IGERT Program

IGERT Program       Thematic Basis       
Research Efforts

Research Efforts

To build devices on the nano-scale, one cannot simply scale down existing engineering devices and principles: that simplistic approach is doomed to failure. Why? As one approaches the nanoscale, they leave the realm of "traditional" engineering, and enter areas of physics and chemistry. Forces and interactions on the atomic and molecular scales dominate the structure and properties of nanoscale objects. Two simple examples may help: consider first merely trying to pick up, position, and release a very small item. In macroscopic engineering, that is seldom a problem: in nanoscale engineering, this can be done but it is tedious, and the objects typically rearrange rapidly due to particle/particle interactions. Second, consider trying to manufacture a nano-scale wire (of what materials?) and then getting it electrically connected to another unit. Again, particle/particle interactions control the processes at every single step and we have to learn how to manufacture by exploiting self-assembly processes.

Consequently, nanoscale engineering is a very broad field with surprising, often unexpected connections among superficially disparate pieces. As one tries to engineer nano-devices, one is suddenly enmeshed in the details of atomic-level physics and chemistry, often in realms as yet unexplored by physicists and chemists. Nano-scale engineers must therefore work closely with physicists, chemists, biologists and others: in turn, there is feedback… many questions important in nano-engineering are equally critical to "pure" physicists and chemists, but have not been approachable due to lack of nano-scale instrumentation. As engineers figure out how to build nano-devices, scientist instantly use them to explore new physics and chemistry. Moreover, bio-systems are superb at making nano-scale structures: nature has spent billions of years developing nanoscale devices, and we choose wherever possible to study nature and delineate design principles.

Working together, the "scientific" and "engineering" communities can form a powerfully synergistic community. We discuss below five "Thrust areas". These are representative, exciting research areas: they do not in any way cover the field of nanotechnological research. Each has a strong identity, good funding, excellent faculty (often shared across thrusts) and a wealth of detailed problems for study. Each can, must, and does draw upon the others frequently: while we can only point out a few examples of detailed interconnections, due to space limitations, others should be immediately obvious. Any advance in one echoes throughout the others. Each involves a wide suite of fundamental scientific questions, asked in the context of learning how to design and build nanoscale devices.

• (Thrust A) "Fabrication of Inorganic Nanostructures" investigates how atomic forces control deposition and properties of materials when one tries to build nanoscale structures. It concentrates on how to get different materials to adhere, or otherwise function together (even when they don't want to do so). What is learned here applies, for example, to Thrust B's efforts to understand how biosynthesis works.
• (Thrust B) The "Nanoparticles and Hybrid Materials" group studies the complex interplay between organic and inorganic materials in natural biological nano-systems. Nature builds highly successful, efficient nanoscale systems, out of apparently incompatible materials, and does so at room temperature and pressure, in aqueous solution: mankind cannot yet do so. This work depends heavily on Thrusts A and C.
• (Thrust C) "Nanomechanics of Single Molecules and Complexes" addresses nano-scale mechanical forces (how to generate and control them). This effort involves a great deal of instrument development, and is letting us for the first time to actually study the mechanics of individual molecules (instead of inferring properties from bulk measurements). It both depends on and contributes to the results of Thrust A, while drawing many problems from Thrust B.
• (Thrust D) "Nanoscale Drug Delivery and Gene Therapy" develops a tight connection between subcellular biology and nanoscale engineering: it uses details of understanding of atomic forces and structures (from Thrusts A, B, and C) to develop drug delivery systems that are nano-engineered structures with precisely controlled chemical and physical properties. While concentrating initially in medical applications, this knowledge is of enormous import for industry.
• (Thrust E) "Bioanalytical Nanotools" addresses the problem of producing nanoscale tools that will do complex functions cheaply and in very large quantities. The specific problem discussed involves using microscale "printing" to produce nanoscale devices for rapid, cheap analysis of peptide sequences such as DNA and RNA. It begins with a "biological" problem which, once solved through the knowledge base developed in Thrusts A-C, leads directly to an ability to analyze complex molecules.

In short, these five "Thrusts" are active, intimately connected areas of research, each with strengths in both science and engineering. At UW, these groups have a well-established history of very successful collaboration and cross-fertilization. Together, they represent a fine environment into which to set a new graduate educational effort such as this IGERT.