NANO @ IOWA

News from the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute at UI
September 23, 2015 Items in red are new this issue.

(Others are carried forward from previous issues.)

1.  Upcoming conferences and seminars including nanoscience and nanotechnology:

·  Biochemistry seminar: Following nature's lead in constructing membrane protein nanodisc complexes

Mark Fisher, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center

Thursday September 24, 10.30-11.30 am, Medical Education Research Facility, 2117, 375 Newton Road, University of Iowa

·  SPIE: Scanning Microscopies

Monterey, California

September 29 – October 1, 2015

http://spie.org/x104030.xml

·  International Symposium on Clusters and Nanomaterials (ISCAN)

Richmond, Virgina

October 26-29, 2015

http://www.iscan.vcu.edu

·  SETAC North America 36th Annual Meeting

Salt Lake City, Utah

November 1-5, 2015

http://www.setac.org/events/event_details.asp?id=489394&group=

·  2015 SNO Conference

Portland, OR

November 8-10, 2015

http://susnano.org/SNO2015/conferenceOverview2015.html

·  5th International Conference on Nanotek and Expo

San Antonio, Texas

November 16-18, 2015

http://nanotechnologyexpo.conferenceseries.com/

·  International Electron Devices Meeting

Washington, D.C.

December 7-9, 2015

http://www.his.com/~iedm/

·  Nanotech 2016

Tokyo, Japan

January 27-29, 2016

http://www.nanotechexpo.jp/

·  Society of Toxicology 55th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo

New Orleans, LA

March 13-17, 2016

https://www.toxicology.org/events/am/AM2016/

·  International Nanotechnology Conference and Expo

Baltimore, MD

April 4-6, 2016

http://nanotech.madridge.com/

2.  Upcoming grant opportunities and funding requests in nanoscience and nanotechnology:

·  Bioengineering Research Grants

National Institutes of Health PAR-13-137

Deadline Date: September 25, 2015

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-13-137.html

·  Use of the NASA Physical Sciences Informatics System

NASA NNH15ZTT001N-15PSI_A

Deadline Date: September 30, 2015

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?method=init&solId={88074AD3-2C25-81A8-6EED-D87C6C7459D1}&path=open

·  Agricultural and Food Research Initiative – Foundational Program

USDA USDA-NIFA-AFRI-004915

Deadline Date: September 30, 2015 (Letter of Intent)

http://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/agriculture-and-food-research-initiative-foundational-program

·  Nanomaterials Health Implications Research (NHIR): Comprehensive Evaluation of Interactions between Engineered Nanomaterials and Biological System

National Institutes of Health RFA-ES-15-013

Deadline dates: October 5, 2015 (Internal deadline); November 30, 2015 (Proposal deadline)

https://research.uiowa.edu/grantTrack/preselection.php?get=uiwins&GrantID=18105&Type=2

·  Nano-Biosensing

National Science Foundation PD 14-7909

Deadline dates: October 1 – 20, 2015

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503353

·  Interfacial Processes and Thermodynamics

National Science Foundation PD 14-1414

Deadline dates: October 1 – 20, 2015

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13362

·  Fluid Dynamics

National Science Foundation PD 14-1443

Deadline dates: October 1 – 20, 2015

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13365

·  Nano-Bio Phenomena and Processes in the Environment

National Science Foundation PD 15-1179

Deadline dates: October 1 – 20, 2015

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501030&amp%3BWT.mc_id=USNSF_25&amp%3BWT.mc_ev=click

·  Environmental Sustainability

National Science Foundation PD 15-7643

Deadline dates: October 1 – 20, 2015

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501027

·  Electronics, Photonics and Magnetic Devices

National Science Foundation PD 13-1517

Deadline Dates: October 1 – November 2, 2015

http://nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13379

·  Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems

National Science Foundation PD 13-7564

Deadline dates: October 1 – November 2, 2015

http://nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13381

·  NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program MRI Instrument Acquisition or Development

National Science Foundation 15-504

Deadline Dates: October 30, 2015 (Internal deadline); January 13, 2016 (Sponsor deadline)

https://research.uiowa.edu/grantTrack/preselection.php?get=uiwins&GrantID=18031&Type=2

·  Fiscal Year 2016 National Environmental Information Exchange Network

Environmental Protection Agency EPA-OEI-16-01

Deadline Date: November 13, 2015

http://www2.epa.gov/exchangenetwork/fiscal-year-2016-national-environmental-information-exchange-network-grant-program

·  Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)

National Science Foundation 15-528

Deadline Dates: December 8, 2015 (Internal deadline); February 16, 2016 (Sponsor deadline)

https://research.uiowa.edu/grantTrack/preselection.php?get=uiwins&GrantID=18060&Type=2

·  OVPRED Internal Funding Initiatives (IFI)

University of Iowa

Deadline dates: December 15, 2015 and March 22, 2016

http://research.uiowa.edu/researchers/find-funding/internal-funding-initiatives-ifi

·  Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)

National Science Foundation 15-608

Deadline dates: January 4 – 19, 2016

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15608/nsf15608.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click

·  2015 Broad Agency Announcement Engineer Research and Development Center

Department of Defense FOA Number: W912HZ-15-BAA-01

Deadline Date: January 31, 2016

http://nano.gov/node/1373

·  NIST Measurement Science Research: Material Measurement; Physical Measurement; Engineering; Fire Research; Information Technology; Communications Technology; Neutron Research; Nanoscale Science

National Institute of Standards and Technology 2015-NIST-MSE-01

Deadline Date: June 1, 2016

http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=277027

·  FY2016 Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, Water Systems (INFEWS)

National Science Foundation 15-108

Deadline Date: September 30, 2016

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15108/nsf15108.jsp#ref1

·  Army Research Laboratory BAA for Basic and Applied Scientific Research

Department of Defense FOA Number: W911NF-12-R-0011

Deadline Date: March 31, 2017

http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=8

·  Image-guided Drug Delivery in Cancer

National Institutes for Health (NIH) FOA Number: PA-09-253

Deadline Dates: January 25, May 25, and September 25, annually

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-253.html

·  Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants

National Institutes for Health (NIH) FOA Number: PA-12-284

Deadline Dates: January 25, May 25, and September 25, annually

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-284.html

·  Development of Multifunctional Drug and Gene Delivery Systems

National Institutes for Health (NIH) FOA Number: PA-10-048

Deadline Dates: February 5, June 5, and October 5, annually

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-048.html

·  Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine

National Institutes of Health (NIH) FOA Number: PA-11-148

Deadline Dates: February 5, June 5, October 5, annually

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-148.html

·  Bioengineering Nanotechnology Initiative

National Institutes of Health (NIH) FOA Number: PA-10-149

Deadline Dates: April 5, August 5, December 5, annually

http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=53500

·  Cancer Diagnostic and Therapeautic Agents Enabled by Nanotechnology

National Institutes of Health (NIH) FOA Number: PAR-10-286

Deadline Dates: April 5, August 5, December 5, annually

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-10-286.html

3.  Recent news and updates from NNI:

·  University of Iowa joins national Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

The University of Iowa has been added as a partner to the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional research center based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Professor Sara Mason in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is one of three computational chemists to join the center.

http://now.uiowa.edu/2015/08/small-particle-frontier?utm_source=IANowStaff&utm_medium=nano&utm_campaign=IANowStaff-8-31-2015

4.  Highlights of some new interesting nanoscience and nanotechnology research and articles:

·  Team develops method for scaling up production of thin electronic material

Sheets of graphene and other materials that are virtually two-dimensional hold great promise for electronic, optical, and other high-tech applications. But the biggest limitation in unleashing this potential has been figuring out how to make these materials in the form of anything larger than tiny flakes. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere may have found a way to do so. The group has determined a way to make large sheets of one such material, called molybdenum telluride, or MoTe2. The team says their method is also likely to work for many similar 2-D materials, and could make widespread applications feasible. The findings have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society by a team including MIT postdoc Lin Zhou; professors Mildred Dresselhaus, Jing Kong, and Tomás Palacios; and eight others at MIT, the China University of Petroleum, Central South University in China, the National Tsing-hua University in Taiwan, and Saitama University and Tohoku University in Japan. "This material has a similar bandgap to silicon"—a characteristic needed in order to make transistors and solar cells—"and in single-layer form it has a direct bandgap," Zhou says, which allows better light emission. "It also has strong absorption for solar radiation," which is key to making practical solar cells, she says.

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-team-method-scaling-production-thin.html

·  Nanoscaffolds as a modular platform for biosensor assembly

Tumor markers are biological substances, usually proteins, that provide early indication of cancerous or benign tumors in the body. The markers have a story to tell about what’s going on behind the scenes, but they need help translating it — help that comes from biosensors, which convert biological elements into signals that can be detected and analyzed.

Modern nanofabrication methods have contributed to recent progress in biosensor technology, but challenges remain in developing biosensor assembly platforms that meet important preparation and performance criteria. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Delaware has developed a new approach that meets at least three of these criteria: system modularity, good signal amplification, and easy purification.

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=41381.php

·  Science provides new way to peer into pores

Rice University scientists led a project to "see" and measure the space in porous materials, even if that space is too small or fragile for traditional microscopes. The Rice lab of chemist Christy Landes invented a technique to characterize such nanoscale spaces, an important advance toward her group's ongoing project to efficiently separate "proteins of interest" for drug manufacture. It should also benefit the analysis of porous materials of all kinds, like liquid crystals, hydrogels, polymers and even biological substances like cytosol, the compartmentalized fluids in cells. The research with collaborators at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Kansas State University appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. It's easy to use a fluorescent chemical compound to tag, or "label," a material and take a picture of it, Landes said. "But what if the thing you want a picture of is mostly nothing? That's the problem we had to solve to understand what was going on in the separation material." The team aims to improve protein separation in a process called chromatography, in which solutions flow through porous material in a column. Because different materials travel at different speeds, the components separate and can be purified.

"We learned that in agarose, a porous material used to separate proteins, the clustering of charges is very important," Landes said. While the protein project succeeded, "when we matched experimental data to our theory, there was something additional contributing to the separation that we couldn't explain."

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-science-peer-pores.html

·  Gold ‘Sponge’ Sensor Can Handle Messy Samples

Sponge-like nanoporous gold could be key to new devices for detecting disease-causing agents in humans and plants, say researchers. Two recent papers demonstrate that the team could detect nucleic acids using nanoporous gold, a novel sensor-coating material, in mixtures of other biomolecules that would gum up most detectors. This method enables sensitive detection of DNA in complex biological samples, such as serum from whole blood. “Nanoporous gold can be imagined as a porous metal sponge with pore sizes that are a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair,” says senior author Erkin Şeker, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of California, Davis. The findings appeared online in the journal Analytical Chemistry in April and August. “What happens is the debris in biological samples, such as proteins, is too large to go through those pores, but the fiber-like nucleic acids that we want to detect can actually fit through them. It’s almost like a natural sieve.”

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1752443-gold-sponge-sensor-can-handle-messy-samples/

About NANO @ IOWA
NANO @ IOWA is a biweekly electronicnewsletter to informfaculty, staff andstudents about important newsand events innanoscience and nanotechnology.This newsletter is provided as aservice of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Instituteat UI (NNI).

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