The wearable eye tracker (

Dr. Alexander M. Klibanov is Novartis Endowed Chair Professor of Chemistry & Bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Klibanov received his M.S. in Chemistry in 1971 and Ph.D. in Chemical Enzymology in 1974 from Moscow University in Russia. His current research interests include bioorganic chemistry and biocatalysis, drug delivery, stabilization, and formulation; and new microbicidal materials. Professor Klibanov has authored over 270 scientific papers and 16 issued U.S. patents, has given over 350 invited presentations around the world and is a member of eight journal editorial boards. Among his many professional honors are elections to the National Academy of Sciences and to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States.

NIL Technology (NILT) provides nano-lithography solutions to high-tech innovators. NILTs main focus is to supply stamps/templates for nanoimprint lithography (NIL) to all type of NIL tools.

The overview of the IP describes the second production generation of polymer electronics. With this technology, it is possible to generate very small structures of conductive polymer as a basis for organic electronics with high performance, which is necessary for RFID-tags, e-paper, displays and low-cost-electronics.

To live long enough to experience some of the more dramatic applications of nanotechnology, you may need anti-aging treatments. For all of us with an interest in longevity, the place to be starting at 4 PM this Friday, June 27, is UCLA for Aging 2008:

At Aging 2008 you will engage with top scientists and advocates as they present their findings and advice, and learn what you can do to help accelerate progress towards a cure for the disease and suffering of aging.

To get into the real nitty-gritty technical details, stick around for the scientific conference on Saturday and Sunday. –Christine

Exposure to two different wavelengths of light can cause the azobenzene molecule to switch back and forth between two different shapes. This molecular shape-changing works well in solution but until now has not worked with molecules attached to surfaces. Now scientists from Penn State University and Rice University have found a way to make the switching work when the molecules are tethered to a surface—a first step toward making this molecular switching useful for nanotech devices. From Penn State (via PhysOrg.com) “Tethered molecules act as light-driven reversible nanoswitches“:

The ability to see is based on molecules in the eye that flip from one conformation to another when exposed to visible light. Now, a new technique for attaching light-sensitive organic molecules to metal surfaces allows the molecules to be switched between two different configurations in response to exposure to different wavelengths of light. Because the configuration changes are reversible and can be controlled without direct contact, this technique could enable applications that can be controlled at the molecular scale.

The technology has been suggested as a possible basis for molecular motors, artificial muscles, and molecular electronics. The research results, obtained by a team led by Paul S. Weiss, distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at Penn and James M. Tour, Chao professor of chemistry at Rice University, are reported in the June issue of the journal Nano Letters [abstract].

…When the tethered molecules were exposed to ultraviolet light in a specially built scanning tunneling microscope, they switched from the trans to the more-compact cis state. This switch was confirmed by an apparent decrease in height of the molecule above the surrounding surface. The researchers further found that exposure to visible light caused a transition back to the more-extended trans state.

Weiss points out that this research advance is just the first step in designing a device that can be driven or actuated by such molecular change. In order to perform useful work as a switch or nanoscale-drive motor, it will be necessary to coordinate the motion of multiple molecules and to build moving parts into some sort of assembly. According to Weiss, further research by the team already has found some surprises when the molecules are lined up to work in unison, like a chorus line.

—Jim

A nanotech version of the optical tweezers traditionally used to manipulate micrometer-scale objects manipulates objects at the 200-nm scale. From nanotechweb.org, written by Belle Dumé (requires free registration) “Nanotweezers trap tiny objects“

Researchers have made the first nano-optical tweezers. The devices, which are based on “nanopillars”, offer many advantages over traditional optical tweezers and can trap and move objects on the nanoscale. The breakthrough result opens the way to manipulating fragile biological cells and making structures from nanoscale building blocks.

Traditional optical tweezers, which have been around for decades, are one of the most important modern-day tools in biology, physics and chemistry. They work by trapping micron-scale objects near the focus of a laser beam. The technique allows objects to be picked up and moved to another place using just light.

Although scientists have used optical tweezers to trap nanoscale objects before, this required high laser powers, which can damage or even destroy the object in question. Now, Alexander Grigorenko and colleagues at the University of Manchester in the UK have made nanoscale optical tweezers that overcome this problem. The new devices have a much bigger trapping force and provide significantly smaller trapping volumes for much less laser power than employed in ordinary optical tweezers.

Nanotweezers

The secret behind the new device is that it exploits “virtual” photons to squeeze the trapping volume beyond the diffraction limit of the light being used. It also quenches Brownian motion of trapped nanoparticles by almost an order of magnitude compared to conventional optical tweezers operating under the same trapping conditions. Brownian motion is a common problem as particles get smaller, which makes them difficult to catch.

The nanotweezers are based on a nanostructured substrate comprising a regular array of nanopillar pairs. These are relatively easy to make using conventional electron-beam lithography. The gaps between the nanopillars effectively act as the tweezer traps.

The research was published in Nature Photonics [abstract].
—Jim