Thinking Small

Scientists at a number of major New York State private universities are working in the relatively young discipline of nanotechnology. What they’re learning will lead to unprecedented understanding, and control, over the basic building blocks of all physical things.

Fifteen years ago, IBM introduced the atomic force microscope and suddenly the research world changed. Everything became smaller. As scientists learned to look at things on a scale of less than an atom, the possibility for major discoveries grew larger.

Pioneers in nanoscience and nanoengineering from New York State private universities are learning not just to look at molecules and atoms, but to move them around in new ways. The eventual advances will revolutionize the design and manufacturing of countless things, from vaccines to computers to automobile tires.

This multidisciplinary science, which links biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, materials science, and medicine, will influence just as many industries. Electronics components will become smaller and faster. Pharmaceuticals more targeted and controlled. Packaging safer and more sophisticated. Information technology more condensed. Detection systems for different types of bacteria more certain and specific.

For example, imagine the entire Library of Congress stored on a device the size of a sugar cube. Or food packaging that changes color to alert you if the food is unsafe. These are a couple of the small wonders we can look forward to from the world of nanoscience.

Here’s how our New York State Independent Sector campuses are making big news out of small things:

At Alfred University, scientists work on a nanoscale system to detect anthrax, smallpox, and other free toxin molecules that might be used by bioterrorists. Detecting the presence of certain bioterror agents can be difficult, for the proteins used to identify them cannot live outside the test-tube for any length of time. Alfred researchers are trying to solve the problem by enclosing these sensitive proteins in glass, thus giving them the effect of an armor coating. The biomaterials team has already successfully encapsulated a test enzyme and is ready to move on to developing a system that could provide the next generation of technology for detection of and protection against biochemical agents.

From Jonathan Swift, to Lewis Carroll, to Dr. Seuss, people have long imagined what goes on in worlds too small for the human eye to see. Faculty from Clarkson University’s Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) are also thinking small these days. CAMP’s expertise is now being applied in the nanoworld, where size affects how particles form and how they are deposited on and removed from surfaces. One study is determining how tiny particles can be formed into coatings: specialized substances valued by the pharmaceutical industry in the manufacture of time-release and contact-release drugs. Another project is attempting to quantify nanoparticles of hazardous materials and determine how they are deposited in our lungs. A study with implications for the treatment of heart disease involves using nanotechnology to develop a coating for heart valves that will make replacement valves stronger and longer-lasting.

At Columbia University, one of the National Science Foundation-funded nanocenters, a multidisciplinary team of researchers is participating in research at the Center for Electronic Transport in Molecular Nanostructures, work that has major implications for the field of electronics. In principle, nanotechnology offers the capability of making a transition from silicon crystals to a new technology that will increase the speed and complexity of calculations and data manipulation.

Also named a nanoscience research center by the National Science Foundation, Cornell University carries out interdisciplinary research at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the Nanobiotechnology Center as well as through the Cornell Center for Materials Research. Faculty groups work in four major nanoscale science and engineering research areas: silicon and carbon nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, nanomagnetics, and an enabling nanoscale science and technologies effort.

At New York University, scientists are conducting nanotechnology research with implications for electronics and medicine. One project involves the simultaneous chemical synthesis, and subsequent screening, of numerous “fullerene” derivatives. Fullerenes are cage-like molecules composed of carbon atoms with unique physical properties. The fullerenes are synthesized and connected to chemical building blocks to produce an array of potentially valuable compounds. Researchers then systematically screen the resulting derivatives to identify those having pharmaceutical, microelectronics, materials science, and other uses.

Research conducted at Polytechnic University focuses on the preparation of tiny magnetic and semiconductor particles, called nanoparticles. Using variations in chemistry and process conditions, researchers at the university have learned to precisely control the composition and magnetic properties of classes of magnetic nanoparticles and to prepare a large variety of semiconductor nanoparticles. Magnetic nanoparticles have potential applications in medicine such as making possible delivery of drugs to targeted areas in the body by applying a magnetic field; improving quality of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); and replacing radioactive materials used as tracers in medical imaging thus eliminating the potential hazards of radiation. Semiconductor nanoparticles offer opportunities as optical and electronic devices; as photoluminescent dyes/imaging agents in biology; and for optical detection of DNA and other biomolecules.

With a major emphasis on new materials and biotechnology, the new National Science Foundation-funded Center for the Directed Assembly of Nanostructures at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute intends to make nanoscale building blocks and to assemble them to create new materials and devices. The center aims to incorporate the uniqueness of nature into humanmade devices that could one day diagnose illness and play a central role in drug discovery. Researchers at Rensselaer plan to produce revolutionary new materials and products such as smart drug delivery systems, bioengineered tissues, physical and biological sensors, and nanocomposite materials with specialized functions.

Nanotech research projects at the University of Rochester continue to break new ground. Scientists at the university created the first silicon quantum dots, which are transistors just a few atoms in size. This is the first time quantum dots have been created from silicon, the staple of the chip-fabrication industry, making the transition from regular transistors to quantum dots much easier than if the chip industry had to reconfigure itself to work with a new material. Another researcher is developing artificial atoms that will fluoresce under certain conditions, leading to smart packaging that alerts the buyer/user if a chemical change has occurred in the contents. Research on the design of a silicon substrate that can detect and react to specific proteins on the surface of a cell holds promise for the identification of infections, mass-testing of food for contamination, or detecting biochemical warfare agents.

Small is big.

This ultrasmall technology could transform electronics, manufacturing, medicine, materials, environmental, and information technology. Possible applications for this young science include:

Electronics could become smaller and faster, resulting in incredible speeds in information processing. Nanotechnology could allow scientists to build devices that transcend conventional semiconductor electronics.

Drug delivery could change radically as a result of the development of tiny magnetic nanoparticles, which would permit delivery of drugs to targeted areas in the body by applying a magnetic field.

Working on a nanoscale system may allow for environmental monitoring of and protection against anthrax and other possible biowarfare agents.

Understanding how tiny particles can be formed into coatings that break up on demand will enhance the pharmaceutical industry, which prizes these special coatings in order to develop time-release drugs.

Smart packaging could be developed through nanotechnology, which would provide a warning if the contents have undergone a chemical change rendering food or pharmaceuticals altered and hence unsafe.