Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Postdoctoral associate Michel Godin, left, Associate Professor Scott
Manalis of biological engineering and postdoctoral associate Thomas Burg are part of an MIT team that has developed a technique to measure the mass of single cells.

New MIT technique weighs single living cells

One promising application is creation of a cheap and robust device to monitor CD4 cell numbers in AIDS patients

April 25, 2007

$Atomistic simulation provides unparalleled insight into fracture processes. Under the weight of an applied load, a crack in a silicon crystal (above, left) propagates until the crystal is cleaved.$

Think small! Think quickly! Atomistic model helps students visualize nanoscale problems

Software designed for genetics shows how materials behave under extreme loading

April 2, 2007

This three-dimensional atomic simulation shows the absorption of a line defect by an existing twin boundary in nano-twinned copper.

MIT model simulates atomic processes in nanomaterials

March 1, 2007

Graduate student Manu Prakash (left) and Professor Neil Gershenfeld discuss new applications for their microfluidic chips, which can carry on-chip process control information.

Flow of tiny bubbles mimics computer circuitry

Work could boost capabilities of 'labs on a chip'

February 8, 2007

Postdoc Peter Rakich worked with MIT colleagues to develp a novel way to add the power and speed of light waves to traditional electronics.

MIT 'optics on a chip' may revolutionize telecom, computing

Research integrates photonic circuitry on a silicon chip

February 6, 2007

Graduate student Jianping Fu (left), Professor Jongyoon Han and postdoc Reto Schoch have created a microchip system that allows speedy separation and sorting of biomolecules.

MIT improves protein sorting with a new microchip

February 5, 2007

Team develops nanoparticles to battle cancer

New particles mimic platelets

February 1, 2007

MIT Professor Franz-Josef Ulm and post-doc Georgios Constantinides have shown that the strength of concrete lies in the way its nanoparticles are organized -- like oranges stacked in a supermarket. Their findings could lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions during concrete manufacturing.

Nanoengineered concrete could cut carbon dioxide emissions

January 30, 2007

MIT graduate student Shawna Liff works with a nanocomposite material she helped develop. The material, composed of nanoparticles embedded in a rubbery polymer, mimics the strength and stretchiness qualities of spider silk.

Nanocomposite research yields strong and stretchy fibers

Lycra-like materials were inspired by spider silk

January 18, 2007

MIT creates 3D scaffold for growing stem cells

December 27, 2006

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MIT implant measures tumor growth, treatment

December 4, 2006

The building blocks of healthy collagen, above, begin with one-nanometer-sized amino acids, which form the universal 300-nanometer tropocollagen strands. Fibrils composed of those strands, in turn, make up the steel-cable-like collagen fibers.

Math model may aid study of collagen ailments

Tensile loading reveals nature's economy

November 14, 2006

Scientific American names Angela Belcher Researcher of the Year

3 others from MIT rank in magazine's top 50

November 6, 2006

This micropump developed by MIT researchers allows high speed flows through microchannels with an input of only a few volts of electricity, making it possible to create portable "lab on a chip" devices.
The three-dimensional, alternating current electro-osmotic pump consists of interdigitated stepped gold microelectrodes on a glass substrate.

Portable 'lab on a chip' could speed blood tests

MIT micropump assures portability, efficiency, in routine or combat conditions

October 16, 2006

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MIT technique reveals inner lives of red blood cells

Work could aid research on sickle cell anemia and malaria