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

Researchers from the University of California San Diego and Duke University have engineered nanosized cubes that spontaneously form a two-dimensional checkerboard pattern when dropped on the surface of water. Each nanocube is composed of a silver crystal with a mixture of hydrophobic (oily) and hydrophilic (water-loving) molecules attached to the surface. When a suspension of these nanocubes is introduced to a water surface, they arrange themselves such that they touch at their corner edges. This arrangement creates an alternating pattern of solid cubes and empty spaces, resulting in a checkerboard pattern.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the 2024 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience to Robert S. Langer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Armand Paul Alivisatos (University of Chicago), and Chad A. Mirkin (Northwestern University) "for pioneering work integrating synthetic nanoscale materials with biological function for biomedical applications." Says Bodil Holst, Chair of the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience Committee, “Langer, Alivisatos and Mirkin are science pioneers. Building from fundamental research and scientific curiosity they have become inventors and major founders of the nanomedicine field.” 

Researchers from Georgia Tech have developed a way to improve a type of immunotherapy, called adoptive T-cell therapy, that is used to fight infections or cancer. In adoptive T-cell therapy, a patient's T-cells – a type of white blood cell that is part of the body's immune system – are extracted and modified in a lab and then infused back into the body, so they can seek and destroy infection or cancer cells. The new approach involves using nanowires to deliver therapeutic microRNAs to T-cells. A microRNA is a molecule that when used as a therapeutic, works like a volume knob for genes, turning their activity up or down to keep infection and cancer in check.

Researchers from North Carolina State University; Stanford University; the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; and the University of Geneva have, for the first time, demonstrated that a specific class of oxide membranes can confine, or "squeeze," infrared light. The thin-film membranes (which are 100-nanometer-thick) confine infrared light far better than bulk crystals, which are the established technology for infrared light confinement. "We've demonstrated that we can confine infrared light to 10% of its wavelength while maintaining its frequency – meaning that the amount of time that it takes for a wavelength to cycle is the same, but the distance between the peaks of the wave is much closer together,” said Yin Liu, one of the scientists involved in this study. “Bulk crystal techniques confine infrared light to around 97% of its wavelength."

Researchers from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University have shown that two doses of allergen-encapsulating nanoparticles delivered intravenously prevented anaphylaxis – a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction – during a food allergy test in mice. "These characteristics of the nanoparticle make them appear like debris from dying cells, which are generally not viewed as dangerous," said Lonnie Shea, one of the researchers involved in this study. “The encapsulated allergen is processed by the immune cells without upregulating danger signals that would normally activate an immune response.”

Scientists from Southern Methodist University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul have developed a device that detects the properties and interactions of individual proteins faster and more precisely. The device consists of solid-state nanopores made from 12-nanometer-thick silicon nitride membranes, with holes (the nanopores) of roughly 17 nanometers in diameter drilled through the membranes. The device could pave the way for innovative medical therapies and advancements to using gene therapy.

In a review article, scientists from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC), Caltech, Carnegie Mellon University, the Connecticut Agricultural Research Station (New Haven, CT), Cornell University, North Carolina State University, Purdue University, the University of Arkansas, the University of California, Riverside, the University of California San Diego, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Kentucky highlight some of the best-known strategies for improving agriculture with nanotechnology. The researchers describe specific approaches borrowed from nanomedicine that could be used to deliver pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides to specific biological targets. Doing this type of delivery could make plants more resilient to disease and harmful environmental factors like extreme heat or high salt content in soil.

Researchers from Purdue University and ShanghaiTech University in China have developed a patent-pending method to synthesize high-quality, layered perovskite nanowires with large aspect ratios and tunable organic-inorganic chemical compositions. Layered metal halide perovskites, commonly called 2D perovskites, grow into large, thin sheets, but growth of one-dimensional forms of the materials is limited. The new method uses organic templating molecules that break the in-plane symmetry of layered perovskites and induce one-dimensional growth through secondary bonding interactions.

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso and Baylor College of Medicine are developing a new therapeutic approach that uses nanoparticles for the treatment of skin and lung fibrosis. Fibrosis is a condition in which the tissues in an organ become thicker and stiffer. For example, in the case of an autoimmune condition, the body kills cells called fibroblasts that help form connective tissue. The body then produces more collagen than it needs, which leads to fibrosis. The researchers focused on designing a nanoparticle that could modify the cells that are responsible for fibrosis development and progression so they no longer produce excess collagen.

Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Purdue University have created innovative soft robots equipped with electronic skins and artificial muscles, allowing them to sense their surroundings and adapt their movements in real-time. The robots are designed to mimic the way muscles and skin work together in animals, making them more effective and safer to use inside the body. The electronic skin integrates various sensing materials – such as silver nanowires and conductive polymers – within a flexible base, closely replicating the complex sensory functions of real skin. "These soft robots can perform a variety of well-controlled movements, including bending, expanding and twisting inside biological environments," said Lin Zhang, one of the scientists involved in this study.