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

Researchers at Stanford University have made temperature-resistant, injectable gels that are made of two solid ingredients – polymers and nanoparticles. When the researchers exposed this gel to the body's temperature, it did not liquefy, like ordinary gels do. This gel could prove valuable for providing anti-malarial or anti-HIV treatments in under-resourced areas, where it is difficult to administer the short-acting remedies currently available.

Researchers at Stanford University have made temperature-resistant, injectable gels that are made of two solid ingredients – polymers and nanoparticles. When the researchers exposed this gel to the body's temperature, it did not liquefy, like ordinary gels do. This gel could prove valuable for providing anti-malarial or anti-HIV treatments in under-resourced areas, where it is difficult to administer the short-acting remedies currently available.

A team of researchers from the United States and China has developed a new kind of wearable health sensor that uses micro- and nanotechnology and would deliver real-time medical data to people with eye or mouth diseases. The sensors would be placed near the tear duct or mouth to collect samples, which would then produce data viewable on a user's smartphone or sent to their doctor.

A team of researchers from the United States and China has developed a new kind of wearable health sensor that uses micro- and nanotechnology and would deliver real-time medical data to people with eye or mouth diseases. The sensors would be placed near the tear duct or mouth to collect samples, which would then produce data viewable on a user's smartphone or sent to their doctor.

When two sheets of graphene are stacked atop each other at just the right angle, the layered structure morphs into an unconventional superconductor. The MIT scientists who made that discovery now report observing superconductivity in a sandwich of three graphene sheets, the middle layer of which is twisted at a new angle with respect to the outer layers. This new trilayer configuration exhibits superconductivity that is more robust than its bilayer counterpart.

When two sheets of graphene are stacked atop each other at just the right angle, the layered structure morphs into an unconventional superconductor. The MIT scientists who made that discovery now report observing superconductivity in a sandwich of three graphene sheets, the middle layer of which is twisted at a new angle with respect to the outer layers. This new trilayer configuration exhibits superconductivity that is more robust than its bilayer counterpart.

Researchers with the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and North Dakota State University have designed a new way to deliver pancreatic cancer drugs that could make fighting the disease easier. They designed a nanoparticle delivery system that stops the drugs from breaking down and releases them specifically to cancer cells in the pancreas and not to other areas of the body.

Researchers with the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and North Dakota State University have designed a new way to deliver pancreatic cancer drugs that could make fighting the disease easier. They designed a nanoparticle delivery system that stops the drugs from breaking down and releases them specifically to cancer cells in the pancreas and not to other areas of the body.

For more than 15 years, researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and their collaborators in the United States, Australia, South Korea, and China have made artificial muscles by twisting and coiling carbon nanotube or polymer yarns. When thermally powered, these muscles actuate by contracting their length when heated and returning to their initial length when cooled. Such thermally driven artificial muscles, however, have limitations. The researchers have now created powerful, unipolar electrochemical yarn muscles that contract more when driven faster, thereby solving important problems that have limited the applications for these muscles.

For more than 15 years, researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and their collaborators in the United States, Australia, South Korea, and China have made artificial muscles by twisting and coiling carbon nanotube or polymer yarns. When thermally powered, these muscles actuate by contracting their length when heated and returning to their initial length when cooled. Such thermally driven artificial muscles, however, have limitations. The researchers have now created powerful, unipolar electrochemical yarn muscles that contract more when driven faster, thereby solving important problems that have limited the applications for these muscles.