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Nanotechnology


URL: http://news-info.wustl.edu/cat/page/normal/158.html

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Tony Fitzpatrick
Senior Science Editor
tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu

(314) 935-5272

Modern research in chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology is increasingly focused on nanoscale systems and nanotechnology. Basically, this is the study of systems, materials and phenomena where the important length scale is conveniently measured in nanometers (nm). Much of modern chemistry is performed on the nanoscale and nearly all of molecular biology and biochemistry, as well as a lot of materials science.

Faculty Experts:

Showing Nanotechnology Experts 1 through 5 of 6.  - Show More
John McCarthy

Professor of Mathematics (http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/574.html)

John McCarthy's field is a kind of analysis called operator theory, which he defines as the study of matrices in infinite dimensional space. It is most directly linked to quantum mechanics, a physics theory involving elementary particles such as the electron that predicts the outcomes of physical ...


Expertise: mathematics, pure mathematics, operator theory, quantum mechanics

Direct contact: (314) 935-6753 / mccarthy@wustl.edu


Pratim Biswas

Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor (http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/481.html)

Biswas
Biswas

Biswas received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, has published extensively in his field and served on many international organizations and conferences. His research interests include aerosol science and engineering, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, materials ...


Expertise: aerosol science, nanoparticle technology, air quality engineering, combustion, material processing for environmental technologies, environmentally benign processing, environmental nanotechnology, …

Direct contact: (314) 935-5482 / pratim.biswas@seas.wustl.edu


William Buhro

Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences (http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/539.html)

William Buhro
William Buhro
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William H. Buhro, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and associate director of the Center for Materials Innovation, specializes in nanotechnology. He and his group are engaged in synthesis on the nanometer-scale. They design reactions and mechanisms for the growth of inorganic crystals having dimensions ...


Expertise: nanomaterials, materials, inorganic chemistry, nanotubes, nanowires

Direct contact: (314) 935-4269 / buhro@wustl.edu


Stuart A. Solin

Hohenberg Professor of Experimental Physics in Arts & Sciences (http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/478.html)

A leading figure in condensed matter physics and materials science, Solin's research focus is in fundamental physical phenomena in ordered solids, such as diamonds, and disordered solids, such as window glass. His contributions to the advancement of physics include the development of a number of experimental ...


Expertise: fundamental physical phenomena, x-ray physics, high-pressure physics, mesoscopic physics, nanoscopic physics, femtosecond, phase tranformations, …

Direct contact: (314) 935-5605 / solin@wuphys.wustl.edu


Kenneth F. Kelton

Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences (http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/487.html)

Kenneth Kelton is an expert in a phenomenon called nucleation, which is the most common way that physical systems change from one phase to another and is a governing process in nearly all phase transformations. Kelton has a long history of collaboration with Patrick Gibbons, Ph.D., professor of physics ...


Expertise: quasicrystals, metallurgy, nucleation processes, metallic liquids, materials science, materials physics, non-crystaline solids, …

Direct contact: (314) 935-6228 / kfk@wuphys.wustl.edu



Showing Nanotechnology Experts 1 through 5 of 6.  - Show More

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

Showing Nanotechnology Stories 1 through 3 of 24.  - Show More
Tiny, roll-shaped disease fighters

New disease-fighting nanoparticles look like miniature pastries (http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/12073.html)

July 29, 2008 --
Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles — called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City — could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients' bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques. The nanobialys are an important addition to the stock of diagnostic and disease-fighting nanoparticles developed by researchers at the School of Medicine.


An alternative to chemotherapy

Nanoparticles tackle pediatric brain tumors (http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/11996.html)

July 14, 2008 --
Wooley
Wooley
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An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from. Such tumors are often difficult to completely remove surgically; frequently, cancerous cells remain following surgery and the tumor returns. Chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells as well, leading to severe side effects especially in young children that are still developing their brain functions. In an effort to solve this problem, the Wooley lab has developed polymeric nanoparticles that can entrap doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy, and slowly release the drug over an extended time period.


Big things from small packages

Nano-sized technology has super-sized effect on tumors (http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/11449.html)

April 2, 2008 --
Nanoparticles (yellow) show that a treated tumor (left) has less blood vessel growth than an untreated tumor.
Nanoparticles (yellow) show that a treated tumor (left) has less blood vessel growth than an untreated tumor.
Anyone facing chemotherapy would welcome an advance promising to dramatically reduce their dose of these often harsh drugs. Using nanotechnology, researchers at the School of Medicine have taken a step closer to that goal. The researchers focused a powerful drug directly on tumors in rabbits using drug-coated nanoparticles.



Showing Nanotechnology Stories 1 through 3 of 24.  - Show More

Related News Clips:

Showing Nanotechnology Clips 1 through 5 of 9.  - Show More
Show More Nanotechnology Clips
1,000 Genomes Project
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jan. 28, 2008 -- The 1,000 Genomes Project, an international research effort that includes WUSTL scientists, will sequence the genomes of one thousand people from different parts of the globe. Elaine Mardis, co-director of WUSTL's Genome Sequencing Center, comments.


Technique controls nanoparticle size, creates large numbers
Nanotechnology Now online and 2 others

Dec. 4, 2007 -- WUSTL chemical engineering professor Pratim Biswas has a method that controls the size of the nanoparticles he makes, opening up possibilities for new nanotechnology applications and different techniques.
Biswas described the technique and his work in a recent issue of Nanotechnology.
He is currently collaborating with WUSTL radiology professor Sam Achilefu, who is working to selectively deliver chemotherapy drugs in cancer patients.


Nanoparticles used to track cells
United Press International and 8 others

March 28, 2007 -- WUSTL scientists have developed a technique using magnetic resonance imaging and nanoparticles to track cells injected into mice.
Developed in the laboratories of Samuel Wickline and Gregory Lanza, the study suggests fluorine-laced nanoparticles might soon allow physicians to directly track cells involved in medical treatments.
The study's lead author, doctoral student Kathryn Partlow, explains.
Wickline heads WUSTL's Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.


Keeping the Fruits of Research Close to Home in St. Louis
The New York Times

Feb. 7, 2007 -- Article on the efforts of WUSTL chancellor emeritus William Danforth and civic leader John Dubinsky to reorient the business climate in St. Louis. St. Louis has great research institutiions like WUSTL, but "we have not done so well with the commercialization of that science."
In 2001, Danforth -- along with a number of other business and civic leaders -- founded the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, a nonprofit group. The goal was to jump-start St. Louis' nascent biotechnology industry by providing both new and mature companies with increased access to financing and up-to-date facilities.


Robot surgeons scrub up
Nature Magazine (UK)

Oct. 28, 2005 -- The creators of robot-assisted surgery hope that the remote-controlled surgeons are a step towards a time when traditional open surgery is a thing of the past.
The devices were invented by a team of engineers and doctors from U. Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, and U. Nebraska in Lincoln.
In 2000, surgeons at the WUSTL School of Medicine conducted the first pilot trial of robot-assisted heart surgery, and a wide range of procedures now use mechanized instruments.


Universities selected for nanotech research
San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and 10 others

Oct. 4, 2005 -- WUSTL is one of seven university consortia selected by the National Cancer Institute to spearhead research hubs called Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, which will bring together academic laboratories and private firms to develop anti-cancer products.
The research involves the use of molecular-scale nanotechnology devices to detect and destroy tumor cells.
From the Post-Dispatch article -- the WUSTL center will be headed by Samuel Wickline.
In April, WUSTL got another grant, worth $12.5 million, for a separate nanotechnology center headed by chemist Karen Wooley.


Blunt counters Blagojevich's courting of stem cell researchers
Associated Press and 4 others

Sept. 15, 2005 -- Missouri Gov. Blunt has shot back at his Illinois counterpart's effort to attract scientists and institutions involved in embryonic stem cell research to Illinois.
Blunt said in a letter to life sciences companies that he opposes the "prohibition and criminalization" of stem cell research. The letters were sent to U. Missouri, WUSTL and the KC Stowers Institute for Medical Research, among others.


St. Louis waits for Bio-Belt to bloom
Chicago Tribune and 12 others

May 2, 2005 -- Article on the outlook for bioscience hotspots focuses on St. Louis.
For years this fading industrial center has poured a fortune into the genetic engineering of plants, ignoring critics of the controversial technology and enduring a long stretch with little to show for its investment.
Now, finally, St. Louis is starting to see a payoff, putting some welcome distance between itself and the many other cities trying to hit it big in biotech.
Comments from John Biggs, Roger Beachy, Peter Raven, and WUSTL chancellor Mark Wrighton.


U.S. cancer institute starts nanotechnology drive
Hindustan Times (India) and 11 others

Sept. 15, 2004 -- The U.S. National Cancer Institute announced a new five-year plan to develop the use of tiny tools known as nanotechnology to fight cancer. Some scientists believe that nanotechnology just might provide the edge needed to defeat the disease. School of Medicine researcher Samuel Wickline comments.


Additional Information:

More News:

A leader in a small revolution
Advances in nanotechnology by William E. Buhro, Ph.D., impact realms from sports to electronics (http://record.wustl.edu/archive/2001/11-09-01/people.html)
Nov. 9, 2003 - William E. Buhro, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, sweats the small stuff. In his world, it's all small stuff. That's because Buhro and his group are immersed in the Lilliputian world of nanoparticles and nanowires, which are invisible to the naked eye and hold promise in making stronger and tougher materials for a wide range of products and applications, and for enabling advances in nanoelectronics.

Chemists make first boron nanowhiskers; 'Little shavers' could prove key in nanoelectronics (http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/2002/science-tech/otten.html)
June 2002 - They're cute little shavers, and they could play a key role in the "small" revolution about us. Chemistry graduate student Heng Yu and William E. Buhro, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, examine nanowire specimens in an inert-atmosphere glove box, which stores moisture- and oxygen-sensitive chemicals. The glove box allows manipulation of sensitive reagents and nanostructured materials in a continuously scrubbed nitrogen atmosphere.They're boron nanowhiskers, the world's first such crystalline nanowires, made by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis.



Related Information


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NanoTechNews (http://www.nano-tsunami.com)

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