electronics.

”We are also working on developing energy harvesters that could convert wasted energy into a useful one, which could then be used to charge devices implemented inside the human body, as well as developing miniaturized antennas and high precision motion systems that are suitable for space applications,“ he explained.

Leading the research efforts in the field of bionanotechnology at the YJSTRC, Professor Hassan Azzazy, chair of AUC’s chemistry department, constructs and utilizes a variety of nanoparticles including gold nanoparticles and nanocrystals to develop unique diagnostic tests for sensitive detection of the hepatitis C virus.

”Nanoparticles are also used in different test configurations to develop experiments for the detection of cancer biomarkers such as alpha-fetoprotein, a marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer),“ said Azzazy in the AUC press statement, adding that these nanoparticle-based tests are cheaper and generate results in a shorter time compared to their commercial counterparts.

”We are also working on designing nano-carriers for controlled simultaneous delivery of therapeutic drugs and genetic materials into liver cells using built-in nano-switches,“ he explained.

The projects are being funded by grants from YJSTRC and the Arab Science the Technology Foundation in the United Arab Emirates.

http://bikyamasr.com/?p=6469

Global-Czech Republic

Czech Republic Launches New Nanotechnology Research Initiative with EU Support

Toxicology, mechanical engineering, nanoscience and veterinary medicine are the subjects of four major new EU-funded research initiatives launched recently in the Czech Republic. The projects, which will share over CZK 2 billion (EUR 77 million), are financed under the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation (OP R+DI), which receives EU support through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim of the OP R&DI is to strengthen research, development and innovation in the Czech Republic with a view to enhancing the country's economic growth and competitiveness, and to make the Czech regions attractive locations for research and related activities.

One grant recipient is Masaryk University in Brno, which has been allocated CZK 544 million (EUR 21 million) for its CETOCOEN ('Centre for the study of toxic substances') project. The money will allow the university to build a new pavilion for the centre and put together a research team comprising both Czech and foreign scientists with expertise in environmental science.

The project will focus on the development of new chemical and toxicological tools to monitor environmental quality, assess the impacts of man-made and natural toxins in the environment on human health, and model the behaviour of these compounds. The team will create an open access environmental database and link it up to other epidemiological databases. They will also work closely with regional authorities and support regional development through the organisation of an international conference or workshop and annual summer schools.

Another project is the NETME ('New technology for mechanical engineering') Centre at Brno University of Technology. As its name suggests, the NETME Centre's work focuses on research into advanced technologies for mechanical engineering. The CZK 768 million (EUR 30 million) grant will help the centre significantly enhance its research activities by allowing it to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure and equipment. In addition, the new equipment will help the centre improve its education programmes and ensure its research is applied in practice.

Elsewhere, the Technical University of Liberec has been allocated CZK 800 million (EUR 31 million) for the Centre for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation. The funds will go towards the purchase of new equipment and devices to allow the centre's researchers to carry out top-level experiments in the fields of material research (with a focus on nanomaterials) and competitive engineering (notably in the areas of robotics, mobile devices and safe engineering subjects).

Finally, CZK 365 million (EUR 14 million) will go to the Centre for Advanced Microbiology and Immunology Research in Veterinary Medicine Research at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Brno. The main activities of this initiative will be the development of veterinary vaccines, the study of vaccination procedures and the immune response after vaccination, the development of diagnostic kits for the detection of contaminants in samples of biological origin, and the monitoring of the causes of infections in farm animals with a view to creating techniques to prevent them and control their spread.

The work will include the reconstruction of a number of the institute's buildings in order to make them more suitable for research and experimental work involving animals. The project will also fund the purchase of new equipment and enable the training of the team's workers.

The OP R&DI is managed by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and has a total budget of EUR 2,436 billion. It received 44 applications in its first round of calls for proposals. The ministry is expected to release details of a further four projects slated for funding shortly; they are currently finalising these projects' budgets. The projects were selected following a stringent evaluation process involving both Czech and international experts.

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=14952 

Combining Nanotubes and Antibodies for Breast Cancer ‘Search and Destroy’ Missions

Photomicrographs demonstrate the dramatic impact of using nanotubes to selectively locate and destroy HER2 breast cancer tumors. Tumor cells on the left were treated only with antibodies against the HER2 protein and then irradiated with near-infrared light. Those on the right were treated with a complex of antibodies and nanotubes and then irradiated. Both cultures then were stained with fluorescent dye—green color indicates live cells while red marks areas where cells have been killed. Credit: NIST

Single-walled nanotubes—cylinders of carbon about a nanometer in diameter—have been highly touted for potential applications such as ultrastrong fibers, electrical wires in molecular devices, or hydrogen storage components for fuel cells. Thanks to a new development by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and five partners, you can add one more application to the list: detection and destruction of an aggressive form of breast cancer.

HER2 is one of a family of genes that help regulate the growth and proliferation of human cells. Normal cells have two copies of HER2, but about 20 to 25 percent of breast cancer cells have multiple copies of the gene, resulting in the overproduction of a HER2-encoded protein (called HER2 and designated in Roman type versus italics for the gene) that is associated with particularly fast growing and difficult to treat tumors. About 40,000 women in the United States are diagnosed annually with this form of breast cancer.

In a recently published paper in BMC Cancer,* the NIST-led research team bonded an antibody that has been created to attack the HER2 protein, chicken immunoglobulin Y (IgY), to short nanotubes (about 90 nanometers long, or 5,000 times shorter than an amoeba). Both halves of the special combination—the antibody and the nanotube—have critical roles to play in selectively hunting down the HER2 tumor cells and eliminating them.

First, the broad genetic differences between avian and human species means that the chicken IgY antibody to HER2 reacts strongly with the target protein expressed on tumor cells while ignoring normal cells with other human proteins. The carbon nanotubes attached to the antibodies also become linked to the HER2 tumors.

Two unique optical properties of carbon nanotubes allow this link to be exploited for improved detection and destruction of HER2 breast cancer cells. Near-infrared laser light at a wavelength of 785 nanometers reflects intensely off the nanotubes, and this strong signal is easily detected by a technique called Raman spectroscopy. Increase the laser light’s wavelength to 808, nanometers and it will be absorbed by the nanotubes, incinerating them and anything to which they’re attached—in this case, the HER2 tumor cells.

The experiment described in the BMC Cancer paper was conducted in laboratory cell cultures. Using the HER2 IgY-nanotube complex to selectively identify and target HER2 tumors resulted in a nearly 100 percent eradication of the cancer cells while nearby normal cells remained unharmed. In comparison, there only was a slight reduction in cancer cells for cultures treated with anti-HER2 antibody alone.

The next step for the research team is to conduct mouse trials of the HER2 IgY-nanotube complex to see if the dramatic cancer-killing ability works in animals as well as it does in the lab. In a separate but related project, the team hopes to use a nanotube-antibody combination against another tumor cell protein, MUC4, to treat pancreatic cancer.

The research was funded under an interagency agreement between NIST and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Along with scientists from NIST, the research team included members from Rutgers University, Cornell University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, NCI and Translabion, a private company located in Clarksburg, Md.

* Y. Xiao, X. Gao, O. Taratula, S. Treado, A. Urbas, R.D. Holbrook, R.E. Cavicchi, C.T. Avedisian, S. Mitra, R. Savla, P.D. Wagner, S. Srivastava and H. He. Anti-HER2 IgY antibody-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes for detection and selective destruction of breast cancer cells. BMC Cancer, Vol. 9, No. 351, published online Oct. 2, 2009.

Source: NIST

LST builds first global nanotech regulation database 

A global database of government documents on nanotechnology is being launched today by three

law professors at Arizona State University who, with their colleagues in Australia and

Belgium, have corralled and organized a massive number of regulatory documents dealing with

the rapidly advancing technology.

The Nanotech Regulatory Document Archive, (http://nanotech.law.asu.edu/), is a free resource

built and maintained by the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the Sandra

Day O'Connor College of Law. Over the past year, Gary Marchant, the Center's Executive

Director, and Center Faculty Fellows Douglas Sylvester and Kenneth Abbott, developed the

database as part of a multiyear grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Genomic Science

Program.

The project is a natural fit for the Center, which is housed in the first U.S. law school to

offer a regular course in nanotechnology, has several faculty members who actively publish

in the area and has amassed a cluster of law student researchers in the emerging technology,

Marchant said.

The archive will enable government regulators, industry officials, public-interest groups,

educators, students and the public to search for a variety of documents from every country

in the world, and from every level of government. Its creation comes at a time when the

worldwide regulation of nanotechnology is expected to ramp up considerably, in an attempt to

keep pace with the science, Marchant said.

"There's going to be a lot of activity in this area, and it's very important for people to

be able to keep up," he said. "Every country is in the same place, going through the same

steps, starting to put into place regulatory programs. We need to promote harmonization

among these countries, and one way to do that is to have access in other jurisdictions, and

to see what other people are doing."

Sylvester expects the Web site will become an essential resource for the latest news on

nanotechnology regulation and a great tool for researching and comparing regulatory

approaches around the world. "As the pace and scope of nano regulation grows, the need for

international collaboration in projects like these also will grow," he said.

The value of the database extends even beyond nanotechnology, Abbott added. "Biotechnology,

cognitive science and other technologies are developing just as rapidly, and will have

equally significant social impacts," he said. "We need to learn how countries can and do

respond to innovations like these."

The Center was assisted by the Centre of Regulatory Studies at Monash University Law School

in Australia and the Institute of Environmental and Energy Law at K.U. Leuven in Belgium.

Diana Bowman, a Senior Research Fellow in the Monash Centre, said the archive is a much

needed resource that will become a hub for those interested in exploring the evolving

debates and understanding nanotechnology policy and regulatory developments.

"While scientists and industry have been increasingly focused on manipulating matter at the

nanoscale in order to produce increasingly sophisticated and novel applications,

governments, academics, civil society and other key stakeholders have dedicated significant

time and resources to considering the broad implications of the technology," Bowman said.

"The speed of these debates has moved swiftly, resulting in an overwhelming volume of

literature. And this is only the beginning."

Geert Van Calster, co-director of K.U. Leuven's Institute, pointed out the paradox in the

nanotechnology regulatory debate, in that there are few regulations on the books, yet a

plethora of analysis, opinions, government resolutions and other information exist.

"This archive will allow the user quickly to find the trees of the debate, and subsequently

to dig for the sources that will give you the forest for the trees - a tour de force, and

one that is very timely," Van Calster said.

In the database, each entry provides a direct link and/or an attached copy of a specific

document, an abstract of that document prepared for the database, and a listing of other

pertinent information including author, date and document type. Documents for a specific

jurisdiction can be accessed by clicking on a map or on a region, nation or entity.

"The Web site is intended to operate as an edited Wiki, and we urge users from around the

globe to edit, add, delete and comment on the Web site," Sylvester said. "It's a great tool,

but it will require users to keep it up to date."

http://www.aw.asu.edu/?id=2122l

Global-Mexico

World-Class Center for Biomedical and Nanomedical Research to be Built by Mexico City Government

The government of Mexico City today announced it will build a world-class center for biomedical and nanomedical research, called Campus Biometropolis. The center for medical research and development will be integrated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the top Spanish speaking university in the world. The research complex, scheduled to begin construction in 2010, has been designed by the internationally-acclaimed architectural firm, Foster + Partners, whose previous works include the Hearst Tower in New York City and Berlin's Reichstag building. Campus Biometropolis, which will attract significant investment over the next several years, will become an engine for the transformation of Mexico's economy. Mexico has first-class human resources and considerable infrastructure to position itself as the leading knowledge center for Latin America. It will attract medical tourism, deliver multiple medical services for the US economy and become a platform for world-class clinical research.

This state-of-the-art research and development cluster will look to attract pharmaceutical and biomedical companies and organizations from around the world. Given its close proximity to corporate laboratories, start-ups and public research institutions, it will provide fertile ground for R&D, and offer an environment to accelerate product development and commercialization. As one of the world's leading financial capitals, Mexico City is an ideal location for companies looking to access Spanish-speaking markets.

"Mexico City's Campus Biometropolis is the cornerstone of a broader vision to transform Mexico City into a knowledge capital," said Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. "This is a critical investment in the future of Mexico City, taking us a step further toward becoming a global hub of scientific and technological excellence."

Mayor Ebrard continued, "As one of the most vibrant cities in the world, Mexico City is the ideal location for pharmaceutical and biomedical companies and organizations looking for new development opportunities and access to new markets."  Campus Biometropolis will be sustainably designed and built, and will be composed of hospitals, laboratories and medical universities, as well as residential and retail areas.

In addition, the complex will include a natural reserve and will become a model for green buildings and water conservation. This project is in accordance with Mayor Ebrard's plan to transform the city into one of the most environmentally-conscience and sustainable cities in the world.

The medical hub is at the core of Mayor Ebrard's General Development Plan, which was designed to convert Mexico City into Latin America's premier knowledge economy. The five-year plan, launched in 2007, aims to create more equity for Mexico City's inhabitants by building a sustainable and inclusive city, promoting equality through better health, education and technology and improving the competitiveness of the Mexican capital.

Source: Gobierno del Distrito Federal

The First Live Targeting of Tumors with

RNA-Based Technology 

Finding and treating a tumor without disturbing normal tissue presents challenges -- sometimes the most effective therapies can be invasive and harsh. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have devised a way they might deliver the right therapy directly to tumors using special molecules, called aptamers, which specifically bind to living tumor tissue.

They screened a large pool of aptamers in a rodent with liver cancer until they found the best molecule to bind to a tumor protein.

"We are already exploring attaching chemicals to the aptamers, so the aptamer molecules could deliver tumor-killing agents where they are needed, which is the next phase of our research," said senior author Bryan Clary, MD, chief of the Division of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Oncologic Surgery.

The study was published in Nature Chemical Biology online on Nov. 29. Aptamers are small pieces of RNA that bind to a specific target molecule, usually a protein.

They offer ease of use because they can be easily regenerated and modified and therefore have increased stability over some other agents, such as protein-based antibodies.

Notably, they have a very low chance of immune-system interference, making them greatcandidates for tumor diagnosis and therapy.

"Most importantly, it's not necessary to have detailed knowledge of protein changes in the disease before the selection process," said lead author Jing Mi, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Duke Department of Surgery.

"This greatly simplifies the process of molecular probe development. The selected aptamers can be used to discover proteins not previously linked with the disease in question, which could speed up the search for effective therapies."

The researchers used a large pool of RNA strands and applied them to a rodent with a liver tumor, the type of metastatic tumor that often results from a colon cancer tumor.

"We hypothesized that the RNA molecules that bind to normal cellular elements would be filtered out, and this happened," said Clary, who treats colon cancer patients. "In this way, we found the RNA molecules that went specifically to the tumor."

The researchers removed the tumor, extracted the specific RNA in the tumor, amplified these pieces of RNA to create a greater amount, and reinjected the molecules to learn which bound most tightly to the tumor. They repeated this process 14 times to find a good candidate.

The team found a tumor-targeting RNA aptamer that specifically bound to RNA helicase p68, a nuclear protein produced in colorectal tumors.

"This aptamer not only binds to p68 protein in cell culture, but also preferentially binds to cancer deposits in a living animal," Mi said. "The nice thing about this aptamer approach is that it could be used to discover the molecular signatures of many other diseases."

Clary said the process could be repeated with different types of tumors. For example, a scientist might take a breast cancer line and grow it in the lung as a metastasis model and then perform in vivo selection to identify RNAs specifically binding to the lung tumor.

"This would work, theoretically," Clary said. "The idea of selecting molecules targeting a tumor growing in a body that results in a useful reagent for biologic exploration and therapy delivery in tumors is exciting."

In fact, based on earlier research done with proteins called peptides, the researchers expected that the aptamer process would find proteins in the blood vessels feeding the liver tumor, but instead they found the p68 target inside of tumor cells.

"We think this is a valuable target because delivering to the sites inside of cells may make it easier to treat an entire tumor with drugs that are 'escorted' by the aptamer," Clary said.

He said that repeating the selection and amplification process with the same liver tumor could lead to development of other aptamers that bind well to proteins in tumor tissue besides p68. The team focused its initial efforts on developing an escort for p68 because this protein was known to be overexpressed in colon cancer.

Other authors include Yingmiao Liu, Johannes Urban and Bruce A. Sullenger of the Duke Department of Surgery, Zahid N. Rabbani of the Duke Department of Radiation Oncology, and Zhongguang Yang of the Moses Cone Memorial Hospital Department of Internal Medicine.

The study was funded by the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, an American Cancer Society pilot award, and National Institutes of Health grants.

Source: Duke University

Global-Africa

Zimbabwe: President Caps 393 CUT Graduates

The Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), Zimbabwe, graduated 393 students this past week, the fifth such ceremony for the university. Speaking at the ceremony, Vice chancellor Professor David Simbi said the university was making efforts to stem the "brain drain", or loss of educated citizens to other countries, by developing synergies with local and regional universities for staff exchange programs and collaborative research.

One such program, with the University of Cape Town's Centre for Materials Engineering in South Africa, focuses on the development of platinum alloy catalysts using nanotechnology. According to Simbi, "[T]hese [catalysts] will be used in hydrogen fuel cell development research activities to further facilitate, through value addition, the exploitation of our platinum group metal mineral resource." Simbi also urged the government to review incentives and salaries for staff to safeguard the quality of education. The article can be viewed online at the link below.

Source:allAfrica.com

Author:Walter Nyamukondiwa

http://allafrica.com/stories/200911300032.html

Global-Ireland

Nanotech discovery could bring about

the end of animal testing

30.11.2009

Toxichip, a new nano-biotechnology solution developed at the Tyndall Institute in Cork, has the potential to replace animal testing used in toxicity screening.

The discovery, unveiled by the Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keefe today to market the beginning of Nanoweek is a sensing system that monitors the effects toxicants have on human and animal cells.

For example, it is capable of monitoring how cells behave and interact with drugs, chemical pollutants in the environment and toxic substances in food and beverages. Cell-based biosensors, developed and fabricated at Tyndall, integrated in the Toxichip platform also have the potential to replace animal testing now used in toxicity screening.

The funding for the project was from the FP6 European programme and included several European academic and industry partners.

Nanotechnology's importance to Ireland

”Nanotechnology is growing ever more important to Ireland’s future competitiveness,“ Prof Roger Whatmore, CEO, Tyndall National Institute explained.

”Through Government and industry funding, we now have a world-leading infrastructure in place with the Competence Centre for Applied Nanotechnology (CCAN), the Tyndall National Institute and CRANN based in TCD where over 600 researchers are now working in nanoscience. This infrastructure gives us the means to continue building on the expertise we have developed over the past number of years in nano and continue to develop and produce ground-breaking solutions like Toxichip.“

Leonard Hobbs of Intel Ireland noted that the recent establishment of the Competence Centre for Applied Nanotechnology is critical to the development of the nanoscience ecosystem in Ireland.

”The CCAN was established by companies coming together to define their common research interests, which will have a strategic impact on their business area in the coming years. Centres the calibre of the CCAN are essential if we are to be at the forefront of new technology research, making the most of synergies between academia and industry to establish Ireland as a global centre of excellence for nanoscience.“

Toxichip sparks interest

Many companies from diverse industries have already expressed a strong interest in Toxichip. There is considerable demand from pharmaceutical, cosmetics and chemical companies for more sensitive and reliable in-vitro test methods and technologies.

Companies are also committed to introducing in-vitro toxicity testing earlier in their discovery and development processes to contain costs and to reduce the attrition rates of pre-clinical and clinical testing due to toxicity concerns.

Launching the Toxichip, O'Keeffe said: ”The creation of a strong research, innovation and commercialisation ecosystem is a core part of the Government’s vision for a Smart Economy.

”The Toxichip is a wonderful example of that Smart Economy in action. The development demonstrates our capacity to create highly innovative new products when the supports are put in place to allow academia and industry to collaborate. We now have over 600 researchers working in nanotechnology and 300 students undertaking PhD programmes related to nanoscience.“

By John Kennedy

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14552/randd/nanotech-discovery-could-bring-about-the-end-of-animal-testing

Fast, easy, and highly sensitive arsenic detection

with gold nanoparticles

November 25th, 2009- Mention of arsenic poisoning usually brings to mind underhanded murder. However, the danger of arsenic poisoning from contaminated drinking water is far greater. Low concentrations of arsenic are found in nearly all soils and thus also in ground water. About 140 million people worldwide possibly drink water that contains arsenic concentrations above the WHO-recommended limit of 10 ppb (parts per billion).

Researchers at Jackson State University (MS, USA) have now developed a new approach for a rapid, easy, and highly sensitive arsenic test. As Paresh Chandra Ray’s team reports in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their method is based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles, and it selectively detects arsenic in drinking water down to concentrations of 3 ppt (parts per trillion).

Countries like India, Bangladesh, and Thailand are primarily affected by ground water with high arsenic concentrations. However, high concentrations of arsenic have also been found in some areas of North and South America. Once detected, the problem can fairly easily be addressed. Current analytical techniques are time-consuming and require a series of enrichment steps.

The new process could now speed up and simplify arsenic analysis. The scientists working with Ray have attached special organic molecules to the surfaces of gold nanoparticles. These molecules act as ”ligands“ for arsenic, meaning that they form a complex with it. Each arsenic ion can bind to three ligands, which allows it to link together up to three gold particles. The higher the arsenic concentration in the sample, the more strongly the gold particles clump together and the number of bigger aggregates increases. The color of gold nanoparticles in a liquid depends on their size. Whereas the arsenic-free gold nanoparticles appear red, arsenic-induced aggregation causes the color to change to blue. Concentrations down to 1 ppb can be detected with the naked eye by means of the color change. Arsenic binds to the ligands much more strongly than other metals; the researchers were able to increase this selectivity by attaching three different ligands to the gold.

One very precise method for detecting minimal changes in particle size is dynamic light scattering (DLS), in which laser light scattered by the particles is analyzed. By using DLS, Ray and his co-workers were able to detect and quantify arsenic concentrations as low as 3 ppt. In samples of well water from Bangladesh, the team found 28 ppb arsenic; in water from taps in Jackson (Mississippi, USA) they found 380 ppt.

More information: Paresh Chandra Ray, Use of Gold Nanoparticles in a Simple Colorimetric and Ultrasensitive Dynamic Light Scattering Assay: Selective Detection of Arsenic in Groundwater, Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2009, 48, No. 51, 9668-9671, doi: 10.1002/anie.200903958

Provided by Wiley (news : web)

Registration for Online Workshops:

'Nanotechnology for Water Purification'

The ICPC-NanoNet project, an European Union (EU) funded project that brings together partners from the EU, China, India, Russia and Africa with the goal of providing wider access to published nanoscience research and opportunities for collaboration, has announced an online workshop, "Nanotechnology for Water Purification".

The workshop is designed to bring together experts in the field who are interested in cooperating with their peers in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world. The scientific and technical state of nanotechnology and water purification will be highlighted as well as relevant calls for proposals.

The series of three workshops will be held from 12:45pm to 3:15pm (GMT) on December 2, 8, and 15, 2009. Pre-registration is required. The article, and pre-registration information, can be viewed online at the link below.

http://www.icpc-nanonet.org/OnlineWorkshop/index.html

Lookman and Moore Named 2009 LANL Fellows Prize Recipients

Prizes signify exemplary science research and leadership

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, November 23, 2009-Commendations for exemplary scientific research and leadership have been bestowed upon Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers Turab Lookman and David S. Moore by the Laboratory Fellows organization.

Lookman and Moore are the 2009 recipients of the Laboratory's Fellows Prizes for research and leadership, respectively. They were selected by a committee of five Laboratory Fellows. The Fellows organization includes some of the Laboratory's most prominent scientists. A Laboratory Fellow cannot be a recipient of a Fellows Prize.

The Fellows Prize for Outstanding Research in Science or Engineering commends individuals for exemplary research performed at the Laboratory within the past 10 years that has had a significant impact on a scientific discipline or program. The committee selected Lookman for "his wide ranging contributions to the understanding of intrinsic inhomogeneity in functional materials." Lookman's work has described for the first time the coupling of elasticity to material functionality such as magnetism and charge polarization. His research provides a potential foundation for new methods of fabricating materials that might be technologically important for new-generation energy research. His work also is important to fundamental materials physics research.

The Fellows Prize for Outstanding Leadership in Science or Engineering commends individuals who stimulate the research interests of talented younger Laboratory staff members and who encourage junior researchers to make the personal sacrifices necessary to become effective leaders. The committee selected Moore for "his inspirational technical leadership in the fields of shock physics and the science of explosives detection." Moore has worked to develop the next generation of scientists in this field by mentoring students at all levels, from high school to graduate- and post-graduate institutions. Many of these students have become Laboratory staff members. Additionally, according to the prize committee, Moore is a nationally recognized leader in explosives detection and "is an exemplary citizen to the Laboratory, to the international scientific community, and to the nation."

An awards reception honoring the 2009 Fellows Prize winners will be held at a later date.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov)

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

Global-Africa

UNISWA Foundation submits E32m project proposal in Kuwait

By Teetee Zwane

The University of Swaziland (UNISWA) Foundation has submitted a proposal to potential investors in Kuwait for funding of about E32 million (US $4 241 472) for a strategic project; the Swaziland Water Quality Management Centre (SWAQMAC) initiated by the university’s Faculty of Science.

Through the project, the institution aims to strengthen the capacity of the Department of Chemistry in addressing clean water scarcity and related national priority issues such as poverty, health (malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS), nanotechnology innovation, education, renewable energy, gender inequality, institutional infrastructure, environmental degradation (pollution and climate change), import and exports, food insecurity, agriculture, research and development.

In addition, SWAQMAC attempts to build capacity in human resource development through building collaboration and research and development networks locally and regionally.

In essence, SWAQMAC envisages to strengthen and advance the capacity of local communities in Swaziland to access clean water and also to transform science and technology ideas into useable products that will add value to the economic development of Swaziland.

It is anticipated that through national and international partnerships forged through the UNISWA Foundation, a world class facility with modern equipment for water quality assessment; making innovative and cheap purification systems from locally available materials and rural water supply assessment and management will be established.

The facility will have a community outreach programme for provision of service for analysis of water and other products of economic significance in Swaziland including products from the Swaziland Standards Authority (SWASA) and the agricultural, environmental and industrial sectors. This outreach programme will help maintain and sustain the activities of the institute for future generations to come.

The university identified a need for this project, citing the fact that the country does not have research institutions on science, technology and development issues.

It says because of this, industries in Swaziland and government depend on South African Research Institutions for research and development initiatives which tend to be cost ineffective and also deprives the country of opportunities of capacity building.  ”The country is, therefore, in dire need of service for research and development initiatives.

These include initiatives in water quality and supply, quality assessment, environmental monitoring, energy from water, health (indigenous medicinal plants), water purification materials (nanotechnology) and water for agriculture and food security,“ states the proposal.

Water and sanitation needs

The university found that insufficient or unsafe water and poor sanitation have been reported to be responsible for diseases among households including death among children from diarrhoea and infectious diseases.

The institution notes that public agencies that are involved in the provision of water include the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Water Board, Swaziland Water Services Corporation and NGOs (non - governmental organisations) while agencies like the European Union have seen 60 water earth dams being built for irrigation and livestock. However, due to lack of clean water this resource is being used for drinking by rural communities.

Sanitation has been noted to be a serious problem in rural communities and health statistics reflect high mortality rates for infants and children due to water-borne diseases. According to Demographic and Household survey, 47 % of urban households had flush toilets, 50 % use pit latrines and 2.5 % used informal disposal methods.

”There is thus and dire needs for water quality assessment from surface and ground water (boreholes). There is also need for cheaper water purification systems that could be used by rural folks,“ the institution argues.

”The SWAQMAC, thus proposed in this document seeks to establish water quality analysis facility within its facilities with modern fast and efficient analysis methods for the improvement of quality of water supplies.“

Read full article at:

 http://www.observer.org.sz/index.php?news=8957

Turning heat to electricity

MIT research points to a much more efficient way of harvesting electrical power

from what would otherwise be wasted heat.

David L. Chandler, MIT News Office

November 18, 2009

In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of that wasted heat and turn it into usable electricity.

That kind of waste-energy harvesting might, for example, lead to cellphones with double the talk time, laptop computers that can operate twice as long before needing to be plugged in, or power plants that put out more electricity for a given amount of fuel, says Peter Hagelstein, co-author of a paper on the new concept appearing this month in the Journal of Applied Physics.

Hagelstein, an associate professor of electrical engineering at MIT, says existing solid-state devices to convert heat into electricity are not very efficient. The new research, carried out with graduate student Dennis Wu as part of his doctoral thesis, aimed to find how close realistic technology could come to achieving the theoretical limits for the efficiency of such conversion.

Theory says that such energy conversion can never exceed a specific value called the Carnot Limit, based on a 19th-century formula for determining the maximum efficiency that any device can achieve in converting heat into work. But current commercial thermoelectric devices only achieve about one-tenth of that limit, Hagelstein says. In experiments involving a different new technology, thermal diodes, Hagelstein worked with Yan Kucherov, now a consultant for the Naval Research Laboratory, and coworkers to demonstrate efficiency as high as 40 percent of the Carnot Limit. Moreover, the calculations show that this new kind of system could ultimately reach as much as 90 percent of that ceiling.

Hagelstein, Wu and others started from scratch rather than trying to improve the performance of existing devices. They carried out their analysis using a very simple system in which power was generated by a single quantum-dot device — a type of semiconductor in which the electrons and holes, which carry the electrical charges in the device, are very tightly confined in all three dimensions. By controlling all aspects of the device, they hoped to better understand how to design the ideal thermal-to-electric converter.

Hagelstein says that with present systems it’s possible to efficiently convert heat into electricity, but with very little power. It’s also possible to get plenty of electrical power — what is known as high-throughput power — from a less efficient, and therefore larger and more expensive system. ”It’s a tradeoff. You either get high efficiency or high throughput,“ says Hagelstein. But the team found that using their new system, it would be possible to get both at once, he says.

A key to the improved throughput was reducing the separation between the hot surface and the conversion device. A recent paper by MIT professor Gang Chen reported on an analysis showing that heat transfer could take place between very closely spaced surfaces at a rate that is orders of magnitude higher than predicted by theory.  The new report takes that finding a step further, showing how the heat can not only be transferred, but converted into electricity so that it can be harnessed.

A company called MTPV Corp. (for Micron-gap Thermal Photo-Voltaics), founded by Robert DiMatteo SM ’96, MBA ‘06, is already working on the development of ”a new technology closely related to the work described in this paper,“ Hagelstein says.

DiMatteo says he hopes eventually to commercialize Hagelstein’s new idea. In the meantime, he says the technology now being developed by his company, which he expects to have on the market next year, could produce a tenfold improvement in throughput power over existing photovoltaic devices, while the further advance described in this new paper could make an additional tenfold or greater improvement possible. The work described in this paper ”is potentially a  major finding,“ he says.

DiMatteo says that worldwide, about 60 percent of all the energy produced by burning fuels or generated in powerplants is wasted, mostly as excess heat, and that this technology could ”make it possible to reclaim a significant fraction of that wasted energy.“

When this work began around 2002, Hagelstein says, such devices  ”clearly could not be built. We started this as purely a theoretical exercise.“ But developments since then have brought it much closer to reality.

While it may take a few years for the necessary technology for building affordable quantum-dot devices to reach commercialization, Hagelstein says, ”there’s no reason, in principle, you couldn’t get another order of magnitude or more“ improvement in throughput power, as well as an improvement in efficiency.

”There’s a gold mine in waste heat, if you could convert it,“ he says. The first applications are likely to be in high-value systems such as computer chips, he says, but ultimately it could be useful in a wide variety of applications, including cars, planes and boats. ”A lot of heat is generated to go places, and a lot is lost. If you could recover that, your transportation technology is going to work better.“

Source: MIT

Presented by the Vice President of the Federal Council Doris Leuthard

THE BALZAN PRIZES FOR CULTURE AND THE SCIENCES

MICHAEL GRÄTZEL HONOURED WITH THE BALZAN PRIZE

FOR NEW MATERIALS

Berne - 20 November, 2009 - An appeal to encourage education, training and research, and the recognition for the activity carried out by the International Balzan Foundation in this area were the themes addressed by the Vice President of the Federal Council and Head of the Federal Department for Economic Affairs, Doris Leuthard, on the occasion of the awards ceremony for the 2009 Balzan Prizes, which took place today in Berne in the Federal Council Hall.

The 2009 Balzan Prizes were awarded to Michael Grätzel (Switzerland/Germany, EPFL Lausanne) for the Science of New Materials, Terence Cave (UK, St John s College, Oxford) for Literature since 1500, Brenda Milner (Canada/UK, McGill University, Montreal) for Cognitive Neurosciences and Paolo Rossi (Italy, University of Florence) for the History of Science. This year, too, each prize has the value of one million Swiss francs. The prizewinners must set aside half of this sum to finance research projects preferably carried out by young scholars or scientists.

The head of the Federal Department for Economic Affairs observed that it would be an error to try to save money in such a vital sector for the future: recalling John F. Kennedy, Federal Councillor Leuthard stated that "only one thing is more costly than education: no education. If we want to meet the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century, like climate change, the aging of society, the development of ecological technology and the scarcity of resources - she concluded - then a special effort is indispensable for education and research."

The President of the National Council, Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi, gave a welcome speech to the 250 exponents from the world of politics, culture and the sciences who took part in the ceremony. The Chairmen of the International Balzan Foundation "Fund", Achille Casanova, and "Prize", Bruno Bottai, emphasized the Italian-Swiss nature of the Balzan Foundation, which stands as proof of the good relations between these two countries.

Salvatore Veca, Chairman of the General Prize Committee, which is composed of twenty personalities from ten European countries, delivered the laudatio for each of the four 2009 Balzan Prizewinners, who in their acceptance speeches stressed the importance and prestige of the recognition granted to them, as well as their satisfaction at being able to finance, with half of the prize, research projects in favour of young scholars.

The Balzan Prize was awarded to Michael Grätzel (the Science of New Materials) "for his many contributions to the Science of New Materials, and in particular for his invention and development of a new type of photovoltaic solar cell, the Dye Sensitized Cell, commonly known as the Grätzel Cell"; to Terence Cave (Literature since 1500) "for his outstanding contributions to a new understanding of Renaissance literature and of the influence of Aristotelian poetics in modern European literature"; to Brenda Milner (Cognitive Neurosciences): "for her pioneering studies of the role of the hippocampus in the formation of memory and her identification of different kinds of memory system"; and to Paolo Rossi (the History of Science) "for his major contributions to the study of the intellectual foundations of science from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment".

On the previous day, Thursday, the Balzan Prizewinners Interdisciplinary Forum, organized in cooperation with the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, was held in the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research. The Forum was also attended by previous Balzan Prizewinners, by several members of the Balzan General Prize Committee and members of the Swiss Academy of Arts and Sciences, with Chairman Peter Suter.

The subject areas change every year and the awards ceremony alternates between Berne and Rome. In 2010, the prizes for one million Swiss Francs will be awarded in European History, 1400-1700 including the British Isles; the History of Theatre in all its Aspects, Stem-cells: Biology and potential applications, Mathematics pure or applied. Unlike other prizes, the Balzan favour new lines of study and innovative research, choosing special, interdisciplinary subjects that go beyond the boundaries of traditional subjects, both in the humanities (literature, the moral sciences and the arts) as well as the sciences (physical, mathematical, natural sciences and medicine).

UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture

circulating cancer cells

New method may help improve diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring

By Rachel Champeau November 18, 2009

Images show more cancer cells were captured by UCLA's nanopillar chip (SiNW) than a currently used flat substrate.Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by researchers at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor.

These cells, known as circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, can provide critical information for examining and diagnosing cancer metastasis, determining patient prognosis, and monitoring the effectiveness of therapies.

Metastasis — the most common cause of cancer-related death in patients with solid tumors — is caused by marauding tumor cells that leave the primary tumor site and ride in the bloodstream to set up colonies in other parts of the body.

The current gold standard for examining the disease status of tumors is an analysis of metastatic solid biopsy samples, but in the early stages of metastasis, it is often difficult to identify a biopsy site. By capturing CTCs, doctors can essentially perform a "liquid" biopsy, allowing for early detection and diagnosis, as well as improved treatment monitoring.

To date, several methods have been developed to track these cells, but the UCLA team's novel "fly paper" approach may be faster and cheaper than others — and it appears to capture far more CTCs.

In a study published this month in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the UCLA team developed a 1-by-2-centimeter silicon chip that is covered with densely packed nanopillars and looks like a shag carpet. To test cell-capture performance, researchers incubated the nanopillar chip in a culture medium with breast cancer cells. As a control, they performed a parallel experiment with a cell-capture method that uses a chip with a flat surface. Both structures were coated with anti-EpCAM, an antibody protein that can help recognize and capture tumor cells.

The researchers found that the cell-capture yields for the UCLA nanopillar chip were significantly higher; the device captured 45 to 65 percent of the cancer cells in the medium, compared with only 4 to 14 percent for the flat device.

"The nanopillar chip captured more than 10 times the amount of cells captured by the currently used flat structure," said lead study author Dr. Shutao Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at both the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. 

Wang noted that the nano-size scale and the unique surface topography of the UCLA nanopillar chip may help it interact with nano-size components on cellular surfaces in the blood, enhancing capture efficiency.

The time required for CTC detection using CellSearch, a technology currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is upwards of three to four hours, according to study author Dr. Hao Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Crump Institute and the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. The UCLA study found an optimal detection time of only two hours using nanopillar chips.  

The nanopillar chip uses a common chamber slide, which fits into standard laboratory cell incubators. After the chip has been incubated and immunofluorescence-stained, an automated fluorescence microscope is used to identify and count the CTCs. The very simple device setting on the chamber slide allows multiple CTC detections to occur at the same time.

"We hope that this platform can provide a convenient and cost-efficient alternative to CTC sorting by using mostly standard lab equipment," said senior study author Dr. Hsian-Rong Tseng, associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the Crump Institute and the California NanoSystems Institute.

The next step is more clinical research and possible studies with "break-away" cancer cells in patients' blood, as well as in other body fluids, such as urine and abdominal fluids, according to Tseng, who is also a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute's Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and the NanoSystems Biology Cancer Center. 

Study collaborators included Dr. Hong Wu, of the UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology; Dr. Allan Pantuck, Dr. Robert Reiter, Dr. Matthew Rettig and Dr. David Finley, of the UCLA Department of Urology; and Dr. Jiaoti Huang and Dr. David Seligson, of the UCLA Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Additional study authors included Dr. Jing Jiao, Kuan-Ju Chen, Gwen E. Owens, Dr. Ken-ichiro Kamei, Dr. Jing Sun, Dr. David J. Sherman and Christian P. Behrenbruch, of UCLA's Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Institute of Molecular Medicine and California NanoSystems Institute.

Visit website to view video:

http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-researchers-create-fly-paper-112652.aspx

Source: UCLA

19 Nov 2009: NIEHS Awards Recovery Act Funds to Focus More Research on Health and Safety of Nanomaterials

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, is increasing its investment in understanding the potential health, safety and environmental issues related to tiny particles that are used in many everyday products such as sunscreens, cosmetics and electronics. The NIEHS will award about $13 million over a two-year period, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to bolster the NIEHS’s ongoing research portfolio in the area of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs).

Engineered nanomaterials are very tiny materials about 100,000 times smaller than a single strand of hair. They represent a significant breakthrough in material design and development for industry and consumer products, including stain-resistant clothing, pesticides, tires, and electronics, as well as in medicine for purposes of diagnosis, imaging and drug delivery.

"We currently know very little about nanoscale materials' effect on human health and the environment," said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of the NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), an interagency program for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Nanomaterials come in so many shapes and sizes, with each one having different chemical properties and physical and surface characteristics. They are tricky materials to get a handle on. The same properties that make nanomaterials so potentially beneficial in drug delivery and product development are some of the same reasons we need to be cautious about their presence in the environment."

The NIEHS has awarded 13 new two-year grants through the Recovery Act to develop better methods to assess exposure and health effects associated with nanomaterials. Ten of the grants were awarded through the NIH Grand Opportunities program announced in March 2009 http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/nanomaterial-go.cfm, and three were funded from the NIH Challenge Grants program. All 13 are aimed at developing reliable tools and approaches to determine the impact on biological systems and health outcomes of engineered materials.

The new awards focus on ensuring that we have reliable and reproducible methods and models to assess exposure, exposure metrics, and biological response to nanomaterials. This research is also essential for the harmonization of research results and forming a scientifically sound basis for hazard assessment, as well as the safe design and development of ENMs.

"There are inconsistencies in the biological effects of ENMs reported in the scientific literature, and a major reason for this is lack of detailed characterization of the physical and chemical properties of the ENMs used in these studies," said Sri Nadadur, Ph.D., program administrator at the NIEHS. "One of our goals is to identify three or four reliable and reproducible test methods using the same ENMs by investigators across different labs."

To accomplish this, the NIEHS brought 36 investigators together on Oct. 20, 2009 in North Carolina, where the NIEHS is headquartered, to identify ENMs, assays and test systems to be utilized in these investigations in a more coordinated and integrated effort.

The NIEHS is establishing an integrated program that will narrow its focus to identify the best methods to evaluate the health effects of nanomaterials through use of cell cultures and animal systems. After the initial meeting, grantees will meet face-to-face twice a year to share information, evaluate progress and determine next steps.

"Recovery Act funds have allowed us to expand our efforts in this important area," said Sally Tinkle, Ph.D., senior science sdvisor at the NIEHS. "We want to be sure that we come away with some better tools to assess the health and safety of nanomaterials." This NIEHS effort focused on nanomaterials supports the goals identified by the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategy for Nanotechnology-related Environmental, Health, and Safety Research.

In addition to Recovery Act funding, the NIEHS supports grantees across the country working on issues related to nanotechnology. The NIEHS extramural activities are focused on three main areas:

The application of nanotechnologies in environmental health research through use of nanomaterials to improve measurements of exposure to other environmental factors, enabling research into the biological effects of exposures and improving therapeutic strategies to reverse the harmful effects of environmental exposures.

Understanding the risks associated with accidental or intentional exposure to nanomaterials.

Through the Superfund Research Program which authorizes NIH to fund university-based research to conduct the science needed for human health risk assessment and decision-making for remediation of hazardous waste sites, researchers across the country are looking at both the application of nanomaterials for environmental monitoring and remediation, and the health implications associated with their application.

On November 4, 2009, the NIEHS announced a new funding opportunity to address the potential health implications of ENMs. The Request for Applications entitled Engineered Nanomaterials: Linking Physical and Chemical Properties to Biology can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-ES-09-011.html .

The NIEHS also administers the National Toxicology Program, which is researching the potential human health hazards associated with the manufacture and use of nanomaterials.

The 10 Recovery Act NIH Grand Opportunities grants focusing on engineered nanomaterial safety have been awarded to:

James Christopher Bonner, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

Edward David Crandall, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Alison Cory Pearson Elder and Gunter Oberdorster, University of Rochester, N.Y.

Andrij Holian, University of Montana, Missoula

Andre Elias Nel, University of California, Los Angeles

Galya Orr, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Wash.

Christopher D. Vulpe, University of California, Berkeley

Paul K. Westerhoff, Arizona State University, Tempe

Frank A. Witzmann and Somenath Mitra, Indiana University, Indianapolis

Robert M. Worden, Michigan State University, East Lansing

The three Recovery Act Nanotechnology NIH Challenge Grants have been awarded to:

Kent E. Pinkerton, University of California, Davis

Timothy R. Nurkiewicz, West Virginia University, Morgantown

Wynne K. Schiffer, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, N.Y.

The NIEHS also used Recovery Act funds to support efforts under its Superfund Research Program to determine ways to apply nanotechnology to better detect and evaluate effects on human health, and clean up Superfund chemicals in the environment. The Superfund Worker Education Training Program also provided Recovery Act funding targeting health and safety training.

More information about the NIH Recovery Act grant funding opportunities can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/recovery/ . To track the progress of HHS activities funded through the Recovery Act, visit www.hhs.gov/recovery . To track all federal funds provided through the Recovery Act, visit www.recovery.gov .

The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit our Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit our Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.

Computer Based on Insights From The Brain Moves

Closer to Reality

BlueMatter, a new algorithm created in collaboration with Stanford University, exploits the Blue Gene supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively measure and map the connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations within the human brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Mapping the wiring diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast communication network and understanding how it represents and processes information.

November 18, 2009-- Today at SC 09, the supercomputing conference, IBM announced significant progress toward creating a computer system that simulates and emulates the brain's abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction and cognition, while rivaling the brain's low power and energy consumption and compact size.

The cognitive computing team, led by IBM Research, has achieved significant advances in large-scale cortical simulation and a new algorithm that synthesizes neurological data -- two major milestones that indicate the feasibility of building a cognitive computing chip.

Scientists, at IBM Research - Almaden, in collaboration with colleagues from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, have performed the first near real-time cortical simulation of the brain that exceeds the scale of a cat cortex and contains 1 billion spiking neurons and 10 trillion individual learning synapses.

Additionally, in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University, IBM scientists have developed an algorithm that exploits the Blue Gene® supercomputing architecture in order to noninvasively measure and map the connections between all cortical and sub-cortical locations within the human brain using magnetic resonance diffusion weighted imaging. Mapping the wiring diagram of the brain is crucial to untangling its vast communication network and understanding how it represents and processes information.

These advancements will provide a unique workbench for exploring the computational dynamics of the brain, and stand to move the team closer to its goal of building a compact, low-power synaptronic chip using nanotechnology and advances in phase change memory and magnetic tunnel junctions. The team’s work stands to break the mold of conventional von Neumann computing, in order to meet the system requirements of the instrumented and interconnected world of tomorrow.

As the amount of digital data that we create continues to grow massively and the world becomes more instrumented and interconnected, there is a need for new kinds of computing systems - imbued with a new intelligence that can spot hard-to-find patterns in vastly varied kinds of data, both digital and sensory; analyze and integrate information real-time in a context-dependent way; and deal with the ambiguity found in complex, real-world environments.

Businesses will simultaneously need to monitor, prioritize, adapt and make rapid decisions based on ever-growing streams of critical data and information. A cognitive computer could quickly and accurately put together the disparate pieces of this complex puzzle, while taking into account context and previous experience, to help business decision makers come to a logical response.  

”Learning from the brain is an attractive way to overcome power and density challenges faced in computing today,“ said Josephine Cheng, IBM Fellow and lab director of IBM Research - Almaden. ”As the digital and physical worlds continue to merge and computing becomes more embedded in the fabric of our daily lives, it’s imperative that we create a more intelligent computing system that can help us make sense the vast amount of information that's increasingly available to us, much the way our brains can quickly interpret and act on complex tasks.“

To perform the first near real-time cortical simulation of the brain that exceed the scale of the cat cortex, the team built a cortical simulator that incorporates a number of innovations in computation, memory, and communication as well as sophisticated biological details from neurophysiology and neuroanatomy. This scientific tool, akin to a linear accelerator or an electron microscope, is a critical instrument used to test hypotheses of brain structure, dynamics and function. The simulation was performed using the cortical simulator on Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Dawn Blue Gene/P supercomputer with 147,456 CPUs and 144 terabytes of main memory.

The algorithm, when combined with the cortical simulator, allows scientists to experiment with various mathematical hypotheses of brain function and structure of how structure affects function as they work toward discovering the brain’s core computational micro and macro circuits.

After the successful completion of Phase 0, IBM and its university partners were recently awarded $16.1M in additional funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Phase 1 of DARPA’s Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) initiative. This phase of research will focus on the components, brain-like architecture and simulations to build a prototype chip. The long-term mission of IBM’s cognitive computing initiative is to discover and demonstrate the algorithms of the brain and deliver low-power, compact cognitive computers that approach mammalian-scale intelligence and use significantly less energy than today’s computing systems. The world-class team includes researchers from several of IBM’s worldwide research labs and scientists from Stanford University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Columbia University Medical Center and University of California- Merced.

”The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to create new electronics hardware and architecture that can understand, adapt and respond to an informative environment in ways that extend traditional computation to include fundamentally different capabilities found in biological brains,“ said DARPA program manager Todd Hylton, Ph.D.

Modern computing is based on a stored program model, which has traditionally been implemented in digital, synchronous, serial, centralized, fast, hardwired, general-purpose circuits with explicit memory addressing that indiscriminately over-write data and impose a dichotomy between computation and data. In stark contrast, cognitive computing - like the brain - will use replicated computational units, neurons and synapses that are implemented in mixed-mode analog-digital, asynchronous, parallel, distributed, slow, reconfigurable, specialized and fault-tolerant biological substrates with implicit memory addressing that only update state when information changes, blurring the boundary between computation and data.

More information: Technical insight and more details on the SyNAPSE project and recent milestones can be found on the Cognitive Computing blog at http://modha.org/ .

Source: IBM

MEASURING ELECTRON ORBITALS

For the first time, it has been possible to measure electron density in individual molecular states using what is known as the photoelectric effect. Now published in SCIENCE, this method represents a key building block in the development of organic semiconductor elements. Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the success of this project rested on the mathematical transformation of the measured data. This made it possible to interpret the distribution of the electrons and draw conclusions about the potential properties of organic semiconductor elements.

Ultra-thin films made of organic molecules form the basis of future semiconductor technologies. Because organic molecules are extremely flexible, they can be used in a whole new range of applications, making it equally possible to create pliable screens and cost-effective solar cells. However, apart from these everyday applications for organic semiconductors, the most important task is to gain a better understanding of the interactions between organic materials and inorganic carrier substances. A team from the Universities of Graz and Leoben has now succeeded in developing a means of doing just that.

TIGHTLY PACKED

"The properties of an organic molecule are defined to a large extent by specific electron states", explains Dr. Peter Puschnig of the Chair of Atomistic Modelling and Design of Materials at the University of Leoben, who led the research. He adds: "If we can determine their distribution within the molecule accurately, then we will be able to better understand how organic semiconductor components work and thus increase their efficiency." Until now, there has been a lack of effective methods of measuring this electron distribution. Dr. Puschnig and his team have therefore succeeded in making significant progress.

The team's achievement is based on the use of the photoelectric effect. This enables individual electrons to be "knocked out" of organic molecules. As part of this project, an organic molecule was exposed to ultraviolet light that emitted sufficient energy to separate individual electrons from the molecules. The direction and speed of the electrons thus released were then measured using highly-sensitive detectors, generating the basic data required to calculate the electron distribution within the molecule. As part of this process, Prof. Michael Ramsay and his team from the University of Graz used a hexaphenyl film just one molecule thick that had been applied to a copper surface. The team from Graz carried out the actual measurements at the Berliner Elektronen-Speicherring Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung (BESSY, Berlin Electron Storage Ring Society for Synchrotron Radiation).

A CALCULATED RESULT

Commenting on the evaluation of this data, Dr. Puschnig says: "It revealed a quite characteristic distribution of the electrons emitted. However, it initially proved difficult to interpret this distribution and it seemed it would be impossible to link the measured data to the original electron distribution in the molecule." It was only by using special mathematical transformations (Fourier Transformation) that the team was able to establish that the measured electron distribution matched that of the molecule. As the distribution was in this instance already known from calculations carried out as part of the density functional theory, it was possible to test and confirm the viability of the new method.

This new method is particularly valuable as it means measuring the behaviour of electrons at the interfaces between organic semiconductors and metals is now relatively easy and highly accurate. The study "Interface controlled and functionalised organic thin films" supported by the FWF as part of the National Research Network (NFN) is thus making a fundamental contribution to future applications of organic semiconductors.

Image and text will be available online from Monday, 16th November 2009, 09.00 a.m. CET onwards:

http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/public_relations/press/pv200911-en.html

Original publication: Reconstruction of Molecular Orbital Densities from Photoemission Data, P. Puschnig, S. Berkebile, A. J. Fleming, G. Koller, K. Emtsev, T. Seyller, J. D. Riley, C. Ambrosch­Draxl, F. P. Netzer, M. G. Ramsey: Science 326, 702 (2009).

NANOICT COORDINATION ACTION ORGANISES A BIOICT SESSION AT THE ”BIOINSPIRED NANOSYSTEMS AND NANOMATERIALS“ NANOSWEC WORKSHOP IN BORDEAUX, FRANCE

Madrid (Spain): November 11, 2009

Over the last decades, tremendous progresses have been achieved in our capability to do work at the nm scale. Design and fabrication of new nano-objects, ingenious and sophisticated experimental set up dedicated to characterize, manipulate and organize matter at nanoscale. Nanosystems and nanoobjects open new area with a dominant role of interface properties increasing the level of complexity. Nanosciences and nanotechnology have a great deal to learn from bioscience, but it might also be the other way around: ”unless you can build it yourself, you don’t understand it“. In other words, by trying to build nanostructures and nanomachines, our understanding of natural complex architectures will greatly increase and generate new insights for the extraordinary complexity we see in Nature.

To achieve such formidable tasks, biologists, bio-chemists, chemists, physicists and mathematicians must work together. While obviously a pressing need, somehow this goal appears as an ideal one given the fragmentation these disciplines must sometimes endure.

The ”Bioinspired nanosystems and nanomaterials“ NanoSWEC (Nano South-West European Conference ) Workshop aimed at gathering all these disciplines involved in bio inspired and bio mimetic approaches to conceive new systems and materials. The NanoSWEC Workshop took place in Bordeaux (France): November 2-4, 2009.

During the event, the EU funded Coordination Action ”nanoICT“ co-organised a specific session on BioICT issues including the following invited talks:

Jean-Jacques Toulmé (IECB, Bordeaux): Aptamer scaffolds for nanodevices

Igor Nabiev (CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Spain): Resonance Energy Transfer from Semiconductor Quantum Dots Improves Biological Function of Bacteriorhodopsin within the ”Bacteriorhodopsin-Quantum Dot“ Hybrid Material

Dek Woolfson (School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK): Rational Peptide Design in Nanoscience and Synthetic Biology

Principal aims of these specific sessions are to define future research directions for the physical realisation of ICT, actively promote and disseminate the results of ICT-FET initiatives and increase the impact of the NanoICT FET proactive initiative on the innovation potential of Europe.

More info:

NanoICT project http://www.nanoict.org

Nano South-West European Conference, NanoSWEC: http://www.u-bordeaux1.fr/cnano/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=154

Contact Information:

Questions regarding the nanoICT project, please contact:

Dr. Antonio Correia (Project Coordinator): antonio(at)phantomsnet.net

About Phantoms Foundation: This Non-Profit organisation was established on November 26, 2002 (Madrid, Spain) in order to provide high level Management profile to scientific projects. This association plays an important role in the 7th Framework Programme as a platform for European funded projects (nanoICT, nanomagma, nanoCODE) to spread excellence amongst a wider audience, and to help in forming new networks.  This Association is now a key actor in structuring and fostering European Excellencand dissemination activities in this field.

WEB site: http://www.phantomsnet.net in ”Nanoscience and Nanotechnology“, having a world leading position in organising conferences, training

Questions regarding the NanoICT EU-FET proactive program please contact:

Dr. David Guedj (Project officer): david.guedj(at)ec.europa.eu

ICT Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) – NanoICT Proactive Initiative

European Commission

DG Information Society and Media, Office BU-25 5/38, B-1049 Brussels

WEB site: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fet-proactive/nanoict_en.html

BMVIT'S NANO INITIATIVE A GREAT SUCCESS -

EVENT FULLY BOOKED

Vienna, 11 November 2009 (BMVIT). The "NANO: Wissenschaft. Wirtschaft. Wirkung. 09" event, the exhibition for the Austrian NANO Initiative of the BMVIT (Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology) on Monday at Tech Gate Vienna, was a resounding success. A great many interested visitors from across the globe including private individuals and representatives from companies, research organisations, educational establishments, ministries and embassies gained a comprehensive insight into the present status and future prospects of nanotechnology in Austria. They concluded that it was highly competitive and could look forward to a successful future.

Federal Minister of Transport, Innovation and Technology Doris Bures was delighted with experts' excellent response to her department's showcase. "The keen interest shown by the worlds of science and business in the results of the NANO Initiative proves that linking research and industry has been a great success. We have been able to make direct use of the excellent research results in business, creating economic growth and more jobs", she said. With around 200 participants, the event at Tech Gate Vienna was fully subscribed. Representatives came from a total of more than 35 companies, close to 30 research and business organisations, 15 educational establishments, numerous ministries and even embassies.

PATENTS, PROTOTYPES AND PRODUCTS

All eight project clusters in the NANO Initiative showcased their research results, patents and product developments. Just five years after the initiative was launched in 2004, there have been over 480 scientific publications, while more than 30 patents and inventions have been filed. Surface cleaners and high-quality nano-coated tools are among the new products that have already been launched on the market as a direct result of the NANO Initiative. These achievements have been made possible thanks to the 50 million euros invested in high-calibre research and commercially oriented development work by the BMVIT since 2004, and yesterday visitors were able to get "hands-on" experience of just what had been achieved.

Interesting lectures, exhibits, poster presentations and intensive discussions all combined to provide an excellent insight into the NANO Initiative, highlighting the truly multidisciplinary nature of nanotechnology. Health, food technology, material sciences and electronics are just a few of the sectors represented in the project clusters. The diversity of the audience and the companies attending the event also reflected the fact that nanotechnology is, or will soon become, important in a great many industries.

PROMOTING PROGRESS

The success of the NANO Initiative is down to close cooperation between the worlds of science and business, something that is specifically supported by the FFG. "The aim of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency under the NANO Initiative and in all other programmes is to generate strong momentum for the Austrian economy through transparent promotion formats", stressed Emmanuel Glenck, Head of the Thematic Programmes Division at the FFG. Michael Wiesmüller, Deputy Head of Department at the BMVIT, also stressed that the NANO Initiative had played a major part in this. He explained that, for five years, the initiative had been clearly focussed on future technology, thereby tangibly boosting Austria's competitiveness in the international arena.

As Alex Dommann, CTO of the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) in Neuchâtel, underlined with reference to developments in Switzerland, large companies are by no means the only ones to be offered enormous benefits by nanotechnology. This technology will also enable small and medium-sized companies to optimise their traditional strengths of customer proximity and flexibility. A further highlight of the event was the concluding discussion lounge at which experts discussed the rapid development of nanotechnology and the need to handle new discoveries in a responsible manner. Alex Dommann from the CSEM, Arno Köpf from Böhlerit GmbH & Co. KG, Wolfgang Knoll, Director of the Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Michael Nentwich, Director of the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Alexander Pogany from BMVIT took part in the discussion. Issues addressed included recommendations on handling nanoparticles in a responsible manner and the question of whether there was a case for some applications not being developed.

All those involved agreed that detailed discussion will be necessary in future to clearly differentiate between those nanotechnology applications that are safe and those that incorporate possible risks. However, there was no mistaking the experts clear recommendation continuity, continuity, continuity. As a new future technology, nanotechnology requires continuity in the medium to long term through investment in research. Access to international research groups and infrastructures also needs to be ensured. Ultimately, the fact that universities are seeing higher student numbers in technical and scientific subjects where research also includes nanotechnology is down to its interdisciplinary appeal.

Overall, the programme demonstrated an impressive scope of innovation for industry and initial applications for consumers. This rapid progress from research to innovation provides impressive proof of the success of the targeted, commercially oriented promotion of research, which also triggered additional investment in research by project partners to the tune of 20 million euros.

For photos of the event, go to: www.nanoinitiative.at/press

For further information, go to: www.nanoinitiative.at and www.ffg.at

New funds for Rice, M.D. Anderson program

HHMI announces four-year grant for innovative biomedical training 

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 17, 2009) -- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today committed four years' worth of funding for an innovative biomedical training program between Rice University and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The unique program -- founded with a 2006 HHMI grant -- capitalizes on the strengths of Rice's top-10-ranked bioengineering program and M.D. Anderson's internationally renowned clinical programs. The training gives incoming graduate students an early opportunity to see how laboratory research is translated into clinical practice. HHMI today pledged $700,000 to renew the program for four years, bringing its total commitment to just over $1.5 million.

"We've developed a summer 'boot camp' for Rice's incoming bioengineering students," said Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the program's principal investigator and the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering at Rice. "They spend the summer before graduate school taking a course in anatomy and pathology, and going on clinical rounds in different specialties at M.D. Anderson. They get a firsthand look at what it's like to do translational research in a medical center, and they choose co-advisers for their own translational research thesis."

Richards-Kortum, an investigator in Rice’s new BioScience Research Collaborative, said the HHMI funding renewal will allow Rice and M.D. Anderson to continue the existing program and to expand it to include students from M.D. Anderson's Department of Imaging Physics.

"We are very excited about continuing this program with our colleagues at Rice. These students are truly exceptional and this program provides them a head start on getting involved in translational research," said John Hazle, chairman of Imaging Physics at M. D. Anderson. "Expanding this program to include students from our world-class graduate program in medical physics with the Rice students combines our expertise in engineering and natural science to address translational research questions together."

The program addresses a growing awareness of the need to better translate scientific discoveries from laboratories into clinical applications that benefit patients.

HHMI’s "Med to Grad" initiative is designed to address this disconnect by supporting innovative graduate programs that introduce Ph.D. students to the world of clinical medicine.

Rice and M.D. Anderson's program, "Translational Bioengineering for Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics," was one of 13 programs HHMI funded under its initial round of "Med to Grad" grants in 2006. HHMI announced 23 new awards for the program this week. The Rice-M.D. Anderson program was one of 11 programs to earn a renewal.

Rice wins NIH funding for oral-cancer test

Grand Opportunity grant funds rapid saliva test using lab-on-a-chip

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 5, 2009) -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers in Rice University's new BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) a $2 million Grand Opportunity (GO) grant to develop a fast, inexpensive test for oral cancer that a dentist could perform simply by using a brush to collect a small sample of cells from a patient's mouth.

"We want to provide an accurate diagnosis for oral cancer in less than 30 minutes using a minimally invasive test that requires no scalpels or off-site lab tests," said principal investigator John McDevitt, Rice's Brown-Wiess Professor in Bioengineering and Chemistry. "The payoff for this could be tremendous because oral cancers today are typically diagnosed much too late in their development."

NIH established the GO grant program to support projects that address large, specific research endeavors that are likely to deliver near-term growth and investment in biomedical research and development, public health and health care delivery. GO grant funding was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

If oral cancer is detected early, the prognosis for patients is excellent, with a five-year survival rate of more than 90 percent. Unfortunately, the actual five-year survival rate for oral squamous cell carcinoma is only about 50 percent, among the lowest rates for all major cancers. Oral squamous cell carcinoma affects about 300,000 people per year worldwide, and most cases are diagnosed in their late stages.

The new test is possible because of a novel microchip invented in McDevitt's lab. This "lab-on-a-chip" uses the latest techniques in microchip design, nanotechnology, microfluidics, image analysis, pattern recognition and biotechnology to shrink many of the main functions of a state-of-the-art clinical pathology laboratory onto a microchip the size of a postage stamp.

The microchips are mounted on disposable, plastic cards that are slotted into a battery-powered analyzer. A brush-biopsy sample is placed on the card and microfluidic circuits wash cells from the sample into a reaction chamber. The cells pass through mini-fluidic channels about the size of small veins and come in contact with "biomarkers" that react only with specific types of diseased cells. The machine uses two LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, to light up various regions of the cells and cell compartments. Healthy and diseased cells can be distinguished from one another by the way they glow in response to the LEDs.

The oral-cancer test will be developed in collaboration with scientists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. In addition to cancer, McDevitt's lab is developing tests for heart attacks and HIV, and it is developing a process to produce the disposable cards for pennies apiece.

"An affordable oral-cancer test that can be performed painlessly and quickly in either a regular visit at the doctor or dentist's office benefits patients and clinicians by detecting cancer earlier and lowering health care costs," McDevitt said.

The analyzers used in the test are made by Austin-based startup LabNow, a company McDevitt launched while at the University of Texas at Austin. McDevitt moved his lab from UT-Austin to Rice in July 2009 to be in the BRC, a state-of-the-art research facility that's within walking distance of the major research institutions of the Texas Medical Center (TMC). McDevitt's lab is slated to begin trials of a lab-on-a-chip saliva test for heart attacks with the TMC's Baylor College of Medicine in January. In addition, LabNow is preparing for tests next spring in Africa of a lab-on-a-chip test for HIV immune function.

A Snapshot Profile of Nanotechnology Degree Programs in the United States

  Dr. Aaron R. Fichtner, Director of Research and Evaluation, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development,

Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Dr, Carl Van Horn, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Jennifer Cleary, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Leela Hebbar, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

One way post-secondary institutions respond to labor needs for emerging technologies is by creating new degree programs. CNS-ASU recently collaborated with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to profile U.S. degree programs created in response to nanotechnology. The study defined nanotechnology degree programs as associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs that use the term "nano" in the formal degree title. This definition excluded certificates, minors, tracks, informal education and concentrations in nanotechnology. Sources used to identify nanotechnology degree programs included national databases, structured Web searches, a review of scholarly literature on nanotechnology education, and expert referrals.

Although there is no consensus yet on the best way to educate future nanotechnology workers, many scientists, employers and educators agree that the field requires interdisciplinary skills and knowledge across multiple science and engineering disciplines. The study therefore broadly examined how institutions approached the issue of interdisciplinarity within their degree programs.

The total number of formal nanotechnology degree programs is small, with 49 programs identified at 38 post-secondary institutions. These institutions are not concentrated in areas of high nanotechnology publication and patent activity, but rather are clustered in response to state and federal investments. For example, the NSF-supported Nano-Link involves a set of six associate's degree programs linked across five Midwestern states, and Pennsylvania's Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology Network links 18 degrees across 16 institutions. Both programs require a capstone semester at a four-year college to complete an associate's degree program from a two-year school, thus partnering two- and four-year colleges.

The motivation behind degree program development  varied by degree type. For associate's degrees, workforce and economic development were key motivators. Direct employer involvement in associate's programs was common, as nearly  all were designed to train nanotechnology technicians. On the other hand, student attraction and faculty motivation to  establish interdisciplinary education in nanotechnology were common themes in program development at the graduate level. Employer involvement at higher levels of education was less common, the major exception being the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in New York, where six graduate degree programs involve high levels of industry partnership.

Approaches to the interdisciplinary aspects of nanotechnology varied among programs. At all program levels, students are required to take courses from a variety of traditional core disciplines. Several institutions feature more intensive faculty collaboration across departments/schools, to create—and sometimes co-teach—nanotechnology-specific courses and lab work. Many faculty members stressed the importance of students maintaining a strong link to a core, traditional discipline. These faculty expressed concern about "diluting" the rigor of core disciplines. Not surprisingly, then, many degree requirements continue to be related to traditional disciplines.

Finally, at this time little is known about the employment outcomes of nanotechnology degree program graduates.

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University facilitates the public's involvement in nanoscale research and development, to build new capabilities for understanding and goerning the power of nanotechnology to transform society. CNS-ASU is affiliated with the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO), in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU.

Successful Kick-off for the Swiss Information

& Learning Platform

On Wednesday, 21 October 2009 the kick-off event of the "Swiss Nano-Cube" project took place at the headquarter of the Innovation Society in St.Gallen. Swiss Nano-Cube is the national information, learning and teaching platform dedicated to the topics of micro- and nanotechnologies (M&NT) for secondary schools, companies and industry associations.

The platform will offer education modules and information materials from the area of M&NT to teachers, students as well as vocational experts from industry. The platform is jointly developed by the Innovation Society (St.Gallen) and the Swiss educational Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Zollikofen).

25 members of the "Swiss Nano-Cube" supporting group accepted the invitation and used the opportunity to gather information about the project constitution, the status quo and the ongoing project development. In addition, there was time to discuss open questions as well as ideas and suggestions of the support group.

Companies, professional organisations as well as other persons interested in partnership or sponsoring are cordially invited to contact us. You may find further information regarding the "Swiss Nano-Cube" project on the webpage www.swissnanocube.ch.

Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Rice pioneers method for processing carbon nanotubes in bulk fluids

HOUSTON -- (Nov. 2, 2009) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

"Plastics is a $300 billion U.S. industry because of the massive throughput that's possible with fluid processing," said Rice's Matteo Pasquali, a paper co-author and professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and in chemistry. "The reason grocery stores use plastic bags instead of paper and the reason polyester shirts are cheaper than cotton is that polymers can be melted or dissolved and processed as fluids by the train-car load. Processing nanotubes as fluids opens up all of the fluid-processing technology that has been developed for polymers."

The report was co-authored by an 18-member team of scientists from Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Co-authors include Smalley Institute namesake Rick Smalley, the late Nobel laureate chemist who developed the first high-throughput method for producing high-quality carbon nanotubes, as well as Virginia Davis, a former doctoral student of Pasquali's and Smalley's who is now a professor at Auburn University, and Micah Green, a former postdoctoral researcher of Pasquali’s who is now a professor at Texas Tech University.

The new process builds upon the 2003 Rice discovery of a way to dissolve large amounts of pure nanotubes in strong acidic solvents like sulfuric acid. The research team subsequently found that nanotubes in these solutions aligned themselves, like spaghetti in a package, to form liquid crystals that could be spun into monofilament fibers about the size of a human hair.

"That research established an industrially relevant process for nanotubes that was analogous to the methods used to create Kevlar from rodlike polymers, except for the acid not being a true solvent," said Wade Adams, director of the Smalley Institute and co-author of the new paper. "The current research shows that we have a true solvent for nanotubes -- chlorosulfonic acid -- which is what we set out to find when we started this project nine years ago."

Following the 2003 breakthrough with acid solvents, the team methodically studied how nanotubes behaved in different types and concentrations of acids. By comparing and contrasting the behavior of nanotubes in acids with the literature on polymers and rodlike colloids, the team developed both the theoretical and practical tools that chemical firms will need to process nanotubes in bulk.

"Ishi Talmon and his colleagues at Technion did the critical work required to help get direct proof that nanotubes were dissolving spontaneously in chlorosulfonic acid," Pasquali said. "To do this, they had to develop new experimental techniques for direct imaging of vitrified fast-frozen acid solutions."

Talmon said, "This was a very difficult study. Matteo's team not only had to pioneer new experimental techniques to achieve this, they also had to make significant extensions to the classical theories that were used to describe solutions of rods. The Technion team had to develop a new methodology to enable us to produce high-resolution images of the nanotubes dispersed in chlorosulfonic acid, a very corrosive fluid, by state-of-the-art electron microscopy at cryogenic temperatures."

Co-author Nicholas Parra-Vasquez, a Rice graduate student advised by Pasquali who is now working in France, said, "In looking at the project when I started, I had no idea where it was going to end up and how much work needed to be done. The project encompassed many students and professors, as well as collaborations with other schools. Because of this, it was a slow process but one that left no avenue unchecked. Looking on it now, I can't believe how big it became -- how much effort was put into every point found."

Few technological breakthroughs have been hyped as much as carbon nanotubes. Since their discovery in 1991, nanotubes have been touted as everything from a cure for cancer to a solution for the world's energy crisis. The hype is all the more remarkable given that nanotubes are notoriously difficult to work with and that chemists worldwide struggled for years even to make them.

So why the hype? Put simply, carbon nanotubes are remarkable. While they are roughly the same size and shape as some rodlike polymer molecules, nanotubes can conduct electricity as well as copper, and they can be either metals or semiconductors. They can be tagged with antibodies to diagnose diseases or heated with radio waves to destroy cancer. They've been used to make transistors far smaller than those in today's finest microchips. Nanotubes also weigh about one-sixth as much as steel but can be up to 100 times stronger.

"Kevlar, the polymer fiber used in bulletproof vests, is about five to 10 times stronger than our strongest nanotube fibers today, but in principle we should be able to make our fibers about 100 times stronger," Pasquali said. "If we can realize even 20 percent of our potential, we will have a great material, perhaps the strongest ever known.

"The electrical conductivity is already pretty good," he said. "It's about the same of the best-conducting carbon-carbon fibers, and that could be improved 200 times if better production methods for metallic nanotubes can be found."

The new research appears just as the Smalley Institute prepares for a 10th anniversary celebration Nov. 5 of the creation of Smalley's "HiPco" reactor, the first system capable of producing high-quality nanotubes in bulk. HiPco, short for high-pressure carbon monoxide process, broke the logjam on nanotube production and cleared the way for more scientific study and for industry to begin using them in some materials. Industrial nanotube reactors today generate several tons of low-quality carbon nanotubes per year, and the worldwide market for nanotubes is expected to top $2 billion annually within the next decade.

But a final breakthrough remains before the true potential of high-quality carbon nanotubes can be realized. That's because HiPco and all other methods of making high-end, "single-walled" nanotubes generate a hodgepodge of nanotubes with different diameters, lengths and molecular structures. Scientists worldwide are scrambling to find a process that will generate just one kind of nanotube in bulk, like the best-conducting metallic varieties, for instance.

"One good thing about the process that we have right now is that if anybody could give us one gram of pure metallic nanotubes, we could give them one gram of fiber within a few days," Pasquali said.

The research was funded by the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the National Science Foundation, the USA-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Welch Foundation. The other co-authors are the Smalley Institute's Pradeep Rai, Natnael Behabtu, Valentin Prieto, Richard Booker, Hua Fan and Robert Hauge; the University of Pennsylvania's Wei Zhou and John Fischer; and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Judith Schmidt, Ellina Kesselman and Yachin Cohen.

Scientists Use World's Fastest Computer to Model

How Materials Behave Under Extreme Conditions

Multibillion-atom molecular dynamics simulations of how extreme shock waves break materials into pieces

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, October 30, 2009- The long-established and reliable SPaSM (Scalable Parallel Short-range Molecular dynamics) code, adapted to run on the world's fastest supercomputer, Roadrunner, is being used to study the physics of how materials break up, called "spall," and how pieces fly off, called "ejecta," from thin sheets of copper as shock waves force the material break apart at the atomic scale.

Because of Roadrunner's unique capability, materials scientists are for the first time attempting to create atomic-scale models that describe how voids are created, grow, and merge; how materials may swell or shrink under stress; and how once broken bonds might reattach, and they're doing it at size and time scales that approach those of actual experiments, so that the models can be validated experimentally.

"One of the interests we have had is looking at shock waves in metals and how the metals deform, they may melt under shock loading or change their crystalline structure," said Tim Germann of the Physics and Chemistry of Materials (T-1) group.  "Our multibillion-atom molecular dynamics code is providing unprecedented insight into the nature of the critical event controlling the strength of materials, a fundamental long-standing problem in materials science."

In the past, there has been a distinct gap between the microscopic, ultrafast processes that could be studied by molecular dynamics simulations, and the usual engineering-scale behavior of shock experiments.

For instance, gas gun experiments launch a "flyer plate" impactor at a target sample whose thickness is typically several millimeters, while simulations struggled to reach hundreds of nanometers, 4 orders of magnitude smaller in size. (And similarly in time; the corresponding shock transit times in such experiments are microseconds, and tens to hundreds of picoseconds in simulations.)

Some phenomena, such as the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of voids following shock compression and release, which can lead to "spall failure" as the material breaks apart, take place at precisely the time and length scales which were inaccessible to both simulation and experiment, and thus have typically been described by "trial and error" models which could never be directly verified.

However, steady advances by both experimental techniques, including laser-driven shock waves in thin metal foils using ultrafast X-ray diffraction to monitor structural changes, and in simulation techniques and supercomputer performance, culminating with Roadrunner, have closed this gap and are now enabling both simulations and experiments to probe shock deformation at similar length, 1-10 microns, and nanosecond time scales.

Spall failure and the ejection of material from shocked metal surfaces are problems that have attracted increased attention both experimentally and theoretically at Los Alamos.   Models are required that can predict both when a material will fail, and the amount of mass ejected from a shocked interface with a given surface finish and strength.

"We've already created simulations with quasi-two dimensional geometries that have

helped explain the production of ejecta in the first nanosecond after a shock," said Germann.  "The Roadrunner simulations are aimed at understanding later effects like jet breakup and three dimensional droplet formation, including the resultant particle sizes, velocities and the relationship between the two."

About Roadrunner, the world's fastest supercomputer, first to break the petaflop barrier

On Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, the "Roadrunner" supercomputer exceeded a sustained speed of 1 petaflop/s, or 1 million billion calculations per second.  "Petaflop/s" is computer jargon-peta signifying the number 1 followed by 15 zeros (sometimes called a quadrillion) and flop/s meaning "floating point operation per second."  Shortly after that it was named the world's fastest supercomputer by the TOP500 organization at the June 2008 International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden Germany.

The Roadrunner supercomputer, developed by IBM in partnership with the Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration, will be used to perform advanced physics and predictive simulations in a classified mode to assure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.  The system will be used by scientists at the NNSA's Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

The secret to its record-breaking performance is a unique hybrid design. Each compute node in this cluster consists of two AMD Opteron� dual-core processors plus four PowerXCell 8i� processors used as computational accelerators. The accelerators used in Roadrunner are a special IBM-developed variant of the Cell processor used in the Sony PlayStation 3®. The node-attached Cell accelerators are what make Roadrunner different than typical clusters.

Roadrunner is still currently the world's fastest with a speed of 1.105 petaflop/s per second, according to the TOP500 announcement at the November 2008 Supercomputing Conference in Austin,Texas, and it again  retained the #1 position at the June ISC09 conference

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov)

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

Global-Kuala Lumpur

Government To Establish National Innovation Centre, Says Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- The government will establish a National Innovation Centre and a network of Centres of Innovation Excellence as a step towards accelerating national innovation and commercialisation activities, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said this after chairing the fourth meeting of the National Innovation Council here on Thursday.

"The establishment of both these centres will ensure that the measures towards innovation will be further strengthened and streamlined, leading quickly to products which can be commercialised.

Najib said in making innovation a part of the key national agenda, it is very important that the approach towards it, penetrates all segments of society.

"The innovation that we hope to implement embodies the quality of total innovation.

"In another sense, it is innovation which is not limited to the field of science and technology but encompasses innovation as a whole," he said.

Examples are, innovation in management, innovation in the community, innovation in towns and villages, corporate innovation, industrial innovation, innovation in education, healthcare, transport, social security network and branding innovation.

Najib also announced that from next year, the National Quality Day implemented at the level of Ministries in the public sector, will be replaced by the National Innovation Day.

According to Najib, any ministry or government agency which introduces creative and innovative solutions which lead to improvements in terms of efficiency in management and the delivery system for the people, will be given suitable incentives and awards.

He also disclosed that there was a proposal to establish an iconic National Innovation Centre of the same standing as the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

"Whether this proposal is possible and suitable to be implemented from the point of viability, needs to be studied by the government through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation," he said.

On human capital, related ministries have been asked to take follow-up action to encourage and make innovation the culture, through the country's education system.

"It was also decided at the meeting today that nanotechnology development would be given priority and be made one of the resources of the country's new economic model.

"Nanotechnology represents a new, advanced technological field at present and for the future.

"Thus, it is important for Malaysia to not be left behind in the field of nanotechnology and we have decided to give it importance," Najib added.

The National Innovation Council comprises 18 government representatives, five from industrial associations and NGOs, two each from the academic sector and professional organisations and five local captains of industry.

Meanwhile, Najib declined comment when asked if Felda would be listed on Bursa Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=450784

Global-Phillipines

DoST unveils nanotech roadmap 

By Alexander Villafania

INQUIRER.net

First Posted 19:57:00 10/29/2009

Filed Under: Technology (general), Science & Technology

MANILA, Philippines – For the information technology industry, nanotechnology can innovate existing devices resulting into thinner and lighter mobile phones and widescreen TV sets, higher capacity digital storage devices, smaller notebook computers, and other ”wearable“ multimedia devices.

Products developed with nanotechnology can already be seen from paints, aerosols, electronic devices, metal works, medicines, fabrics, even food. The idea of controlling, manipulating, and further miniaturizing any form of matter, allows many industries to create basically anything that is needed.

In June this year, the Department of Science and Technology Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (DoST-PCASTRD) announced their 10-year nanotechnology roadmap.

So far, PCASTRD said that it is in its ”first and second stage“ of executing their roadmap. At these stages a few simple household products can be created.

The 10-year technology roadmap of the DOST focuses on five key industries, which includes IT and the semiconductor industry. Other industries are energy, agriculture, medicine, environment and food. One of the main reasons for the roadmap's focus on nanotechnology is due to the country's semiconductor and electronics manufacturing industry, which is primarily dependent on the US market.

Despite the effects of the economic downturn on the Philippines' electronics businesses, PCASTRD Nanotechnology Technical Panel Dr. Fabian Dayrit said nanotechnology can help these industries keep afloat as new manufacturing technologies allow them to have higher production output at lower costs.

Nanotechnology also creates new supporting industries that provide additional services for companies that have implemented nanotechnology-based infrastructure. Dayrit said nanotechnology will focus on developing products that improve functionality, speed, computing power, integrability, portability, and power efficiency.

PCASTRD has a P50 million initial fund to run its first few projects. The amount, of course, will be spread across the different sectors. At least P2.5 billion will be spent every year for these projects.

This amount is still small compared to the investments made by countries leading in nanotechnology, such as the US and Japan. Both countries invest no less than US$1 billion per year for R&D on nanotechnology.

Nevertheless, the DoST's focus on nanotechnology points to a direction where there could be huge economic gains for the country. More so, the country's IT and semiconductor industries can benefit even more.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20091029-232939/DoST-unveils-nanotech-roadmap

Scientists use world’s fastest computer to simulate nanoscale material failure

How nanowires evolve under stress is simulated atom-by-atom over a period of time that is closer than ever to experimental reality

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, October 29, 2009— Very tiny wires, called nanowires, made from such metals as silver and gold, may play a crucial role as electrical or mechanical switches in the development of future-generation ultrasmall nanodevices.

Making nanodevices work will require a deep understanding of how these and other nanostructures can be engineered and fabricated as well as their resultant strengths and weaknesses.  How mechanical properties change at the nanoscale is of fundamental interest and may have implications for a variety of nanostructures and nanodevices.

A major limiting factor to this understanding has been that experiments to test how nanowires deform are many times slower than computer simulations can go, resulting in more uncertainty in the simulation predictions than scientists would like.

”Molecular dynamics simulations have been around for a long time,“ said Arthur Voter of the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  ”But the simulations have never before been able to mimic the atomistic tensile strength of nanowires at time scales that even come close to experimental reality.“

Using the ”parallel-replica dynamics“ method for reaching long time scales that Voter developed, members of Voter’s team adapted their computer code to exploit the Roadrunner supercomputer’s hybrid architecture, allowing them to perform the first-ever simulation of a stretching silver nanowire over a period of a millisecond, or one-thousandth of a second, a time that approaches what can be tested experimentally.

”Bigger supercomputers have made it possible to perform simulations on larger and larger systems, but they have not helped much with reaching longer times -- the best we can do is still about a millionth of a second.  However, with the parallel-replica algorithm, we can utilize the large number of processors to ‘parallelize’ time,“ said Voter.  ”Roadrunner is ideally suited to this algorithm, so now we can do simulations thousands of times longer than this.“

With this new tool, scientists can better study what nanowires do under stress.  ”At longer time scales we see interesting effects.  When the wires are stretched more slowly, their behavior changes -- the deformation and failure mechanisms are very different than what we’ve seen at shorter time scales,“ said Voter.

Through these simulations, Voter and his team are developing a better understanding of how materials behave when they are reduced to the size scale of a nanometer, or one-billionth of a meter.  ”At this scale, the motion of just one single atom can change the material’s mechanical or electrical properties,“ said Voter, ”so it is really helpful to have a tool that can give us full atomic resolution on realistic time scales, almost as if we are watching every atom as the experiment proceeds.“

Voter’s team includes Danny Perez and postdoc Chun-Wei Pao of Physics and Chemistry of Materials, and Sriram Swaminarayan of Computational Physics and Methods.  

About Roadrunner, the world’s fastest supercomputer, first to break the petaflop barrier

On Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, the ”Roadrunner“ supercomputer exceeded a sustained speed of 1 petaflop/s, or 1 million billion calculations per second.  ”Petaflop/s“ is computer jargon—peta signifying the number 1 followed by 15 zeros (sometimes called a quadrillion) and flop/s meaning ”floating point operation per second.“  Shortly after that it was named the world’s fastest supercomputer by the TOP500 organization at the June 2008 International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden Germany.

The Roadrunner supercomputer, developed by IBM in partnership with the Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration, will be used to perform advanced physics and predictive simulations in a classified mode to assure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.  The system will be used by scientists at the NNSA’s Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories.

The secret to its record-breaking performance is a unique hybrid design. Each compute node in this cluster consists of two AMD Opteron™ dual-core processors plus four PowerXCell 8i™ processors used as computational accelerators. The accelerators used in Roadrunner are a special IBM-developed variant of the Cell processor used in the Sony PlayStation 3®. The node-attached Cell accelerators are what make Roadrunner different than typical clusters.

Roadrunner is still currently the world's fastest with a speed of 1.105 petaflop/s per second, according to the TOP500 announcement at the November 2008 Supercomputing Conference in Austin Texas, and it again retained the #1 position at the June ISC09 conference

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov <http://www.lanl.gov/> )

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear

Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

Flu focus: NIH project aims for better drugs

Rice, UT-Austin team wins stimulus funds to study influenza A

HOUSTON -- (Oct. 20, 2009) -- Rice University scientists have won a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to scrutinize the influenza A virus for clues that could lead to more effective antiviral drugs. Strains of influenza A include this year's pandemic H1N1 variety, some seasonal varieties and the much-feared H5N1 bird flu.

Under the four-year program, biochemists in the laboratory of Rice's Jane Tao will continue their groundbreaking investigations into the form and function of nucleoprotein (NP), one of fewer than a dozen proteins encoded by the flu virus.

All varieties of influenza A consist of variants of just eight genes --encoded in RNA -- that produce 11 proteins. But for all its apparent simplicity, the disease behaves in complex ways that have stymied scientists for decades.

For instance, when flu particles dock with healthy cells, they inject their genetic payload into the cell and hijack the cell's own machinery to make copies of themselves. Based on previous research -- including an influential 2006 report by Tao and University of Texas at Austin colleague Robert Krug -- scientists know the flu can replicate only when all eight genes are packaged in a particular way. Tao, who first deciphered the atomic structure of NP for that study, said the new research program will go a step further by systematically investigating NP's role in building the RNA package that's so critical for the virus to reproduce.

"This particular form is very important for the RNA to function as a template, but we do not understand how the flu packages only the eight segments that it needs and in the right order," Tao said. "It's the specificity that's intriguing. If you package eight random segments of RNA, the chances of getting a viable virus are very low."

Scientists know that in the viable package, NPs are stacked atop one another -- much of like vertebrae in a spine -- and the RNA segments wrap around the stack. A protein complex called the polymerase, which is attached at the end of RNA, helps kick off replication once the assembly is injected into a healthy cell.

Tao said her team will use several techniques, including X-ray crystallography and electron cryomicroscopy, to obtain the first three-dimensional structure of the RNA-wrapped NP complex, a structure known as the ribonucleoprotein complex. The group will also purify individual segments of RNA, NP and polymerase; using some painstaking trial-and-error tests, they also will try to decipher the order and arrangements that must be brought together to create a viable ribonucleoprotein.

Krug's group will help determine the function of the various NP structures in replicating the viral RNA segments in cells, as well as how amino acid changes in the NP structure affect the ability of NP to function with the polymerase.

"We want to understand the assembly process," Tao said. "How do all those molecules come together? Obviously it cannot happen all at once. It must take place in a sequential manner, but that process is very poorly understood at the moment."

Krug said the funding for the project -- which comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- arrives at a fortuitous time. "The flu is front and center in people's minds right now because of H1N1, and thanks to this grant, we're able to pursue an important new line of research that could answer fundamental questions about the disease."

Source: Rice University

Webinar: An Introduction to Raman Spectroscopy

as it Applies to Carbon Nanotechnology

October 27 at 9 am EDT (13:00 UTC/GMT)

October 27 at 4 pm EDT (20:00 UTC/GMT)

Register at: http://www.thermo.com/com/cda/resources/resources_detail/1,2166,201072,00.html?ca=nanonow

Carbon nanotubes are ideally suited for characterization by Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy can quickly and easily distinguish amorphous carbon, graphene, multi-wall, and single-wall carbon nanotubes.

Raman is sensitive to small changes in carbon structure and is excellent at quickly confirming CNT starting materials, or in verifying that processing steps have not damaged the CNTs.

Our live webinar demonstrates how this easy to use technique has rapidly become an indispensible tool for anyone developing new applications for carbon nanotubes or other carbon nanomaterials. The webinar is be one hour in length and is presented free of charge.

Who Should Attend?

Nanotechnologists

Materials Engineers

Carbon Nanotube Suppliers

Nanomaterials Processors

Sub-system Integrators

Finished Goods Manufactuers

Register at: http://www.thermo.com/com/cda/resources/resources_detail/1,2166,201072,00.html?ca=nanonow

Nanoengineered thin films lead to novel plasmonic modes

SEM image of a chiral STF of magnesium fluoride. (Image: Dr. Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Penn State)

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Surface-plasmon resonance is a quantum-electromagnetic phenomenon arising from the interaction of light with free electrons at the planar interface of a metal and a (nonconducting) dielectric material. This resonance arises when the energy carried by photons in the dielectric material is transferred to collective excitations (called plasmons) of free electrons in the metal at that interface. As the free electrons in the metal are coupled to the photons in the polarizable dielectric material, the quantum is called a surface plasmon-polariton (SPP). 

For complete article and links to three papers visit:

http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=13027.php

Global Opportunities- Norway

Vacant Researcher Positions -- Reflexive Systems Biology

CALL FOR 18-MONTHS RESEARCHER POSITION. Here is the LINK:

http://jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=61667

CALL FOR 2 YEARS POST.DOC. POSITION. Here is the LINK:

http://jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=61663

Deadline: 24 OCTOBER, 2009

ALSO, a related and very interesting project at the University of Oslo, called "Philosophical Foundations for Systems Biology", has recently opened a call for a PhD position. Here is the LINK:

http://www.admin.uio.no/opa/ledige-stillinger/2009/vitenskapelige/doctoralresearchfellowshipIFIKK-2009-8438.html

Roger Strand

Professor, Director

Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities University of Bergen

P.O.Box 7805, N-5020 Bergen, Norway Phone +47 55583436, +47 48074017 (mobile)

NanoArt 2009 INTERNATIONAL ONLINE COMPETITION - 4th Edition

FREE Entries - Open to All Artists and Scientists - Seed Images of 3 Nanosculptures are Provided for Further Artistic Creation

Submission deadline January 15, 2010

The worldwide competition NanoArt 2009 is open to all artists 18 years and older. The online exhibition will open for public on January 20, 2010.

Jurors: Dr. Pilar Irala (PhD, History of Art), world renowned photographer, expert on contemporary art, photography, and new technologies, and member of the International Association of Art Critics; apart from her activity as international photographer, Art critic and curator, she is currently Professor of Photography and Contemporary Art at San Jorge University (Spain) and co-director of the contemporary photography and music ensemble animAMusicae; Guillermo Muñoz, physicist and PhD candidate in Photonics, works in the field of Nanotechnology at Material Science Institute of Valencia University (Spain); he is part of the 'Piratas de la Ciencia' science communication group and is working as moderator for the international Art and Science network Yasmin; recently, he curated the NanoArt exhibition 'Nanoconfluencias: miradas artísticas hacia lo infinitamente pequeño'.

For the 4th edition of this competition, nanoart21.org founded by artist and scientist Cris Orfescu (www.crisorfescu.com and www.absolutearts.com/nanoart) will provide 3 high resolution monochromatic electron scans of nanosculptures created by him. The participating artists will have to alter the provided image(s) in any artistic way to finish the artistic-scientific process and create NanoArt work(s). The artists and scientists are strongly encouraged to participate with their own images as long as these visualize micro or nanostructures.

The artists can participate with up to 5 images (artworks). All submitted works will be exhibited on the nanoart21.org site until March 31, 2010, together with artist's name, a short description of the artistic process, and artist's web site and e-mail. The top 10 artists will be exhibited on nanoart21.org site for one full year and will be invited to exhibit at the 3rd edition of The International Festival of NanoArt. The previous editions of the festival were held in Finland and Germany

NanoArt is a new art discipline at the art-science-technology intersections. It features nanolandscapes (molecular and atomic landscapes which are natural structures of matter at molecular and atomic scales) and nanosculptures (structures created by scientists and artists by manipulating matter at molecular and atomic scales using chemical and physical processes). These structures are visualized with powerful research tools like scanning electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes and their scientific images are captured and further processed by using different artistic techniques to convert them into artworks showcased for large audiences. To read more about NanoArt and Nanotechnology please visit http://nanoart21.org.

For more information, please visit the competition site at http://nanoart21.org/html/nanoart_2009.html or send e-mail to 2009@nanoart21.org

Global - Isreal

TOPICAL NANOPARTICLE ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION THERAPY SHOWS PROMISE (W/ VIDEO)

An innovative drug-delivery system - nanoparticles encapsulating nitric oxide or prescription drugs - shows promise for topical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), according to a new study by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

Full story with video at http://www.physorg.com/news172562185.html

Rice awarded $5M for light-based crystal simulator

Physicists trap atoms with light to probe high-temp superconductivity

HOUSTON -- (Sept. 23, 2009) -- A Rice University-led team of physicists at seven U.S. universities has won $5 million from the Department of Defense to build a simulator capable of tackling high-temperature superconductivity, one of the most vexing mysteries of modern physics.

"The object is to simulate complex materials like high-temperature superconductors using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice," said Rice's Randy Hulet, the principal investigator on the project. "The lattice, which is created with lasers, simulates the crystal structure of the materials, while the atoms are stand-ins for the electrons."

The three-year grant was awarded today by the Army Research Office with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It is the second phase of funding awarded under DARPA's Optical Lattice Emulator (OLE) program. In the first phase of the program, Hulet's team and others showed it was possible to use ultracold atoms and lasers to build the type of structures needed to simulate high-temperature superconductors and other exotic materials.

Hulet's team includes co-prinicipal investigators Han Pu, also of Rice; Carlos Bolech of the University of Cincinnati; Jason Ho and Nandini Trivedi, both of Ohio State University; David Ceperley and Brian DeMarco, both of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; David Huse of Princeton University; Erich Mueller of Cornell University; and Vincent Liu of the University of Pittsburgh.

Superconductors are materials that convey electricity freely, without any resistance. Resistance is what causes wires to heat up as electricity moves through them, and resistance results in billions of dollars worth of losses annually in the U.S. power grid.

Superconductivity typically happens only at extremely cold temperatures, but in 1986 scientists discovered that some crystalline materials become superconductors at relatively high temperatures. Superconductivity in these materials, referred to as the cuprate superconductors, was found to occur along the two-dimensional planes that form their crystalline structure. Physicists still don't understand  how superconductivity emerges in the cuprates, partly because of the inherent complexity of the real materials and partly because of the inevitable impurities and defects present in actual samples.

"Many physicists believe that a certain model called the Hubbard model can explain how the electrons in these materials attract one another, but it remains controversial,“ said Hulet. "Even though the model is simplified, solving it is an exponentially complex problem. It cannot be done on even the fastest computers."

The beauty of the OLE program comes in using ultracold atoms as proxies for electrons. Prior research in Hulet's lab and others has shown that at cold enough temperatures, the behavior of atoms is dictated by the same quantum mechanical rules that govern the behavior of electrons.

The other technological piece of the simulator -- the "optical lattice" -- is created using several laser beams. The light from one beam can interact with and cancel out light from other beams in a regular pattern. Using several lasers, the researchers can use this effect to create two- and three-dimensional light patterns that mimic the lattice-like atomic structure of crystals.

"It's difficult to study superconductivity in real materials, partly because even minor defects in the crystal structure can throw off the experimental results," Hulet said. "But with the optical lattice, we can know, with absolute certainty, that there are no defects. We can really probe the essence of the model."

Currently, Hulet's team is conducting two experiments that continue the proof-of-concept work the team completed in the first phase of DARPA's OLE program. In one of these experiments, Hulet's group is simulating a three-dimensional version of the Hubbard model. In another, they are probing the properties of atoms confined to one-dimensional tubes of light.

Ultimately, Hulet and his group hope to build a two-dimensional Hubbard model that mimics the structure of the cuprate superconductors. That may sound like a simpler task than building the 3D model, but Hulet said the technical challenges are greater in 2D. For instance, it requires his team to chill their atoms to temperatures that are colder than any yet achieved.

"The theoretical difficulty lies in the fact that the Hubbard model cannot be solved analytically and our classical computers are extremely inefficient in simulating it," said Rice physicist Han Pu, a theorist and co-principal investigator on the project. "To tackle this problem, we need new tools, and OLE is such a tool. An OLE is essentially a quantum computer that simulates the Hubbard model in lab. The findings will tell us the properties of the Hubbard model and give us crucial new insights into high-temperature superconductivity."

Source: Rice University

Global-Italy

All tied up: Tethered protein provides long-sought answer

Single-molecule tests help scientists address long-standing questions

HOUSTON -- (Sept. 22, 2009) -- The tools of biochemistry have finally caught up with lactose repressor protein. Biologists from Rice University in Houston and the University of Florence in Italy this week published new results about "lac repressor," which was the first known genetic regulatory protein when discovered in 1966.

Using cutting-edge techniques, the scientists tied together two segments within individual molecules of lactose repressor protein. They then measured the ability of these tethered molecules to form DNA loops to determine how flexibility within the protein influences the extent to which these loops can form. The results appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

"It's become increasingly clear that many proteins are highly flexible and able to form different types of structures when they interact with something else, often another protein or DNA," said study co-author Kathleen Matthews, Rice's Stewart Memorial Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, who began studying lactose repressor protein in 1970. "That's true for lactose repressor in binding to DNA, making it a good candidate to learn more about the process of DNA looping because it's a relatively simple and well-studied protein."

With proteins, it is impossible to separate form from function; they do what they do because of their shape. That said, it is also unusual for scientists to get a clear picture of what a protein looks like in its native environment. For example, the general structure of lactose repressor has been known for some time, but questions have remained about how it flexes and moves inside a living cell.

Lactose repressor is a V-shaped bacterial protein that has two arms connected by a central hinge. Each arm has a sticky tip that's designed to grab hold of DNA. When each arm "sticks" to a different site within a single DNA molecule, a loop forms, creating a "pinched-off" section of DNA. The combination of protein binding and the loop prevent the machinery that encodes proteins from copying the DNA, so in essence, lactose repressor "turns off" the nearby genes.

Lactose repressor draws its name from the genes that it blocks -- genes that encode enzymes used to transport and metabolize lactose in bacteria. If a bacterial cell happens to be where lactose is plentiful, lactose repressor binds to a derivative of lactose that prevents high-affinity binding of repressor to the DNA. The cell is then able to manufacture the enzymes needed to convert the lactose into food. If no lactose is present, the protein clamps onto the DNA and inactivates the process of copying the lactose genes so the cell doesn't waste energy making the enzyme.

In 2007, the University of Florence's Francesco Vanzi visited Matthews' lab to learn new techniques for purifying and assaying samples of lactose repressor. The protein has a limited shelf life, and Vanzi, who was preparing to do single-molecule studies on the protein, needed to find out how to make it on-site in his lab.

"While he was here, we talked about various ways to fix the two arms of the protein with cross-linkers," Matthews said. The idea was to bind the arms together with chemical manacles that would limit the movement around the hinge of the "V." Vanzi, Matthews and Rice postdoctoral fellow Hongli Zhan wound up using three sets of manacles, or tethers, including longer and shorter chemical tethers; they also used some reversible tethers to allow return to the protein's original state. The researchers chose two different binding sites, one that provided some degree of flexibility in opening the structure and one that kept the arms bound in the more-closed "V" position characteristic of the structure determined for the protein in crystals.

The team found that the more they restricted the flexibility of the arms, the less likely the protein was to create DNA loops by binding at two sites.

DNA looping was measured directly by employing single-molecule techniques in the biophysics laboratory at the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS). The LENS team was led by Francesco Pavone. Lab postdoctoral researcher Danielis Rutkauskas adapted the methods to optimally measure the looping behavior of lactose repressor with different degrees of structural constraint.

"Our findings are important, but there is clearly more work to be done," Vanzi said. "We've found that limiting flexibility indeed limits protein function in this case. Now we need to apply our methods more broadly to see if this applies in other cases as well. We are also very excited about the dawn of single-molecule biophysical methods being applied inside living cells. Interdisciplinary approaches at the edge between physics and biochemistry are proving very powerful, and the months I spent at Rice were a blast."

The research was supported by the European Union, the Italian Space Agency Project MoMa, the National Institutes of Health and the Welch Foundation.

Source: Rice University

EVE: Measuring the Sun's hidden variability

EUV waves:1-120 nanometers

September 22nd, 2009 

This is the extreme ultraviolet sun imaged by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory over one complete solar cycle. The sun changes more at EUV wavelengths than it does in any other part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Credit: NASA/SOHO

Every 11 years, the sun undergoes a furious upheaval. Dark sunspots burst forth from beneath the sun's surface. Explosions as powerful as a billion atomic bombs spark intense flares of high-energy radiation. Clouds of gas big enough to swallow planets break away and billow into space. It's a flamboyant display of stellar power.

So why can't we see any of it?

Almost none of the drama of Solar Maximum is visible to the human eye. Look at the sun in the noontime sky and—ho-hum—it's the same old bland ball of light.

"The problem is, human eyes are tuned to the wrong wavelength," explains Tom Woods, a solar physicist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "If you want to get a good look at solar activity, you need to look in the EUV."

EUV is short for "extreme ultraviolet," a high-energy form of ultraviolet radiation with wavelengths between 1 and 120 nanometers. EUV photons are much more energetic and dangerous than the ordinary UV rays that cause sunburns. Fortunately for humans, Earth's atmosphere blocks solar EUV; otherwise a day at the beach could be fatal.

When the sun is active, solar EUV emissions can rise and fall by factors of hundreds to thousands in just a matter of minutes. These surges heat Earth's upper atmosphere, puffing it up and increasing the air friction, or "drag," on satellites. EUV photons also break apart atoms and molecules, creating a layer of ions in the upper atmosphere that can severely disturb radio signals.

To monitor these energetic photons, NASA is going to launch a sensor named "EVE," short for EUV Variability Experiment, onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory this winter.

"EVE gives us the highest time resolution and the highest spectral resolution that we've ever had for measuring the sun, and we'll have it 24/7," says Woods, the lead scientist for EVE. "This is a huge improvement over past missions."

Although EVE is designed to study solar activity, its first order of business is to study solar inactivity. SDO is going to launch during the deepest solar minimum in almost 100 years. Sunspots, flares and CMEs are at a low ebb. That's okay with Woods. He considers solar minimum just as interesting as solar maximum.

"Solar minimum is a quiet time when we can establish a baseline for evaluating long-term trends," he explains. "All stars are variable at some level, and the sun is no exception. We want to compare the sun's brightness now to its brightness during previous minima and ask: is the sun getting brighter or dimmer?"

The answer seems to be dimmer. Measurements by a variety of spacecraft indicate a 12-year lessening of the sun's "irradiance" by about 0.02% at visible wavelengths and 6% at EUV wavelengths. These results, which compare the solar minimum of 2008-09 to the previous minimum of 1996, are still very preliminary. EVE will improve confidence in the trend by pinning down the EUV spectrum with unprecedented accuracy.

The sun's variability and its potential for future changes are not fully understood—hence the need for EVE. "The EUV portion of the sun's spectrum is what changes most during a solar cycle," says Woods, "and that is the part of the spectrum we will be observing."

Woods gazes out his office window at the Colorado sun. It looks the same as usual. EVE, he knows, will have a different story to tell.

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

New discovery reveals fate of nanoparticles in human cells

September 22nd, 2009

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have uncovered what happens to biomimetic nanoparticles when they enter human cells. They found that the important proteins that make up the outer layer of these nanoparticles are degraded by an enzyme called cathepsin L. Scientists now have to take this phenomenon into account and overcome this process to ensure the exciting field of nanomedicine can progress. The research is published today in ACS Nano.

Dr Raphaël Lévy, a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow at the University of Liverpool and lead researcher on the project said: "We've known for some time that nanoparticles are taken into cells and there have been experiments done to establish their final destinations, but we didn't know until now what state they are in by the time they get there."

In most biological applications, nanoparticles are coated with a layer of molecules, often proteins, which determine the use of nanoparticles when they enter cells. The researchers have confirmed, in a wide range of cells, that nanoparticles are taken into a region called the endosome, where this essential coating is degraded by cathepsin L.

Dr Violaine Sée, also a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow at the University of Liverpool, and joint corresponding author, added: "One of the promising applications of nanoparticles in medicine is to use them as a method to deliver therapeutic protein molecules inside cells. For these biological therapies to be effective the proteins have to be maintained with high integrity and unfortunately we have seen this compromised by the degrading action of cathepsin L."

The design of any intracellular nanodevice must now take into account the possibility of cathepsin L degradation and either bypass the endosome area all together or have some built-in inhibition of the enzyme.

Dr Lévy continued: "The methods we have developed will help with this as we can now measure the location and the state of the nanoparticle quickly and quantitatively."

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC Chief Executive said: "Nanotechnology is an interesting area that has the potential to push all sorts of technological boundaries. There is promise of some useful applications in biology and we've already seen some excellent results with the development of nanomagnetic technology to guide therapeutic proteins and DNA to specific sites to treat tumours, for example. Fundamental bioscience research such as this, helps drive forward nanomedicine to ensure it has a real impact on health and wellbeing in the future."

Source: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Global-Canada

Rice, Alberta join forces to produce green energy through nanotechnology

Days after President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met in the Oval Office to discuss mutual concerns, including energy and the environment, Rice University and the province of Alberta are moving forward with plans to collaborate on those very issues.

Rice President David Leebron and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Edmonton, Alberta, today that will lead to greener energy production through advances in nanotechnology.

A research collaboration between nanoAlberta, part of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, and Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology will address issues surrounding the production of petrochemicals from Alberta's oil sands, one of the world's largest reserves of recoverable oil.

"The extraordinary scholars and researchers of the Smalley Institute of Rice University are developing advanced nanoscale technologies to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems," said Leebron. "Collaborating with nanoAlberta of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology has great potential to benefit North America and the rest of the world with new solutions to energy and related environmental challenges.

"The Houston area and the cities of Alberta have much in common, and we believe this relationship will lead to important joint projects and deep research relationships."

The MOU grew out of Stelmach's missions to Texas in 2008 and 2009, where he met with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and business leaders and visited Rice and the Smalley Institute. During these missions, the premier discussed Alberta’s commitment to clean technologies, like carbon capture and sequestration and the role other technologies, like nanotechnology, can play in the greater energy equation.

"In both Alberta and Texas, energy is our foundation, and technology and innovation are our future," said Stelmach. "Combining the energy and nanotechnology expertise of teams in Alberta and Texas could help bring about energy technology solutions that haven’t even been considered yet."

Earlier this year Stelmach addressed Rice students and faculty as well as energy executives at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, telling them, "The best legacy we could leave for the next generation is a cleaner environment based on science and research."

Wade Adams, director of the Smalley Institute, said the interests of nanoAlberta and those of his team at Rice are perfectly aligned. "We want to help them figure out how to extract oil from their resources in a more environmentally friendly way, a more efficient way and one that will cause less damage to their own territory as well as provide oil for the needs of the human race, as they become a more important source of it."

Adams noted America is the biggest market for Canadian oil, and he said Rice is also eager to work with nanoAlberta on applications for health care, another area of common interest. "It makes sense that we help them in any way we can," he said.

Adams accompanied Leebron to the signing ceremony. Emil Peña, executive director of the university's Energy and Environmental Systems Institute, will help coordinate Rice's efforts.

NanoAlberta works with industry, researchers and investors to help build the province's nanotechnology industry and apply the benefits of nano research to the energy, environmental, medical, agriculture and forestry sectors. Alberta aims to generate $20 billion in nanotechnology commerce by 2020.

Source: Rice University

'Evolutionary forecasting' for drug resistance

Rice biochemists help keep antibiotic makers one step ahead of germs

HOUSTON -- (Sept. 21, 2009) -- Rice University biochemists are developing a system of "evolutionary forecasting" to better understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.

"Our goal is to show antibiotic makers which sets of genes a pathogen will modify to become drug-resistant," said Yousif Shamoo, the principal investigator on a new $1 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "If they know the molecular path that an organism will take to become resistant to a new drug, our hope is that they can find ways to cut off that path."

Drug resistance is a major and growing problem in the U.S. Despite the best efforts of the medical community, documented cases of antibiotic-resistant pathogens like methicillin-resisistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) have increased dramatically in recent years. For example, a national study found that in 2004 more than 60 percent of patients in intensive care had MRSA and nearly 30 percent had VRE, compared with just 37 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in 1995.

Shamoo, associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology and director of Rice's Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, said the four-year study will follow two common pathogens, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, as they adapt to front-line antibiotics. The researchers will identify the network of genetic adaptations that allow the pathogens to become increasingly drug-resistant.

"We'll start with a batch of bacteria in a controlled vessel, and on day one we'll add a small amount of the drug," Shamoo said. "Each day, we'll ramp up how much drug we add, and we'll do that continuously for weeks. The organism is forced to evolve or die. In previous studies using both drugs and using environmental changes like increased heat, we have found that organisms do evolve, and they do it in a repeatable, predictable way."

In the upcoming study, Shamoo's team will sequence the genome of each organism both before and after the test. In addition, they'll take daily samples of the bacteria from the vessel and hold onto those for analyses. The stored samples are essentially a fossil record of the organism's adaptation to the drug. Using these, investigators can piece together the molecular path to resistance.

To determine the order the mutations occurred in, the team will use a technique created by Rice's Sarah Wu, a Will Rice College senior majoring in biochemistry and cell biology who began working in Shamoo's lab as a freshman. Using an instrument called a mass spectrometer, Wu found a way to translate the molecular changes from a particular mutation to the molecular weights of samples analyzed with the mass spectrometer.

Shamoo said the technique is important because it will allow his team to determine which mutations occurred first and to build those changes into a network-style representation that show's how an organism adapts to a specific drug.

Once the team has identified the particular mutations that convey drug resistance, they'll use X-ray crystallography to try and determine the exact molecular modifications that occur in the proteins those genes encode.

"We're interested in building those physical relationships that show how molecules confer drug resistance," Shamoo said. "The idea is that if you understand the mutation and what the mutation does to an enzyme or protein, then you can understand how that helps increase the fitness of a population of bacteria."

Shamoo said the team hopes to find a general set of rules or patterns that bacteria follow as they evolve to become drug-resistant.

For example, while the specific mutations that allow bacteria to become drug-resistant may differ from strain to strain, there may be patterns or rules that govern the order in which mutations occur and the regions of genome in which they occur.

"We hope there are common ideas and common themes among organisms," he said.

Source: Rice University

UNDER OBSERVATION -

RESTLESS ATOMS CAUSE MATERIALS TO AGE

Atoms have the habit of jumping through solids - a practice that physicists have recently been able to follow for the first time using a brand new method. This scientific advance was made possible thanks to the utilisation of cutting-edge X-ray sources, known as electron synchrotrons. The detailed findings of the project, backed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, were recently published in the prestigious journal NATURE MATERIALS. The work unlocks new potential for the study of material ageing processes at the atomic level.

Now and then, things can get pretty "wild" in solids. For example, billions of atoms in a gold ring can shift position every second. However, it is not just ordinary people who cannot see the atoms jumping around - physicists too have long been unable to witness this process for themselves. However, there is one very good reason in particular why scientists should want to change all that. The restlessness of atoms is responsible for ageing, and

therefore the loss of specific material properties.

Scientific understanding of atomic movement has now been significantly,enhanced. A team of researchers from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna have pioneered a method to directly track atoms as they jump through solids. To achieve this breakthrough, the team applied state-of-the-art technology in the form of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, which creates special X-rays of exceptional intensity and quality. These X-rays - which can at present only be generated at three research facilities worldwide - allowed the researchers to observe the movement of atoms in a copper/gold alloy.

TWICE THE JUMP RATE

The scientists discovered how far and in what directions atoms jump, and how this movement is affected by temperature. Team member Mag. Michael Leitner explains: "Our investigations have shown that, at a temperature of 270 degrees Celsius, atoms change position in the crystal lattice about once per hour. But that's not all. If we increase the temperature by just 10 degrees Celsius, the jump rate of the atoms doubles. And, of course, the same happens in reverse - if the temperature drops by 10 degrees, the atoms only jump half as often."

In the future, the recently accomplished experiment will serve as a basis for the measurement of atomic movement in numerous, technically important metallic systems. This is an important first step in understanding the ageing processes of materials, which is due to the internal unrest of atoms. For example, to ensure that a car engine does not wear and that a computer can function properly, foreign atoms need to be allocated to specific positions under controlled production conditions, usually at high temperatures. Unfortunately, these atoms also tend to leave their "allocated" positions quickly when exposed to high temperatures and, as a result, the materials lose their desired properties.

THE MEANS ARE THE END

Quite apart from the findings on atomic movement yielded by the experiment, the very implementation of the project itself is a major achievement. Indeed, it was only the ingenious use of various filters that enabled the scientists to extract special "coherent" X-rays from the synchrotron. This alone constitutes an enormous advance in the Vienna-based physics team's field of research. Mag. Leitner: "Work is currently underway to enhance the quality of X-rays even further. For example, the European X-ray Free-Electron-Laser is being built in Hamburg, Germany. This laser will open up a whole range of new and exciting possibilities."

The European X-ray Laser is to be used for applications well beyond the investigation of materials. It will also be a unique tool in the study of structures in vital substances such as proteins. Although the use of "coherent" X-rays is still in its infancy, the FWF-supported project has already taken an important step towards their universal application - placing Austrian scientists at the forefront of scientific progress.

Image and text will be available online from Monday, 14th September 2009,

09.00 a.m. CET onwards:

http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/public_relations/press/pv200909-en.html

Original publication: "Atomic diffusion studied with coherent X-rays" M.

Leitner, B. Sepiol, L. Stadler, B. Pfau & G. Vogl. Nature Materials 8, 717 ­

720 (2009), DOI: 10.1038/nmat2506

BALZAN PRIZE 2009 (1 MILLION SWISS FRANCS)

AWARDED FOR SCIENCE OFNEW MATERIALS

HALF OF THE AMOUNT MUST BE DESTINED TO RESEARCH PROJECTS

Milan, September 7, 2009 - The names of the 2009 Balzan Prize winners were announced today:

MICHAEL GRÄTZEL (Germany - Switzerland), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, for the Science of New Materials

BRENDA MILNER (UK - Canada), University of Montréal, for Cognitive Neuroscience

PAOLO ROSSI (Italy), Università di Firenze, for History of Science

TERENCE CAVE (UK), St John's College, Oxford, for Literature since 1500

The Balzan Prizes 2009 have been announced in Milan by the Chairman of the Balzan General Prize Committee, Salvatore Veca, together with the President of the Balzan "Prize" Foundation, Ambassador Bruno Bottai, in the Corriere della Sera Foundation. The profiles of the winners and the motivations of the Prizes (which will be awarded by the Vice-president of the Federal Council Doris Leuthard, during a ceremony to be held in Berne on November 20 at the Chamber of the National Council) were presented by four prestigious members of the General Prize Committee:

Enric Banda (Research Professor of Geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Barcelona, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC); President of Euroscience, Strasbourg ) read the motivation for the assignment of the Prize for Science of New Materials to Michael Grätzel: "for his many contributions to the Science of New Materials, and in particular for his invention and development of a new type of photovoltaic solar cell, the Dye Sensitized Cell, commonly known as the Grätzel Cell".

Lord Krebs of Wytham (Principal of Jesus College, Oxford; Fellow of the Royal Society, London) read the motivation for the assignment of the Prize for the Cognitive Neuroscience to Brenda Milner: "for her pioneering studies of the role of the hippocampus in the formation of memory and her identification of different kinds of memory system".

Nicolette Mout (Vice-chairwoman of the GPC, Professor of Modern History and Professor of Central European Studies at the University of Leiden; Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) read the motivation for the assignment of the Prize for the History of Science to Paolo Rossi: "for his major contributions to the study of the intellectual foundations of science from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment".

Karlheinz Stierle (Professor Emeritus of Romance literature at the University of Constance; Member of the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften) read the motivation for the assignment of the Prize for Literature since 1500 to Terence Cave: "for his outstanding contributions to a new understanding of Renaissance literature and of the influence of

Aristotelian poetics in modern European literature".

The President of the General Prize Committee, Professor Salvatore Veca, announced that the 2010 Balzan Prizes will be awarded in the following fields: History of Theatre in all its aspects, European History (1400-1700) (including the British Isles), Biology of stem-cells and their potential application), Mathematics (pure or applied).

The award fields vary each year and can be related to either a specific or an interdisciplinary field, and look to go beyond the traditional subjects both in the humanities (literature, the moral sciences and the arts) and in the sciences (medicine and the physical, mathematical and natural sciences), so as to give priority to innovative research.  Half of the one million Swiss Francs received by the winner of each of the four subjects must be destined for research work, preferably involving young scholars and researchers. The public event, under the auspices of the City of Milan, was followed by a lecture by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, 1999 Balzan Prize for the Science of Human Origins, entitled "Italian Culture: a multidisciplinary history".

The International Balzan Foundation, founded in 1957, operates from two different offices. The International Balzan Foundation - "Prize" (chaired in Milan by Ambassador Bruno Bottai) selects the subjects to be awarded and the candidates through its General Prize Committee. The Balzan Foundation "Fund" (chaired in Zurich by Achille Casanova) administers the estate left by Eugenio Balzan.

Further information and pictures of the Prizewinners are available on

http://www.balzan.org

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU):

seeks to fill one POST-DOCTORAL ASSOCIATE position in the societal implications of nano-scale science and engineering (NSE) starting Fall 2009. 

The post-doctoral associate will hold the title of coordinator for private sector outreach and will collaborate with CNS-ASU researchers on the Center’s private sector outreach activities. S/he will also perform significant independent research on issues pertaining to NSE and the private sector and contribute to educational programs. The fellowship is available for one year and renewable for additional years.

Required qualifications for the post-doctoral fellowship include: a doctorate in a related area; demonstrated interest at the intersection of scientific and technological advance and societal implications in general and NSE in particular; and evidence of high achievement in both research and teaching. Desired qualifications include interest and/or experience in: performing or interacting across or researching academic and private sectors in NSE. 

Closing date is October 2, 2009; if not filled, every Friday until search is closed.

To apply, submit a detailed letter of application stating qualifications, experience, research plans, and teaching interests; curriculum vitae; and the names and contact information of three references to Regina Sanborn, Program Manager, Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875603, Tempe, Arizona 85287-5603. Submissions may be made by email (preferred) to regina.sanborn@asu.edu.

This appointment is dependent upon funding from a specific source other than state appropriations (i.e., a cooperative agreement and supplementary awards from the National Science Foundation for CNS-ASU). As such, this appointment may terminate if funding is not available.

CNS-ASU (http://cns.asu.edu) is a federally-funded research, education, and outreach center dedicated to understanding the legal, ethical, and other societal implications of nanotechnology. CNS-ASU works intimately with the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (www.cspo.org), which offers an innovative, interdisciplinary environment for developing and testing research and teaching ideas related to the governance and conduct of science and technology in the public interest. A background check is required for employment. AA/EOE

CONSORTIUM FOR SCIENCE, POLICY & OUTCOMES

PO BOX 875603 TEMPE AZ 85287-5603

(480) 727-8787 FAX: (480) 727-8791

WWW.CSPO.ORG

Nanotechnology: Self-healing Surfaces

Engineers are working on transferring the self-healing effect of skin to materials. The idea behind this is to introduce evenly distributed fluid-filled capsules into the electroplated layer – rather like raisins in a cake.

The nano-capsules in the electro-

plated layer contain a fluid. If the

layer is scratched, the layers burst,

the fluid escapes and repairs

the scratch © Fraunhofer IPA

If the layer is damaged, the pellets at the point of damage burst, the fluid runs out and 'repairs' the scratch. Until now, these plans have failed due to the size of the capsules – at 10 to 15 micrometers they were too large for the electroplated layer, which is around 20 micrometers thick. The capsules altered the mechanical properties of the layer.

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, together with colleagues from Duisburg-Essen University, have developed a process for producing electroplated layers with nano-capsules.

At only a few hundred nanometres in diameter, the capsules are measured on another scale entirely, compared with previous results. "The challenge lies in not damaging the capsules when producing the electroplated layer", says Dr. Martin Metzner, Head of Department at IPA. "The smaller the capsules, the thinner and more sensitive their casing. The electrolytes used for these electroplated-technical processes are extremely aggressive chemically and can easily destroy the capsules". The researchers therefore had to find a compatible material for the capsule casing depending on the electrolytes used.

Mechanical bearings are one example of possible applications – the materials of the bearings usually have a electroplated coating, in which the capsules can be embedded. If there is a temporary shortage of lubricant, part of the bearing's coating is lost, the capsules at the top of the layer burst and release lubricant. The bearing is not therefore damaged if it temporarily runs dry. The researchers have produced the first copper, nickel and zinc coatings with the new capsules, although surface coverage does not extend beyond the centimetre scale.

Experts estimate that it will be another one and a half to two years before whole components can be coated. In a further step the team worked on more complex systems – involving differently filled capsules, for example, whose fluids react with one another like a two component adhesive.

MEDICA.de; Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting and Superconductor Research Receives Funding

Energy sciences flourish under DOE grant award

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico—Lower-cost, higher-efficiency lighting and better superconducting materials could result from a pair of grants awarded to Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, recently announced its commitment to fund two Single Investigator and Small Group Research projects at Los Alamos. Each project will be funded for up to three years.

The first project, led by Jennifer Hollingsworth and Han Htoon, will focus on ”Giant Nanocrystal Quantum Dots: Controlling Charge Recombination Processes for High-Efficiency Solid-State Lighting.“ This scientific effort exploits novel nanomaterials—particles hundreds of times smaller than a grain of sand—that have the potential to convert electrical energy to light with 100 percent efficiency.

Although researchers have used nanocrystal quantum dots for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in other efforts, the materials have serious drawbacks, such as blinking or flickering due to complex physical properties inherent to the materials. Due to the inherent flaws of conventional nanocrystal quantum dots, LEDs made from them have been limited to external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of only about 2 percent.

Hollingsworth and Htoon have found a way to cover giant nanocrystal quantum dots with a shell of inorganic material that mitigates the inherent flaws of conventional nanocrystal quantum dots. Further development of the technology could result in significantly improved LED lighting systems that are highly efficient, reliable, and cost effective.

The other project, ”Towards a Universal Description of Vortex Matter in Superconductors,“ focuses on understanding vortex physics in superconducting materials. This understanding could enhance the current-carrying capacity of superconductors, which are materials with the ability to conduct electrical current without resistance, generally at extremely cold temperatures.

Principal researcher Leonardo Civale is examining how nanosized imhomogeneities—tiny deviations from uniformity—in the lattice structure of superconducting materials can behave as ”pinning centers,“ trapping current vortices and precluding motions that would dissipate energy and reduce the current-carrying capacity of the superconducting material. By exploring these phenomena in different materials across a broad spectrum of properties, Civale and colleagues expect to develop a unified picture of vortex matter that is valid for all superconductors.

”Both of these Los Alamos National Laboratory research projects illustrate how the Laboratory is using cutting-edge science to address problems of significant importance to the nation,“ said Terry Wallace, principal associate director for Science, Technology, and Engineering at Los Alamos.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov )

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

Rice tapped for role in computing research center

Domain-specific computing project aims for better medical technology

HOUSTON -- (Aug. 18, 2009) -- A $10 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Expeditions in Computing grant to Rice University and three other universities will help develop high-performance, customizable computing that could revolutionize the way computers are used in health care and other important applications.

The grant will support the creation of a collaborative Center for Domain-Specific Computing (CDSC), which includes researchers from UCLA’s engineering school, medical school and applied mathematics program, Rice, Ohio State University and UC Santa Barbara. The multi-university center will be directed by Professor Jason Cong from UCLA. Rice’s Vivek Sarkar, the E.D. Butcher Professor of Computer Science and professor of electrical and computer engineering, will serve as associate director. The grant includes $1.5 million for Rice's research efforts.

Domain-specific computing differs from general-purpose computing by utilizing custom-constructed computer languages tailored to a particular area or domain —in this case, medical imaging. This customization ultimately results in less computing effort, faster results, lower costs and increased productivity.

The CDSC is one of three proposals selected in the latest round of awards under the NSF's Expeditions in Computing program. The program, established last year by the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), supports ambitious, fundamental research agendas that promise to define the future of computing and information and render great benefit to society. Funded at levels up to $2 million per year for five years, Expeditions is among the largest single investments currently made by the directorate.

Sarkar said the research will demonstrate how new technology known as domain-specific computing can transform the role of medical imaging by providing energy-efficient, cost-effective and convenient solutions for preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

"We're looking forward to domain-specific computing as an approach to tackling the parallelism and energy challenges in future multicore systems," Sarkar said. "The fact that our work will begin in the critically important health care domain is a huge motivation for the entire team."

Richard Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice, will also play a leading role in the research.

"My efforts will be aimed at advancing the state of the art of medical imaging algorithms by building on our ongoing work on compressive sensing," Baraniuk said. "A new approach to computing is needed to drive these innovations forward, so it’s great to be working with Vivek and the UCLA team on this joint computer science and electrical and computer engineering project."

Rice’s participation signals its continued commitment toward pioneering new computing advances, said Sallie Keller-McNulty, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Rice's George R. Brown School of Engineering.

"We hope that this exciting work can serve as a catalyst for new collaborative research projects with our fellow Texas Medical Center institutions," Keller-McNulty said.

The grant will allow researchers to integrate the project with education at the participating universities and expose graduate, undergraduate and high school students to new concepts and research in domain-specific computing. Joint courses will be developed as will summer research fellowship programs for high school and undergraduate students. Educators hope that underrepresented students can be attracted to participate with the help of campus organizations that focus on diversity.

Putting Nanotechnology on the map

The ”Nano Metro“ landscape is growing. An updated interactive map highlights companies, universities, government laboratories, and other organizations that are involved in nanotechnology research, development, and commercialization.

http://www.nanotechproject.org/news/archive/putting_nanotechnology_on_map/

Opportunity - Post Doc

POST-DOCTORAL POSITION IN THE SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF NANOMATERIALS: Environmental Risk Perception. University of California, Santa Barbara.

A multidisciplinary team of social scientists is seeking a postdoctoral-level researcher to study the societal aspects of emerging effects of nanomaterials (NMs) in the environment, with a particular focus on US public and expert risk perception and comparative risk analysis. The specific project opportunities include: survey research on US public perceptions of nanotech environmental risk; comparative analysis of other technological and environmental risk controversies; social amplification and attenuation of risk; constructed preference and decision pathways; vulnerability, gender, race and risk perception; mental modeling and risk communication.

Applicants should possess a Ph.D. in a relevant social, behavioral, or environmental studies field, including Ph.D's from interdisciplinary environmental studies programs as well as those offered through sociology, anthropology, geography, communications, social psychology, political science, and/or law. The applicant must have demonstrated experience in related research, and a record of communicating research results. Quantitative data analysis expertise required; mixed quantitative/qualitative methods research background highly desirable.

The position will be available starting October 1, 2009 or later and is full time with a beginning salary of $42,000-$46,000 (plus health benefits) depending on experience. Applications should have completed the PhD no more than 6 years prior, although exceptions can be made where a hiatus from academic work can be explained. The initial appointment is for 1-year on this multiyear project; continuation beyond 1 year will be based on performance and funding. Applicants should submit a CV, a statement of research interests, and the names of three referees to imelda@icess.ucsb.edu. Initial review of applications will begin on 1 September 2009, however the position will remain open until filled. The department is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service.

Researchers make carbon nanotubes without metal catalyst

Oxides, as well as metals, seem to be able to sprout carbon nanotubes, study finds

Kate Greene, News Office correspondent, MIT

August 10, 2009

Carbon nanotubes - tiny, rolled-up tubes of graphite - promise to add speed to electronic circuits and strength to materials like carbon composites, used in airplanes and racecars. A major problem, however, is that the metals used to grow nanotubes react unfavorably with materials found in circuits and composites. But now, researchers at MIT have for the first time shown that nanotubes can grow without a metal catalyst. The researchers demonstrate that zirconium oxide, the same compound found in cubic zirconia "fake diamonds," can also grow nanotubes, but without the unwanted side effects of metal.

The implications of ditching metals in the production of carbon nanotubes are great. Historically, nanotubes have been grown with elements such as iron, gold and cobalt. But these can be toxic and cause problems in clean room environments. Moreover, the use of metals in nanotube synthesis makes it difficult to view the formation process using infrared spectroscopy, a challenge that has kept researchers in the dark about some of the aspects of nanotube growth.

"I think this fundamentally changes the discussion about how we understand carbon nanotubes synthesis," says Brian Wardle, professor of aeronautics and astronautics who led the study, published Aug. 10 in the online version of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Wardle adds that some researchers might find the result controversial since no one has ever proven that anything other than a metal can grow a nanotube. "People report new metals [as catalysts] every so often," he says. "But now we have a whole new class of catalyst and new mechanism to understand and debate."

The conventional model for nanotube growth goes like this: A substrate is sprinkled with nanoparticle seeds made of a certain metal, of the same diameter of the desired nanotubes. The substrate and nanoparticles are heated to 600 to 900 degrees Celsius, and then a carbon-containing gas such as methane or alcohol is added. At the high temperatures, molecules break apart and reassemble. Some of these carbon-containing molecules find their way to the surface of a nanoparticle where they dissolve and then precipitate out, in nanotube form.

The researchers found that if they just used zirconium oxide nanoparticles on the substrate, they could coax carbon into nanotubes as well. Importantly, the mechanism for growth seems to be completely different from that of metal nanoparticle-grown tubes. Instead of dissolving into the nanoparticle and precipating out, zirconia-grown nanotubes appear to assemble directly on the surface.

In collaboration with Professor Stephan Hofmann at the University of Cambridge in England, the MIT researchers took images of the oxide-based nanotubes using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy during growth. This allowed them to see that when nanotubes formed, zirconium oxide persisted, and didn't form into a metal, bolstering their conclusions.

One of the most exciting implications of the finding is that it means that carbon fiber and composites, used to make different types of crafts, could be strengthened by nanotubes. "Composites are durable, but fail under certain loading conditions, like when plywood flakes and splinters apart," says Stephen Steiner, an MIT graduate student and the study's first author. "But what if you could reinforce composites at the microlevel with nanotubes the way that rebar reinforces concrete in a building or a bridge? That's what we're trying to do to improve the mechanical properties and resistance to fracturing of carbon composites."

Steiner says the reason that planes like Airbus' A380 and Boeing's new 787 are made of only 40 percent composites and not 90 percent is because composites aren't strong enough for all parts of the craft. But if they were bolstered by nanotubes, then the planes could be made of more composites, which would make them lighter, and less expensive to fly because they wouldn't need as much fuel.

The findings are already impressing researchers in industry. "This innovation has far-reaching implications for commercial productions of carbon nanotubes," says David Lashmore, CTO of Nanocomp Technologies Inc., a company in Concord, N.H., that was not involved in the research. "It for the first time allows the use of a ceramic catalyst instead of a magnetic transition metal, some of which are carcinogenic."

Wardle suspects that more oxide-based catalysts will be found in the coming years. He and his team will focus on trying to understand the fundamental mechanisms of this type of nanotube growth and help to contribute more types of catalysts to the nanotube-growing arsenal. While the researchers don't have a timeline, they suspect that it would be easy to commercialize the process as it's simple, adaptable and, in many ways, more flexible than growth with metal catalysts.

This work was supported by Airbus S.A.S., Boeing, Embraer, Lockheed Martin, Saab AB, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Inc., Composite Systems Technology, and TohoTenax through MIT's Nano-Engineered Composite aerospace Structures (NECST) Consortium.

Source: MIT News Office

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/nanotubes-0810.html

Global - Iran

Iran Opens Nanotechnology Research Center on Agriculture

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian agricultural biotechnology institute affiliated to the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad established a nanotechnology research center in a bid to conduct wider studies on the applications of nanotechnology in agriculture.

According to the Iranian Nanotechnology Initiative Council, the center opened on July 19th is allocated to studies on the new methods of nanotechnology based products' packaging, the invention of pest control methods, and the effects of nanomaterials on the agricultural products and the environment.

The cost of equipments needed for the laboratory is estimated about euros 1.75 million which has been totally afforded from the credits of the institute, Dr. Khiam Nekouyee, the chairman of the institute said.

The tools and equipments available at this laboratory include STM, AFM, SNOM, confocal microscope, nanoparticles analysis equipment, gene gun, DNA analysis equipment, GC, HPLC.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8805190901

Global - Russia

President Orders Probe Into State Firms

By Maria Antonova

The St. Petersburg Times

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday ordered Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and the head of the Kremlin’s oversight department, Konstantin Chuichenko, to open an investigation into state corporations, in a sign of growing skepticism over the institutions’ role in the economy.

Medvedev ordered a sweeping investigation into how state corporations function, including their use of state assets and the degree to which their current activities correspond to federal law, according to a statement posted on the Kremlin’s web site.

Medvedev set a deadline of Nov. 10 for the investigators to present their findings, including whether or not the state corporation model should ”continue to be used as a legal and management structure.“

Conglomerate Russian Technologies, nanotechnology giant Rusnano, Olympic construction firm Olimpstroi, state lender Vneshekonombank, nuclear conglomerate Rosatom, the Housing Maintenance Fund and the Deposit Insurance Agency are all classified as state corporations.

State corporations have come under fire from influential quarters since they were created in 2007. Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin have spoken out against state corporations, saying they hamper growth.

In March, Medvedev’s legal council on civil law said the special legal status accorded to state corporations was unnecessary and suggested that they operate under the same laws as private businesses.

Shortly afterward, Medvedev fired a broadside against Rusnano, criticizing its state corporation model and saying it would hamper innovation.

But so far, it is unclear what model Medvedev is advocating in its place. In July, the president signed a decree creating state company Avtodor, which will manage the country’s federal highways and establish a system of toll roads. Avtodor is classified as a state company, rather than a state corporation, but it seems to operate under a legal status similar to that of state corporations.

It’s not accidental that the prosecutor general was chosen to perform the investigation rather than bodies such as the Federal Tax Service, the Audit Chamber or the Federal Customs Service, said Anton Kostenko, a partner at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, which works with state corporations.

”Usually, such checks are performed after a signal that the law is not being followed in a particular company, while the rest were tacked on to avoid singling out just one,“ he said, adding that the Prosecutor General’s Office has the broadest authority to conduct investigations.

Russian Technologies, which controls titanium major VSMPO-Avisma and owns 25 percent of carmaker AvtoVAZ, looks the most ”vulnerable,“ as it has received controlling stakes in over 400 companies last July under a decree signed by Medvedev, Kostenko said. Chuichenko will probably investigate how well this decree, as well as others issued by the president, are being followed, he said.

There are signs that Russian Technologies head Sergei Chemezov may have fallen from the Kremlin’s good graces. On Thursday, Chemezov was kicked off the presidential commission for economic modernization, the Kremlin said on its web site. Vedomosti cited sources as saying he lost the position because he never attended meetings.

And the commission reshuffle may just be a precursor to changes at Russian Technologies.

There are so many companies under Chemezov’s control that Russian Technologies ”hasn’t even gotten around to some of them yet,“ said Yevgeny Minchenko, an analyst with the Institute of Political Expertise.

Even so, seeing the order as directed against a specific person or firm would be simplistic, he said.

”The issue of effectiveness of state corporations is not a new one,“ he said.

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=29587

Touchable Hologram Becomes Reality (w/ Video)

In this demonstration of the touchable hologram, ultrasound is radiated from above and the user feels as if a rain drop hits his palm. Credit: Hiroyuki Shinoda.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed 3D holograms that can be touched with bare hands. Generally, holograms can't be felt because they're made only of light. But the new technology adds tactile feedback to holograms hovering in 3D space.

For more information visit Shinoda Lab

http://www.alab.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~siggraph/09/TouchableHolography/SIGGRAPH09-TH.html

The Materials Research Society Proudly Announces its NEWEST AWARD for

Innovation in Materials Characterization

Nomination Deadline -- October 1, 2009

This award honors an outstanding advance in materials characterization that notably increases knowledge of the structure, composition, in-situ behavior under outside stimulus, electronic, mechanical, or chemical behavior, or other characterization feature, of materials. It is not limited to the method of characterization or the class of material observed. Impact of the advance on materials research will be the primary consideration in making the award. Nominations for this award may be made for scientists and engineers in all areas of materials research.

THE AWARD

The annual Award consists of a $5000 cash prize, a presentation trophy and a certificate of recognition. Meeting registration fee and transportation and hotel expenses to attend the MRS Spring Meeting at which the award is presented will be reimbursed.

NOMINATE A COLLEAGUE TODAY FOR THIS NEW AWARD

Nominations are open to scientists and engineers in all areas of materials research.

Nominees need not be members of the Materials Research Society.

Current members of the Innovation in Materials Characterization Subcommittee, MRS Board members,  and the Awards Committee Chair are not eligible.

The Award is presented at the MRS Spring Meeting.

The Award will not be bestowed in absentia except in extraordinary circumstances.

DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS - OCTOBER 1, 2009

For more information on the Innovation in Materials Characterization Award, including nomination requirements, visit www.mrs.org/imca.

MRS acknowledges the generosity of Professors Gwo-Ching Wang and Toh-Ming Lu for endowing this award.

Global-Copenhagen

Live recordings of cell communication

August 6th, 2009 

Neurons communicate with each other with the help of nano-sized vesicles. Disruption of this communication process is responsible for many diseases and mental disorders like e.g. depression. Nerve signals travel from one neuron to another through vesicles - a nano-sized container loaded with neurotransmitter molecules. A vesicle fuses with the membrane surrounding a neuron, releases neurotransmitters into the surroundings that are detected by the next neuron in line. However, we still lack a more detailed understanding of how the fusion of vesicles occurs on the nano-scale.

Associate Professor Dimitrios Stamou, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Nano-Science Center explains:

"Contact between vesicles and membranes are an essential step in many important biological processes. We can now quantify contact areas formed between vesicles and determine the vesicle size and shape with nano-scale resolution. This helps us characterise the properties of the molecules involved in vesicle-fusion. The new method opens great new prospects for the research of neurological and infectious diseases".

The researchers are using a method called FRET or Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer. The method is well known, but what is new is the way the researchers are using it. They produce vesicles in the laboratory, which contain fluorescent donor molecules, and membranes fixed to a surface. The fixed membranes contain acceptor fluorescent molecules. Only when the two different fluorescent molecules are near to each other will light be emitted, which researchers can measure as a sign of vesicle fusion. By measuring the emitted light the researchers found new ways to determine the vesicle shape with nano-scale resolution in real-time.

"We have lacked a method for measuring the fusion of vesicle and membrane on a nano-scale at the moment the process occurs. Until now it has only been possible to get a still image of the process with high resolution, or live images with low resolution. With the new method we can quantify the changes in vesicle shape live i.e. during fusion, and with nanoscale resolution", explains Dimitrios Stamou.

Source: University of Copenhagen

Protein folding: Diverse methods yield clues

Comparison finds approaches of protein study are complementary

HOUSTON -- (Aug. 6, 2009) -- Rice University physicists have written the next chapter in an innovative approach for studying the forces that shape proteins -- the biochemical workhorses of all living things.

New research featured on the cover of today's issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry illustrates the value of studying proteins with a new method that uses the tools of nanotechnology to grab a single molecule and pull it apart. The new method helps scientists measure the forces that hold proteins together. The new study contrasted the findings from Rice's method with a different approach that relies on chemical reactions.

"There is an ongoing discussion among scientists about which of these methods is more relevant," said Ching-Hwa Kiang, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Rice. "What we've found is that each teaches us something different, but the results from the two are similar enough that we can use them together in the future."

Over the past decades, scientists have discovered that misfolded proteins play an important but mysterious role in diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. As a result, more laboratories like Kiang's are studying how proteins fold and misfold in the hopes of finding clues that could lead to new treatments.

Kiang's team specializes in studying the forces that hold protein strands together. Her group uses atomic force microscopes (AFM), which operate much like phonograph players. The AFM has a needle that's suspended from one end of a cantilevered arm. The needle bobs up and down on the arm, randomly grabbing and lifting proteins. By measuring exactly how much force it takes to pull the strands apart, Kiang's group can learn important clues about the protein's behavior.

Kiang's work was recognized in Small Times magazine's 2007 "Best of Small Tech Awards," but it's not the only way to study protein folding. Other groups use chemicals to determine how much energy it takes to unfold proteins, and Kiang's latest paper looks at similarities and differences between the two methods.

"The chemical denaturant method gives very accurate information about the folded and unfolded state of the protein, and our method gives important information about what happens in between," Kiang said.

Proteins are the workhorses of biology. Each protein is a string of amino acids that are attached end to end, like a strand of pearls. The order of the amino acids comes from DNA blueprints, but the order itself doesn't tell scientists what the protein is designed to do. That's because each protein folds in upon itself shortly after its made, much like a strand of pearls curls up as it's dropped into someone's palm.

Unlike the pearls, which might fall this way or that depending upon how they're dropped, proteins fold the same way every time. That's important, because when they misfold, they cannot function properly and in some cases can make people sick.

"This is fundamental research, but it is very important," Kiang said. "We need to answer to these fundamental questions in order to better understand how protein folds correctly, which affects people's health."

The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Welch Foundation.

Nanoscale origami from DNA

Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and Harvard University have thrown the lid off a new toolbox for building nanoscale structures out of DNA, with complex twisting and curving shapes. In the Aug 7 issue of the journal Science, they report a series of experiments in which they folded DNA, origami-like, into 3-D objects including a beach ball-shaped wireframe capsule just 50 nanometers in diameter. Credit: H. Dietz, TUM Dept. of Physics, all rights reserved.

August 6, 2009 - Scientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) and Harvard University have thrown the lid off a new toolbox for building nanoscale structures out of DNA, with complex twisting and curving shapes. In the August 7 issue of the journal Science, they report a series of experiments in which they folded DNA, origami-like, into three dimensional objects including a beachball-shaped wireframe capsule just 50 nanometers in diameter.

"Our goal was to find out whether we could program DNA to assemble into shapes that exhibit custom curvature or twist, with features just a few nanometers wide," says biophysicist Hendrik Dietz, a professor at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. Dietz's collaborators in these experiments were Professor William Shih and Dr. Shawn Douglas of Harvard University. "It worked," he says, "and we can now build a diversity of three-dimensional nanoscale machine parts, such as round gears or curved tubes or capsules. Assembling those parts into bigger, more complex and functional devices should be possible."

As a medium for nanoscale engineering, DNA has the dual advantages of being a smart material - not only tough and flexible but also programmable - and being very well characterized by decades of study. Basic tools that Dietz, Douglas, and Shih employ are programmable self-assembly - directing DNA strands to form custom-shaped bundles of cross-linked double helices - and targeted insertions or deletions of base pairs that can give such bundles a desired twist or curve. Right-handed or left-handed twisting can be specified. They report achieving precise, quantitative control of these shapes, with a radius of curvature as tight as 6 nanometers.

The toolbox they have developed includes a graphical software program that helps to translate specific design concepts into the DNA programming required to realize them. Three-dimensional shapes are produced by "tuning" the number, arrangement, and lengths of helices.

In their current paper, the researchers present a wide variety of nanoscale structures and describe in detail how they designed, formed, and verified them. "Many advanced macroscopic machines require curiously shaped parts in order to function," Dietz says, "and we have the tools to make them. But we currently cannot build something intricate such as an ant's leg or, much smaller, a ten-nanometer-small chemical plant such as a protein enzyme. We expect many benefits if only we could build super-miniaturized devices on the nanoscale using materials that work robustly in the cells of our bodies - biomolecules such as DNA."

More information: "Folding DNA into Twisted and Curved Nanoscale Shapes," by Hendrik Dietz, Shawn M. Douglas, and William M. Shih, published in the August 7, 2009, issue of Science.

Source: Technische Universitaet Muenchen

Global-Kuwait

A new national vision

Published Date: August 06, 2009

By Fouad Al-Obaid, Staff columnist

I would like to begin this with a vision of a great US President JFK, who embarked on a mission to the moon. The national endeavor to accomplish the unaccomplished, and to reap the fruit of the technological development that ensues is a great source of motivation for any nation. "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one in which we intend to win, and the others, too.

I believe that we can find inspiration in such a vision, one that could be ours if we so decide. We can achieve greatness and force society to develop and adapt to a new paradigm if such a vision is shared by the leadership of the country. We, as humans, are the most ingenious of creatures when we don't waste resources on futile fights, and decide to combine forces to achieve the unachievable, working on projects of grand scale.

Flush with oil wealth, the time is ripe, I believe, to begin a new national effort to transform society from its current state into one that can achieve greatness. With time pressing us with regard to the use of oil which is finite, it is time to divert our attention to the energies of the future that are renewable and infinite; solar, wind, and wave technologies to name a few.

We should also, perhaps, endeavor to transform our barren desert into an oasis not for any other reason than to prove that it can be done. We should work towards ensuring the development of new national industries in fields as diverse as medical technology, nanotechnology, underwater exploration, flight, agriculture, as well as into the chemical industry to name a few possible tracks.

In order to achieve such a vision a quasi- military organization needs to be achieved that can work towards fulfilling several national objectives. By creating the basis for a national military order that would ensure that the ideals of the nation supersede the clan and the family, helping refine the notion of national equality based on merit rather than a system that aims to encourage the squandering of funds on needless civil servants based on the simple prerogative that our Constitution forces the government to ensure a job for every Kuwaiti.

We need to create meaningful jobs that are both rewarding at the personal just as much at the national level. By creating meaningful jobs, we shall create meaningful and content employees that work with dedication, each working towards achieving the stated national goal that is yet to be decided and endorsed. If we want to achieve the great thing I believe this century, we will, if we give ourselves the tool to succeed.

May God bless our nation and its leadership and may we remain forever prosperous.

fouad@kuwaittimes.net

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTQwMjQ4NzU0

Global-Brazil

Brazil's Petrobras Throws Half a Billion Dollars at World's Tecnological Race  

Written by Nielmar de Oliveira    

Wednesday, 05 August 2009

Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas multinational Petrobras plans on investing more than 1 billion Brazilian reais (US$ 534 million) in universities and research institutes from 2009 to 2011. This in order to turn the Brazilian technology industry into one of the best equipped in the world in the energy sector.

Partnership agreements will enable the implementation of 250 cutting-edge laboratories.

From 2006 to 2008, the company spent approximately 790 million Brazilian reais (US$ 421 million) on building and redoing laboratories, by means of partnerships with academic and research institutions in different states of Brazil. In 2008 alone, 440 million reais (US$ 235 million) were invested in the segment.

Since the passing of the Petroleum Act, in 1997, which added a clause to contracts between concession-holders and the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP) providing for mandatory investment in Research & Development (R&D), partnerships between Petrobras and the Brazilian technology cluster have increased significantly.

Set in 2005, the clause stipulates that at least 1% of gross revenues from oil fields in which Special Participation is due must be invested in R&D. Out of that figure, 50% must go to national science and technology institutions.

Since then, 38 thematic networks have been created, and the most competent national institutions in their own segments have been invited to them. According to Petrobras, the networks include themes such as an increase in production of heavy oil, research for new materials for the refining process and nanotechnology applied to the energy industry for the development of bioproducts.

During the phase of implementation of networks and nuclei, approximately 80% of the projects consist of investment in infrastructure - construction of premises and installation of equipment. The agreements that have already been signed for the building or redoing of units are going to result in implementation of 250 cutting-edge laboratories across the country, totalling over 250,000 square metres of built area.

Petrobras informed that some of the laboratories built and equipped under this large program have already been inaugurated, among them the Laboratory of Non-Destructive Testing, Corrosion and Soldering (LNDC), of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), located in campus Cidade Universitária at Ilha do Fundão, in Rio, inaugurated on April 30th this year.

The company believes that the laboratory is going to play a "key role in research for production in the pre-salt layer." This laboratory alone received investment of around 20 million reais (US$ 10 million), making it one of the most advanced in the world for corrosion testing and materials inspection.

The executive manager of the Petrobras Research Center (Cenpes), Carlos Tadeu, explains that one example of this type of partnership is the oceanic tank at the UFRJ, which was built before the concept of thematic networks was created, but follows the same principle.

"To do testing in tanks of this size, we used to have to go to Japan or Norway. Now, the tests can be conducted right here in Brazil. With the thematic networks, we are replicating similar examples throughout the whole country," he said.

According to Tadeu, Brazil is currently on the same level as other countries that build platforms and all sorts of premises and equipment for the oil industry.

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/11052/1/

Nanoparticles cross blood-brain barrier to enable

'brain tumor painting'

August 3rd, 2009

This image shows a mouse brain tumor imaged using nanoparticles (left column) or conventional techniques (right column) combined with optical imaging and MRI. The nanoparticles give a clearer picture of the tumor, which is located at the back of the brain in the cerebellum. Credit: University of Washington

Brain cancer is among the deadliest of cancers. It's also one of the hardest to treat. Imaging results are often imprecise because brain cancers are extremely invasive. Surgeons must saw through the skull and safely remove as much of the tumor as they can. Then doctors use radiation or chemotherapy to destroy cancerous cells in the surrounding tissue.

Researchers at the University of Washington have been able to illuminate brain tumors by injecting fluorescent nanoparticles into the bloodstream that safely cross the blood-brain barrier - an almost impenetrable barrier that protects the brain from infection. The nanoparticles remained in mouse tumors for up to five days and did not show any evidence of damaging the blood-brain barrier, according to results published this week in the journal Cancer Research.

Results showed the nanoparticles improved the contrast in both MRI and optical imaging, which is used during surgery.

"Brain cancers are very invasive, different from the other cancers. They will invade the surrounding tissue and there is no clear boundary between the tumor tissue and the normal brain tissue," said lead author Miqin Zhang, a UW professor of materials science and engineering.

Being unable to distinguish a boundary complicates the surgery. Severe cognitive problems are a common side effect.

"If we can inject these nanoparticles with infrared dye, they will increase the contrast between the tumor tissue and the normal tissue," Zhang said. "So during the surgery, the surgeons can see the boundary more precisely.

"We call it 'brain tumor illumination or brain tumor painting,'" she said. "The tumor will light up."

Nano-imaging could also help with early cancer detection, Zhang said. Current imaging techniques have a maximum resolution of 1 millimeter (1/25 of an inch). Nanoparticles could improve the resolution by a factor of 10 or more, allowing detection of smaller tumors and earlier treatment.

Until now, no nanoparticle used for imaging has been able to cross the blood-brain barrier and specifically bind to brain-tumor cells. With current techniques doctors inject dyes into the body and use drugs to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, risking infection of the brain.

The UW team surmounted this challenge by building a nanoparticle that remains small in wet conditions. The particle was about 33 nanometers in diameter when wet, about a third the size of similar particles used in other parts of the body.

Crossing the blood-brain barrier depends on the size of the particle, its lipid, or fat, content, and the electric charge on the particle. Zhang and colleagues built a particle that can pass through the barrier and reach tumors. To specifically target tumor cells they used chlorotoxin, a small peptide isolated from scorpion venom that many groups, including Zhang's, are exploring for its tumor-targeting abilities. On the nanoparticle's surface Zhang placed a small fluorescent molecule for optical imaging, and binding sites that could be used for attaching other molecules.

Future research will evaluate this nanoparticle's potential for treating tumors, Zhang said. She and colleagues already showed that chlorotoxin combined with nanoparticles dramatically slows tumors' spread. They will see whether that ability could extend to brain cancer, the most common solid tumor to affect children.

Merely improving imaging, however, would improve patient outcomes.

"Precise imaging of brain tumors is phenomenally important. We know that patient survival for brain tumors is directly related to the amount of tumor that you can resect," said co-author Richard Ellenbogen, professor and chair of neurological surgery at the UW School of Medicine. "This is the next generation of cancer imaging," he said. "The last generation was CT, this generation was MRI, and this is the next generation of advances."

Source: University of Washington

NNSA approves Livermore Valley Open Campus concept

Scientific collaboration key goal of more interactive approach

        WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration today announced the first step toward the creation of the Livermore Valley Open Campus (LVOC), a joint venture between Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that will promote greater collaboration between the world-class scientists at the nuclear security labs and their partners in industry and academia. 

        The LVOC, which would create a shared space between the two adjacent labs, is in keeping with NNSA’s vision for increased scientific interaction and collaboration across the nuclear security enterprise.  The proposal signed by NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino and the Undersecretary for Science Steve Koonin, endorses the LVOC concept and moving forward on the conceptual development of design alternatives required to reconfigure the existing laboratories into a more open layout.

        "A Livermore Valley Open Campus will maximize the return on our nation's investment in nuclear security," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.  "By leveraging the groundbreaking research of our nuclear security labs through private sector collaborations, we will bring breakthroughs to the market faster and find new solutions to the energy problem."

        Open access to the LVOC by the international science community would directly support the advancement of Sandia’s Hub for Innovation in the Transportation Energy Community (HITEC), promote key LLNL programs such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and its High Density Energy research, increase the profile of NNSA in the region, expand the high-tech ”footprint“ of the Bay Area and establish the Livermore Valley as the high-tech anchor in the East Bay.

        NNSA will now begin to gather information from the laboratories, work on a conceptual design for the layout of the proposed campus, and study any environmental, security and cost implications surrounding the concept. 

       Follow NNSA News on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.

        Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation’s national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad. Visit www.nnsa.energy.gov for more information.

Global - Isreal

A "Super Sensor" for Cancer and CSI's

Monday, August 3, 2009

TAU develops tiny device to "sniff out" disease, heart attacks, poison and environmental pollution

Like the sensitive seismographs that can pick up tremors of impending earthquakes long before they strike, a similar invention from Tel Aviv University researchers may change the face of molecular biology.

Coupling biological materials with an electrode-based device, Prof. Judith Rishpon of TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology is able to quickly and precisely detect pathogens and pollution in the environment — and infinitesimally small amounts of disease biomarkers in our blood. About the size of a stick of gum, the new invention may be applied to a wide range of environments and situations. The aim is for the device to be disposable and cost about $1.

"Biosensors are important for the bio-terror industry, but are also critical for detecting pathogens in water, for the food industry, and in medical diagnostics," says Prof. Rishpon. Her latest research appeared in the journals Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine, Electroanalysis and Bioelectrochemistry.

Portable and precise

What makes this particular invention particularly appealing is its small size and the fact that it can be easily connected to a handheld device like a Blackberry or iPhone for quick and reliable results. An electrical signal will pulse "yes" for the presence of a test molecule and a "no" for its absence.

Currently, clinical researchers are testing its application in cancer diagnostics, focusing on the detection of proteins associated with colon and brain cancer and efficacy of anticancer drugs. But the device is capable of detecting various types of substances. "It really depends on what you put at the end of the electrode," says Prof. Rishpon.

"You can put enzymes, antibodies or bacteria on my electrodes to sense the existence of a chemical target. Then we can measure the amount of the target, assessing its potency by using additional enzymes or by looking at the changes of the electrochemical properties on the device," she says.

An early warning system for heart attacks

Enzymes released before the onset of a heart attack can also be detected, so this application has obvious uses in an operating room to give a physician warning of an impending attack during a procedure. It could be fitted into an implant like a pacemaker or another future device to alert the user to impending dangers, thus preventing sudden death.

Prof. Rishpon is also investigating the application of her technology to detect for pathogens in drinking water such as estrogen, a byproduct of the female birth control pill. The presence of these chemicals in America's drinking water is no minor health concern. And before tackling the problem, water officials need to know what they are up against. Prof. Rishpon's solution could be part of the future toolkit, she believes.

A bio-watchdog for the organic food industry

Detecting pesticides in food is another very desirable application. The organic food market is calling for more rigorous testing and regulations to ensure spraying doesn't occur on some farms, and that limits are not breached on others.

Commercial applications of Prof. Rishpon's basic research are already underway in many areas of diagnostics, but clearly there are more to come. "My super sensors are cheap, accurate and highly sensitive, and in principle they could detect and measure the presence of almost every biological-based material," Dr. Rishpon concludes. She is also collaborating on the device with scientists at Arizona State University.

Source: Tel Aviv University

http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10151

Global-Egypt

EGYPT: First nanotechnology centre to boost research

Ashraf Khaled

26 July 2009

Issue: 0086

Egypt recently launched its first nanotechnology centre aimed at boosting the country's technological education and scientific research applications. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, told the opening ceremony at Smart Village near Cairo that the centre was important for science in Egypt and "sends a strong signal about the state's interest in promoting research and development".

"Nanotechnology means a lot for the national economy in the period ahead," he added.

The project is a collaboration between the Information Technology Industry Development Agency, a government institution, the state-run Science and Technology Fund, and the IBM Corp. Academics from Cairo University, Egypt's largest state-run university, will contribute to the centre.

The centre will be geared towards conducting research in the production of solar and renewable energy, water desalination and modelling of software programs, according to governmental officials.

"The centre will go operational with 10 Egyptian specialists, who will be the basis for qualifying more researchers in this rare specialisation," Kamel said. He hoped "this strong beginning" would encourage Egyptian scientists working abroad to return home.

"Nanotechnology is a new and exciting field for innovation, affecting every industry," added Kamel. "It has been identified as the way to position Egypt to become part of the next technological revolution."

Planning for the centre was based on a memorandum of understanding signed in September 2008 between the development agency, on behalf of the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Science and Technology Development Fund representing the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and IBM.

It is funded by contributions from information technology and communications companies operating in Egypt, said officials.

In the 1980s, Egypt's Scientific Research Academy, a governmental institution, collaborated with IBM to set up a centre to 'Arabicise' the nation's data network.

"This centre has proven to be a distinguished technology school where many Egyptian specialists in different fields have been trained over the past 25 years," said Kamel.

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090724101625342

Global

Agricultural research key to food security

Boosting agricultural research in the developing world is the key to ensuring food security for the world's poorest, says Adel El-Beltagy (TWAS Fellow 2005), Chair of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), writing in the latest issue of the TWAS Newsletter.

...Emerging fields of research such as genomics and nanotechnology, which could have a dramatic impact on global agriculture, indicate that there will be ample opportunities to devise sustainable food production strategies capable of satisfying the needs of the world's growing populations without placing undo stress on the environment and natural resources. Virtually all of the population growth between now and 2050 - indeed up to 99 percent, according to the Population Reference Bureau - will take place in the world's least developed countries (LDCs). That means a large portion of agricultural research must be directed towards the need of the poor...

Read entire article at:

http://twas.ictp.it/news/agricultural-research-key-to-food-security/

Launched in 1998, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) is dedicated to improving the capacity of the agricultural research sector, especially in relationship to issues of critical importance to resource poor, small landholders in farming communities in the developing world. GFAR seeks to advance its goals by facilitating and promoting dialogue on critical issues related to agricultural research, cost-effective partnerships and strategic alliances and by improving the ways in which knowledge is shared and communicated. Its primary aim is to create effective research and innovation systems that meet the complex economic, social and environmental needs of sustainable agricultural development. GFAR's signature event is a triennial conference that brings together diverse stakeholders from around the world - farmer associations, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector and government - to address current and emerging global issues and establish concerted plans for action. Meetings have been held in Dresden (2000), Dakar (2003) and New Delhi (2006). For additional information about GFAR, see: www.egfar.org

Little-known protein found to be key player

'Atlastin' builds critical structures; does job in fundamentally new way

HOUSTON -- (July 29, 2009) -- Italian and U.S. biologists this week report that a little-understood protein previously implicated in a rare genetic disorder plays an unexpected and critical role in building and maintaining healthy cells. Even more surprising, their report in the journal Nature shows that the protein, called "atlastin," does its work by fusing intracellular membranes in a previously undocumented way.

"If you'd asked me a year ago whether this was possible, I would have said, 'No,'" said study co-author James McNew, associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice University. "In fact, that's exactly what I told (co-author) Andrea Daga when we first spoke about the idea a year ago."

McNew has spent the past 15 years studying SNARE proteins, a specialized family of proteins that carries out membrane fusion. It's a vital process that happens thousands of times a second in every cell of our bodies.

"It is fitting that the discovery of a new protein capable of fusing membranes comes 10 years after the demonstration that SNAREs can fuse lipid bilayers," said Daga, a researcher at the Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute in Conegliano, Italy.

In the new study, Daga's and McNew's research teams used fruit flies to study how atlastin functions. The atlastin in fruit flies is very similar to the human version of the protein and serves the same function.

"Prior to this, there were only two defined ways in which you could take biological membranes and put them together in a specific way," said McNew, a faculty investigator at Rice's BioScience Resesarch Collaborative. "Atlastin is the third, and it's the only one that requires enzymatic activity, so it's distinctly different."

Using a range of tests on purified proteins, live fruit flies and cell cultures, the Italian and U.S. teams examined the effect of both an overabundance and a scarcity of atlastin on cell function and on fruit fly development. They also created mutant versions of the protein to see how it functioned -- or failed to function -- when some parts were disabled.

The tests showed that cells with extra atlastin had an overdeveloped endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a system of interconnected membrane tubes and chambers that's critical for normal cell function. The tests also showed too little atlastin led to a fragmented ER. Flies with defective atlastin were sterile and short-lived.

"The endoplasmic reticulum is an ever-changing environment," McNew said. "It grows. It retracts. It expands. It collapses. It's highly dynamic, and for that to be the case, there has to be a mechanism by which it can grow new pieces and connect those pieces together. That's where the fusion comes in."

Daga said the discovery will lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of both basic biological processes and disease.

"We hope the findings lead to a better understanding of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), the genetic disorder that atlastin has been linked with," Daga said.

HSP is a rare genetic condition that affects fewer than one million people worldwide. It's marked by a partial paralysis of the lower extremities due to defects in the body's longest cells, the neurons that run from the spine through the legs.

Daga said atlastin's role in building and maintaining a healthy ER may help HSP researchers better understand why neurons are affected first.

"This is the first clue," Daga said. "We have the definition of what the protein does. Now we need to explore how it does that, and what it means."

Co-authors include Genny Orso, Diana Pendin, Jessica Tosetto and Andrea Martinuzzi, all of Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute; Song Liu, Tyler Moss and Joseph Faust, all of Rice; Anastasia Egorova of Consorzio Mario Negri Sud in Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy; and Massimo Micaroni, now of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the G. Harold and Leila Mathers Charitable Foundation, Telethon Italy, the Italian Ministry of Health and the Foundation Compagnia di San Paolo.

Source: Rice University

Global- Hungary

Spicing up nanotechnology

The heat is on for a networking site for nanoscientists. The Internet Nanoscience Community, TINC, was created by Hungarian chemistry student Andras Paszternak and now has more than 2000 members.

July 27, 2009 -- The heat is on for an online social networking community for nanoscientists. The Internet Nanoscience Community, TINC, was created by Hungarian chemistry student Andras Paszternak. It now provides a rich menu of communication tools for the international community of scientists working in the growing field of nanoscience and nanotechnology and recently passed the 2000 members mark.

The virtual nano community is fully equipped with all the functions one expects from a modern online networking site: personal chat, a scientific forum, more than 50 thematic groups, including microscopy, nanomedicine, and even a discussion forum on safety and toxicity. TINC is also a media partner for more than 30 nano conferences on different topics in 2009 and 2010.

"The main idea was to create something more personal than the other nano networks already on the Internet," says Paszternak. "I started off editing the existing nano website at my institution in Hungary but realized the site could be so much bigger, spreading like a tree and connecting nano scientists across the globe," he adds. "Registering the web address www.Nanopaprika.eu for TINC was my little joke adding Hungary's favourite spice to the nano community.

The Internet Nanoscience Community has pulled together a community with more than 2100 members, researchers, students, industrial partners from Europe, India, the USA, and 50 other countries. TINC is open to everyone from post-doctorial researchers and professors to students everywhere. "There is only one important assumption: you have to be interested in nano!" adds Paszternak.

The NanoPaprika site can be found at http://www.nanopaprika.eu

Andras Paszternak, was born in Slovakia, and has lived in Hungary since 1999. He finished his MSc in chemistry in 2004 at Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary. Currently, he is working in a research centre as a PhD student in the area of scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopy, two important tools for investigating materials on the nano scale. Reporters can contact Paszternak by email on editor@nanopaprika.eu for more information about TINC, The Internet Nanoscience Community.

Video shows nanotube spins as it grows

Images show atom-by-atom growth of rotating carbon nanotubes

HOUSTON -- (July 27, 2009) -- New video showing the atom-by-atom growth of carbon nanotubes reveals they rotate as they grow, much like the halting motion of a mechanical clock's second hand. Published online this month by researchers at France's Université Lyon1/CNRS and Houston's Rice University, the research provides the first experimental evidence of how individual carbon atoms are added to growing nanotubes.

To view the video(s), click http://tinyurl.com/lkstob 

"The key issue for realizing the potential of carbon nanotubes has always been better control of their growth," said team lead Stephen Purcell of the Université Lyon1/CNRS. "Our findings offer new insights for better measurement, modeling and control of nanotube growth."

Carbon nanotubes are long, hollow cylinders of pure carbon. They are hair-like in shape but are about 100,000 times smaller than human hair. They are also about six times stronger than steel, conduct electricity as well as copper and are almost impervious to radiation and chemical destruction. As a result, scientists are keen to use them in superstrong, "smart" materials, but they need to better understand how to produce them.

"The images from Dr. Purcell's lab show the atom-by-atom 'self assembly' of a nanotube," said Rice co-author Boris Yakobson, professor in mechanical engineering and materials science and of chemistry. "The video offers compelling evidence of the rotational motion that accompanies nanotube growth. It brings to mind Galileo's famous quote, 'And yet, it does turn.'"

In February, Yakobson offered a new theory suggesting that nanotubes grow like tiny, woven tapestries, with new atoms attaching to twisting atomic threads. The new video appears to support the theory, indicating that atoms are added in pairs as the tube spins and grows.

To create the images, Purcell's team at LPMCN (Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée et Nanostructures) used a field emission microscope (FEM). A few atoms of metal catalyst were placed on the tip of the FEM's needle-like probe, and carbon nanotubes grew atop the metal catalyst. An electric current was passed lengthwise through the probe and nanotube, and it projected a bright, top-down image of the nanotube onto a phosphor screen. The bright spot was filmed by a video camera, which revealed the nanotube's rotation during growth.

In one case, a nanotube turned approximately 180 times during its 11-minute growth. A frame-by-frame analysis of the video showed that the rotation proceeded in discrete steps -- much like the halting motion of the second hand on a mechanical clock -- with about 24 steps per rotation.

"The results support our predictions of how nanotubes grow," Yakobson said. "The video shows rotational movement during growth, as carbon atoms are added in pairs to the twisting, chiral network of carbon atoms that comprise the nanotube."

Co-authors include Mickaël Marchand, Catherine Journet, Dominique Guillot and Jean-Michel Benoit, all of Université Lyon. The research was supported by the Programme en Nanosciences et Nanotechnologies of France's L'Agence Nationale de Recherche, the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Purer water made possible by Sandia advance

A single atom makes a big difference

This bar graph shows the efficacy of removing wild-type bacteriophage from Rio Grande water using the all-aluminum coagulant (yellow), the gallium-aluminum coagulant (pink) and a germanium-aluminum coagulant (green). While the gallium-aluminum coagulant is most effective, the germanium-aluminum coagulant is less effective than the all-aluminum coagulant. The gallium makes the active ingredient for binding contaminants more stable and effective, while the germanium, introduced as another variable, was found to make the active ingredient less stable and less effective. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By substituting a single atom in a molecule widely used to purify water, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have created a far more effective decontaminant with a shelf life superior to products currently on the market.

Sandia has applied for a patent on the material, which removes bacterial, viral and other organic and inorganic contaminants from river water destined for human consumption, and from wastewater treatment plants prior to returning water to the environment.

”Human consumption of ‘challenged’ water is increasing worldwide as preferred supplies become more scarce,“ said Sandia principal investigator May Nyman. ”Technological advances like this may help solve problems faced by water treatment facilities in both developed and developing countries.“

The study was published in June 2009 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology (a publication of the American Chemical Society) and highlighted in the June 22 edition of Chemical & Engineering News. Sandia is working with a major producer of water treatment chemicals to explore the commercial potential of the compound.

The water-treatment reagent, known as a coagulant, is made by substituting an atom of gallium in the center of an aluminum oxide cluster — itself a commonly used coagulant in water purification, says Nyman.

The substitution isn’t performed atom by atom using nanoscopic tweezers but rather uses a simple chemical process of dissolving aluminum salts in water, gallium salts into a sodium hydroxide solution and then slowly adding the sodium hydroxide solution to the aluminum solution while heating.

”The substitution of a single gallium atom in that compound makes a big difference,“ said Nyman. ”It greatly improves the stability and effectiveness of the reagent. We’ve done side-by-side tests with a variety of commercially available products. For almost every case, ours performs best under a wide range of conditions.“

Wide-ranging conditions are inevitable, she said, when dealing with a natural water source such as a river. ”You get seasonal and even daily fluctuations in pH, temperature, turbidity and water chemistry. And a river in central New Mexico has very different conditions than say, a river in Ohio.“

Brought to the river: Sandia researchers May Nyman and Tom Stewart take a water sample on the banks of the Rio Grande. The two developed a patent-applied-for, material-based approach to purifying water that has generated commercial interest.

The Sandia coagulant attracts and binds contaminants so well because it maintains its electrostatic charge more reliably than conventional coagulants made without gallium, itself a harmless addition.

The new material also resists converting to larger, less-reactive aggregates before it is used. This means it maintains a longer shelf life, avoiding the problem faced by related commercially available products that aggregate over time.

”The chemical substitution [of a gallium atom for an aluminum atom] has been studied by Sandia’s collaborators at the University of California at Davis, but nobody has ever put this knowledge to use in an application such as removing water contaminants like microorganisms,“ said Nyman.

The project was conceived and all water treatment studies were performed at Sandia, said Nyman, who worked with Sandia microbiologist Tom Stewart. Transmission electron microscope images of bacteriophages binding to the altered material were achieved at the University of New Mexico. Mass spectroscopy of the alumina clusters in solution was performed at UC Davis.

The work was sponsored by Sandia’s Laboratory Directed Research Development office.

About Sandia

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2009/waterpurity.html

Rice wins stimulus funding for physics building

NIST provides $11.1 million for state-of-the-art research facility

HOUSTON -- (July 20, 2009) -- Rice University today was awarded $11.1 million in federal stimulus funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for construction of the Brockman Hall for Physics, a new research facility.

"It's fantastic that NIST has recognized the tremendous opportunities in physics-related research at Rice, and this new facility will enable Rice to remain on the cutting edge of physical science research," said James Coleman, Rice's vice provost for research.

The 110,000-square-foot Brockman Hall for Physics will support research and education in fundamental and applied physics of direct relevance to the missions of the U.S. Department of Commerce and NIST. Research conducted there will encompass atomic/molecular/optical physics, biophysics, condensed-matter physics, nanomaterials and photonics. Faculty from Rice's Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will occupy the building, which is under construction and scheduled to open in spring 2011.

Barry Dunning, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said the facility brings together a research team that has been spread across as many as six buildings at Rice. The researchers have often had to conduct experiments in the dead of night to avoid traffic on nearby streets or even in the building that would skew results from highly sensitive instruments. "These are going to be absolutely state-of-the-art facilities, so we can do research and not be limited by the available space, vibration, humidity -- all the things we've had problems with in the past."

"This will really give us cutting-edge facilities -- the equal of any other in the world -- for the kind of high-precision measurements we want to do," said Douglas Natelson, a Rice associate professor of physics and astronomy and in electrical and computer engineering, who was named last year by Discover magazine as one of the nation's top 20 scientists under 40.

"We've been thinking from the very beginning of this process about what purpose this building will serve and how to get the most value for our investment," said Kathleen Matthews, the Stewart Memorial Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology who recently stepped down as dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences. "The contributions from the academic side -- from the faculty through the chair and the dean -- have been invaluable. The fact that NIST has given us this award is a wonderful validation of the hard work of the team that developed this proposal."

Dan Carson, dean of the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, said, "The NIST funding provides not only an impressive and tangible demonstration of the timeliness and importance of the Brockman Hall for Physics building project, but also the culmination of literally years of dedicated work by Dr. Matthews, (Rice project manager) Pat Dwyer and others.

"This highly significant award will provide the Wiess School and Rice University significantly more flexibility in planning and program development at a critical time. We are absolutely thrilled to have received this award and will move aggressively to ensure that we maximize its impact."

The building is expected to earn silver status under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The architect is KieranTimberlake Associates in Philadelphia. External project management services are provided by Linbeck, and Gilbane Building Company is the construction contractor.

The building previously received a naming gift from the A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust.

Global - Iran

Iran Regional Leader For Nanotechnology

Tuesday, 21 July 2009

The Islamic Republic of Iran holds 1st place for nanotechnology in the region. Iran will enter the 10 leading world countries by 2015, Iranian official representatives said on July 21.

"When the nanotechnology head-quarters (in Iran) were established in 2004, we held 57-th place in the world. Our goal is to enter the 15 leading countries in this scientific sphere in 2015," head of the special organization for the development of nanotechnology, called the Iranian Nanotechnology Initiative, Said Sarkar, said.

Sarkar said that there are 15 Iranian universities which admit students applying for Master degrees in nanotechnology and another other 5 universities - for PhDs. 

He said that the major goal from head-quarters is for Iran to profit and flourish financially with the help of nanotechnology.

"We held 19-th place among world countries in this sphere in 2008. But we hold 16-th place in the world and 1st in the region in 2009," he said.

According to Sarkar, the volume of this market segment will hit a thousand billion dollars in the future. According to plans, Iran will receive 2 percent of this total.

"At present, there are 20 companies already operating and 50 new companies which are developing nanotechnology in Iran," he said.

Turkish Weekly is an USAK Publication. USAK is the leading Ankara based Turkish think-tank.

 www.usak.org.tr

www.turkishweekly.net

www.usakgundem.com 

http://www.turkishweekly.net/print.asp?type=1&id=84677

Global - Korea

Korean Researchers Develop 'Nano-Lens'

By Kim Tong-hyung

Staff Reporter

A team of multinational scientists developed a technique to produce tiny, nano-sized optical lenses, a breakthrough that may open new possibilities in microscopy and bio-imaging, the researchers said Wednesday.

In a study published in peer-review journal Nature, the researchers, led by Kwang Kim, a researcher from the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), said they found that cup-shaped organic molecules, called calyx hydroquinone (CHQ), self-assemble into a lens shape when placed on a surface.

The nano-lenses produced in this way could push lens-based magnification to resolve features beyond the limits of diffraction, or the bending of light waves around small obstacles and the spreading of waves past small openings, Kim said.

Lens-based microscopes are constrained by the diffraction limit of light, which causes the final image to contain less information that what is present in the source.

Nano-lenses developed by Kim and his colleagues deflect light in curbed beams, in contrast to conventional optical lenses, resulting in very short focal lengths. This allows them to resovle features beyond the diffraction limit, enabling features of the order of 200 nano-meters or smaller to be resolved, Kim said.

"Such spherical nanolenses provide new pathways for lens-based near-field focusing and high-resolution optical imaging at very low intensities, which are useful for bio-imaging, near-field lithography, optical memory storage, light harvesting, spectral signal enhancing, and optical nano-sensing," the researchers said in the paper published in Nature.

Kim's work was funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology's "global research lab" project, and also participated by Columbia University's Philip Kim, Laura Kaufman and Wong Chee Wei.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2009/07/129_48947.html

Global - Australia

Nanopatches to join the fight against swine fluNanopatches

In response to the growing threat of swine flu, a UQ team is applying nanopatch technology to potentially solve the problems associated with vaccinating millions of Australians, thanks to a recently announced government grant.

Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) researcher Professor Mark Kendall heads a team testing the potency of mass vaccinations using only a fraction of the standard dose.

The project also targets cross–protection by delivering the seasonal vaccine to protect against challenge from the swine A H1N1 influenza virus.

Professor Kendall said this research used new nanopatch technology which does away with the needle and syringe and stimulated a potent immune response with a reduced dose.

”By accurately and reliably delivering the vaccine to the abundant immune cells, which are located just under of the surface of the skin, we are able to initiate a rapid and powerful immune response from the body, while using considerably less vaccine,“ Professor Kendall said.

”The beauty of the nanopatch is that it could enable large-scale rapid vaccinations in a cost effective manner that is currently not available with the needle and syringe.

”The nanopatch could also potentially eliminate needle phobia and the risk of needle stick injuries while being easy and cost-effective to administer“ he said.

The team includes researchers from the University of Melbourne, the Australian Animal Health lab and one of Professor Kendall's UQ collaborators, Professor Ian Frazer of UQ's Diamantina Institute for Cancer Immunology and Metabolic Medicine.

The project is supported under the fast-tracked National Health and Medical Research Council's H1N1 (swine flu) Medical Research Projects.

Media: Professor Mark Kendall (in England - Australian Eastern Standard Time minus 9 hours: 0431 162 391) or AIBN Director Professor Peter Gray (07 3346 3888) or Russell Griggs (07 3346 3989).

Nanoparticles Image Breast Cancer

Current methods of detecting breast cancer suffer from low sensitivity, limited spatial resolution, or the need to use complicated and expensive radioisotope-based technologies. A new report from investigators at the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology suggests that targeted iron oxide nanoparticles may overcome these limitations and could serve as novel imaging agents for the early detection of breast tumors.

Reporting its work in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, a research team led by Lily Yang, M.D., Ph.D., and Hui Mao, Ph.D., both of the Emory University School of Medicine, describes its development of a new type of nanoparticle construct comprising a single iron oxide crystal coated with a polymer. This polymer both stabilizes the magnetic core and provides attachment points for tumor-targeting peptides and fluorescent dyes. The targeting peptide is a fragment of a molecule known as urokinase-type plasminogen activator; this fragment binds to a receptor that is overexpressed by breast cancer cells.

In an initial set of experiments, the investigators showed that this construct was taken up specifically by breast tumor cells growing in culture, with virtually no uptake by other types of cells. The researchers were able to image the nanoparticles by detecting the fluorescent dye using standard fluorescence microscopy.

Next, the researchers injected the nanoparticles into mice bearing human breast tumors. By 5 hours after the injection, the nanoparticles were readily detected in tumors using a commercial magnetic resonance imaging scanner. In contrast to untargeted nanoparticles, there was far less uptake of the imaging agent by liver and spleen. The tumor-targeting properties of these nanoparticles were confirmed using fluorescence imaging, which is possible in an animal as small as a mouse.

This work, which is detailed in the paper ”Receptor-targeted nanoparticles for in vivo imaging of breast cancer,“ was supported by the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, a comprehensive initiative designed to accelerate the application of nanotechnology to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Investigators from Georgia State University and Ocean Nanotech, LLC, also participated in this study. An abstract is available at the journal’s Web site.

http://nano.cancer.gov/news_center/2009/july/nanotech_news_2009-07-20b.asp

Global - Japan

Fuel cell catalysts go sub-nano

20 July 2009

Japanese researchers have created sub-nano scale platinum clusters with high catalytic activity for use in fuel cell applications.1 The tiny catalyst particles - the smallest of which contain just 12 atoms in total - could help to conserve the planet's limited supply of platinum.

The team found that as they decreased the size of the clusters, their catalytic activity for the reduction of oxygen increased. At 12 atoms, each and every atom was exposed at the surface and the catalytic current produced was 13 times that of commercial platinum nanoparticles, which by contrast contain hundreds or even thousands of atoms. According to the researchers, however, the improved performance is probably not due to a simple increase in surface area but to quantum size effects that are not yet fully understood.

Lead researcher, Kimihisa Yamamoto of Keio University in Yokohama, says the fact that their sub-nano clusters perform so well goes against perceived wisdom within the field. 'In the community of catalyst chemistry - especially fuel-cell catalysts - the fact that a platinum nanoparticle around 3 nanometres exhibits the best performance has become an established theory. However, our findings at least suggest that these sub-nano clusters made under specific conditions exhibit a high catalytic activity.'

The team created their platinum clusters by adding platinum (IV) chloride to dendritic phenylazomethine (DPA) templates - branched molecules that function as rigid, cage-like structures in which the metal atoms became trapped. They were able to tightly control the number of metal coordination sites, and therefore platinum atoms, in each cage. Adding a reducing agent released the platinum clusters as  stable structures.

According to Yamamoto, their results will lead to drastic reductions in the amount of platinum needed in fuel cells, with further progress becoming possible through the incorporation of a second metal into the platinum-based clusters. Although decreasing the size of particles is generally thought to decrease the reduction potential, this does not seem to hold true when sub-nano particles are bimetallic, he notes.

Younan Xia at Washington University in St Louis recently created bimetallic (platinum and palladium) nanoparticles for fuel cell applications2, but whereas Yamamoto's current work focuses on controlling size, Xia's focused on controlling shape.

'Size and shape are the two most important parameters in determining the activity of a catalyst. Size control is what we would like to achieve too, but it has been difficult using our synthetic method. Interestingly, the method described in this paper cannot control the shape. So it is still a challenge to develop a method capable to controlling both size and shape,' says Xia.

Hayley Birch

References1. K Yamamoto et al, Nature Chemistry, 2009, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.288

2. B Lim et al, Science, 2009. DOI: 10.1126/science.1170377

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2009/July/20070902.asp

Global - Serbia

Serbia must invest in scientific, technological development

17. July 2009. | 10:01

Source: Tanjug

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic stated that a draft strategy for scientific and technological development is one of the Ministry’s key achievements in the first year of its term

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic  stated that a draft strategy for scientific and technological development is one of the Ministry’s key achievements in the first year of its term.

At the press conference, at which results of the Ministry’s work in the first year in office were presented, Djelic explained that the draft strategy defines their priorities, including biomedicine, new materials and nanoscience, as well as environmental protection.

He specified that other priorities include energy and energy efficiency, information and telecommunication technologies, as well as affirmation of the national identity.

The Minister announced that the draft strategy will be put up on the Ministry’s web site and invited all interested institutions and individuals to take part in the public debate so that the strategy can be adopted in September.

Other Ministry achievements in the past year include a scientific infrastructure investment cycle worth €300 million, said Djelic, adding that salaries to science workers went up by 30% and the number of scientific papers increased.

He announced that funds will be invested in the improvement of the existing capacity, human resource development, research centres, the construction of a campus for a mathematical grammar school, as well as in technical faculties in Belgrade and other university towns.

There is also a plan to develop a centre of excellence in energy and ecology, new materials and nanoscience, food and agriculture, as well as biomedicine.

As key achievements of the Ministry of Minister of Science and Technological Development Djelic listed grants to 250 researchers, scientific training for 1,200 Serbian scientists abroad, RSD 8 million set aside for PhD studies and RSD 12 million for the Petnica research station.

He pointed out that in the past year the government has managed to strengthen international relations and by signing the agreement on nuclear waste export with Russia, it made an important step towards providing nuclear safety and security.

The government will adopt amendments to the laws on scientific, research and innovative activities and the protection of intellectual property, as well as the law on the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Serbia must invest in its scientific and technological development as it cannot become a modern and developed country if it exports its best workers, said Djelic, adding that the Ministry has approved the realisation of around 500 basic research projects.

http://www.emportal.rs/en/news/serbia/94240.html

Global

Vietnam to use methanol fuel cells

Vietnamese people will soon be able to use methanol fuel cells for lighting, cell phones, computers, bicycles and even cars.

Based on his successful research on manufacturing direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), using Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology being conducted in 2004, Dr Nguyen Manh Tuan from the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology’s Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Physics has unveiled different types of fuel cells that use methanol.

A fuel cell can light one 20mW LED bulb for four hours with only 3ml of methanol, said the experiment, adding that this is equal to other cells that are currently being used in developed nations.

The fuel cells have been recognised worldwide as having a long life-span, are easily recycled and using nanotechnology and materials, they cause no harm to the environment, said Tuan, adding that Vietnam could supply up to 80 percent of the materials needed to produce the cell.

At present, Tuan and his colleagues are finalising their study to commercialise this product, to use in mobile phones and laptops, buses and taxis.

Meanwhile, globally famous electronic companies such as NEC, Toshiba, LG, IBM, Motorola, Ford and General Motors have successfully used fuel cells in their products.

The world will spend around 3 billion USD on fuel cells in 2011 as they will help to counter the exhaustion of fuels and help combat global environmental pollution, said scientists.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2009/07/858381/

The Singularity Institute will be holding the fourth annual

Singularity Summit in New York in October, featuring talks by Ray

Kurzweil, David Chalmers, and Peter Thiel.

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 17, 2009 -- The fourth annual Singularity Summit, a conference devoted to the better understanding of increasing intelligence and accelerating change, will be held in New York on October 3-4 in Kaufmann Hall at the historic 92nd St Y. The Summit

brings together a visionary community to further dialogue and action on complex, long-term issues that are transforming the world.

Participants will hear talks from cutting-edge researchers and network with strategic business leaders. The world's most eminent experts on forecasting, venture capital, emerging technologies, consciousness and life extension will present their unique perspectives on the future and how to get there. "The Singularity Summit is the premier conference on the Singularity," says Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the CCD flatbed scanner and author of The Singularity is Near. "As we get closer to the Singularity, each year's conference is better than the last."

The Singularity Summit has previously been held in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it has been featured in numerous publications including the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. It is hosted by the Singularity Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to

studying the benefits and risks of advanced technologies.

Select Speakers

* Ray Kurzweil is the author of The Singularity is Near (2005) and co-founder of Singularity University, which is backed by Google and NASA. At the Singularity Summit, he will present his theories on accelerating technological change and the future of humanity.

* Dr. David Chalmers, director of the Centre for Consciousness at Australian National University and one of the world's foremost philosophers, will discuss mind uploading -- the possibility of transferring human consciousness onto a computer network.

* Dr. Ed Boyden is a joint professor of Biological Engineering and of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. Discover Magazine named him one of the 20 best brains under 40.

* Peter Thiel is the president of Clarium, seed investor in Facebook, managing partner of Founders Fund, and co-founder of PayPal.

* Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biogerontologist and Director of Research at the SENS Foundation, which seeks to extend the human lifespan. He will present on the ethics of this proposition.

* Dr. Philip Tetlock is Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Expert Political Judgement: How Good Is It?

* Dr. Jürgen Schmidhuber is co-director of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Lugano, Switzerland. He will discuss the mathematical essence of beauty and creativity.

* Dr. Gary Marcus is director of the NYU Infant Language Learning Center, and professor of psychology at New York University and author of the book Kludge.

Global-Austria

HYBRID CAR: OPTIMISED PERFORMANCE THANKS TO MAGNET SIMULATION

RESEARCH PROJECT BY ST. PÖLTEN UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES MAKES

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CARS COMPETITIVE

St. Pölten (Austria), 8. Juli 2009 ­ By optimising magnets, hybrid and electric cars can be made economically competitive. This is the finding of a research project currently underway at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (Austria). The project is examining the ideal composition and structure for high-performance permanent magnets intended for use in cars. These criteria can help conserve raw materials and can be identified quickly and without major expense thanks to the use of simulation methods and the expertise of renowned material researcher Prof. Thomas Schrefl, who has recently joined the team at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences.

Hybrid and electric cars need high-performance permanent magnets to get the best out of them. However, in order to ensure they can stay the pace in economic terms, they need "optimal" high-performance permanent magnets. The magnetic material currently in use requires a high proportion of rare earths, which are both expensive and in short supply. Hybrid and electric engines will only be able to boost their economic competitiveness if the amount of certain rare earths required is reduced.

Under the leadership of Prof. Thomas Schrefl, this is precisely what the "Green Cars" research project being undertaken by St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences aims to achieve. State-of-the-art computer simulation methods are being applied to examine how the chemical composition and structure of a magnet influences its performance. This information will then be used to identify ways to optimise the magnetic material so that it requires fewer expensive raw materials, yet continues to deliver the best possible performance.

RAW MATERIALS ­ A HEATED ISSUE

Overall, an electric or hybrid drive contains around two kilos of magnetic material. At present, neodymium iron boron magnets form the basis of this. These have considerably less mass than conventional magnets, but deliver the same level of performance. In order to ensure the magnetic properties are retained even at high temperatures - such as those that occur within a car - the rare earth element neodymium is partially replaced by dysprosium, another rare earth element. This increases the coercive force of the magnet or, in other words, its stability against demagnetisation. However, having recently returned to Austria to join St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, renowned magnetism expert Prof. Schrefl explains that this creates a severe problem: "Compared to neodymium, the proportion of dysprosium in the ore is less than 10 percent. However, the high-performance permanent magnets currently used for hybrid and electric cars contain up to 30 percent dysprosium. In the long term, this will prove problematic when it comes to raw materials, particularly if you consider that, in just a few years, all new cars will be fitted with a hybrid or electric drive."

UNDERSTANDING MAGNETS

In cooperation with the University of Sheffield (UK), the "Green Cars" project aims to determine how the proportion of dysprosium can be reduced without compromising the thermal stability of the magnets. In this respect, the proven expertise of St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences in the field of computer simulation is a key advantage. Applied in conjunction with the finite element method, this is helping to reveal the internal workings of a magnet. The computer is used to break down complex structures into individual elements so that they can be evaluated. Prof. Schrefl explains: "We reconstruct the magnet on the computer and break the granular structure of the magnet down into finite elements. By breaking down the microstructure into millions of tetrahedrons and prisms, we can recreate the spatial distribution of the metallic phases within the magnet in a computer model. We can then use the computer to simulate the effect that changes in the proportion of dysprosium have on the coercive force of the magnet." The finite element method has already been applied in the automotive industry for carrying out computer-based crash tests and wind tunnel tests.

The Green Cars project continues St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences¹ long - and very successful - tradition of using computer simulation to promote sustainable development. In 2008, the Green Dynamics project was presented with the Green IT Award and the Environmental Award of the City of Vienna. Green Cars is also echoing this success - international magnet manufacturers have already expressed considerable interest in the project and have invited St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences to work in cooperation with them.

About St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences

St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (FH St. Pölten) offers high-quality degree courses in the three areas of health and social sciences, business and technology. More than 1,700 students are currently enrolled in 11 courses. In addition to its teaching role, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences is also very much involved in the field of research. This scientific and academic work is carried out within the framework of the courses and in the university¹s own institutes, which are constantly working to develop and implement practical and application-oriented research projects.

Contaminated Site Remediation: Are Nanomaterials the Answer? First Map of Global Nanoremediation Sites Available Online

A new review article appearing in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) co-authored by Dr. Todd Kuiken, a research associate for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), focuses on the use of nanomaterials for environmental cleanup. It provides an overview of current practices; research findings; societal issues; potential environment, health, and safety implications; and possible future directions for nanoremediation. The authors conclude that the technology could be an effective and economically viable alternative for some current site cleanup practices, but potential risks remain poorly understood.

http://www.nanotechproject.org/news/archive/8267/

Global-Canada

Campaign Waterloo raises $515 million

    Campaign impact shows how great philanthropy can "make a huge difference"

    WATERLOO, ON, June 29 /CNW/ - The University of Waterloo has reached "new heights in philanthropic giving," raising more than half-a-billion dollars over the course of the campaign that has transformed the university and its community, says Bob Harding, chair of the university's board of governors.

    Campaign Waterloo has raised more than $515 million, nearly double its original goal of $260 million and significantly surpassing its subsequent "stretch goal" of $350 million. During the campaign, Waterloo attracted four of the 10 largest gifts ever made to education in Canada.

    Only two other universities have surpassed $500 million in fundraising campaigns - University of Toronto and University of Alberta - and both are significantly larger and older institutions.

    "This hugely successful campaign is classic Waterloo, the university that dared to be unconventional and ask 'why not?' and is now one of Canada's best universities" says Harding, who also served as campaign chair. "It demonstrates the power of philanthropy to make a huge difference in the future of a university, a community, a country."

    Harding says this became possible because "our alumni, students, faculty and staff, individuals, plus many corporate partners - over 58,000 donors in all collaborated in creating opportunities for this university to build a better future, for Canada and the world."

    Those philanthropists range from Boaz Van Veen, who was four years old when he    contributed his piggybank's contents to Waterloo's Alzheimer research program, to Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis, who donated $101 million to support the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Quantum-Nano Centre. The latter leveraged an additional $100 from federal and provincial governments, plus $100 million from other sources, creating a $300-million investment in

research that may transform everything from communications to medicine.

    Louise Fréchette, former United Nations Deputy Secretary General, and long-time senior Canadian diplomat now serving a three-year term at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, says Waterloo has also strengthened its connections to the global community through enterprising endeavors such as the Balsillie School of International Affairs made possible by the generosity of RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie.

    "CIGI and the Balsillie School are already major players in the international stage, examining the ways humanity is dealing with issues such as global security, resources, environment and nuclear energy," Fréchette said. "That's the power of transformative giving, of enlightened

philanthropy."

    The campaign has spurred creation of new facilities, satellite campuses, teaching resources, scholarships and research capacity, and also attracted talent, brainpower and investment to the region and province. Among other key developments made possible or aided by this record philanthropy were:

    -   The Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology (CBET);

    -   The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology;

    -   The School of Pharmacy and the Health Sciences Campus in downtown

        Kitchener

    -   The Stratford Institute for digital media;

    -   The School of Architecture in Cambridge

    -   Expanded facilities for the School of Optometry and the school of

        Accounting and Finance

    -   The Schlegel UW Research Institute for Aging

    -   The David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

    "Waterloo has always been an unconventional university, responding to the needs of society and effectively partnering with government, business, and other researchers to pursue and find solutions to problems facing our world today," says Waterloo President David Johnston. "I am so grateful that so many of our friends and university family share our vision, and have donated their resources and energy to make this campaign such a splendid success."

    The campaign continues, focusing on the priorities of Waterloo's sixth decade plan, entitled Pursuing Global Excellence: Seizing Opportunities for Canada, for each of the six faculties and four colleges.

    To learn more about Waterloo's sixth decade priorities, please read the plan at www.secretariat.uwaterloo.ca/sixth_decade/index.html. For information

on campaign highlights, visit http://www.campaign.uwaterloo.ca/news.

   About the University of Waterloo:

    In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 28,000 full and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research, and discovery.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2009/29/c2701.html

Global - Canada

Nanomaterial is biggest hope for struggling forest industry

By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comJune 24, 2009Comments (1)

EDMONTON — The biggest hope for Canada’s struggling forest industry could be something very small with a big name— nanocrystalline cellulose.

It is nanomaterial — in simplest terms, a product derived through engineering at the molecular scale — derived from wood fibre.

Nanocrystalline cellulose, or NCC for short, has yet to make an impact on the marketplace, but in a few years companies could find commercial uses in goods as diverse as lipstick to SUVs because of properties such as strength and toughness, biodegradability and ability to ”tune“ colours without dye.

And governments and industry are hoping it could be part of a new Canadian bio-economy producing nanomaterials and other products derived from the forest.

NCC was a topic of much discussion at an international conference on nanotechnology for the forest products industry being held in Edmonton until Friday this week called Unlocking the Potential of Nano-Enabled Biomaterials.

”We are witnessing the forestry equivalent of going from analog to digital,“ said Annette Trimbee, deputy minister of Alberta Advanced Education and Technology.

”If lumber is the analog form of wood, then nanocrystalline cellulose is the digital version.“

The conference runs at the Westin Hotel until Friday.

bmah@thejournal.canwest

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Technology/Nanomaterial%20hope%20forest%20industry/1728825/story.html

Nanotechnology groups join forces to promote regional nanotechnology excellence  

An announcement was made at the 2009 Nano Renewable Energy Summit in Denver, Colorado that nanotechnology stakeholders in five states in the Southwest United States, along with northern Mexico, are joining forces to create the Southwest Nano Consortium. The consortium will pool resources to highlight nanotechnology activity in the region, encourage collaborative ventures, and host internationally recognized events. The Southwest Nano Consortium consists of Nano Networks and Alliances in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico 

"The nanotech expertise and activity represented in this corridor of the southwest is unparalleled elsewhere," stated Griffith A. Kundahl, Executive Chairman of the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance. "This consortium will be a key vehicle to expedite the commercialization of technologies which will have a significant impact on renewable energy, biotech, IT and other key sectors, and boost the economy in the process." 

"The Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative and its funding organization the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) have long believed that working together as a region makes so much sense," said ONI Executive Director Jim Mason. "We are very enthusiastic to be one of the partners in the newly formed Southwest Nano Consortium which is an outgrowth of the National Nanotechnology Initiative's Regional Nano Initiatives meeting, hosted in Oklahoma City in April, 2009. As a region we have so many strengths and assets which will accelerate our abilities to support and assist each other as we advance our efforts in Nanotechnology." 

"Existing nanotechnology-related assets, endowments, and activity in the Southwest United States exceed $4 Billion dollars. There are more world class national laboratories, institutes, centers of excellence, universities, defense installations, researchers, super computers, grants, and commercial activity around nanotechnology here than anywhere else in the US," stated Scott Bryant, Executive Director for the Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation. "What has been missing is a platform for regional collaboration. This consortium will enhance the interaction between education, investment, research, and commercialization; and will vastly improve the environment for economic development. With cooperation and communication, the Southwest will become a Small Tech superpower . . . quietly at first, but dramatically as time moves forward." 

"Nanotechnology is firmly entrenched as one of the 2-3 technologies that are powering the next wave of economic and human development. The Southwest Nano Consortium, consisting of Nano Networks and Alliances in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico, are an example of how collaboration will seed wide-spread economic and educational success," stated Dr. Steven Walsh, Chair of the Nano Network of New Mexico and Alfred Black Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of New Mexico. "Regions which collaborate and proactively invest in innovative technologies are likely to receive unparalleled job and wealth creation benefits over the next 50 years."

Dr. Alberto Correa, President of Quantum Research of the West, Inc. and Professor of Science Entrepreneurship, University of Texas at El Paso, considered that establishing the Nano Consortium "is another firm step in integrating regional innovation efforts, where the private sector and academia can join forces to find solutions via nanotechnologies, to the many challenges globalized economies face in the XXI Century". 

The Southwest Nano Consortium will gather in Albuquerque, NM for an event hosted by the Nano Network of New Mexico on October 26 & 27, 2009 which will include a Business Matchmaking and Nano Convergence session designed to facilitate economic development in the region. Visit www.mancef.org/nnnm for more information.

About The Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance 

The Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance is a non-profit association that represents the Colorado nanotechnology community. The Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance works to promote, enhance and strengthen Colorado's global economic development competitiveness through public-private partnerships focused on nanotechnology commercialization. For more information visit www.coloradonanotechnology.org or contact Executive Chairman Griffith A. Kundahl at conano@coloradonanotechnology.org.

About The Oklahoma Nano Technology Initiative 

The Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative (ONI) serves as a mechanism for creating statewide awareness of the emerging nanotechnology industry and its potential impact on the state of Oklahoma. The ONI works to promote Oklahoma and its resources as a valuable site for nanotechnology industry location and serves as a clearinghouse of information to the academic, financial, industrial and business communities. For more information visit www.oknano.com or contact Jim D. Mason, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Nanotechnology Initiative at jmason@okstatechamber.com.

About The Nano-Network of New Mexico 

The Nano-Network of New Mexico supports the exchange and dissemination of knowledge vital to people and organizations interested in the commercialization of nanotechnologies emanating from New Mexico-based knowledge-capital and organizations. It provides a forum for nanotech developers, innovators and investors to discuss the latest developments and breakthroughs; promotes collaboration of New Mexico nanotech groups and start-ups with corporate nanotech developers and international partners; and increases sponsored research, licenses, and strategic partnerships for New Mexico based nanotech companies. For more information visit www.mancef.org/nnnm, http://www.oknano.com/ or contact Dr. Steven Walsh, Chair of the Nano Network of New Mexico at mancef@gmail.com.

About The Nano Renewable Energy Summit 

The Nano Renewable Energy Summit is an annual gathering of world-renowned experts at the intersection of renewable energy and nanotechnology, with a specific focus on the business, commercialization, and economic development potential of emerging technologies in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors. This year's summit was held on June 22-23, 2009 at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. The summit is produced by the NanoBusiness Alliance and co-hosted by the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of Denver. For more information, visit www.nanoenergysummit.org or contact NanoBusiness Alliance Vice President Vincent Caprio at vincentcaprio@nanoenergysummit.org. 

Source: University of Denver

Global - Uganda

Nanotechnology: How prepared is Uganda?

Kikonyogo Ngatya

Kampala

There is frenzy in Kampala, especially among the middle class, of a new type of small glass, with near magical powers, claimed to enhance body mood and replenish water and other beverages with lost essential minerals. The glass is believed to have been developed at high altitude.

It costs between Shs500,000- 1,000,000. The glass, whose brand name is withheld, claims to make sick people get nutrients from its use. One pours water and drinks. It is also claimed that carrying it in one’s pocket makes them healthier.

It is one of the numerous products imported into the country based on a new era of advanced research based on nanotechnology, a science that manipulates matter at the scale of atoms and molecules. The atoms can be used in a wide range of applications like food, medicine, cosmetics, pesticides and crop sector development.

But a senior official working with the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) said there is a likely public health danger to consuming products of nanotech, which have not undergone a bio-safety check.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because the council has no policy in place yet to monitor or evaluate the safety and effectiveness of nanotech products, said some of the products are counterfeits. The officer believes that Uganda is still lagging behind in nanotechnology generation.

”Like this glass in town. It is kiwaani (fake). But we cannot tell if it is right or wrong, because there is no capacity to taste it,“ the officer said.

The officer’s comments followed numerous complaints from the public that the glass was not working.

But Ms Ruth Mbabazi, the Secretary to the National Bio-safety Committee acknowledges that Uganda had no policy or tools to evaluate products of nanotechnology, before pronouncing them to be safe and sold on the market.

She however said some products were already on the market. The committee comprising of experts from various research and policy institutions, also looks at UNCST approved technology research in Uganda has a big mandate in monitoring products of genetic medication like those from biotechnology.

So far, the committee monitors confined genetically modified banana research in Kawanda, and cassava at Namulonge agriculture research institutes.

But biotechnology, involving the transfer or modification of a specific gene with desired traits is quite different from nanotechnology, yet Uganda is also still struggling with developing a regulatory framework.

Ms Mbabazi said it was important that the environmental, health and safe use of genetically modified organism (GMOs) is understood. ”Nanotechnology should fall within our mandate. Uganda needs to be aggressive with developing laws to monitor its use,“ she said.

But Dr. Terry Kahuma, the Executive Director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards ( UNBS), said there is a need to develop standards to ascertain and quantify the effectiveness of new products of nanotech. He said UNBS had come up with a mechanism of developing standards for health products, if they have a ”perceived danger“.

”But buying a product is voluntary. Use your eyes and ask questions,“ Dr Kahuma said.

Dr Charles Mugoya, an expert on biotechnology, the science that makes GMOs, said the use of both nanotechnology and biotechnology together is good but should be regulated.

Dr Mugoya, working with the Eastern Africa’s research body, ASARECA, said many developments in science were good for food production, but may also be misused by criminals, by developing undesirable products and not adhering to ethical standards.

Developed GMOs are helping to produce disease and drought tolerant food varieties in the wake of warming global temperatures. Climate change is fuelling new diseases and occurrences of previously suppressed ones. There has been a rise of Uganda’s temperature from 0.2-0.3degrees in the last fifty years.

The implications are that it’s no longer sustainable with the current technologies to either develop medicine or grow enough food. The insects and pests, as they adjust to the changes in temperature, are gaining further strength to attack. According to Equinet, a southern African regional body, monitoring the access and fairness in access to health by the population, governments in the region need to develop policies to monitor new technologies and their impacts on food production.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_business/Nanotechnology_How_prepared_is_Uganda_87130.shtml

Global - Cuba

Cuban Scientists Obtain Their First Images of Atoms  

By Redaction AHORA  / Thursday, 25 June 2009  /  redaccion@ahora.cu

Researchers at the Science and Technology of Materials Center of the University of Havana recently obtained images of atomic resolution with the first nanotechnology instrument made in Cuba.

The developers of the project told Juventud Tecnica magazine’s digital edition that the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) was made by Cuban researchers with the collaboration of the National Autonomous Universidad of Mexico (UNAM) as the first step towards nanotechnology development in the country.

The STM is a type of electron microscope that shows three-dimensional images of a sample. In the STM, the structure of a surface is studied using an extremely sharp stylus (the tip being formed by a single atom) that scans the surface at a fixed distance from it.

Recording the vertical movement of the stylus makes it possible to study the structure of the surface atom by atom. A profile of the surface is created and a computer-generated contour map of the surface is produced.

The nano world is imperceptible to the human eye; it is that of proteins and atoms. One nanometer (nm) equals a billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology gives the possibility of creating structures and devices with new or better quality through the manipulation of atoms and the synthesis or assembling of molecules. / RHC 

http://www.ahora.cu/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1694&Itemid=57

Global - Pakistan

Pakistani science receives funding boost

A. A. Khan

29 June 2009 | EN

Flickr/ Vaedri1

[ISLAMABAD] Pakistan has increased its science and technology budget by a quarter, boosting funding to science projects across a range of ministries.

The country will spend around 48 billion rupees (US$590 million) on science in 2009–2010, up from last year's around 38 billion rupees (US$573 million) (see Pakistan science increase marred by high inflation).

Pakistan's National Assembly approved the budget last week (25 June).

The new government has promised big chunks of its development budget to science and technology but many are cautious as heavy cuts were made in last year's approved budget (see Financial crisis hits Pakistani science).

The country also faces a severe cash shortage and depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar, affecting purchases of science equipment and expenses relating to foreign scholarships, which are made in US dollars.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has been allocated US$40.3 million, an eight per cent increase from last year, for its 86 existing and 46 new projects, which include setting up computing centres, creating an infrastructure for vaccine production and acquiring a ocean survey ship.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) will spend US$196.7 million — 30 per cent more than last year — on scientific projects and scholarships in public-sector universities. Much of this money will be used to upgrade science libraries and laboratories and establish centres of excellence for nanotechnology, endocrinology, virology and bioinformatics.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture will receive US$42.5 million, an increase of about 20 per cent, for projects including research on olives, satellite monitoring of crop data and establishing a camel research centre.

The Ministry of Information Technology will receive only US$8.4 million, a cut of 57 per cent, whereas the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission will receive a 27 per cent increase to US$241 million.

This year's science allocation makes up 1.9 per cent of the total US$30.6 billion budget, compared with 1.8 per cent last year.

"We are clear that knowledge is the way forward for development, and the current increase in the science budget shows our resolve to boost this sector," the planning commission's science advisor, Ishfaq Ahmad, told SciDev.Net.

The HEC's executive director, Sohail Naqvi, says he is confident the government will deliver the money. "We got a revised amount last year and we are confident that the full amount allocated for the current year will be released to the HEC," he told SciDev.Net.

When asked how Pakistan's promises for science would be honoured, the prime minister's finance adviser, Shaukat Tarin, told SciDev.Net: "We hope to get aid from friendly countries, and even if we receive less than expected, we will go to the IMF for a loan."

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/pakistani-science-receives-funding-boost.html

Scientists and public differ on views about nanotechnology regulation

When it comes to regulating nanotechnology — a burgeoning global industry with wide-ranging potential applications — a new study led by professors Dietram Scheufele at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Elizabeth Corley at Arizona State University (ASU) reveals that the views of U.S. nanoscientists differ from those of the general public.

Nanotechnology involves controlling matter of atomic and molecular size to develop devices of incredibly small scale, usually 100 nanometers or smaller (small enough to fit through the pores of a surgical mask). The technology is becoming more pervasive, with more than 1,000 products — ranging from more efficient solar panels to scratch-resistant automobile paint to souped-up golf clubs — already on the market. Global revenues from products using nanotechnology are estimated to reach $2.8 trillion by 2015, according to Global Industry Analysts Inc.

As reported in the online version of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research today (June 19), Scheufele and Corley found that the public tends to focus on the benefits — rather than potential environmental and health risks — when making decisions about nanotechnology regulation, whereas scientists mainly focus on potential risks and economic values.

"We think that nanoscientists view regulations as protections for the public, and that's part of the reason why they focus on the potential risks," says Corley, the Lincoln Professor of Public Policy, Ethics and Emerging Technologies in ASU's School of Public Affairs. "On the other hand, the public seems to think of nanotechnology regulations as restricting their access to new products and other beneficial aspects of nanotechnology."

According to the study, leading U.S. nanoscientists believe regulations are most urgently needed in the areas of surveillance and privacy, human enhancement, medicine and the environment. At the same time, this group feels that other areas, including machines and computers, have little need for further regulation.

Decision-makers often rely on the input of scientists when setting policies on nanotechnology because of the high degree of scientific uncertainty — and the lack of data — about its risks.

"This difference in the way nanoscientists and the public think about regulations is important for policymakers [to take into consideration] if they are planning to include both groups in the policymaking process for nanotechnology," says Corley.

The study also reveals an interesting divide within the group of nanoscientists. Economically conservative scientists were less likely to support regulations, while economically liberal scientists were more likely to do so.

"This says less about scientists than it does about the lack of conclusive data about risks related to nanotechnology," says Scheufele, a life sciences communications professor at UW-Madison. "Policymakers need to realize that when they ask scientists to give them advice about inconclusive findings, they will get both their professional judgment and their personal views."

Data for the study came from survey questionnaires filled out by 363 of the most highly cited and most active U.S.-affiliated scientists in the nanotechnology field. The survey, conducted between May and June of 2007, was administered by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. It was the first nationally representative study of nanoscientists.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/16840

Research explores interactions

between nanomaterials, biological systems

Review article calls for measures to enable safe design of nanomaterials

By Jennifer Marcus| 6/19/2009 9:55:00 AM

The recent explosion in the development of nanomaterials with enhanced performance characteristics for use in commercial and medical applications has increased the likelihood of people coming into direct contact with these materials.

There are currently more than 800 products on the market — including clothes, skin lotions and cleaning products — claiming to have at least one nanocomponent, and therapeutic nanocarriers have been designed for targeted drug delivery inside the human body. Human exposure to nanomaterials, which are smaller than one one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, raises some important questions, including whether these "nano-bio" interactions could have adverse health effects.

Now, researchers at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), along with colleagues in academia and industry, have taken a proactive role in examining the current understanding of the nano-bio interface to identify the potential risks of engineered nanomaterials and to explore design methods that will lead to safer and more effective nanoparticles for use in a variety of treatments and products.

In a research review published in the July issue of the journal Nature Materials (and currently available online), the team provides a comprehensive overview of current knowledge on the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials that allow them to undergo interactions with biological molecules and bioprocesses.

"What we have established here is a blueprint that will serve to educate the first generation of nanobiologists," said Dr. Andre Nel, leader of the team and chief of the division of nanomedicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the California NanoSystems Institute.

Despite remarkable advances in nanoscience, relatively little is known about the intracellular activity and function of engineered nanomaterials, an area of study particularly important for the development of effective and safe nanoparticle drug-delivery systems. Much of the current knowledge derives from the study of tagged or labeled nanoparticles and their effects on cells after cellular uptake — without any detailed understanding of what these interactions may lead to, good or bad.

The review article examines the variety of ways in which nanomaterials interface with biological systems and presents a roadmap of the physical and chemical properties of the materials that could lead to potentially hazardous or advantageous interactions at the nano-bio interface. A better understanding of the biological impact, combined with appropriate stewardship, will allow for more informed decisions about design features for the safe use of nanotechnology.

In addition to Nel, the team included Tian Xia, a researcher in UCLA's nanomedicine division, UCLA associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Eric Hoek, Lutz Mädler of the University of Bremen, Darrell Velegol of Penn State University, Ponisseril Somasundaran of Columbia University, Fred Klessig of Pennsylvania Bio Systems, Vince Castranova of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and Mike Thompson of FEI Co.

"We are committed to ensuring that nanotechnology is introduced and implemented in a responsible and safe manner," said Nel, who also directs the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency and is headquartered at the CNSI.

"Based on our rapidly improving understanding of nano-bio interactions, we have done a thorough examination of the literature and our own research progress to identify measures that could be taken for safe design of nanomaterials," he said. "Not only will this improve the implementation and acceptance of this technology, but it will also provide the cornerstone of developing new and improved nanoscale therapeutic devices, such as drug-delivering nanoparticles."

The review article spotlighted several important research advancements:

A classification of the interactions when nanomaterials contact and bind to biological systems will help scientists understand how man-made materials may react when exposed to cells, tissues and various life forms in different natural environmental contexts.

When nanomaterials enter a biological fluid — for example, blood, plasma or interstitial fluid — the materials' surface may be coated with proteins. Understanding how these protein layers change the properties of the nanomaterials and the ways in which they interact in the body can provide valuable information on how to alter the protein coatings to allow for targeted delivery of nanomaterials to specific tissues, such as in cancer treatments.

Physicochemical properties such as size, charge, shape and other characteristics could greatly affect the ability of nanomaterials to enter a cell; this could determine whether a material can be useful in nanomedicine applications or could cause harm if taken in by life forms in an ecosystem or food chain.

Nanoparticles can elicit a wide range of intracellular responses, depending on their properties, concentrations and interactions with biological molecules. These properties and their relationships to cellular function can induce cellular damage or induce advantageous cellular responses, such as increased energy production and growth.

Based on the link between certain nanomaterial properties and potential toxic effects, the team asserts that scientists can reengineer specific nanomaterial properties that are hazardous while maintaining catalytically useful function for industrial use.

As an example of a safe design feature, some nanoparticles now receive a surface coating designed to improve safety by preventing bioreactivity. Nanoparticles in cosmetic formulations such as suntan lotions, for instance, may be coated with a water-repelling polymer to reduce direct contact with human skin. An extension of this principle uses polymers and detergents to decrease cellular uptake. However, there is the potential that when the coating wears off, the material may become hazardous. It is therefore important to consider improving the stability of coating substances. Coating nanoparticles with protective shells is also an effective means of preventing the breakup of materials that could release toxic substances upon dissolution.

"Instead of waiting for knowledge to unfold randomly, we can already begin to view the events at nano-bio interface as a discoverable scientific platform that can be used for setting up a deliberate inorganic-organic roadmap to new, better and safer products," Nel said. "What we can identify by understanding the rules that shape the nano-bio interface will have a massive impact on the ability to develop safe nanomaterials in the future."

The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara whose mission is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the next generation of scientists, educators and technology leaders; and facilitate partnerships with industry, fueling economic development and the social well-being of California, the United States and the world. The CNSI was established in 2000 with $100 million from the state of California and an additional $250 million in federal research grants and industry funding. At the institute, scientists in the areas of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, mathematics, computational science and engineering are measuring, modifying and manipulating the building blocks of our world — atoms and molecules. These scientists benefit from an integrated laboratory culture enabling them to conduct dynamic research at the nanoscale, leading to significant breakthroughs in the areas of health, energy, the environment and information technology.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/exploring-the-world-of-nanomaterial-94257.aspx

Rice computing pioneer wins IEEE Computer Society award

Director of NTU’s Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics wins

computing society's prestigious W. Wallace McDowell Award

HOUSTON -- (June 22, 2009) -- Rice University computer scientist Krishna Palem, who also heads the Institute for Sustainable Nanoelectronics (ISNE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, has won the prestigious 2008 W. Wallace McDowell Award for his pioneering contributions to the growing field of embedded computing.

The IEEE Computer Society's highest technical award and one of computing's most prestigious individual honors, the W. Wallace McDowell Award has a list of past winners that reads like a who's who of industry giants. They include Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore (1978); microprocessor inventor Federico Faggin (1994); World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee (1996); Lotus Notes creator and Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie (2000); supercomputer pioneers Seymour Cray (1968), Gene Amdahl (1976) and Ken Kennedy (1995); and the architect of IBM's mainframe computer Frederick Brooks (1970).

"Krishna Palem continues a tradition of excellence in the highest international levels of computing and information technology at Rice University," said Rice Provost Eugene Levy. "Dr. Palem’s contributions, which are helping to vastly expand the benefits of ubiquitous embedded computing, follow in the footsteps of Rice's previous McDowell Award winner, Ken Kennedy, who helped to vastly extend the usability of computing languages. This award acknowledges Rice's continued international leadership in information technology."

Embedded computers are special-purpose microchips. Unlike the processors in desktop computers, embedded processors are designed to carry out dedicated tasks. Embedded processors are inside thousands of consumer and industrial products, including everything from modems and toys to automobiles and jet fighters.

Palem won the W. Wallace McDowell Award "for pioneering contributions to the algorithmic, compilation and architectural foundations of embedded computing."

"It is humbling to be in the company of this group of pioneers," said Palem, Rice's Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing. "As much as this award recognizes the impact of research accomplished with generations of my students, it also heralds the maturation of embedded computing founded on scholarship, innovation and societal value."

Palem joined Rice's faculty in 2007, just a few months after Kennedy's untimely death from cancer. In late 2007, Palem announced the formation of ISNE with colleagues at NTU. A joint research initiative between Rice and NTU, ISNE aims to slash the design, production costs and, above all, the energy consumption of embedded microchips.

"We are very pleased to have a pioneer such as Dr. Palem leading our joint collaborative research with Rice," said NTU President Guaning Su. "The award aptly recognizes his international leadership in the area of embedded computing, which is central to the future of information technology."

In February 2008, Palem's "probabilistic" microchips -- a new design that trades off computational precision for energy savings -- were named to MIT Technology Review's coveted top 10 annual list of technologies that are most likely to "alter industries, fields of research and even the way we live."

The chips, dubbed "probabilistic CMOS," or PCMOS (pronounced PEE-cee-moss), piggyback on the "complementary metal-oxide semiconductor" (CMOS) technology that chipmakers already use. The first tests of PCMOS prototypes, which were published in February, found the chips used 30 times less electricity than today's best technology.

This spring, Palem unveiled plans for the I-slate, one of the first devices that will be based on PCMOS. The I-slate is an electronic version of the blackboard slates used by many Indian schoolchildren. It will use a visually based mathematics curriculum to let children learn by doing, regardless of their grade level or whether they have a full-time teacher. At a March meeting marking the 125th anniversary of the IEEE, the I-slate project was chosen as one of seven technologies the society believes "will have world-changing implications on the way humans interact with machines, the world and each other."

"Professor Palem is a global role model for all engineers and this award demonstrates his commitment to game-changing research and technology development," said Rice Dean of Engineering Sallie Keller-McNulty. "I’m particularly pleased to see this technology making an important contribution in a developing economy such as India."

For more information about the W. Wallace McDowell Award, see http://awards.computer.org/ana.

The IEEE Computer Society is the world’s leading organization of computing professionals. Founded in 1946 and the largest of the 39 societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology and is known globally for its computing standards activities. The IEEE Computer Society serves the information and career-development needs of today’s computing researchers and practitioners with technical journals, magazines, conferences, books, conference publications, certifications and online courses.

The Second International Competition of Scientific Papers in Nanotechnology for Young Researchers within the frame of the Second Nanotechnology International Forum

to be held on October 6-8, 2009 in Moscow, Russia

Registration

Until June 26, 2009 Russian and international MSc and PhD students as well as researchers under 30 years old inclusively are welcome to submit the application.

Information about the Competition is available at:

http://www.rusnanoforum.ru/cgi-bin/show.pl?option=show_mcat&id=89&lang=en

Information about the conference part of the Forum is available at:

http://www.rusnanoforum.ru/cgi-bin/show.pl?option=show_mcat&id=85&lang=en

The Competition Procedure

Contents of scientific papers submitted to the competition should comply with topics of the Forum’s scientific and technological sections:

http://www.rusnanoforum.ru/cgi-bin/show.pl?option=show_mcat&id=81&lang=en 

Scientific papers will be placed on the Forum as poster presentations. Participants to be informed about the requirements to the posters and the results of preliminary selection not later than September 1, 2009. The competition participants will have to attend the Forum personally and give presentation of their papers to Commissions. The Commissions will examine poster presentations to select three best papers in each section.

Prizes

Authors of the best papers will be awarded with honorable Forum’s Diploma. The competition winners in each section will be also awarded with prize money :

1-st place - 50000 Rub.;

2-nd place – 40000 Rub.;

3-d place – 30000 Rub.

Statistics 2008

The competition involved 328 research papers. 51 young researchers became the winners of this competition, including 30 participants from Moscow, 20 from 10 cities of Russia and 1 from Egypt. The awarding ceremony was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government and Chairman of the Forum Organizing Committee Sergey Ivanov, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Andrey Fursenko, Nobel Prize Laureate, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Zhores Alferov and Director General of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies Anatoly Chubais.

Exhibition within the frame of the Second Nanotechnology International Forum

Exhibition participants can get registered by privileged costs until July 01, 2009.

More information about the Exhibition:

http://www.rusnanoforum.ru/cgi-bin/show.pl?option=show_mcat&id=86&lang=en

RUSNANOTech09

www.rusnano.com

www.rusnanoforum.ru 

First 'nanorust' field test slated in Mexico

Guanajuato will be first to try Rice's arsenic-cleansing 'nanorust'

HOUSTON -- (May 27, 2009) -- Rice University researchers today announced that the first field tests of "nanorust," the university's revolutionary, low-cost technology for removing arsenic from drinking water, will begin later this year in Guanajuato, Mexico.

"Mexico's debating the adoption of more stringent national standards for allowable levels of arsenic in drinking water, and officials in Guanajuato are looking ahead to explore ways they might meet stricter new standards," said nanorust inventor Vicki Colvin, Rice's Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Chemistry and director of Rice's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN).

Colvin and CBEN faculty, staff and students began visiting Guanajuato last fall to prepare for the upcoming tests. Guanajuato, which has a population of 80,000, is the capital of Guanajuato state. It is about 230 miles northwest of Mexico City.

Arsenic is a colorless, odorless, tasteless element, and prolonged exposure to dangerous levels of arsenic can lead to skin discoloration, sickness and cancer. Arsenic-poisoned drinking water is a global problem, affecting tens of millions of people in communities in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe.

CBEN’s arsenic-removing technology is based on the unique properties of particles called "nanorust," tiny bits of iron oxide that are smaller than living cells. In 2006, Colvin and CBEN colleague Mason Tomson, professor in civil and environmental engineering, published with their students the first nanorust studies. Their initial tests indicated nanorust -- which naturally binds with arsenic -- could be used as a low-cost means of removing arsenic from water.

Qilin Li, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and CBEN faculty expert in water treatment, said Rice's team plans to test nanorust-coated sand. The material will be used in sand filters to treat groundwater from wells. The water treated with nanorust will be kept separate from the water that is released for human consumption, Li said.

"Our studies of nanorust have progressed rapidly over the past three years, but in order to move this technology toward practical application there is really no substitute for this type of field test," Li said.

Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of Engineering and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said, "One collateral benefit of the nanorust filters is that they may also help remove water-borne viruses that are responsible for a wide variety of gastrointestinal diseases."

CBEN is dedicated to developing sustainable nanotechnologies that improve human health and the environment. CBEN is funded by the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit http://cben.rice.edu.

Life Expectancy on the Rise - Even for Quantum States

DI Patrick Rauter

For the first time, scientists have succeeded in measuring and controlling the lifetime of quantum states with potential use in optoelectronic chips. This achievement is highly significant for the ongoing development of this cutting-edge technology. The breakthrough involved measuring the intersubband relaxation time of charge states in silicon-germanium SiGe structures on a picosecond scale. Experiments have also shown that it is possible to control and extend these times. As a result, this body of work - currently published in Physical Review Letters and supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF - represents a major advance in the development of data processing based on optoelectronic chips.

Transmitting information via light quanta (photons) is nothing new. That is precisely what every fibre optic cable does with exceptional efficiency. But the process that is both ultra fast and reliable over long distances fails when used in close quarters. At present, photon-based chip-to-chip communication is not possible in data processing. The problem is the photon sources. Due to its semiconductor structure, the raw material currently used to manufacture computer chips - silicon - does not allow the generation of photons by conventional means. However, unconventional means may provide a solution - and that is precisely what the group from the Institute of Semiconductor and Solid State Physics at the University of Linz is working on.

Laser on a Chip

One potential solution could be a quantum cascade laser based on a silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterostructure, which could allow the use of quantum-physical effects to generate laser light in the infrared range. "There are currently numerous fundamental issues that need to be clarified in terms of the way that SiGe heterostructures work and how they can be controlled," explains DI Patrick Rauter, a member of the group lead by Dr. Thomas Fromherz that is working on the use of these structures for optical applications. One key parameter is the intersubband relaxation time. This indicates the timeframe within which excited charge carriers of the SiGe remain at an elevated energy level before returning to their original state. The duration of this period is a key factor for the quantum cascade laser, as the length of time the charge carriers are in a state of excitation is closely linked with their capacity to emit light.

DI Rauter and his colleagues have now succeeded in accurately measuring this timeframe. They were supported in their work by the Foundation for Fundamental Research Matter - FOM, based in Rijnhuizen, Netherlands - and its free-electron laser FELIX. The laser beam of this device can be pulsed in picoseconds, which means it can be used to measure extremely fast processes.

Fractions of a Fraction of a Second

Using an experimental design, the group succeeded in determining that the intersubband relaxation time lasts for between 12 and 25 picoseconds, or 12 to 25 trillionths of a second. The laser beam of FELIX was split to allow the group to measure these extraordinarily short spaces of time. One beam was used to excite the charge carriers in the SiGe while the other - after a time delay - performed the actual measurement. During this process, a photoelectric current - which is determined by the intersubband relaxation time - was measured. DI Rauter on the measurements: "We were also able to extend the intersubband relaxation lifetime in a controlled manner. To do this, we applied an external electrical field to the sample. By altering this field, we were able to continuously tune the relaxation time between 12 and 25 picoseconds. In actual fact, we succeeded in doubli