News from the NNI Community - Research Advances Funded by Agencies Participating in the NNI

Rice University scientists have uncovered a new way to make high-purity boron nitride nanotubes – hollow cylindrical structures that can withstand temperatures of up to 900°C (1,652°F) while also being stronger than steel by weight. The scientists figured out how to get rid of hard-to-remove impurities in boron nitride nanotubes using phosphoric acid and fine-tuning the reaction. "The challenge is that during the synthesis of the material, in addition to tubes, we end up with a lot of extra stuff," said Kevin Shumard, lead author on the study. "As scientists, we want to work with the purest material we can, so that we limit variables as we experiment."

Northwestern University researchers have developed the first selective therapy to prevent allergic reactions, which can range in severity from itchy hives and watery eyes to trouble breathing, and even death. To develop the new therapy, researchers decorated nanoparticles with antibodies capable of shutting down specific immune cells responsible for allergic responses. The nanoparticle also carries an allergen that corresponds to the patient's specific allergy. If a person is allergic to peanuts, for example, then the nanoparticle carries a peanut protein.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University have developed a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas, into carbon nanofibers, materials with a wide range of unique properties and many potential long-term uses. Their strategy uses tandem electrochemical and thermochemical reactions that are run at relatively low temperatures and ambient pressure and could successfully lock carbon away to offset carbon emissions.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a neural implant that provides information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface. The implant is made up of a thin, transparent, and flexible polymer strip that is packed with a dense array of graphene electrodes. The technology, tested in transgenic mice, brings the researchers a step closer to building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface that provides high-resolution data about deep neural activity by using recordings from the brain’s surface.

Using a new technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, diagnosing lung cancer could become as easy as inhaling nanoparticle sensors and then taking a urine test that reveals whether a tumor is present. The technology is based on nanosensors, which can be delivered by an inhaler or a nebulizer. If the nanosensors encounter cancer-linked proteins in the lungs, they produce a signal that accumulates in the urine, where it can be detected with a simple paper test strip.

Using imaging tools at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, researchers have detected a phenomenon known as pre-melting at temperatures far lower than those previously observed. Pre-melting is the reason a patch of ice can be slippery even on a frigid, clear day. Although the spot is frozen, some part at the surface is wet. To make this discovery, the team used Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials, a DOE Office of Science user facility that enabled them grow and observe ice nanocrystals at temperatures below minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit. 

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has developed nanoparticles that can selectively bind to brain cells that mediate inflammation in Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found that both Alzheimer's disease and aging strongly affect the ability of nanoparticles to cross the blood-brain barrier – a network of blood vessels surrounding the brain that tightly regulate which molecules can enter the brain. The researchers injected the nanoparticles into both older and younger mice that either had Alzheimer's disease or were healthy. In the brains of Alzheimer's disease mice, they found high concentrations of nanoparticles regardless of age (although older Alzheimer's disease mice had stronger concentrations than younger ones) and a significant amount of nanoparticles in the brains of healthy older mice.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have created a metasurface-based imager (meta-imager) that can potentially replace traditional imaging optics in machine-vision applications, producing images at higher speed and using less power. A metasurface is a thin material composed of arrays of subwavelength nanostructures. The nanostructuring of the material into the meta-imager filter reduces the typically thick optical lens and enables front-end processing that encodes information more efficiently.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, have found a way to rein in a protein responsible for making the majority of human cancer cases worse. What the researchers discovered is a peptide compound that binds to the protein and suppresses its activity. To deliver this peptide into cells, the researchers used lipid nanoparticles.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a battery-independent fluorescent nanosensor based on single-wall carbon nanotubes and an inactive form of an enzyme called glucose oxidase. This nanosensor enables the continuous, reversible, and non-invasive bioimaging of glucose levels in body fluids and tissues. Also, the use of inactive glucose oxidase molecules has major advantages. For example, the manufacturing process of the nanosensors can be simplified, and no toxic byproducts are created.