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

Researchers from Boston College, Boston University, and Giner Inc., in Newton, MA, have developed a penny-sized, multiplexed biosensor that is the first to detect opioid byproducts in wastewater. The novel device uses graphene-based field effect transistors that can detect four different synthetic and natural opioids at once, while shielding them from wastewater's harsh elements. When a specific opioid metabolite attaches to a molecular probe on the graphene, it changes the electrical charge on the graphene. These signals are easily read electronically for each probe attached to the device.

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a nanofiber material that outperforms steel plates and strong synthetic fabric in protecting against high-speed projectile impacts. To create the material, the researchers mixed multi-walled carbon nanotubes with Kevlar nanofibers. The advance lays the groundwork for carbon nanotube use in lightweight, high-performance armor materials, such as bulletproof vests and shields around spacecraft that mitigate damage from flying high-speed microdebris.

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has announced that it is partnering with the University of Mississippi (UM), Jackson State University (JSU), Rice University to explore graphene’s unique abilities in uses ranging from advanced materials-by-design to self-sensing infrastructure. This strategic ERDC partnership provides an opportunity to leverage expertise and state-of- the-art materials research from Rice University’s NanoCarbon Center and the UM Center for Graphene Research and Innovation (CGRI). 

Researchers at Arizona State University have shown that proteins can act as tiny, current-carrying wires. The researchers studied electron transport through proteins and established that over long distances, protein nanowires display better conductance properties than chemically synthesized nanowires specifically designed to be conductors. Synthetically designed protein nanowires could be used in nanoelectronics and in medical sensing and diagnostics.

Researchers from various departments and laboratories at MIT, the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT, Raith America Inc., and Technion, Israel, have demonstrated how to improve the efficiency of scintillators by at least tenfold, and perhaps even a hundredfold, by changing the material’s surface to create certain nanoscale configurations, such as arrays of wave-like ridges. Scintillators are materials that emit light when bombarded with high-energy particles or X-rays. In medical or dental X-ray systems, they convert incoming X-ray radiation into visible light that can then be captured using film or photosensors.

Researchers at Tufts University have taken the existing lipid-nanoparticle technology and engineered it to be applicable to a broad range of diseases by targeting it to specific tissues and organs. They packed lipid nanoparticles with mRNA – the same genetic material used in two COVID-19 vaccines, but this time coding for a normal gene that is mutated in individuals with a rare disease called lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). The mutated gene causes smooth muscle tissue to grow out of control, creating cysts. In a mouse model of LAM, delivering a normal gene directly to the lungs led to a significant reduction in cysts.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have created a new type of "nanocrystal gel" – a gel composed of tiny nanocrystals that are linked together into an organized network. This new material can be switched between two different states by changing the temperature, so it could be used, for example, on the outside of buildings to control heating or cooling dynamically.

To address climbing economic losses from swine that contract the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), researchers at Virginia Tech are developing a vaccine to combat the disease, which has a near 100% mortality rate in newborn piglets. The scientists are researching a vaccine that contains nanoparticles displaying viral proteins, which would enable the immune system to mount a response against the viral proteins and protect the vaccinated animals if they become infected with PEDV later.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have used electron tomography, fluid dynamics theories and machine learning to study and reconstruct the full 3D morphology of membranes at sub-nanometer resolution. Also, the researchers found quantitative agreement with theories that explain structures found in macroscopic biological systems, such as patterns on fish skin.

Perovskite materials are low-cost semiconductors that can absorb and convert solar energy with high efficiencies, making them promising material for use in photovoltaic solar cells. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, in collaboration with U.S. and international scientists, have examined the performance properties of two-dimensional perovskites under ambient conditions, finding that they can be as efficient as their three-dimensional counterparts, which are unstable under ambient conditions.