User-Centric
Scientists at the Foundry's Nanofabrication Facility and the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems‐CNR in Naples, Italy have experimentally demonstrated—for the first time—the concept of optical antimatter, in which light travels through a material without being distorted. Learn more
Q&A with Foundry user Fabrizio Gelain
Fabrizio Gelain, a user in the Biological Nanostructures Facility, is Principal Investigator at the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milan‐Bicocca, Italy. Since 2005, Gelain has been a visiting scientist at MIT and in 2008 became scientific vice‐director of the Center for Nanomedicine and Tissue Engineering at the A.O.Niguarda Ca' Grande in Milan. His research activities include projecting and characterizing new functionalized self‐assembling biopolymers and other nanotechnology derived scaffolds for slow drug release and cell transplantation therapies in peripheral and central nervous system injuries.
Q. Why did you come to the Molecular Foundry?
A. The Molecular Foundry provides top rank instrumentation and expertise of various aspects of nanobiotechnology, essential for a comprehensive regenerative project like ours.
Q. What were your experiences in collaborating with the Foundry staff?
A. The staff is highly qualified and willing to provide help in accordance with their own research schedules.
Q. Do you consider the project/research you worked on at the Foundry to be a success? If so, what advances/findings resulted from this work?
A. Yes. We discovered and characterized a new class of hierarchically self‐assembling peptides and new bioactive motifs both suitable for regenerative purposes.
Q. Will you continue to collaborate with the Foundry on future endeavors?
A. We will submit another proposal in October.
Q. And finally, what were your most (and least) favorite aspects of working at the Foundry?
A. Friendly people, nice location, cutting‐edge instrumentation at your hands reach with new high‐level international collaborations.
New Tools for Users
The Foundry’s Nanofabrication Facility will unveil several new fabrication and characterization tools during the remainder of 2009, including:
A reactive ion etcher for 8” wafers, to etch silicon, silicon‐based compounds and polymers. This system will be coupled with fluorocarbon, argon, and oxygen gas lines (Oxford Instruments).-
A spectroscopic ellipsometer for advanced thin film, surface and interface characterization with 190‐2100 nm spectral range (Horiba Scientific). - A plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition instrument for precise, conformal deposition of ultra‐thin films through self‐limiting atomic layer‐by‐layer growth (Oxford Instruments).
Imaging and Manipulation of Nanostructures Facility
Through funds received from the DOE Office of Science under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Imaging and Manipulation Facility will inaugurate a $1.2M transmission electron microscope with cryogenic and fluid cell capabilities for routine imaging of biological and soft‐matter samples. This instrument will provide imaging capabilities for electron beam sensitive samples in fluid and cryogenic environments. The cryo‐TEM will also enable current and prospective users to investigate key scientific questions about structure and assembly of biomolecular, supramolecular and organic‐inorganic hybrid nanostructures.
Theory of Nanostructured Materials Facility
Through funds received from the DOE Office of Science under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Theory Facility will launch a new, more powerful and energy‐efficient $1.3M computing cluster. This 240‐node, 1920‐processor will meet the increasing demands of the Facility's internal research program and User community. The new cluster (dubbed 'Vulcan' by one staff member) will also provide researchers with a valuable training ground for massively parallel simulation in the field of energy‐related nanoscience, including high‐precision 1,000‐atom electronic structure calculations for energy conversion processes; large‐scale simulations of the spectroscopy of nanostructures; and characterization of the self‐assembly dynamics of biomolecules.
Welcome Dina Mirijanian
Dina Mirijanian, our new Theory of Nanostructured Materials postdoc, arrived in early June. Dina is an expert in the area of atomistic and coarse‐grained molecular simulation, and will work with Steve Whitelam of the Theory Facility, Ron Zuckermann of the Biological Nanostructures Facility and Paul Ashby of the Imaging and Manipulation Facility to understand the mechanisms by which bioinspired polymers called peptoids self‐assemble into nanopattered structures.
