Big Science on a Nano Scale

	Institute of NanoScience and Engineering co-director Hong Koo Kim at the March 24 virtual groundbreaking for Pitt’s planned Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility.

Look closely, and you’ll see that electrons can be in two places at once, molecules roll with the punches, and proteins work construction jobs. When looking at things that small, distances are measured in nanometers—billionths of a meter. University of Pittsburgh researchers in physics, engineering, chemistry, and biology are converging on the tiniest part of this nanoworld.

Nanoscience is the study of things smaller than 100 nanometers—a thousandth of the width of a human hair. Pitt researchers believe the biggest breakthroughs are likely to come in the “essentially nano” domain, where dimensions and distances are measured in increments of one-to-10 or -20 nanometers, and matter and energy display exotic behaviors.

As part of its commitment to become a leader in the field, the University established in 2002 the Institute of NanoScience and Engineering.

With the opening of the 4,000-square-foot, $6.1 million Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization Facility (NFCF) in Benedum Hall, scheduled for late 2005, Pitt researchers will have the newest and best tools for seeing and manipulating the “essentially nano” landscape. The NFCF will be a place of intersection and innovation, where the sciences will meet at a very small point and set the stage for big changes in the way we live.

Essentially nano: where the surreal becomes real

Pitt nanoscientists tend to focus on particles and movements in the realm of one-to-10 or -20 nanometers, where matter takes on different physical properties.

In the nanoscale transistors of tomorrow, for instance, electrons will show their abilities to simultaneously be in different places, spin several directions, and travel multiple paths. Pitt physicists and engineers hope to eventually use those abilities to carry information in computers. They’re also creating metallic lenses with nanosize holes that transform light into waves of electrons, potentially revolutionizing the science of optics.

Pitt chemists are tailoring nanoparticles to monitor body chemistry when implanted under the skin or in contact lenses. They’ve also found that when metals are created from nanosize grains, they rotate when struck, dramatically increasing the metal’s strength. They’re using graphite, rolled into amazingly strong nanotubes, to carry electricity and suck up gases. And they’re exploring unusual arrangements of water molecules that may one day yield fuel tanks made of ice.

Pitt biologists watch proteins walk along cellular scaffolding as the proteins transport cellular supplies. Causing a few of those proteins to temporarily stop “stepping” may be a key to defeating some cancers.

Bioengineers here are meshing 100-nanometer-wide fibers into materials that encourage cell growth, potentially leading to patches that could heal a wounded heart.

The team: collaboration is its watchword

Researchers in the University’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering have received many honors: • Five have held endowed positions;
• Nine have won the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award;
• Four have received the National Science Foundation’s Career Award for researcher/educators deemed likely to become academic leaders;
• One is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences; and
• Another is a Distinguished Professor.

In all, they’ve been awarded 50 patents.

Though they come from the Schools of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and the Health Sciences, these researchers are, increasingly, collaborators. That’s because the sciences are intersecting at the nanolevel.

“In every discipline, there is a growing need for fundamental capabilities to look at and act on the molecular level,” says Hong Koo Kim, codirector of Pitt’s Institute of NanoScience and Engineering. “If you talk with people across various disciplines, you learn different approaches.”

Institute of NanoScience and Engineering researchers work in department-spanning research teams, as will nine new nanoscience faculty members the University plans to hire. The resulting partnerships have helped two Pitt research teams join just 20 finalists in a competition to be named as Nanomedicine Centers with multiyear grants ranging from $10 million to $20 million from the National Institutes of Health.

That spirit of collaboration extends to teaching, also: The institute has inspired the creation of an interdisciplinary undergraduate certificate in photonics, the study of the behavior of light. Collaboration also goes beyond the University walls to organizations like SMC Business Councils, which is working with the institute to bring nanotechnology to manufacturers. Researchers are working with government agencies and private companies to bring nanotechnology to drug development, pollution control, and many other industries.

Spurring economic development

Within the past three years, three start-up companies (two of them local) and one major local corporation have licensed nanotechnology from Pitt. Glucose Sensing Technology’s flagship device is a noninvasive glucose measurement sensor that is applied via a contact lens that changes color according to the level of glucose found in a diabetic patient’s body. Zyvex Corp., a Texas-based company, licensed polymer-coated carbon nanotubes that are used in various applications, especially sensors. NanoLambda, a local start-up company, is using nano-optic filter arrays for miniaturized spectroscopic and telecommunications applications. And, finally, PPG Industries has licensed polymerized crystalline colloidal arrays for use in paint and coating applications. • Rich Lord