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

Date Published
(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense)

A team of biomaterials scientists and dentists at the UCLA School of Dentistry has developed a nanoparticle that, based on initial experiments in mice, could improve treatment for bone defects. In a six-week study using mice with bone defects in their skulls, the researchers saw an average reduction of roughly 50% in the size of the defects after the drug-loaded scaffold was implanted.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered how to use protein nanowires, which are biological, electricity-conducting filaments, to make a neuromorphic memristor, or "memory transistor," device. The device runs extremely efficiently on very low power, as brains do, to carry signals between neurons.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered how to use protein nanowires, which are biological, electricity-conducting filaments, to make a neuromorphic memristor, or "memory transistor," device. The device runs extremely efficiently on very low power, as brains do, to carry signals between neurons.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Scientists at the University of South Florida have reached a milestone in the development of two-dimensional supramolecules – large molecular structures that are made up of individual molecules. The scientists were able to build a 20-nm-wide metallo-supramolecular hexagonal grid by combining intra- and intermolecular self-assembly processes. This work will advance further understanding of the design principles governing these molecular formations and could one day lead to the development of new materials with yet-to-be-discovered functions and properties.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy)

Scientists at the University of South Florida have reached a milestone in the development of two-dimensional supramolecules – large molecular structures that are made up of individual molecules. The scientists were able to build a 20-nm-wide metallo-supramolecular hexagonal grid by combining intra- and intermolecular self-assembly processes. This work will advance further understanding of the design principles governing these molecular formations and could one day lead to the development of new materials with yet-to-be-discovered functions and properties.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)

A research team led by Northwestern University has designed and synthesized new materials with ultrahigh porosity and surface area for the storage of hydrogen and methane for fuel cell-powered vehicles. These gases are attractive clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Thanks to its nanoscopic pores, a one-gram sample of the Northwestern material, a type of a metal-organic framework, has a surface area that would cover 1.3 football fields.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy)

A research team led by Northwestern University has designed and synthesized new materials with ultrahigh porosity and surface area for the storage of hydrogen and methane for fuel cell-powered vehicles. These gases are attractive clean energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Thanks to its nanoscopic pores, a one-gram sample of the Northwestern material, a type of a metal-organic framework, has a surface area that would cover 1.3 football fields.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation)

A UCLA-led team of researchers has described how a nanomachine produced by a common bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, recognizes and kills other bacteria, and has imaged the nanomachine at atomic resolution. The nanomachine is a protein complex, called a pyocin, released by P. aeruginosa as a way of sabotaging microbes that compete with it for resources. When a pyocin identifies a rival bacterium, it kills it by punching a hole in its cell membrane. The scientists also engineered their own versions of the nanomachine, which could eventually lead to new types of antibiotics that would home in on specific species of microbes.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation)

A UCLA-led team of researchers has described how a nanomachine produced by a common bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, recognizes and kills other bacteria, and has imaged the nanomachine at atomic resolution. The nanomachine is a protein complex, called a pyocin, released by P. aeruginosa as a way of sabotaging microbes that compete with it for resources. When a pyocin identifies a rival bacterium, it kills it by punching a hole in its cell membrane. The scientists also engineered their own versions of the nanomachine, which could eventually lead to new types of antibiotics that would home in on specific species of microbes.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy)

MIT engineers have developed a way to closely track how plants respond to stresses – such as injury, infection, and light damage – using sensors made of carbon nanotubes. These sensors can be embedded in plant leaves, where they report on hydrogen peroxide signaling waves. Plants use hydrogen peroxide to communicate within their leaves, sending out a distress signal that stimulates leaf cells to produce compounds that help them repair damage or fend off insects.