by Doug Millison for SiliconValleyWatcher.com

Computer tech, bio-tech - now nanotech.

The University of California, Berkeley announced its $11.9 million Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) is starting up this fall, promising "nanobatteries, nanopumps, nanomotors and a slew of other nanoscale devices – most with parts that move a mere fraction of the width of an atom."

The center is one of six new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers funded for five years by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Theoretical and experimental physicists, chemists, biologists and engineers will explore the basic science of nanostructures and then use this knowledge to both create nanoscale building blocks and assemble them into working devices.

Says UCB, "The goal is to merge nanotubes and a host of other Tinkertoy-like nanopieces with organic molecules – DNA, proteins or nanomolecular motors – to create sensors or nanomachines small enough to fit on the back of a virus. Each nanoscale building block ranges from a few to hundreds of nanometers across(a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, about one thousandth the width of a human hair)."

The group consists of 28 researchers from UC Berkeley, UC Merced, Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology, and includes not only engineers, physicists, chemists and biologists, but an economist. While some of the researchers are synthesizing and characterizing various building blocks, others will integrate them and map out system properties, and still others will develop the tools to manipulate and construct new building blocks and systems. Several researchers will pursue the theoretical basics and limits of new devices. And Brad DeLong, a UC Berkeley professor of economics, will explore the social, ethical, legal and societal issues surrounding nanotechnology in light of historical technology revolutions. He also will encourage conversations between nanoscientists and scholars in the social sciences and humanities.

On the People Watch tip, UCB says some of the researchers and their projects include:

Mechanical engineering professor Arun Majumdar has developed arrays of nanoscale cantilevers that flex like diving boards when molecules bind to them. Majumdar, along with Michael Roukes, professor of physics, applied physics and bioengineering at Caltech, and other collaborators will try to turn these into biosensors using lasers to detect the binding of minute quantities of chemicals.

Electrical engineering professor Ron Fearing is working with Peidong Yang, associate professor of chemistry, and Thomas Kenny, professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford, to create artificial nanohairs that will adhere to surfaces as do the toe hairs of geckos.

Carlos Bustamante, professor of physics, and other researchers are trying to convert the chemical energy in twisted DNA into mechanical energy that can crank a nanotube motor. Bustamante is working with physics professors Michael Crommie and Steve Louie; Kyeongjae Cho, professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford; and theoretical biologist George Oster, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology.

A team led by Majumdar and Ramamoorthy Ramesh, professor of materials science and engineering and of physics, is studying the movement of fluids on the nanoscale in order to develop a battery. This research also could lead to a novel type of transistor based on nanofluidics.

Researchers with the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Sensor, which 18 years ago pioneered microscale devices or MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), are transitioning to the nanoscale with attempts to create devices from nanowires, such as a vibrating resonator. They include Roger Howe and Jeffrey Bokor, professors of electrical engineering and computer science, and Roya Maboudian, associate professor of chemical engineering.

Zettl, Bustamante and Maboudian will work with chemistry professors Jean Frechet and Paul Alivisatos, as well as with other collaborators, to camouflage nanomaterials so as to allow the binding of tailored molecules, proteins and other biological molecules. These “functionalized” nanomaterials could mimic large biological molecules in the body.

Links:

New center to research nanostructures, design and build nanodevices, UCB press release

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