Items Tagged With Materials Science

In a feat that seems like something out of a microscopic version of Star Trek, MIT researchers have found a way to use a “tractor beam” of light to pick up, hold, and move around individual cells and other objects on the surface of a microchip.

The new technology could become an important tool for both biological research and materials research, say Matthew J. Lang and David C. Appleyard, whose work is being published in an upcoming issue of the journal Lab on a Chip. Lang is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Appleyard is a graduate student in Biological Engineering.

Nicolaas-Alexander Gotzen and Professor Guy Van Assche
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Polymer Science and Structural Chemistry

A nanotechnology-oriented forum bringing together academia, industry and budding entrepreneurs, will be held April 2–4, 2007, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Nano Nexus 2007 is designed to foster innovation and increase collaboration between universities, government, industry and the investment community—all critical players for commercialising new nanotechnology. It will also serve as a component of the Innovation Valley Nano Initiative, an effort to cultivate nanotechnology business in the region.

Nanocrystals can mimic atoms in solid-state devices by altering the electrical properties—for example conductance—according to a report by Jeffrey Urban and colleagues in the February issue of Nature Materials (doi: 10.1038/nmat1826).