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

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have made a significant advance in using magnetic resonance imaging to pick out even very small tumors from normal tissue. The new research is based on a phenomenon called magnetic resonance tuning, which occurs between two nanoscale magnetic elements. One acts to enhance the signal, and the other quenches it. The researchers created a probe that generates two magnetic resonance signals that suppress each other until they reach the target, at which point they both increase contrast between the tumor and surrounding tissue. Combined with specially developed imaging analysis software, the double signal enabled researchers to pick out brain tumors in a mouse model with greatly increased sensitivity.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Picardie in France and the Southern Federal University in Russia, have discovered the presence of a Hopfion structure in ferroelectric nanoparticles. A Hopfion structure, first proposed by Austrian mathematician Heinz Hopf in 1931, emerges in a wide range of physical constructs, and one of its defining characteristics is that any two lines within the Hopfion structure must be linked, constituting knots ranging in complexity from a few interconnected rings to a mathematical rat’s nest. According to the current study, the polarization structure in a spherical ferroelectric nanoparticle takes on this same knotted swirl.  

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Picardie in France and the Southern Federal University in Russia, have discovered the presence of a Hopfion structure in ferroelectric nanoparticles. A Hopfion structure, first proposed by Austrian mathematician Heinz Hopf in 1931, emerges in a wide range of physical constructs, and one of its defining characteristics is that any two lines within the Hopfion structure must be linked, constituting knots ranging in complexity from a few interconnected rings to a mathematical rat’s nest. According to the current study, the polarization structure in a spherical ferroelectric nanoparticle takes on this same knotted swirl.  

Scientists at Texas A&M University have developed a highly printable bioink as a platform to generate anatomical-scale functional tissues. Bioprinting is an emerging additive manufacturing approach that takes biomaterials such as hydrogels and combines them with cells and growth factors, which are then printed to create tissue-like structures that imitate natural tissues. The researchers developed advanced bioinks that contain nanosilicates – nanoparticles that are 1–2 nm in thickness and 20–50 nm in diameter – and provide more effective reinforcement, which results in stronger structures. 

Scientists at Texas A&M University have developed a highly printable bioink as a platform to generate anatomical-scale functional tissues. Bioprinting is an emerging additive manufacturing approach that takes biomaterials such as hydrogels and combines them with cells and growth factors, which are then printed to create tissue-like structures that imitate natural tissues. The researchers developed advanced bioinks that contain nanosilicates – nanoparticles that are 1–2 nm in thickness and 20–50 nm in diameter – and provide more effective reinforcement, which results in stronger structures. 

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have determined how negatively charged ions squeeze through a carbon nanotube. Determining which of these ions are permeable to the nanotube pore can be critical to many separation processes, including desalination, which turns seawater into fresh water by removing the salt ions.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have determined how negatively charged ions squeeze through a carbon nanotube. Determining which of these ions are permeable to the nanotube pore can be critical to many separation processes, including desalination, which turns seawater into fresh water by removing the salt ions.

Using a new approach for "click" chemistry, a collaboration of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the Max Planck Institute, the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, RWTH Aachen University, and Freie Universität Berlin have designed self-organizing nanovesicles that can have their surfaces decorated with similar sugar molecules as viruses, bacteria, or living cells. This work provides a new tool for studying how certain pathogens use these sugar molecules to evade detection by a host's immune system.

Using a new approach for "click" chemistry, a collaboration of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the Max Planck Institute, the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, RWTH Aachen University, and Freie Universität Berlin have designed self-organizing nanovesicles that can have their surfaces decorated with similar sugar molecules as viruses, bacteria, or living cells. This work provides a new tool for studying how certain pathogens use these sugar molecules to evade detection by a host's immune system.

Researchers from Penn State, the University of Virginia, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with industry partners Solvay and Oshkosh, have found a way to strengthen carbon fibers, which are widely used in the airline industry but are typically very expensive. Using a mix of computer simulations and laboratory experiments, the team found that adding small amounts of graphene to the production process not only strengthens the fibers, but also reduces their production cost, which may one day pave the way for higher-strength, cost-effective car materials.