3D MICROSTRUCTURES FOR PROTEIN MICROARRAYS

Computer Engineering electronics Engineering Civil Engineering

One of the major challenges of biomarker profiling with proteomic chips (protein arrays) is the availability of chip surfaces providing sufficient analytical sensitivity for customer applications where starting material is very limited or expensive (e.g. for cancer tissue, stem cells, etc.). The goal of this project is to develop a novel 3D micro- and nanostructured surface for planar waveguide proteomic chips. The micro-patterning techique explored in this project will then be combined with sub-micron surface chemistry, developed in the sister project Vesicle and Particle Assays for Protein Microarray Application, to finally achieve a 100-fold increased sensitivity for protein microarrays.

CAVITY QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS- USING MICRO-CAVITIES FOR SINGLE PHOTON - SINGLE ATOM INTERACTIONS FOR QUANTUM INFORMATION PROCESSING.

What is Quantum Information Science- Quantum mechanics shows that the laws of Nature can be very weird and counter-intuitive when looking at the level of single atoms and single photons so weird, that our understanding of the concept of information needs to be changed. For example - the measurement of two distant particles can yield exactly the same result even when each one of them is completely random and they have no way of interacting or sending information between them (imagine two dice that choose "together" to fall both on the same random number between 1 and 6, even though that one is in Israel and the other in China). This effect, called "Quantum Entanglement" can form the basis for building incredibly fast Quantum Computers that would be able to check million answers in just a thousand trials, for example This field of research is called Quantum Information Science.

CELL ADHESION

The study of cell-surface interactions is important for several different applications. While the effects of surfaces on cell proliferation, migration, growth and genes expression are accessible via traditional microscopy and labeling techniques, the determination of cell adhesion remains a major challenge. In the context of the European project Newbone, working on development of a new generation of non-metallic biomimetic bone implants, cell adhesion is also at the center of the preoccupations. The objective is not only to observe modifications of adhesion properties on different surfaces but mainly to develop some strategies of cell adhesion measurements in order to understand the mechanisms responsible of cell adhesion modulations. Atomic force microscopy, and particularly force spectroscopy are used to directly measure the cell adhesion. The JPK Nanowizard II is a bioAFM allowing to manipulate, to stretch and to detach cells with a z-range of 100 ?m.

characterization of nanomaterials

characterization of nanomaterials includes AFM, FTIR, DSC, TGA, Surface area analyzer.

COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical treatment technique that involves electrical pulse application to the brain via implanted electrodes. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical treatment technique, which involves application of electrical pulses via electrodes inserted into the brain. Neurons, typically located in the basal ganglia network, are stimulated by the electrical field. DBS is currently widely used for symptomatically treating Parkinson

CREATING AN INFORMATION EXCHANGE NETWORK

Marketing intelligence is a modern day concept within MNCs. Its meaning and magnitude is not entirely obvious, making it complex to utilize. In investigation, it is clear that marketing intelligence as an entity isn

FUEL EFFICIENCY IN AWD-SYSTEM

There is always an interest in lowering the fuel consumption within the Automotive industry because of the competition when the fuel price increases. New cars are supposed to consume less fuel all the time. The requirements on the different systems are constantly increasing. All this is carefully followed up in the development projects off new car models. In this report a number of components in the AWD-system will be studied to see if there are any possible improvement potentials. The chosen components that will be studied are the propeller shaft, the joints and the bearings. The parts will be studied to see if they could be designed to be me more effective or if there are any better options on the market that are more energy saving

GENE EXPRESSION ON A CHIP-FROM NANOTECHNOLOGY TO SYNTHETIC CELLS

The ability to control matter at the nano scale is a major landmark towards the development of smaller, faster, highly efficient electronic devices. Biological molecules are of the appropriate dimensions and can self-assemble, presenting a great opportunity to expand the repertoire of nano technology building blocks. Nucleic acids and proteins have been incorporated in inorganic devices to create biosensors for screening applications and have been shown to form predesigned nano structures. These methodologies exploit the specific recognition capabilities of biomolecules but neglect to utilize their functionality. In order to exploit this potential, we have developed a platform for patterning bio molecules on inorganic surfaces that maintains their biological activity. Specifically, we can pattern surfaces with DNA molecules that code for proteins and synthesize these proteins upon addition of a cell-free extract to the chip. The protein products can also be localized on the surface by trapping them by specific antibodies localized at pre-determined positions on the surface. The development of such a playground of bio-activities on a chip is a promising step towards the construction of synthetic cells.

INORGANIC NANOTUBES AND FULLERENE-LIKE NANOPARTICLES

This presentation is aimed at underlying the principles, synthesis, characterization and applications of inorganic nanotubes (INT) and fullerne-like (IF) nanoparticles from 2-D layered compounds. While the high temperature synthesis and study of IF materials and INT from layered metal dichalcogenides, like WS2 and MoS2 remain a major challenge, progress with the synthesis of IF and INT structures from various other compounds has been realized, as well. Intercalation and doping of these nanostructures, which lends itself to interesting electronic properties, has been realized, too. Recently, new core-shell nanotubular structures, like PbI2@WS2 nanotubes, have been reported. Doping of the IF and INT endow them with interesting electrical properties. Major progress has been achieved in elucidating the structure of INT and IF using advanced microscopy techniques, like aberration corrected TEM with 0.08 nm resolution and electron tomography. Also recently, scaling up efforts in collaboration with "NanoMaterials" resulted in multikilogram production of (almost) pure multiwall WS2 nanotubes phases.

MAGNETOELASTIC COUPLING IN NIMNGA FERROMAGNETIC SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY

NiMnGa alloys have attracted extensive attention because their ferromagnetic characteristic provides an additional degree of freedom to control both the shape memory effect and the multi-stage phase transformations in this Heusler system. Technically, along with the large magnetic-field-induced strains

MATERIALS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR-SENSITIZED NANOPOROUS SOLAR CELLS.

Solar cells based on light absorption in an ultra-thin absorber (molecular dye in the dyesensitized cell; semiconductor in a semiconductor-sensitized cell) deposited onto a nanoporous substrate are one of the so-called third-generation forms of solar cells.In the semiconductor-sensitized solar cell, the absorber is deposited on a nanoporous oxide (usually TiO2 or ZnO) which collects photogenerated electrons from the illuminated absorber and a third phase, to remove photogenerated holes, is infiltrated into the porous structure. Because of the nanoporous structure (high surface area), a locally very thin layer of absorber (that itself only absorbs a small amount of light) results in an overall large thickness of absorber (needed to absorb all the light). At the same time, the locally very thin layer means that photogenerated electrons and holes are together in the absorber for a very short time before being removed and therefore there is less chance of them recombining (meaning loss in efficiency) in the absorber. The specific papers on these cells treat various aspects of the materials used for these cells and the cells themselves.

METAL-ORGANIC ASSEMBLIES

The assembly of metal-organic systems in solution and their associated studies has a tremendous impact on many aspects of chemistry. Such well-defined molecular architectures on surfaces are generating much attention, partly because of their potential use in gas storage and in electronic devices. The stepwise solid-state generation of metal-organic systems from solution has resulted in highly ordered structures, which are impossible to form or are not readily attainable by other methods. Molecular layer-by-layer self-assembly can yield highly ordered films whose physicochemical properties (i.e., thickness, optical properties) increase linearly with the number of deposited subunits. Exponential growth and/or self-propagating processes with molecular systems, where surface-bound assemblies actively participate rather than being static platforms with reactive end-groups for the incoming molecular layers, are rare. Utilizing a new assembly strategy, molecular-based materials have been obtained that are active participants in their continuing self-propagated assembly

NANOSCALE BEHAVIOR OF 90 DEGREE DOMAINS IN FERROELECTRIC FILMS

Investigation of ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of ferroelectric films at nanoscale is not only of fundamental interest, but also critical to their applications as non-volatile ferroelectric memories and as microsensors and microactuators for microelectromechanical systems. Both intrinsic and extrinsic effects play a role in determining film properties.

NANOWIRE BIOSENSING & BIOELECTRONICS

Nanowires belong to a growing family of nano-objects, which also includes nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanorods and more. As immediately suggested by their name, nanowires have diameters in the nanometer range. Like all wires, nanowires can serve as electrodes or interconnects between micro- & nanoelectronic devices. Additionally their dimensions are on the same scale as biomolecules, which unveils exciting possibilities for their interaction with biological species, such as cells, antibodies, DNA and other proteins. When these properties of nanowires are combined, their potential seems immense. Nanowires are versatile objects, which are increasingly awaking interest for applications in the fields of electrochemical biosensing, bioelectronics and nanoelectronics.

NUCLEATION AND GROWTH OF CUBIC BORON NITRIDE THIN FILMS

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a synthetic and an intrinsically super-hard material with the second highest hardness and thermal conductivity next to diamond. Cubic BN with its tetrahedral sp3 structure is isostructural and isoelectronic to diamond. Diamond is far the most extreme material but cBN surpasses diamond in some properties. Unlike diamond, cBN is chemically

POLYMERIC WAVEGUIDE DEVICES

Integrated optics, or guided wave optics, is playing an increasingly important role in optical communication networks and optical sensor systems today. Optical devices with diverse functionality based on different materials have been demonstrated. Recently, polymeric waveguide devices have attracted a great deal of attention because polymer materials have many unique properties, such as ease of

POLYSELENOPHENES - CONDUCTING POLYMERS

Materials chemistry is one of the fastest developing fields in science because of inherent interest in the synthesis and properties of advanced materials and their many practical applications. The discovery of new materials with interesting and industrially important properties is a crucial step for the future progress of practically any type of modern high-tech industry and contributes significantly towards progress in the chemical sciences in general and in organic and materials chemistry, in particular. Conducting polymers, conjugated oligomers, and other organic semiconducting materials are revolutionizing applications in photovoltaic cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs), and chemical sensors. The application of organic electronic materials in solar cells deserves special mention, since organic solar cells are very promising for renewable mass energy production and are expected to be a very important component of solution to the global energy crisis. A few types of conducting polymers, such as polythiophenes, polyphenylenes, polypyrroles, etc., have been synthesized and characterized, with some already finding commercial applications. However, despite its fast growth and the significant effort that has been devoted to this field, the range of material available for applications in molecular electronics is still very limited. Furthermore, relatively little is known about the fundamental properties of organic electronic materials and about their structure-property relationships. Currently, it is apparent that new breakthroughs in the field of organic electronic materials should come from the synthesis and investigation of new materials.

SELF-ASSEMBLED NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

The topic is devoted to noncovalent systems that can rival covalent ones for practical applications. These systems should be robust yet adaptive making them easily fabricated, recyclable, self-healing, etc. The materials are nanostructured and are of interest to nanoscience. Special emphasis is on 3D adaptive systems and membranes. The topic is new and the examples are rare.

SOLID STATE NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTORS

Title- Experimental determination of parameters of tracks on solid state nuclear track detectors from alpha particles with different incident energies and angles The use of solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) has already become a well-known technique which has been widely applied in monitoring concentrations of radon gas by recording their emitted alpha particles. The

STUDY ON BE AND SI DOPING OF CUBIC BORON NITRIDE FILMS

This work presents the recent progress in research of synthesis and doping of cubic boron nitride (cBN) films, prepared by chemical and physical vapor deposition (CVD and PVD) methods. Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a synthetic material which does not exist in nature. This compound material was sythesized in 1950-s using a high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) [...]