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

Date Published
(Funded by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation)

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have discovered a new platform for quantum technologies by suspending two-dimensional crystals over pores in a slab of gold. This new approach may help develop new materials for secure communication and sensing technologies based on the unique laws of physics at the atomic level.

(Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Researchers have, for the first time, created and imaged a novel pair of quantum dots – tiny islands (100 nanometers in diameter) of confined electric charge that act like artificial atoms. Such a ''coupled'' quantum dot could serve as a robust quantum bit, or qubit, the fundamental unit of information for a quantum computer.

(Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Researchers have, for the first time, created and imaged a novel pair of quantum dots – tiny islands (100 nanometers in diameter) of confined electric charge that act like artificial atoms. Such a ''coupled'' quantum dot could serve as a robust quantum bit, or qubit, the fundamental unit of information for a quantum computer.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed nanoparticles that, in the lab, can activate immune responses to cancer cells. If they are shown to work as well in the body as they do in the lab, the nanoparticles might provide an effective and more affordable way to fight cancer. They are cheaper to produce and easier to engineer than the antibodies that underlie current immunotherapies, which, as drugs, cost tens of thousands of dollars a month.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed nanoparticles that, in the lab, can activate immune responses to cancer cells. If they are shown to work as well in the body as they do in the lab, the nanoparticles might provide an effective and more affordable way to fight cancer. They are cheaper to produce and easier to engineer than the antibodies that underlie current immunotherapies, which, as drugs, cost tens of thousands of dollars a month.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

New cancer immunotherapies involve extracting a patient's T cells and genetically engineering them so they will recognize and attack tumors. But the alterations to the immune system immediately make patients very sick for a short period of time. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new engineering technique that, because it is less toxic to the T cells, could enable a different mechanism for altering the way they recognize cancer. The new technique involves ferrying messenger RNA across the T cell's membrane via a lipid-based nanoparticle, rather than using a modified HIV virus to rewrite the cell's DNA.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

New cancer immunotherapies involve extracting a patient's T cells and genetically engineering them so they will recognize and attack tumors. But the alterations to the immune system immediately make patients very sick for a short period of time. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new engineering technique that, because it is less toxic to the T cells, could enable a different mechanism for altering the way they recognize cancer. The new technique involves ferrying messenger RNA across the T cell's membrane via a lipid-based nanoparticle, rather than using a modified HIV virus to rewrite the cell's DNA.

(Funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)

Contrary to common belief that butterfly wings consist primarily of lifeless membranes, a new study by researchers from Columbia Engineering and Harvard University has shown that butterfly wings contain a network of living cells whose function requires a constrained range of temperatures for optimal performance. The researchers found nanostructures in the wing scales that enable heat dissipation through thermal radiation and could inspire the design of radiative-cooling materials to help manage excessive heat conditions.

(Funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)

Contrary to common belief that butterfly wings consist primarily of lifeless membranes, a new study by researchers from Columbia Engineering and Harvard University has shown that butterfly wings contain a network of living cells whose function requires a constrained range of temperatures for optimal performance. The researchers found nanostructures in the wing scales that enable heat dissipation through thermal radiation and could inspire the design of radiative-cooling materials to help manage excessive heat conditions.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research)

To further shrink electronic devices and to lower energy consumption, the semiconductor industry is interested in using 2D materials, but manufacturers need a quick and accurate method for detecting defects in these materials to determine if the material is suitable for device manufacture. Now a team of researchers representing Penn State, Northeastern University, Rice University, and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil has developed a technique to quickly and sensitively characterize defects in 2D materials.