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

Date Published
(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have used nanoparticles to test the mucus of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The researchers hope that their approach will allow for early detection of COPD progression and will therefore help clinicians to deliver therapies in a more timely manner.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Institutes of Health)

Scientists have used advanced imaging techniques that can measure and visualize in color the orientation of individual enamel nanocrystals in human teeth. They found that these crystals are not perfectly aligned, as had been previously thought, and that this misorientation likely deflects cracks, leading to enamel's lifelong strength.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Institutes of Health)

Scientists have used advanced imaging techniques that can measure and visualize in color the orientation of individual enamel nanocrystals in human teeth. They found that these crystals are not perfectly aligned, as had been previously thought, and that this misorientation likely deflects cracks, leading to enamel's lifelong strength.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

Michigan State University scientists have invented a new way to monitor chemotherapy concentrations. Too high a dose can result in killing healthy tissue and cells, triggering more side effects; too low a dose may stun, rather than kill, cancer cells, allowing them to come back. The new process is based around magnetic particle imaging that uses superparamagnetic nanoparticles as the contrast agent and the sole signal source to monitor drug release in the body at the site of the tumor.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

Michigan State University scientists have invented a new way to monitor chemotherapy concentrations. Too high a dose can result in killing healthy tissue and cells, triggering more side effects; too low a dose may stun, rather than kill, cancer cells, allowing them to come back. The new process is based around magnetic particle imaging that uses superparamagnetic nanoparticles as the contrast agent and the sole signal source to monitor drug release in the body at the site of the tumor.

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

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and seven other institutions, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have identified critical gaps in the understanding of the nanoscale hydrodynamics, molecular sieving, fluidic structure, and thermodynamics of nanopores that are less than 10 nanometers in diameter. Filling these knowledge gaps could lead to new membranes for water purification, as well as new gas-permeable materials and energy storage devices.

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

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and seven other institutions, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have identified critical gaps in the understanding of the nanoscale hydrodynamics, molecular sieving, fluidic structure, and thermodynamics of nanopores that are less than 10 nanometers in diameter. Filling these knowledge gaps could lead to new membranes for water purification, as well as new gas-permeable materials and energy storage devices.

Funded by the National Science Foundation

Chemists at Rice University have discovered that bovine serum albumin is prone to pushing gold nanorods into right-handed chiral assemblies. The work suggests that it may become possible to sense the handedness, or chirality, of single proteins – a potential boon for pharmaceutical companies that require drug purity. A molecule with the correct chirality can save a life, while the same molecule of the opposite chirality can be highly toxic.

Funded by the National Science Foundation

Chemists at Rice University have discovered that bovine serum albumin is prone to pushing gold nanorods into right-handed chiral assemblies. The work suggests that it may become possible to sense the handedness, or chirality, of single proteins – a potential boon for pharmaceutical companies that require drug purity. A molecule with the correct chirality can save a life, while the same molecule of the opposite chirality can be highly toxic.

(Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research)

Researchers at the University of Delaware have designed an integrated photonics platform with a one-dimensional metalens – a thin lens that can be designed at the nanoscale to focus light – and metasurfaces – tiny surfaces made with nanostructures to manipulate the transmitted or reflected light. This new device could have applications in imaging, sensing, and quantum information processing.