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

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are using solid phase processing approaches to create materials with improved properties. Focusing on a lightweight aluminum silicon alloy widely used in the defense, aerospace, and automotive industries, the team used shear force to restructure the alloy at the nano-level. The distribution of the silicon was changed at the atomic level, making the microstructure much more robust than identical materials produced conventionally.

Physicists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have observed reef-forming corals at the nanoscale and identified how they create their skeletons. The researchers used a spectromicroscopy technique to probe the growing skeletons, and results showed amorphous nanoparticles present in the coral tissue, at the growing surface, and in the region between the tissue and the skeleton. The results provide an explanation for how corals are resistant to acidifying oceans caused by rising carbon dioxide levels and suggest that controlling water temperature, not acidity, is crucial to mitigating loss and restoring reefs.

Physicists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have observed reef-forming corals at the nanoscale and identified how they create their skeletons. The researchers used a spectromicroscopy technique to probe the growing skeletons, and results showed amorphous nanoparticles present in the coral tissue, at the growing surface, and in the region between the tissue and the skeleton. The results provide an explanation for how corals are resistant to acidifying oceans caused by rising carbon dioxide levels and suggest that controlling water temperature, not acidity, is crucial to mitigating loss and restoring reefs.

An international team of researchers has designed a highly sensitive nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide sensor that can be implanted in the body. All of the components are biodegradable in water or in bodily fluids but remain functional enough to capture the information on the gas levels. The researchers made the device’s conductors out of magnesium and used nanoscale silicon for the functional materials.

An international team of researchers has designed a highly sensitive nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide sensor that can be implanted in the body. All of the components are biodegradable in water or in bodily fluids but remain functional enough to capture the information on the gas levels. The researchers made the device’s conductors out of magnesium and used nanoscale silicon for the functional materials.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University, and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have developed a platform for making 3-D superconducting nano-architectures with a prescribed organization. This platform is based on the self-assembly of DNA into desired 3-D shapes so that the DNA can serve as a scaffold for building 3-D architectures that can be fully “converted” into inorganic materials, such as superconductors.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Columbia University, and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have developed a platform for making 3-D superconducting nano-architectures with a prescribed organization. This platform is based on the self-assembly of DNA into desired 3-D shapes so that the DNA can serve as a scaffold for building 3-D architectures that can be fully “converted” into inorganic materials, such as superconductors.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have reported a new synthetic protein nanoparticle capable of slipping past the nearly impermeable blood-brain barrier that could deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to malignant brain tumors. The discovery, demonstrated in mice, could enable new clinical therapies for treating glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have reported a new synthetic protein nanoparticle capable of slipping past the nearly impermeable blood-brain barrier that could deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to malignant brain tumors. The discovery, demonstrated in mice, could enable new clinical therapies for treating glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults.

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have developed a new nanoparticle drug formulation that targets a specific receptor on cancer cells and appears to be more effective than a standard nanoparticle therapy currently on the market to treat metastatic breast cancer. The study found that the new nanoparticles bypass healthy cells and tissues and bind to tumor cells, dispersing evenly throughout the tumor while releasing the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel.