A pre-print by researchers from Northwestern University's Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly and the University of Chicago's Institute for Biophysical Dynamics.

Abstract: "Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) was used to construct arrays of proteins with 100 to 350 nanometer features. These nanoarrays exhibit almost no detectable nonspecific binding of proteins to their passivated portions even in complex mixtures of proteins, and therefore, provide the opportunity to study a variety of surface-mediated biological recognition processes. For example, reactions involving the protein features and antigens in complex solutions can be screened easily by atomic force microscopy (AFM). As further proof-of-concept, these arrays were used to study cellular adhesion at the submicrometer scale."

Protein Nanoarrays Generated By Dip-Pen Nanolithography | _Science_ pre-print

An Interdisciplinary Integrative Forum on Nanotechnology Computational Efforts in the Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Materials fields. April 22-25, 2002

Topics of the talks include: National Nanotechnology Initiative; Manipulating Quantum Information with Semiconductor Spintronics; Circuit Laws and design rules for molecular wires and logic circuit integrated in a single molecule; Design and Engineering of Bio-Molecular Devices and Microsystems; Complex Fluid Dynamics in BioMEMS Devices; Molecular and Nanoelectronics; Mechanical Properties at the Nanoscale.

2002 International Conference on Computational Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Link and summary below obtained from nanodot:

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have found a way to attach a wide range of molecules to the surface of a virus, enhancing the virus with the properties of those molecules. The researchers say their technique may find applications in materials science, medicine, and molecular electronics, including the possibility of building circuits of conducting molecules on the surfaces of the viruses and form a component of a molecular-scale computer, or a new type of "nanowire." The work is reported in the 1 February 2002 issue of Angewandte Chemie.

The researchers found a method of putting a chemically reactive cysteine residue (a type of amino acid) on the surface of each of the 60 identical protein modules that make up the viral shell. The shell has an icosahedral shape, which provides 60 equivalent sites for attaching molecules. The researchers report they have been able to attach fluorescent dyes and clusters of gold molecules to the cysteine residues, which could be easily imaged. They also have successfully attached biotin (Vitamin B), sugars, and organic chemicals. The technique can be used to immobilize large molecules on the viral surface -- whole proteins even. In addition, the virus particles can self-organize into network arrays in a crystal, which may make it a useful building block for various applications in nanotechnology. "You can, in principle, determine the type of assembly you get by programming the building blocks," says one researcher.

For more info, also visit:
    http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=29012002-052646-7431r

Viral Shells as Nanochemical Building Blocks

Description: "The development of micro- and nano-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) foreshadows momentous changes not only in the technological world, but in virtually every aspect of human life. The future of the field is bright with opportunities, but also riddled with challenges, ranging from further theoretical development through advances in fabrication technologies, to developing high-performance nano- and microscale systems, devices, and structures, including transducers, switches, logic gates, actuators and sensors.

MEMS and NEMS: Systems, Devices, and Structures is designed to help you meet those challenges and solve fundamental, experimental, and applied problems. Written from a multi-disciplinary perspective, this book forms the basis for the synthesis, modeling, analysis, simulation, control, prototyping, and fabrication of MEMS and NEMS. The author brings together the various paradigms, methods, and technologies associated with MEMS and NEMS to show how to synthesize, analyze, design, and fabricate them. Focusing on the basics, he illustrates the development of NEMS and MEMS architectures, physical representations, structural synthesis, and optimization.

The applications of MEMS and NEMS in areas such as biotechnology, medicine, avionics, transportation, and defense are virtually limitless. This book helps prepare you to take advantage of their inherent opportunities and effectively solve problems related to their configurations, systems integration, and control."

_MEMS and NEMS: Systems, Devices, and Structures_ | CRC Press

Tiny electrical circuits with a single molecule for each wire have been created in the United States. These grids could replace silicon chips, making computers and memory devices much more compact and powerful than they are today. The grids comprise carbon nanotubes ... The grids practically build themselves ... This raises hopes that a nanotube lattice could form a computer memory ... with a storage density around 100,000 times greater than that of a Pentium chip.

Cylinders make circuits spontaneously

Building on the report of the initial September 2000 workshop (which I blogged recently), this joint EC-NSF workshop will be held this Thursday/Friday in Italy. Topics of interest:

* interface of nanotech with environmental science, energy, IT, materials and manufacturing, medicine, and biotech.
* scoial, ethical, political and economic issues with nanotech
* integration with education.
* impacts of similarities & differences in American and European societies on nanotech R&D

Speakers are from many US and EC institutions, including Sandia Labs, U. Cambridge, H-P, and many more. There are multiple talks on nanobio topics of interest. A full report will follow the workshop.

2002 Workshop on Social Implications | Nat'l Nanotech Initiative

From the IEE news forum on 23 Jan 2002: Optical nanotechnologies lab

Pirelli Labs, the new high-tech center of the Pirelli group, and the Microphotonics Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced a five-year-long framework agreement for advanced research in the field of photonics. In the first year Pirelli Labs will make an investment of $2 million.

MIT has pioneered the use of nanotechnology in realizing optical integrated circuits (ICs) capable of high-level functionality. In addition to groundbreaking research creating the building blocks of optical ICs, MIT researchers have for the first time demonstrated that such building blocks -- waveguides, bends and splitters -- can be integrated with active structures such as lasers, amplifiers and modulators.

Pirelli and MIT scientists will study a new generation of integrated optical systems based on nanotechnologies. Pirelli's goal is to utilize all of the wavelengths available in a fiber-optic cable to maximize the amount of data transmitted on each fiber and create a breakthrough in the field of broadband telecommunications.

MIT Microphotonics Center

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise to have major impacts on human health, wealth, and peace in the coming decades. Among the expected breakthroughs are orders of magnitude increases in computer efficiency, human organ restoration using engineered tissue, `designer' materials created from directed assembly of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics. This book includes a collection of essays by leading scientists, engineers, and social scientists reviewing the possible uses of these impending technical developments in various industrial, medical, and national security applications, and the corresponding ethical, legal, social, economic, and educational issues that they raise. The report outlines potential areas for research into societal implications of nanotechnology, as well as some preliminary suggestions for how potential positive impacts of nanotechnology can be maximized, while minimizing any possible negative impacts, real or imagined. This book also provides the beginning of a blueprint for how one should address second-order consequences of the new technology, either positive implications or potential risks. This material was prepared under the auspices of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The issues raised in the book are global in scope, going far beyond the immediate impact of the NNI. They ask the general questions of how history and the human condition are affected by technological progress, and how individuals and institutions can seek to guide that progress in ways most beneficial to mankind in the long run.

Published in March 2001, this is the final report from an NSF workshop held in September 2000. Participants include Tom Kalil, Newt Gingrich, John Seely Brown, Richard Smalley, Bonnie Nardi, and many more.

Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology [PDF]

A subscription is required for this 9 page paper, published in May 2001 in the journal _Accounts of Chemical Research_ as part of a special issue on molecular machines. The URL links to the table of contents.

Abstract: Molecular motors convert chemical energy into mechanical force and movement. Operating at energies just above those of the thermal bath, these motors experience large fluctuations, and their physical description must be necessarily stochastic. Here, motor operation is described as a biased diffusion on a potential energy surface defined by the interactions of the motor with its track and its fuel. These ideas are illustrated with a model of the rotary movement of the motor.

The Physics of Molecular Motors

The Fall 2001 issue of the _[Lawrence] Berkeley [National] Lab Research Review_ includes seven articles about nanotechnology.

The Coming of the Nano-age: The emerging field of nanotechnology promises to change the way almost everything?from vaccines to computers?is designed and made. Legos for the Nano-age: Scientists and engineers are designing, synthesizing and characterizing new types of nanoscale building blocks in an effort to create the micromachines of the future. Beyond Alchemy and the Wright Brothers: It's their nanostructure that makes many crucial materials useful: there's a lot more to nanoscience than itty-bitty widgets. Microtools for the Nanoworld: An array of new micromachines is helping researchers understand and manipulate nanoscale devices. Imagining the Nanoworld: Theorists create atom-by-atom models from "first principles" to study the mysterious world of nanodevices. Tiny Particle Causes Big Stir: After collecting more than a year's worth of data, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory delivers a long-awaited verdict: neutrinos have mass. Travels of a Young Physicist: A young researcher's work in basic materials science unexpectedly leads him to develop new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

The Coming of the Nano-Age: Shaping the World Atom by Atom