A multidisciplinary engineering team at the University of California, San Diego developed a new nanoparticle-based material for concentrating solar power plants designed to absorb and convert to heat more than 90 percent of the sunlight it captures. The new material can also withstand temperatures greater than 700 degrees Celsius and survive many years outdoors in spite of exposure to air and humidity. Their work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot program, was published recently in two separate articles in the journal Nano Energy.

By contrast, current solar absorber material functions at lower temperatures and needs to be overhauled almost every year for high temperature operations.

"We wanted to create a material that absorbs sunlight that doesn't let any of it escape. We want the black hole of sunlight," said Sungho Jin, a professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Jin, along with professor Zhaowei Liu of the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering professor Renkun Chen, developed the Silicon boride-coated nanoshell material. They are all experts in functional materials engineering.

The novel material features a "multiscale" surface created by using particles of many sizes ranging from 10 nanometers to 10 micrometers. The multiscale structures can trap and absorb light which contributes to the material's high efficiency when operated at higher temperatures.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is an emerging alternative clean energy market that produces approximately 3.5 gigawatts worth of power at power plants around the globe -- enough to power more than 2 million homes, with additional construction in progress to provide as much as 20 gigawatts of power in coming years. One of the technology's attractions is that it can be used to retrofit existing power plants that use coal or fossil fuels because it uses the same process to generate electricity from steam.

Traditional power plants burn coal or fossil fuels to create heat that evaporates water into steam. The steam turns a giant turbine that generates electricity from spinning magnets and conductor wire coils. CSP power plants create the steam needed to turn the turbine by using sunlight to heat molten salt. The molten salt can also be stored in thermal storage tanks overnight where it can continue to generate steam and electricity, 24 hours a day if desired, a significant advantage over photovoltaic systems that stop producing energy with the sunset.

One of the most common types of CSP systems uses more than 100,000 reflective mirrors to aim sunlight at a tower that has been spray painted with a light absorbing black paint material. The material is designed to maximize sun light absorption and minimize the loss of light that would naturally emit from the surface in the form of infrared radiation.

The UC San Diego team's combined expertise was used to develop, optimize and characterize a new material for this type of system over the past three years. Researchers included a group of UC San Diego graduate students in materials science and engineering, Justin Taekyoung Kim, Bryan VanSaders, and Jaeyun Moon, who recently joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The synthesized nanoshell material is spray-painted in Chen's lab onto a metal substrate for thermal and mechanical testing. The material's ability to absorb sunlight is measured in Liu's optics laboratory using a unique set of instruments that takes spectral measurements from visible light to infrared.

Current CSP plants are shut down about once a year to chip off the degraded sunlight absorbing material and reapply a new coating, which means no power generation while a replacement coating is applied and cured. That is why DOE's SunShot program challenged and supported UC San Diego research teams to come up with a material with a substantially longer life cycle, in addition to the higher operating temperature for enhanced energy conversion efficiency. The UC San Diego research team is aiming for many years of usage life, a feat they believe they are close to achieving.

Modeled after President Kennedy's moon landing program that inspired widespread interest in science and space exploration, then-Energy Secretary Steven P. Chu launched the Sunshot Initiative in 2010 with the goal of making solar power cost competitive with other means of producing electricity by 2020.

See the original post:

New solar power material converts 90 percent of captured light into heat

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise WASHINGTON, D.C., October 28, 2014 If youve ever gone for a spin in a luxury car and felt your back being warmed or cooled by a seat-based climate control system, then youve likely experienced the benefits of a class of materials called thermoelectrics. Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electricity, and vice versa, and they have many advantages over more traditional heating and cooling systems.

Recently, researchers have observed that the performance of some thermoelectric materials can be improved by combining different solid phases -- more than one material intermixed like the clumps of fat and meat in a slice of salami. The observations offer the tantalizing prospect of significantly boosting thermoelectrics energy efficiency, but scientists still lack the tools to fully understand how the bulk properties arise out of combinations of solid phases.

Now a research team based at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has developed a new way to analyze the electrical properties of thermoelectrics that have two or more solid phases. The new technique could help researchers better understand multi-phase thermoelectric properties and offer pointers on how to design new materials to get the best properties.

The team describes their new technique in a paper published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing.

An Old Theory Does a 180

Because its sometimes difficult to separately manufacture the pure components that make up multi-phase materials, researchers cant always measure the pure phase properties directly. The Caltech team overcame this challenge by developing a way to calculate the electrical properties of individual phases while only experimenting directly with the composite.

Its like youve made chocolate chip cookies, and you want to know what the chocolate chips and the batter taste like by themselves, but you cant, because every bite you take has both chocolate chips and batter, said Jeff Snyder, a researcher at Caltech who specializes in thermoelectric materials and devices.

To separate the "chips" and "batter" without un-baking the cookie, Snyder and his colleagues turned to a decades old theory, called effective medium theory, and they gave it a new twist.

Link:

"Reverse Engineering" Materials for More Efficient Heating and Cooling

THE HINDU S. Swaminathan, Director, Centre for Nanotechnology and Advanced Biomaterials (CeNTAB) at the SASTRA University, Thanjavur.

S. Swaminathan, Director, Centre for Nanotechnology and Advanced Biomaterials (CeNTAB) at the SASTRA University, Thanjavur, has been selected for the Young Career Award in Nano Science and Technology for 2015.

The award, instituted by the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, is a recognition for the ongoing research works undertaken at the CeNTAB under his stewardship.

The CeNTAB is involved in cutting-edge research to develop technologies for healthcare, specifically in tissue engineering, and drug delivery. At present, research was focused on the development of novel three-dimensional polymeric nano fibre scaffolds for tissue engineering of skin, cardiovascular arteries, and nerve regeneration using aligned and random nano fibres.

Dr. Swaminathan received his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Drexel University, Philadelphia, U.S., and worked on the development low temperature setting polymer ceramic composite cements for bone tissue engineering and the thesis was nominated for the Best Dissertation Award.

He received the Deans Fellowship for his doctoral studies. After his Ph. D., he joined as a Research Associate in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, U.S., where he studied the application of low temperature setting cements for spinal fusions.

Dr. Swaminathan is the recipient of Materials Research Society of India Medal for 2009 in recognition of excellence in a particular field of expertise within the domain of material and processes. He received the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award from the Department of Biotechnology in 2006 to develop a targeted drug delivery system for anti-cancer drugs.

The award would be presented to him in January 2015 during the Nano India Meet.

Read the original:

CeNTAB director chosen for Young Career Award

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Oct-2014

Contact: Kathleen Hamilton kathleen.hamilton@nyu.edu 718-260-3792 New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering @nyupoly

Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering have broken new ground in the development of proteins that form specialized fibers used in medicine and nanotechnology. For as long as scientists have been able to create new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibers, their work has taken place on the nanoscale. For the first time, this achievement has been realized on the microscalea leap of magnitude in size that presents significant new opportunities for using engineered protein fibers.

Jin Kim Montclare, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the NYU School of Engineering, led a group of researchers who published the results of successful trials in the creation of engineered microfiber proteins in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Many materials used in medicine and nanotechnology rely on proteins engineered to form fibers with specific properties. For example, the scaffolds used in tissue engineering depend on engineered fibers, as do the nanowires used in biosensors. These fibers can also be bound with small molecules of therapeutic compounds and used in drug delivery.

Montclare and her collaborators began their experiments with the intention of designing nanoscale proteins bound with the cancer therapeutic curcumin. They successfully created a novel, self-assembling nanoscale protein, including a hydrophobic pore capable of binding small molecules. To their surprise, after incubating the fibers with curcumin, the protein not only continued to assemble, but did so to a degree that the fibers crossed the diameter barrier from the nanoscale to the microscale, akin to the diameter of collagen or spider silk.

"This was a surprising and thrilling achievement," said Montclare, explaining that this kind of diameter increase in the presence of small molecules is unprecedented. "A microscale fiber that is capable of delivering a small molecule, whether it be a therapeutic compound or other material, is a major step forward."

Montclare explained that biomaterials embedded with small molecules could be used to construct dual-purpose scaffolds for tissue engineering or to deliver certain drugs more efficiently, especially those that are less effective in an aqueous environment. Using microscopy, the team was able to observe the fibers in three dimensions and to confirm that the curcumin, which fluoresces when bound to structural protein, was distributed homogeneously throughout the fiber.

Despite the enormity of the jump from nano- to microscale, the research team believes they can devise even larger fibers. The next step, Montclare says, is developing proteins that can assemble on the milliscale, creating fibers large enough to see with the naked eye. "It's even possible to imagine generating hair out of cell assembly," she says.

Continue reading here:

NYU researchers break nano barrier to engineer the first protein microfiber

19 hours ago

Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering have broken new ground in the development of proteins that form specialized fibers used in medicine and nanotechnology. For as long as scientists have been able to create new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibers, their work has taken place on the nanoscale. For the first time, this achievement has been realized on the microscalea leap of magnitude in size that presents significant new opportunities for using engineered protein fibers.

Jin Kim Montclare, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the NYU School of Engineering, led a group of researchers who published the results of successful trials in the creation of engineered microfiber proteins in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Many materials used in medicine and nanotechnology rely on proteins engineered to form fibers with specific properties. For example, the scaffolds used in tissue engineering depend on engineered fibers, as do the nanowires used in biosensors. These fibers can also be bound with small molecules of therapeutic compounds and used in drug delivery.

Montclare and her collaborators began their experiments with the intention of designing nanoscale proteins bound with the cancer therapeutic curcumin. They successfully created a novel, self-assembling nanoscale protein, including a hydrophobic pore capable of binding small molecules. To their surprise, after incubating the fibers with curcumin, the protein not only continued to assemble, but did so to a degree that the fibers crossed the diameter barrier from the nanoscale to the microscale, akin to the diameter of collagen or spider silk.

"This was a surprising and thrilling achievement," said Montclare, explaining that this kind of diameter increase in the presence of small molecules is unprecedented. "A microscale fiber that is capable of delivering a small molecule, whether it be a therapeutic compound or other material, is a major step forward."

Montclare explained that biomaterials embedded with small molecules could be used to construct dual-purpose scaffolds for tissue engineering or to deliver certain drugs more efficiently, especially those that are less effective in an aqueous environment. Using microscopy, the team was able to observe the fibers in three dimensions and to confirm that the curcumin, which fluoresces when bound to structural protein, was distributed homogeneously throughout the fiber.

Despite the enormity of the jump from nano- to microscale, the research team believes they can devise even larger fibers. The next step, Montclare says, is developing proteins that can assemble on the milliscale, creating fibers large enough to see with the naked eye. "It's even possible to imagine generating hair out of cell assembly," she says.

Explore further: Chemists create nanofibers using unprecedented new method

More information: "Engineered Coiled-Coil Protein Microfibers." Biomacromolecules, 2014, 15 (10), pp 35033510 DOI: 10.1021/bm5004948

View original post here:

Researchers break nano barrier to engineer the first protein microfiber

Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering have broken new ground in the development of proteins that form specialized fibers used in medicine and nanotechnology. For as long as scientists have been able to create new proteins that are capable of self-assembling into fibers, their work has taken place on the nanoscale. For the first time, this achievement has been realized on the microscale -- a leap of magnitude in size that presents significant new opportunities for using engineered protein fibers.

Jin Kim Montclare, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the NYU School of Engineering, led a group of researchers who published the results of successful trials in the creation of engineered microfiber proteins in the journal Biomacromolecules.

Many materials used in medicine and nanotechnology rely on proteins engineered to form fibers with specific properties. For example, the scaffolds used in tissue engineering depend on engineered fibers, as do the nanowires used in biosensors. These fibers can also be bound with small molecules of therapeutic compounds and used in drug delivery.

Montclare and her collaborators began their experiments with the intention of designing nanoscale proteins bound with the cancer therapeutic curcumin. They successfully created a novel, self-assembling nanoscale protein, including a hydrophobic pore capable of binding small molecules. To their surprise, after incubating the fibers with curcumin, the protein not only continued to assemble, but did so to a degree that the fibers crossed the diameter barrier from the nanoscale to the microscale, akin to the diameter of collagen or spider silk.

"This was a surprising and thrilling achievement," said Montclare, explaining that this kind of diameter increase in the presence of small molecules is unprecedented. "A microscale fiber that is capable of delivering a small molecule, whether it be a therapeutic compound or other material, is a major step forward."

Montclare explained that biomaterials embedded with small molecules could be used to construct dual-purpose scaffolds for tissue engineering or to deliver certain drugs more efficiently, especially those that are less effective in an aqueous environment. Using microscopy, the team was able to observe the fibers in three dimensions and to confirm that the curcumin, which fluoresces when bound to structural protein, was distributed homogeneously throughout the fiber.

Despite the enormity of the jump from nano- to microscale, the research team believes they can devise even larger fibers. The next step, Montclare says, is developing proteins that can assemble on the milliscale, creating fibers large enough to see with the naked eye. "It's even possible to imagine generating hair out of cell assembly," she says.

Researchers from three institutions collaborated on this work. In addition to Montclare, NYU School of Engineering doctoral candidate Jasmin Hume, graduate student Rudy Jacquet, and undergraduate student Jennifer Sun co-authored the paper. Richard Bonneau, an associate professor in NYU's Department of Biology and a member of the computer science faculty at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and postdoctoral scholar P. Douglas Renfrew also contributed, along with M. Lane Gilchrist, associate professor of chemical engineering at City College of New York and master's degree student Jesse A. Martin, also from City College. Their work was supported by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

See the article here:

First protein microfiber engineered: New material advances tissue engineering and drug delivery

Karmiel, israel (PRWEB) October 20, 2014

Phayronet combines nanotechnology capabilities together with the achievements of genetic engineering for medical benefits. It develops the future direction of biomedical engineering developments. The Company leads the research efforts aimed at understanding the interactions between cells' functioning, blood flow and the behavior of blood vessel walls, and different molecular mechanisms, including the formation of cancer cells. The medical nano-robots will be able to detect disturbances in the cell structure and will perform repair operations. In the future, this will lead to "Personalized Nano-Medicine."

This month, Phayronet finishes developing Nano-robotic treatment customized to the biological characteristics of each patient. Phayronet leads the research aimed at understanding the interactions between cells' functioning, blood flow and the behavior of blood vessel walls, and different molecular mechanisms, including the formation of cancer cells. The medical nano-robots developed by the company will be able to detect disturbances in the cell structure and will perform repair operations. In the future, this will lead to "Personalized Nano-Medicine" - nano-robotic treatment customized to the biological characteristics of each patient.

Phayronet made inroads in search of advanced rehabilitation technologies, prioritizing on the capacity to conduct internal imaging and information gathering from live models throughout the trial. Phayronet unveils a whole new world on our type of studies and technologies that were only recently available to the academic community. A high-level presentation of the findings and the medical explanation for incidents that we witness enables us to observe the process and provide proof for the assumptions that stand at the basis of our research and development for a quick transition to clinical trials, which we can prove that Phayronet's treatment methods really do help people.

View original post here:

Phayronet Develops Nano-robotic Treatment Customized to the Biological Characteristics of Each Patient

A contiguous program leading to a bachelor of science and a master of science degree in nanoengineering is offered to a student with junior standing who has an upper-division GPA of 3.5 or better and a 3.0 overallUCSDGPA.

During the last quarter of their junior year (more specifically, the fourth quarter prior to the receipt of theB.S. degree), students interested in obtaining theM.S. degree within one year following receipt of theB.S. degree may apply to the Department of NanoEngineering for admission to the program. Students must submit 3 letters of reference from their professors with their application.

Students will meet the requirements of both theB.S. andM.S. program, such as courses and credits.There are no overlaps in courses.Upon completion of theB.S./M.S. program, students are not automatically eligible for admission to thePh.D. Program.

What are the advantages of students doing aB.S./M.S.?

- Students are admitted without having to take theGREsand will not need to pay the graduate application fee.

- Students can start taking theM.S. required courses their senior year and therefore, take more graduate courses overall.

- Students may be able to start aM.S. thesis project earlier. Note: Students still have bothM.S. plans as options (coursework or thesisM.S.). This does not reduce the number of courses to be taken in either degree.

- AllM.S. students need to take 5 core classes as stated in the catalog.

- Courses taken cannot be counted for both theB.S. and theM.S. program.

TheM.S. program is intended to extend and broaden an undergraduate background and/or equip practicing engineers with fundamental knowledge in their particular fields. The degree is offered under both the Thesis Plan I and the Comprehensive Examination Plan II.

Continued here:

B.S./M.S. Contiguous Program (NENG) | NanoEngineering

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Biomedical engineering researchers have developed a drug delivery system consisting of nanoscale cocoons made of DNA that target cancer cells and trick the cells into absorbing the cocoon before unleashing anticancer drugs. The work was done by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This drug delivery system is DNA-based, which means it is biocompatible and less toxic to patients than systems that use synthetic materials, says Dr. Zhen Gu, senior author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and UNC Chapel Hill.

This technique also specifically targets cancer cells, can carry a large drug load and releases the drugs very quickly once inside the cancer cell, Gu says.

In addition, because we used self-assembling DNA techniques, it is relatively easy to manufacture, says Wujin Sun, lead author of the paper and a Ph.D. student in Gus lab.

Each nano-cocoon is made of a single strand of DNA that self-assembles into what looks like a cocoon, or ball of yarn, that measures 150 nanometers across.

The core of the nano-cocoon contains the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and a protein called DNase. The DNase, an enzyme that would normally cut up the DNA cocoon, is coated in a thin polymer that traps the DNase like a sword in a sheath.

The surface of the nano-cocoon is studded with folic acid ligands. When the nano-cocoon encounters a cancer cell, the ligands bind the nano-cocoon to receptors on the surface of the cell causing the cell to suck in the nano-cocoon.

Once inside the cancer cell, the cells acidic environment destroys the polymer sheath containing the DNase. Freed from its sheath, the DNase rapidly slices through the DNA cocoon, spilling DOX into the cancer cell and killing it.

Read the original here:

Bio-Inspired 'Nano-Cocoons' Offer Targeted Drug Delivery Against Cancer Cells

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., the industry leader in nano-satellites and turnkey SmallSat solutions, today announced that it successfully completed the development of the Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) vehicles and has officially received the approval to continue into the Vehicle Assembly Integration and Testing (AI&T) Phase.

The Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations and docking using two three-unit (3U) cubesats. This mission will validate and characterize several miniature, low-power avionics technologies applicable to future NASA projects. The CPOD project is led by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. of Irvine, California with funding from NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program.

After undergoing multiple rigorous program reviews, the management team of the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., determined that the Tyvak's team is actively retiring all the foreseeable risks and is demonstrating the required technical and programmatic capabilities to successfully complete this phase of the project. SSTP managers also recognized that with Tyvak's continued success, the team will be in an excellent position to proceed with the final phase of the project leading to the on-orbit operations.

"We are grateful for the support and trust that NASA has given us throughout the project's development." said Dr. Marco Villa, Tyvak's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Tyvak has established itself as a leader in the NanoSatellite segment by recognition of its advanced technical capabilities," Dr. Villa added, "but it is great to also be acknowledged for our attentiveness and diligence towards program management and mission assurance. Surely this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for our outstanding engineering team and our invaluable partners 406 Aerospace, Applied Defense Solutions, and VACCO Industries. "

With responsibility over the entire mission, from subsystems' design to operations, Tyvak announced to be still on-track with the original schedule, and to expect a full vehicle integrated by the end of the year with Flight Readiness Review as early as May 2015.

For more information about CPOD, go tohttp://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/cpod_project.html.

About Tyvak: Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc. provides turnkey solutions for SmallSat customers, from innovations to operations, making space research and utilization more accessible today than it has ever been. Tyvak can handle all your satellite needs from design and build, to test, launch and operations. With decades of experience in all sectors of the industry, the Tyvak team is unmatched in the small satellite industry. Engineers work with clients to shrink payload specifications, enabling more cost-effective development and transport to orbit. Tyvak systems are adaptable, have low power consumption and are easily customizable to support multiple applications. For more information, go to http://www.tyvak.com.

The Cubesat Proximity Operations Demonstration (CPOD) mission will demonstrate rendezvous, proximity operations and docking using two three-unit (3U) cubesats. This mission will validate and characterize several miniature, low-power avionics technologies applicable to future NASA projects. The CPOD project is led by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, LLC of Irvine, California with funding from NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program. The three-year project was initiated in November 2012.

Each of the satellites has dimensions of 10 by 10 by 33 centimeters and has a mass of about 5 kilograms. The satellites also have deployable solar panels.

CPOD will demonstrate the ability of two small spacecraft to remain at determined points relative to each other (called station-keeping) as well as precision circumnavigation and docking using imaging sensors and a multi-thruster cold gas propulsion system. Docking will employ a novel universal docking mechanism.

Follow this link:

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Progress on CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration

University of Michigan president Mark Schlissel, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and several university administrators, staff, faculty and students were on hand Friday morning for the dedication andgrand opening of the new $46 million nanomechanial engineering building on North Campus.

The 62,880-square-foot, three-story Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering an addition to the G.G. Brown Laboratory Building was a structure more than four years in the making, as the Board of Regents approved it in 2010, and construction began in 2011.

"This addition is allowing us to take our work of mechanics and materials down to the micro and the nano scale, and extend our reach into the blossoming field of biomechanical science," Schlissel said.

"This project is a great example of how our federal, state and community partners can help us advance the mission of the University of Michigan."

University officials said the project was paid for with a $9.5 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of just two dozen facilities to receive construction grants from the organization.

There were also $15 million in contributions from U-M, $6.5 million from the College of Engineering and $15 million in private commitments.

In 2012, Snyder signed a capital outlay bill thatgave U-M $30 million for this and other projects. It was part of a $304 million allotment for capital improvement among public universities in the state.

"NIST and the University of Michigan have a long history of collaboration and partnership. Our researchers, in the past couple years alone, have co-authored well over 100 papers and top-tier journals," said Dr. Jason Boehm, director of the NIST program coordination office.

"I fully expect many more opportunities for NIST and the University of Michigan to collaborate in the future."

U-M professor Ellen Arruda said there is a part of the building called a "breaker space," where researchers will watch the degradation of materials that go into things like cars, airplanes and medical devices.

Original post:

U-M hosts grand opening of new $46M nanomechanical science, engineering building

The University of Michigan is opening a $46 million complex for researchers to study nanotechnologies in energy, biotechnology and other fields.

The Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering is a 62,000-square-foot addition to laboratories on the Ann Arbor school's north campus. Researchers will be able to watch the degradation of materials that go into things like cars and medical devices.

Researchers also will be able to use tissue culture rooms to grow cells to do cancer research or test blood infections. Specially designed chambers will allow a team to study how a single molecule of DNA responds to slight forces, which could provide insight into genetic diseases.

If you enjoy the content on the Crain's Detroit Business Web site and want to see more, try 8 issues of our print edition risk-free. If you wish to continue, you will receive 44 more issues (for a total of 52 in all), including the annual Book of Lists for just $59. That's over 55% off the cover price. If you decide Crain's is not for you, just write "Cancel" on the invoice, return it and owe nothing. The 8 issues are yours to keep with no further obligation to us. Sign up below.

Offer valid for new MI subscribers only. Non-MI subscribers - $79. All other Foreign - $127.

If you enjoy the content on the Crain's Detroit Business Web site and want to see more, try 8 issues of our print edition risk-free. If you wish to continue, you will receive 44 more issues (for a total of 52 in all), including the annual Book of Lists for just $59. That's over 55% off the cover price. If you decide Crain's is not for you, just write "Cancel" on the invoice, return it and owe nothing. The 8 issues are yours to keep with no further obligation to us. Sign up below.

Read this article:

University of Michigan opening $46 million nanotechnology research center

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Oct-2014

Contact: Kat McAlpine katherine.mcalpine@wyss.harvard.edu 617-432-8266 Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard @wyssinstitute

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have unveiled a new method to form tiny 3D metal nanoparticles in prescribed shapes and dimensions using DNA, Nature's building block, as a construction mold.

The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3D shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology, microscopy, solar cells, electronics, environmental testing, disease detection and more.

"We built tiny foundries made of stiff DNA to fabricate metal nanoparticles in exact three-dimensional shapes that we digitally planned and designed," said Peng Yin, senior author of the paper, Wyss core faculty member and Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School.

The Wyss team's findings, described in a paper titled "Casting Inorganic Structures with DNA Molds," were published today in Science. The work was done in collaboration with MIT's Laboratory for Computational Biology and Biophysics, led by Mark Bathe, senior co-author of the paper.

"The paper's findings describe a significant advance in DNA nanotechnology as well as in inorganic nanoparticle synthesis," Yin said. For the very first time, a general strategy to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles with user-specified 3D shapes has been achieved to produce particles as small as 25 nanometers or less, with remarkable precision (less than 5 nanometers). A sheet of paper is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick.

The 3D inorganic nanoparticles are first conceived and meticulously planned using computer design software. Using the software, the researchers design three-dimensional "frameworks" of the desired size and shape built from linear DNA sequences, which attract and bind to one another in a predictable manner.

"Over the years, scientists have been very successful at making complex 3D shapes from DNA using diverse strategies," said Wei Sun, a postdoctoral scholar in the Wyss' Molecular Systems Lab and the lead author of the paper. For example, in 2012, the Wyss team revealed how computer-aided design could be used to construct hundreds of different self-assembling one-, two-, and three-dimensional DNA nanoshapes with perfect accuracy. It is this ability to design arbitrary nanostructures using DNA manipulation that inspired the Wyss team to envision using these DNA structures as practical foundries, or "molds", for inorganic substances.

Originally posted here:

DNA nano-foundries cast custom-shaped metal nanoparticles

By - Associated Press - Friday, October 10, 2014

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - The University of Michigan is opening a $46 million complex for researchers to study nanotechnologies in energy, biotechnology and other fields.

The Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering is a 62,000-square-foot addition to laboratories on the Ann Arbor schools north campus. Researchers will be able to watch the degradation of materials that go into things like cars and medical devices.

Researchers also will be able to use tissue culture rooms to grow cells to do cancer research or test blood infections. Specially designed chambers will allow a team to study how a single molecule of DNA responds to slight forces, which could provide insight into genetic diseases.

Gov. Rick Snyder, University of Michigan Mark Schlissel and other will speak at the grand opening Friday morning.

See original here:

University of Michigan opens $46M research center

19 hours ago The concept of casting nanoparticles inside DNA molds is very much alike the Japanese method of growing watermelons inside cube-shaped glass boxes. Credit: Harvard's Wyss Institute / Peng Yin

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have unveiled a new method to form tiny 3D metal nanoparticles in prescribed shapes and dimensions using DNA, Nature's building block, as a construction mold.

The ability to mold inorganic nanoparticles out of materials such as gold and silver in precisely designed 3-D shapes is a significant breakthrough that has the potential to advance laser technology, microscopy, solar cells, electronics, environmental testing, disease detection and more.

"We built tiny foundries made of stiff DNA to fabricate metal nanoparticles in exact three-dimensional shapes that we digitally planned and designed," said Peng Yin, senior author of the paper, Wyss core faculty member and Assistant Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School.

The Wyss team's findings, described in a paper titled "Casting Inorganic Structures with DNA Molds," were published today in Science. The work was done in collaboration with MIT's Laboratory for Computational Biology and Biophysics, led by Mark Bathe, senior co-author of the paper.

"The paper's findings describe a significant advance in DNA nanotechnology as well as in inorganic nanoparticle synthesis," Yin said. For the very first time, a general strategy to manufacture inorganic nanoparticles with user-specified 3D shapes has been achieved to produce particles as small as 25 nanometers or less, with remarkable precision (less than 5 nanometers). A sheet of paper is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick.

The 3D inorganic nanoparticles are first conceived and meticulously planned using computer design software. Using the software, the researchers design three-dimensional "frameworks" of the desired size and shape built from linear DNA sequences, which attract and bind to one another in a predictable manner.

"Over the years, scientists have been very successful at making complex 3D shapes from DNA using diverse strategies," said Wei Sun, a postdoctoral scholar in the Wyss' Molecular Systems Lab and the lead author of the paper. For example, in 2012, the Wyss team revealed how computer-aided design could be used to construct hundreds of different self-assembling one-, two-, and three-dimensional DNA nanoshapes with perfect accuracy. It is this ability to design arbitrary nanostructures using DNA manipulation that inspired the Wyss team to envision using these DNA structures as practical foundries, or "molds", for inorganic substances.

"The challenge was to translate this kind of 3D geometrical control into the ability to cast structures in other diverse and functionally-relevant materials, such as gold and silver," Sun said.

Just as any expanding material can be shaped inside a mold to take on a defined 3D form, the Wyss team set out to grow inorganic particles within the confined hollow spaces of stiff DNA nanostructures

View original post here:

DNA nano-foundries cast custom-shaped 3-D metal nanoparticles

Toronto, Oct 9 (IANS): Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a topical solution containing nano-particles that will combat dry eye syndrome with only one application a week.

Currently, for those suffering from dry eye syndrome, the only recourse to ease the painful condition is to use drug-laced eye drops three times a day.

The new eye drop progressively delivers the right amount of drug-infused nano-particles to the surface of the eyeball over a period of five days before the body absorbs them.

One weekly dose replaces 15 or more to treat the pain and irritation of dry eyes.

The nano-particles, about 1/1000th the width of a human hair, stick harmlessly to the eye's surface and uses only five percent of the drug normally required.

"You cannot tell the difference between these nano-particle eye drops and water," said lead researcher Shengyan Liu from the faculty of engineering.

"I knew that if we focused on infusing biocompatible nano-particles with Cyclosporine A, the drug in the eye drops, and make them stick to the eyeball without irritation for longer periods of time, it would also save patients time and reduce the possibility of toxic exposure due to excessive use of eye drops," Liu explained.

The research team is now focusing on preparing the nano-particle eye drops for clinical trials.

The paper appeared in the journal Nano Research.

Stay updated wherever you go with Daijiworld.com and Daijiworld 24X7 tv channel mobile apps. CLICK HERE to download it for your device. (available on Android and IOS)

Here is the original post:

Nano-particles hold promise to treat sore eyes

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

8-Oct-2014

Contact: Emily Grebenstein emgreb@gwu.edu 202-994-3087 George Washington University @GWtweets

WASHINGTONA George Washington University researcher doing pioneering work toward the goal of 3-D printing complex tissues aims to help revolutionize the way the medical field conducts transplants.

As the recipient of the 2014 Director's New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health, Lijie Grace Zhang, assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has received $2,287,500 for her five-year project, "A Novel 3-D Bioprinted Smart Vascularized Nano Tissue."

Citing the program's purpose to propose highly innovative research projects that have the potential for unusually high impact, Dr. Zhang said, "3-D printing techniques have the potential to change the way the medical community cares for patients."

Critical-sized bone defects caused by traumatic injury, cancer or disease are notoriously difficult to regenerate. Large portions of tissue need to have an adequate vascular network to survive and thrive post-defect. This project will combine Dr. Zhang's experience in nanobiomaterials, tissue engineering and drug delivery with advanced 3-D bioprinting techniques to develop new ways to grow complex replacement tissues.

"Our 3-D bioprinting system will have two distinctive features from those of other labs," Dr. Zhang said. "First, a class of highly innovative nanomaterials will be designed for 3-D bioprinting. Since human tissue in its basic form is full of nanoscale features, these nanomaterials will play a key role in facilitating the repair and regeneration of tissues. Second, our printed microvascular network will be smart. The term 'smart' originates from the shape memory material used in the formation of our microvascular network. With this award, I want to create a product that is really useful for human health."

The New Innovator Award supports investigators who are within 10 years of their terminal degree or clinical residency, who have not yet received a research project grant (R01) or equivalent NIH grant, to conduct innovative research.

"Professor Zhang's research has the potential to impact not only clinical bone treatment and tissue and organ regeneration, but also basic physical and life science research," said David Dolling, dean of SEAS. "Researchers who are able to develop the sorts of insights that spawn truly pioneering investigations like Professor Zhang's are rare, and the NIH New Innovator awards are rightly reserved for them."

Visit link:

GW professor aims to 3-D print smart vascularized tissue

Nano Energy Award 2014 winner: Yi Cui

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2014 Nano Energy Award is Professor Yi Cui,Associate Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, for his outstanding contribution in development of nanomaterials and technologies for energy storage.

The Nano Energy Award is to reorganize a young and middle career scientist who has made exceptional contribution in the development of nanoenergy. Nano Energy Award will be presented at The First International Conference on Nanoenergy and Nanosystems (NENS2014) that will be held on December 8-10, 2014 in Beijing, China.

The committee for selecting the winner consisting of Dr. Zhong Lin Wang (Editor-in-Chief and founding editor of Nano Energy journal, http://www.nanoscience.gatech.edu), Dr. Sang-Woo Kim (Associated Editor of Nano Energy), Dr. Peter Lund (Associated Editor of Nano Energy) and Dr. Jelena Petrovic (Publisher of Nano Energy) has selected the winner from many excellent nominations.

Nano Energy (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/nano-energy) is a multidisciplinary, rapid-publication forum of original peer-reviewed contributions on the science and engineering of nanomaterials and nanodevices used in all forms of energy harvesting, conversion, storage, utilization and policy. Nano Energy provides a comprehensive coverage of this exciting and dynamic field which joins nanoscience and nanotechnology with energy science. The first impact factor received by Nano Energy is 10.2 for the year of 2013.

Nanoenergy and Nanosystems 2014 (http://www.nens.cn) is the first international conference that will cover the important topics in nanoenergy, from energy conversion, storage, sensors, system integration to self-powered technology. It will present the most advanced research in the fields and a platform for communications among the scientists worldwide.

Read the original:

Nano Energy Award 2014

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Pity the poor lithium ion. Drawn relentlessly by its electrical charge, it surges from anode to cathode and back again, shouldering its way through an elaborate molecular obstacle course. This journey is essential to powering everything from cell phones to cordless power tools. Yet, no one really understands what goes on at the atomic scale as lithium ion batteries are used and recharged, over and over again.

Michigan Technological University researcher Reza Shahbazian-Yassar has made it his business to better map the ions long, strange tripand perhaps make it smoother and easier. His ultimate aim: to make better batteries, with more power and a longer life.

Using transmission electron microscopy, Anmin Nie, a senior postdoctoral researcher in Shahbazian-Yassars research group, has recently documented what can happen to anodes as lithium ions work their way into them, and its not especially good. The research was recently published in the journal Nano Letters.

We call it atomic shuffling, says Shahbazian-Yassar, the Richard and Elizabeth Henes Associate Professor in Nanotechnology. The layered structure of the electrode changes as the lithium goes inside, creating a sandwich structure: there is lots of localized expansion and contraction in the electrode crystals, which helps the lithium blaze a trail through the electrode.

The atomic shuffling not only helps explain how lithium ions move through the anode, in this case a promising new material called zinc antimonide. It also provides a clue as to why most anodes made of layered materials eventually fail. We showed that the ions cause a lot of local stress and phase transitions, Anmin said.

The paper, Lithiation-Induced Shuffling of Atomic Stacks, is coauthored by Shahbazian-Yassar, postdoctoral research fellow Anmin Nie and graduate student Hasti Asayesh-Ardakani of Michigan Techs Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics; Yingchun Cheng, Yun Han and Udo Schwingenschlogl of King Abdulla University of Science and Technology, in Saudi Arabia; Runzhe Tao, Farzad Mashayet and Robert Klie of the University if Illinois at Chicago; and Sreeram Vaddiraju of Texas A&M University.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the American Chemical SocietyPetroleum Research Fund. The microscopy was conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Link:

Stressed Out: Research Sheds New Light on Why Rechargeable Batteries Fail

Because heart cells cannot multiply and cardiac muscles contain few stem cells, heart tissue is unable to repair itself after a heart attack. Now Tel Aviv University researchers are literally setting a new gold standard in cardiac tissue engineering.

Dr. Tal Dvir and his graduate student Michal Shevach of TAU's Department of Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, have been developing sophisticated micro- and nanotechnological tools -- ranging in size from one millionth to one billionth of a meter -- to develop functional substitutes for damaged heart tissues. Searching for innovative methods to restore heart function, especially cardiac "patches" that could be transplanted into the body to replace damaged heart tissue, Dr. Dvir literally struck gold. He and his team discovered that gold particles are able to increase the conductivity of biomaterials.

In a study published by Nano Letters, Dr. Dvir's team presented their model for a superior hybrid cardiac patch, which incorporates biomaterial harvested from patients and gold nanoparticles. "Our goal was twofold," said Dr. Dvir. "To engineer tissue that would not trigger an immune response in the patient, and to fabricate a functional patch not beset by signalling or conductivity problems."

A scaffold for heart cells

Cardiac tissue is engineered by allowing cells, taken from the patient or other sources, to grow on a three-dimensional scaffold, similar to the collagen grid that naturally supports the cells in the heart. Over time, the cells come together to form a tissue that generates its own electrical impulses and expands and contracts spontaneously. The tissue can then be surgically implanted as a patch to replace damaged tissue and improve heart function in patients.

According to Dr. Dvir, recent efforts in the scientific world focus on the use of scaffolds from pig hearts to supply the collagen grid, called the extracellular matrix, with the goal of implanting them in human patients. However, due to residual remnants of antigens such as sugar or other molecules, the human patients' immune cells are likely to attack the animal matrix.

In order to address this immunogenic response, Dr. Dvir's group suggested a new approach. Fatty tissue from a patient's own stomach could be easily and quickly harvested, its cells efficiently removed, and the remaining matrix preserved. This scaffold does not provoke an immune response.

Using gold to create a cardiac network

The second dilemma, to establish functional network signals, was complicated by the use of the human extracellular matrix. "Engineered patches do not establish connections immediately," said Dr. Dvir. "Biomaterial harvested for a matrix tends to be insulating and thus disruptive to network signals."

At his Laboratory for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Dvir explored the integration of gold nanoparticles into cardiac tissue to optimize electrical signaling between cells. "To address our electrical signalling problem, we deposited gold nanoparticles on the surface of our patient-harvested matrix, 'decorating' the biomaterial with conductors," said Dr. Dvir. "The result was that the nonimmunogenic hybrid patch contracted nicely due to the nanoparticles, transferring electrical signals much faster and more efficiently than non-modified scaffolds."

Go here to read the rest:

A heartbeat away? Hybrid 'patch' could replace transplants