The natural preserving process!! amazing nature~

Less than 2% of Earth's fossils are preserved in volcanic rock, but researchers have identified a new one: the skull of a rhino that perished in a volcanic eruption 9.2 million years ago.

The fossil, found in Turkey, is thought to be that of a large two-horned rhino common in the Eastern Mediterranean region during that period. (Credit: Reconstruction by Maëva J. Orliac; Antoine et al. (2012) A Rhinocerotid Skull Cooked-to-Death in a 9.2 Ma-Old Ignimbrite Flow of Turkey

The fossil, found in Turkey, is thought to be that of a large two-horned rhino common in the Eastern Mediterranean region during that period. According to the researchers, unusual features of the preserved skull suggest that the animal was 'cooked to death' at temperatures that may have approached 500° C, in a volcanic flow similar to that of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy in 79 A.D.

The rhino's grisly death was near-instantaneous, and followed by severe dehydration in the extreme heat of the eruption. As the researchers describe its end, "the body was baked under a temperature approximating 400°C, then dismembered within the pyroclastic flow, and the skull separated from body." The flow of volcanic ash then moved the skull about 30 km north of the eruption site, where it was discovered by the four member research team.

Although other researchers have previously identified fossils of soft-bodied organisms preserved in volcanic ash, organic matter near an active volcanic eruption is usually quickly destroyed by the high temperatures, making a fossil such as this one extremely rare.

test video post 3

test post 2

first video in blog.

test video  

living life!

one of very interesting things, in college life, is having a life in hostel. Its fun. I'm in a university and i'm in a hostel. Its like party inside hostel, like man no one here sleeps.! hehehe... ya some people find it so uncomfortable to go on with that but yeah in my eyes its like cool.! :D and some times silence is better! thats exceptional!

I think i'm getting in on my blog after a month may be. and still i've nothing coming in on my mind to write. 

living the life!

these days i'm not on to that much of blogging and stuff! even not in on to social networking either. dont kno the reason! in terested in completely nothing except wantering around the world! this traveling thing surely makes me more clearly its making me create a new thought on going travelling. but that aint possible for m now. this is an awkward situation people, we know what our heart wants and feels but cant act on it. its the nature of being committed to something. its the sideeffects of our modern life, our society. we cant do what our heart really wants. i really need to figure something out for this.

Graphene Nanopores Can Be Controlled: Less Costly Ways of Sequencing DNA

Engineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have used advanced techniques to make the material graphene small enough to read DNA.

These are transmission electron microscope images of a nanopore in graphene. The original pore on the left grows considerably under the influence of the electron beam. The image on the right is the pore after four minutes at 800 °C. Pores either shrink or grow depending on the temperature and electron beam irradiation.

Shrinking the size of a graphene pore to less than one nanometer -- small enough to thread a DNA strand -- opens the possibility of using graphene as a low-cost tool to sequence DNA.
The first reading, or sequencing, of human DNA by the international scientific research group known as the Human Genome Project cost about $2.7 billion. Engineers have been researching alternative nanomaterials materials that can thread DNA strands to reduce the cost to less than $1,000 per person.
The first reading, or sequencing, of human DNA by the international scientific research group known as the Human Genome Project cost about $2.7 billion. Engineers have been researching alternative nanomaterials materials that can thread DNA strands to reduce the cost to less than $1,000 per person.
It was demonstrated in 2004 that graphite could be changed into a sheet of bonded carbon atoms called graphene, which is believed to be the strongest material ever measured. Because graphene is thin and strong, researchers have searched for ways to control its pore size. They have not had much success. A nanoscale sensor made of graphene could be integrated with existing silicon-based electronics that are very advanced and yet cheap, to reduce costs.
the  team manipulated the size of the nanopore by using an electron beam from an advanced electron microscope and in-situ heating up to 1200 degree Celsius temperature.

Now that researchers know the pore size can be controlled, the next step in their research will be to build a prototype device.

If we could sequence DNA cheaply, the possibilities for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment would be limitless


The study was funded by the Southwest Academy of Nanoelectronics, Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the World Class University Program.

Nanoparticles Glow Through Thick Layer of Tissue

An international research team has created unique photoluminescent nanoparticles that shine clearly through more than 3 centimeters of biological tissue -- a depth that makes them a promising tool for deep-tissue optical bioimaging.

A transmission electron microscopy image of nanoparticles designed for deep-tissue imaging. Each particle consists of a core encased inside a square, calcium-fluoride shell.

Though optical imaging is a robust and inexpensive technique commonly used in biomedical applications, current technologies lack the ability to look deep into tissue, the researchers said.

This creates a demand for the development of new approaches that provide high-resolution, high-contrast optical bioimaging that doctors and scientists could use to identify tumors or other anomalies deep beneath the skin.

The newly created nanoparticles consist of a nanocrystalline core containing thulium, sodium, ytterbium and fluorine, all encased inside a square, calcium-fluoride shell.

The particles are special for several reasons. First, they absorb and emit near-infrared light, with the emitted light having a much shorter wavelength than the absorbed light. This is different from how molecules in biological tissues absorb and emit light, which means that scientists can use the particles to obtain deeper, higher-contrast imaging than traditional fluorescence-based techniques.

Second, the material for the nanoparticles' shell --calcium fluoride -- is a substance found in bone and tooth mineral. This makes the particles compatible with human biology, reducing the risk of adverse effects. The shell is also found to significantly increase the photoluminescence efficiency.

To emit light, the particles employ a process called near-infrared-to-near-infrared up-conversion, or "NIR-to-NIR." Through this process, the particles absorb pairs of photons and combine these into single, higher-energy photons that are then emitted.

One reason NIR-to-NIR is ideal for optical imaging is that the particles absorb and emit light in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, which helps reduce background interference. This region of the spectrum is known as the "window of optical transparency" for biological tissue, since the biological tissue absorbs and scatters light the least in this range.

The scientists tested the particles in experiments that included imaging them injected in mice, and imaging a capsule full of the particles through a slice of pork more than 3 centimeters thick. In each case, the researchers were able to obtain vibrant, high-contrast images of the particles shining through tissue.

The results of the study appeared online on Aug. 28 in the ACS Nano journal. The international collaboration included researchers from the University at Buffalo and other institutions in the U.S., China, South Korea and Sweden. It was co-led by Paras N. Prasad, a SUNY Distinguished Professor and executive director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB), and Gang Han, an assistant professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School.

"We expect that the unprecedented properties in the core/shell nanocrystals we designed will bridge numerous disconnections between in vitro and in vivo studies, and eventually lead to new discoveries in the fields of biology and medicine," said Han, expressing his excitement about the research findings.

Study co-author Tymish Y. Ohulchanskyy, a deputy director of ILPB, believes the 3-centimeter optical imaging depth is unprecedented for nanoparticles that provide such high-contrast visualization.

"Medical imaging is an emerging area, and optical imaging is an important technique in this area," said Ohulchanskyy. "Developing this new nanoplatform is a real step forward for deeper tissue optical bioimaging."

The paper's first authors were Guanying Chen, research assistant professor at ILPB and scientist at China's Harbin Institute of Technology and Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology and Jie Shen of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Other institutions that contributed included Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Korea University at Seoul.

The next step in the research is to explore ways of targeting the nanoparticles to cancer cells and other biological targets that could be imaged. Chen, Shen and Ohulchanskyy said the hope is for the nanoparticles to become a platform for multimodal bioimaging.

Electronics That Vanish in the Environment or the Body

A biodegradable integrated circuit during dissolution in water. (Credit: Beckman Institute, University of Illinois and Tufts University)

Physicians and environmentalists alike could soon be using a new class of electronic devices: small, robust and high performance, yet also biocompatible and capable of dissolving completely in water -- or in bodily fluids.
Researchers at the University of Illinois, in collaboration with Tufts University and Northwestern University, have demonstrated a new type of biodegradable electronics technology that could introduce new design paradigms for medical implants, environmental monitors and consumer devices.
"We refer to this type of technology as transient electronics," said John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Professor of Engineering at the U. of I., who led the multidisciplinary research team. "From the earliest days of the electronics industry, a key design goal has been to build devices that last forever -- with completely stable performance. But if you think about the opposite possibility -- devices that are engineered to physically disappear in a controlled and programmed manner -- then other, completely different kinds of application opportunities open up."
Three application areas appear particularly promising. First are medical implants that perform important diagnostic or therapeutic functions for a useful amount of time and then simply dissolve and resorb in the body. Second are environmental monitors, such as wireless sensors that are dispersed after a chemical spill, that degrade over time to eliminate any ecological impact. Third are consumer electronic systems or sub-components that are compostable, to reduce electronic waste streams generated by devices that are frequently upgraded, such as cellphones or other portable devices.
Transient electronic systems harness and extend various techniques that the Rogers' group has developed over the years for making tiny, yet high performance electronic systems out of ultrathin sheets of silicon. In transient applications, the sheets are so thin that they completely dissolve in a few days when immersed in biofluids. Together with soluble conductors and dielectrics, based on magnesium and magnesium oxide, these materials provide a complete palette for a wide range of electronic components, sensors, wireless transmission systems and more.
The team has built transient transistors, diodes, wireless power coils, temperature and strain sensors, photodetectors, solar cells, radio oscillators and antennas, and even simple digital cameras. All of the materials are biocompatible and, because they are extraordinarily thin, they can dissolve in even minute volumes of water.
The researchers encapsulate the devices in silk. The structure of the silk determines its rate of dissolution -- from minutes, to days, weeks or, potentially, years.
"The different applications that we are considering require different operating time frames," Rogers said. "A medical implant that is designed to deal with potential infections from surgical site incisions is only needed for a couple of weeks. But for a consumer electronic device, you'd want it to stick around at least for a year or two. The ability to use materials science to engineer those time frames becomes a critical aspect in design."
Since the group uses silicon, the industry standard material for integrated circuits, they can make highly sophisticated devices in ways that exploit well-established designs by introducing just a few additional tricks in layout, manufacturing and supporting materials. As reported in the Sept. 28 issue of the journal Science, the researchers have already demonstrated several system-level devices, including a fully transient 64-pixel digital camera and an implantable applique designed to monitor and prevent bacterial infection at surgical incisions, successfully demonstrated in rats.
Next, the researchers are further refining these and other devices for specific applications, conducting more animal tests, and working with a semiconductor foundry to explore high-volume manufacturing possibilities.
"It's a new concept, so there are lots of opportunities, many of which we probably have not even identified yet" Rogers said. "We're very excited. These findings open up entirely new areas of application, and associated directions for research in electronics."
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported this work. The Tufts University team was led by Fiorenzo Omenetto; the Northwestern University team was led by Youggang Huang. Rogers is affiliated with the departments of materials science and engineering, of chemistry, of mechanical science and engineering, of bioengineering and of electrical and computer engineering, and with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the U. of I.

How to make a BUCKYBALL MODEL! from household materials

TO MAKE A MODEL OF BUCKY BALL:

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

player, flexible wires,geometry tools, scissors, straws 

Now what we are going to make is a bucky ball or sphirical fullerence. Before making its model its good to have a knowledge about the structure of the buckyball. It is composed both six carbon ring and 5 carbon ring. so its tricky to make one.  For seeing its simple to make but the thing is a blaster!

So we can start on by making it.
First is first lests do the prilim things. cut the straws with a suitable length, remember every segment u cut should be of same length.
now insert wires inside the straw segments and make the shape.

As saying making the shape is not that simple because we have a combination structure here.
So what we do now is, make a pentagon ring ie, 5 carbon ring. then let it surround by six carbon rings. its mare simpler that way. Before making buckyball let me one thing its a twister the model making might get on in your nerves but never give up you can make it. i did it. :)   best of luck!

AND DONT FORGET: after you finish have a toast! it surely make you feel good! :)

and that was my toast! :)

my project!

bucky ball's model

I cant say anything about good in this now. but it ain't finished. should have to concentrate more time on project!

Researchers Demonstrate 'Giant' Forces in Super-Strong Nanomaterials

 In a study that could lead to advances in the emerging fields of optical computing and nanomaterials, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology report that a new class of nanoscale slot waveguides pack 100 to 1,000 times more transverse optical force than conventional silicon slot waveguide

The findings could lead to advances in developing optical computers, sensors or lasers
The researchers created computer simulations of nanometer-scale models of metamaterial slot waveguides, which are structures designed to channel beams of light from one area to another. Waveguides function like tiny filaments or the wires of an integrated circuit, but on a much smaller scale.
For their study, the Missouri S&T researchers simulated slot waveguides made of layered structures of a metal (in this case, silver) and a dielectric material (germanium), arranged like the alternating bread and meat in a club sandwich. A nanometer -- visible only with the aid of a high-power electron microscope -- is one billionth of a meter, and some nanomaterials are only a few atoms in size.

research article, published in the Sept. 24 issue of Optics Express,

One of the producers of CNT and Fibers

http://www.nanoamor.com/carbon_nanotubes___nanofibers?gclid=CMmF9a2czLICFQV76wod0TQA2w
check on the above site for carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes.

Efficacy of Drugs Boosted by Using Nanoparticles to Target 'Powerhouse of Cells'

Nanoparticles have shown great promise in the targeted delivery of drugs to cells, but researchers at the University of Georgia have refined the drug delivery process further by using nanoparticles to deliver drugs to a specific organelle within cells.

Shanta Dhar, right, an assistant professor of chemistry in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and doctoral student Sean Marrache have fabricated nanoparticles that boost the effectiveness of drugs by delivering them to the mitochondria of cells. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Georgia)

By targeting mitochondria, often called "the powerhouse of cells," the researchers increased the effectiveness of mitochondria-acting therapeutics used to treat cancer, Alzheimer's disease and obesity in studies conducted with cultured cells.

To test the effectiveness of their drug targeting system against cancer, they encapsulated the drug lonidamine, which works by inhibiting energy production in the mitochondria, and, separately, a form of the antioxidant vitamin E. They then treated cultured cancer cells and found that mitochondrial targeting increased the effectiveness of the drugs by more than 100 times when compared to the drugs alone and by five times when compared to the delivery of drugs with nanoparticles that target the outside of cells.

Similarly, the compound curcumin has shown promise in inhibiting formation of the amyloid plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, but it quickly degrades in the presence of light and is broken down rapidly by the body. By encapsulating curcumin in the mitochondria-targeting nanoparticles, however, the researchers were able to restore the ability of brain cells in culture to survive despite the presence of a compound that encourages plaque formation. Nearly 100 percent of the cells treated with the mitochondria-targeting nanoparticles survived in the presence of the plaque-inducing compound, compared to 67 percent of cells treated with free curcumin and 70 percent of cells treated with nanoparticles that target the outside of cells.

Finally, the researchers encapsulated the obesity drug 2,4-DNP -- which works by making energy production in the mitochondria less efficient -- in their nanoparticles and found that it reduced the production of fat by cultured cells known as preadipocytes by 67 percent compared to cells treated with the drug alone and by 61 percent of cells treated with nanoparticles that target the outside of cells.

getting drugs to the mitochondria is no simple feat. Upon entering cells, nanoparticles enter a sorting center known as the endosome. The mitochondria itself is protected by two membranes separated by an interstitial space. The outer membrane only permits molecules of a certain size to pass through, while the inner membrane only permits molecules of a given range of charges to pass. The researchers constructed a library of nanoparticles and tested them until they identified the optimum size range -- 64 to 80 nanometers, or approximately 1,000 times finer than the width of a human hair -- and an optimum surface charge, plus 34 millivolts.

the components they used to create the nanoparticles are FDA approved and that their methods are highly reproducible and therefore have the potential to be translated into clinical settings. The researchers are currently testing their targeted delivery system in rodents and say that preliminary results are promising.

"Mitochondrial dysfunctions cause many disorders in humans," 

The research was supported by National Institutes of Health startup grant P30 GM 092378 and by the UGA Office of the Vice President for Research.

Their results were published this week in early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Nanomaterials in a Heart Beat: Nanomaterial May Allow Regeneration of Cardiac Cells

Stem cell scientists have capitalised on the electrical properties of a widely used nanomaterial to develop cells which may allow the regeneration of cardiac cells. The breakthrough has been led by a team of scientists at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at the National University of Ireland Galway in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin.

a patient suffering from cardiac arrest seeking medical assistance

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Ireland. Once damaged by heart attack, cardiac muscle has very little capacity for self-repair and at present there are no clinical treatments available to repair damaged cardiac muscle tissue.

Over the last 10 years, there has been tremendous interest in developing a cell-based therapy to address this problem. Since the use of a patient's own heart cells is not a viable clinical option, many researchers are working to try to find an alternative source of cells that could be used for cardiac tissue repair.

The researchers recognised that carbon nanotubes, a widely used nanoparticle, is reactive to electrical stimulation. They then used these nanomaterials to create cells with the characteristics of cardiac progenitors, a special type of cell found in the heart, from adult stem cells.

This work has recently been published in two scientific journals, Biomaterials and Macromolecular Bioscience, and was carried out in collaboration with Professor Werner Blau, Investigator in CRANN and the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin (TCD)

Out-Of-This-World Nanoscience: A Computer Chip That Can Assemble Itself?

Imagine a computer chip that can assemble itself. According to Eric M. Furst, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Delaware, engineers and scientists are closer to making this and other scalable forms of nanotechnology a reality as a result of new milestones in using nanoparticles as building blocks in functional materials.

Furst and his postdoctoral researchers, James Swan and Paula Vasquez, along with colleagues at NASA, the European Space Agency, Zin Technologies and Lehigh University, reported the finding Sept. 17 in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS) online edition.

The article details how the research team's exploration of colloids, microscopic particles that are mere hundredths the diameter of a human hair, to better understand how nano-"building blocks" can be directed to "self-assemble" into specific structures.

The research team studied paramagnetic colloids while periodically applying an external magnetic field at different intervals. With just the right frequency and field strength, the team was able to watch the particles transition from a random, solid like material into highly organized crystalline structures or lattices.

According to Furst, a professor in UD's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, no one before has ever witnessed this guided "phase separation" of particles.

"This development is exciting because it provides insight into how researchers can build organized structures, crystals of particles, using directing fields and it may prompt new discoveries into how we can get materials to organize themselves," Furst said.

Because gravity plays a role in how the particles assemble or disassemble, the research team studied the suspensions aboard the International Space Station (ISS) through collaborative efforts with NASA scientists and astronauts. One interesting observation, Furst reported, was how the structure formed by the particles slowly coarsened, then rapidly grew and separated -- similar to the way oil and water separate when combined -- before realigning into a crystalline structure.

Already, Furst's lab has created novel nanomaterials for use in optical communications materials and thermal barrier coatings. This new detail, along with other recorded data about the process, will now enable scientists to discover other paths to manipulate and create new nanomaterials from nanoparticle building blocks.

"Now, when we have a particle that responds to an electric field, we can use these principles to guide that assembly into structures with useful properties, such as in photonics," Furst added.

The work could potentially prove important in manufacturing, where the ability to pre-program and direct the self-assembly of functional materials is highly desired.

"This is the first time we've presented the relationship between an initially disordered structure and a highly organized one and at least one of the paths between the two. We're excited because we believe the concept of directed self-assembly will enable a scalable form of nanotechnology," he said.

nanotweezers

For knowing more about noanotweezers you can check this given link! http://www.optofluidicscorp.com/products2/

Newly Demonstrated Capabilities of Low-Powered Nanotweezers May Benefit Cellular-Level Studies

Experimental setup schematic showing laser source, microscope, and imaging detector and spectrometer. The inset illustrates the two different sample configurations that were explored; red arrows correspond to the input polarization directions and black arrows depict the propagation vector. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Illinois College of Engineering)

 Using ultra-low input power densities, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated for the first time how low-power "optical nanotweezers" can be used to trap, manipulate, and probe nanoparticles, including fragile biological samples.

The paper also demonstrated enhancement of trap stiffness of up to 2x that of a comparable continuous-wave (CW) nanotweezers and 5x that of conventional optical tweezers that employ a fs source; successful trapping and tweezing of spherical particles ranging from 80-nm to 1.2-um in diameter, metal, dielectric, and both fluorescent and non- fluorescent particles; enhancement of two-photon fluorescent signal from trapped microparticles in comparison to the response without the presence of the BNAs; enhancement of the second-harmonic signal of ~3.5x for the combined nanoparticle-BNA system compared to the bare BNAs; and fusing of Ag nanoparticles to the BNAS.

Scientists Differentiate Chemical Bonds in Individual Molecules for First Time Using Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy

IBM scientists have been able to differentiate the chemical bonds in individual molecules for the first time using a technique known as noncontact atomic force microscopy (AFM).

The results push the exploration of using molecules and atoms at the smallest scale and could be important for studying graphene devices, which are currently being explored by both industry and academia for applications including high-bandwidth wireless communication and electronic displays.

Add caption

Bond Order Discrimination: A nanographene molecule exhibiting carbon-carbon bonds of different length and bond order imaged by noncontact atomic force microscopy using a carbon monoxide functionalized tip. This molecule was synthesized by Centro de Investigación en Química Biolóxica e Materiais Moleculares (CIQUS) at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. (Credit: IBM Research - Zurich)

BUCKY BALLS!

Bucky balls its actually fullerence! allotrope of carbon! i'm having a project on buckyball! busy preparing it! will upload a snap of my finished project next month! may be it's expected that i will finish it by next month! hehehe anyway its just a model.

Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing

ASME is launching the Journal of Micro- and Nano-Manufacturing as the latest addition to the Transactions of the ASME journal series. This new title provides a forum for the rapid dissemination of original theoretical and applied research in the areas of micro- and nano-manufacturing that are related to process innovation, accuracy and precision, throughput enhancement, material utilization, compact equipment development, environmental and life-cycle analysis and predictive modeling of manufacturing processes with feature sizes less than one hundred micrometers.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: unit micro- and nano-manufacturing processes; hybrid manufacturing processes combining bottom-up and top-down processes; hybrid manufacturing processes utilizing various energy sources (optical, mechanical, electrical, solar, etc.) to achieve multi-scale features and resolution; high-throughput micro- and nano-manufacturing processes; equipment development; predictive modeling and simulation of materials and/or systems enabling point-of-need or scaled-up micro- and nano-manufacturing; metrology at the micro- and nano-scales over large areas; sensors and sensor integration; design algorithms for multi-scale manufacturing; life cycle analysis; logistics and material handling related to micro- and nano-manufacturing. Papers addressing special needs in emerging areas, such as biomedical devices, drug manufacturing, water and energy, are also encouraged.  check the sitehttp://www.asmedl.org/MicroNanoManufacturing/

Nanoengineers Can Print 3-D Microstructures in Mere Seconds

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel technology that can fabricate, in mere seconds, microscale three dimensional (3D) structures out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Near term, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory. Long-term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine. For example, in the future, doctors may repair the damage caused by heart attack by replacing it with tissue that rolled off of a printer.

Reported in the journal Advanced Materials, the biofabrication technology, called dynamic optical projection stereolithography (DOPsL), was developed in the laboratory of NanoEngineering Professor Shaochen Chen. Current fabrication techniques, such as photolithography and micro-contact printing, are limited to generating simple geometries or 2D patterns. Stereolithography is best known for its ability to print large objects such as tools and car parts. The difference, says Chen, is in the micro- and nanoscale resolution required to print tissues that mimic nature's fine-grained details, including blood vessels, which are essential for distributing nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Without the ability to print vasculature, an engineered liver or kidney, for example, is useless in regenerative medicine. With DOPsL, Chen's team was able to achieve more complex geometries common in nature such as flowers, spirals and hemispheres. Other current 3D fabrication techniques, such as two-photon photopolymerization, can take hours to fabricate a 3D part.

The biofabrication technique uses a computer projection system and precisely controlled micromirrors to shine light on a selected area of a solution containing photo-sensitive biopolymers and cells. This photo-induced solidification process forms one layer of solid structure at a time, but in a continuous fashion. The technology is part of a new biofabrication technology that Chen is developing under a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01EB012597). The Obama administration in March launched a $1 billion investment in advanced manufacturing technologies, including creating the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute with $30 million in federal funding to focus on 3D printing. The term "additive manufacturing" refers to the way 3D structures are built layering very thin materials.

NanoEngineering Professor Shaochen Chen has demonstrated the capability of printing three-dimensional blood vessels in mere seconds out of soft, biocompatible hydrogels. Being able to print blood vessels is essential to achieving the promise of regenerative medicine because it is how the body distributes oxygen and nutrients. (Credit: Biomedical Nanotechnology Laboratory, Chen Research Group, UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering)

The Chen Research Group is focused on fabrication of nanostructured biomaterials and nanophotonics for biomedical engineering applications and recently moved into the new Structural and Materials Engineering Building, which is bringing nano and structural engineers, medical device labs and visual artists into a collaborative environment under one roof.

Nanosolar (test post)

Nanosolar can become the solar industry cost-leader at several hundred megawatts (MWs) of annual production versus the gigawatts (GWs) of production required by other manufacturers, due to our next-generation technological innovation.  Our proprietary approach to printing CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenium) and nanoparticle inks minimizes our use of expensive, high vacuum manufacturing equipment. Our printed CIGS solar cells and panels can reach efficiencies competitive with crystalline silicon panels in the next several years. And, the Nanosolar Utility Panel’s innovative design significantly reduces balance-of-system costs through less mounting hardware, electrical cabling and installation labor.

The end result is a lower levelized cost of energy than competing solar technologies.