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

Scientists from the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at Dallas and Iowa State University have developed a sensor chip that can detect disease pathogens with 10 times the sensitivity of currently available methods. The new technology shows promise for rapid, low-cost point-of-care diagnostic capabilities in plants, foods, animals and humans, and results are available in about 30 minutes. The sensor improves upon a technique known as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), which is widely used to detect pathogens by amplifying their DNA. The sensor chip consists of a nanopore thin-film sensor inside a special reaction chamber. Primers are designed to be immobilized on the nanofilm, causing amplified LAMP products to become bound to the sensor, which produces signals that can be measured with a portable spectrometer. 

Using ultrasound and a nozzle, Penn State researchers have separated, controlled, and ejected different particles based on their shape and various properties. The researchers worked with tiny materials called nanorods, which are some of the most studied synthetic self-propelled particles, according to Igor Aronson, one of the two corresponding authors on the study. "We engineered a microchannel nozzle and applied ultrasound energy to the system," Aronson said. "The nozzle plays two roles. It concentrates fluid flow, which is something other researchers have done. But in addition to that, the walls of the nozzle reflect the acoustic waves of the ultrasound energy."

Scientists at Arizona State University have designed a faster and more energy-efficient nanoscale laser component that has potential applications across communication, information processing, spectroscopy, and biomedical industries. The scientists used an artificially engineered metal-graphene hybrid material that helped to reduce power consumption while maintaining ultrafast response times. 

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin; the University of California, Riverside; and the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new class of materials that can absorb low-energy light and transform it into higher-energy light. The new material is composed of ultra-small silicon nanoparticles and organic molecules closely related to those used in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. This new composite efficiently moves electrons between its organic and inorganic components, with potential applications for more efficient solar panels, more accurate medical imaging, and better night vision goggles.

Researchers from the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York; the University of Pennsylvania; and the University of California, Merced have taken a unique approach that advances the opportunity to use mechanochemistry in large-scale production. Mechanochemistry uses organic chemistry and nanotechnology to push molecules together and create chemicals without the use of costly solvents that pollute the environment. The researchers measured the amount of force needed to create a predictable and reliable chemical reaction and showed that mechanochemistry is a viable and scalable technique for manufacturing chemicals in a more sustainable, cost-efficient manner. 

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have invented a coating that could dramatically reduce friction in common load-bearing systems with moving parts, from vehicle drivetrains to wind and hydroelectric turbines. The coating is composed of carbon nanotubes that confer superlubricity to sliding parts. Superlubricity is the property of showing virtually no resistance to sliding; its hallmark is a coefficient of friction less than 0.01. In comparison, when dry metals slide past each other, the coefficient of friction is around 0.5.

Researchers from The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH,  have shown that therapeutic nanocarriers engineered from adult skin cells can curb inflammation and tissue injury in damaged mouse lungs, hinting at the promise of a treatment for lungs severely injured by infection or trauma. The nanocarriers are extracellular vesicles similar to the ones circulating in humans' bloodstream and biological fluids that carry messages between cells. The hope is that a drop of solution containing these nanocarriers, delivered to the lungs via the nose, could treat acute respiratory distress syndrome, one of the most frequent causes of respiratory failure that leads to putting patients on a ventilator.

Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Columbia University have developed a novel nanoparticle treatment for glioblastoma. Previous Northwestern Medicine research has shown that glioblastoma tumors accumulate large numbers of immunosuppressive tumor-associated myeloid cells (TAMCs), which impairs the immune system's ability to fight the tumor and reduces the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy. The nanoparticle was loaded with antibodies targeting two immune checkpoint proteins that are overexpressed in glioblastoma tumors and TAMCs after radiotherapy. When mice with glioblastoma were treated with nanoparticles, scientists observed a spike in the number of activated T-cells, which are usually responsible for mounting an immune response against a tumor.

Researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Columbia University have developed a novel nanoparticle treatment for glioblastoma. Previous Northwestern Medicine research has shown that glioblastoma tumors accumulate large numbers of immunosuppressive tumor-associated myeloid cells (TAMCs), which impairs the immune system's ability to fight the tumor and reduces the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy. The nanoparticle was loaded with antibodies targeting two immune checkpoint proteins that are overexpressed in glioblastoma tumors and TAMCs after radiotherapy. When mice with glioblastoma were treated with nanoparticles, scientists observed a spike in the number of activated T-cells, which are usually responsible for mounting an immune response against a tumor.

By using the National Synchrotron Light Source II at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), researchers from Duke University, Princeton University, and BNL have shown that the amount of selenium and arsenic that can escape from coal ash depends largely on their nanoscale structures. BNL's capabilities were able to provide the researchers a nanoscale map of each fly ash particle, along with the distribution of elements in each particle. The incredible resolution revealed that individual nanoparticles of selenium were attached to bigger particles of coal ash, but most of the ash had arsenic and selenium either locked inside individual grains or attached at the surface, with relatively weak ionic bonds.