News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

By discovering a new printable biomaterial that can mimic properties of brain tissue, researchers at Northwestern University are close to developing a platform capable of treating neurodegenerative diseases or brain and spinal cord injuries using regenerative medicine. A key ingredient to the discovery is the ability to control the self-assembly processes of molecules within the material, enabling the researchers to modify the structure and functions of systems from the nanoscale to the scale of visible features. The researchers showed that materials can be designed to migrate over long distances and self-organize to form larger, “superstructured” bundles of nanofibers.

Engineers at Caltech have developed a technique that allows them to precisely place microscopic devices formed from folded DNA molecules not only in a specific location but also in a specific orientation. As a proof-of-concept, the engineers arranged more than 3,000 glowing moon-shaped nanoscale molecular devices into a flower-shaped instrument for indicating the polarization of light. This method for precisely placing and orienting DNA-based molecular devices may make it possible to use these molecular devices to power new kinds of chips that integrate molecular biosensors with optics and electronics for applications such as DNA sequencing or measuring the concentrations of thousands of proteins at once.

A scientific article by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos and Argonne national laboratories reviews the recent progress in colloidal-quantum-dot research and highlights the remaining challenges and opportunities in the rapidly developing field, which is poised to enable a wide array of new laser-based and LED-based technology applications. Colloidal quantum dots are assembled from semiconductor precursors suspended in a solution. They are easily synthesized without a clean room and behave like big atoms that follow the rules of quantum mechanics.

A scientific article by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos and Argonne national laboratories reviews the recent progress in colloidal-quantum-dot research and highlights the remaining challenges and opportunities in the rapidly developing field, which is poised to enable a wide array of new laser-based and LED-based technology applications. Colloidal quantum dots are assembled from semiconductor precursors suspended in a solution. They are easily synthesized without a clean room and behave like big atoms that follow the rules of quantum mechanics.

A team led by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering has found a new way of enhancing the performance of electrochemical micro-sensors by using a carbon nanomaterial called nano-graphitic carbon. This discovery could lead to the detection of biomolecules, such as dopamine, at lower concentrations than is possible today. Dopamine molecule activity in the brain is associated with motivation, motor control, reinforcement, and reward.

A team led by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering has found a new way of enhancing the performance of electrochemical micro-sensors by using a carbon nanomaterial called nano-graphitic carbon. This discovery could lead to the detection of biomolecules, such as dopamine, at lower concentrations than is possible today. Dopamine molecule activity in the brain is associated with motivation, motor control, reinforcement, and reward.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea) have reported a new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries that uses two low-cost materials: lead and carbon. The team's anode is not a plain slab of lead but is composed of innumerable lead nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix that is enclosed by a thin lead oxide shell. Tests in laboratory cells over 100 charge-discharge cycles showed that the new lead-based nanocomposite anode reached twice the energy storage capacity of current graphite anodes (normalized for the same weight).

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea) have reported a new electrode design for lithium-ion batteries that uses two low-cost materials: lead and carbon. The team's anode is not a plain slab of lead but is composed of innumerable lead nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix that is enclosed by a thin lead oxide shell. Tests in laboratory cells over 100 charge-discharge cycles showed that the new lead-based nanocomposite anode reached twice the energy storage capacity of current graphite anodes (normalized for the same weight).

Researchers North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University School of Medicine have developed a new tool for addressing disseminated intravascular coagulation, a blood disorder that proves fatal in many patients. The researchers developed a technique that makes use of nanogel spheres, which are loaded with tissue-type plasminogen activator – a drug that breaks down blood clots. The spheres travel through the bloodstream until they reach a blood clot, at which point they stick to fibrin, the main protein found in blood clots.

Researchers North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Duke University School of Medicine have developed a new tool for addressing disseminated intravascular coagulation, a blood disorder that proves fatal in many patients. The researchers developed a technique that makes use of nanogel spheres, which are loaded with tissue-type plasminogen activator – a drug that breaks down blood clots. The spheres travel through the bloodstream until they reach a blood clot, at which point they stick to fibrin, the main protein found in blood clots.