Skip to main content

Highlights

Jun 12, 2020
Big Idea: Understanding the Rules of Life

Manipulating Solid Forms of Contact Insecticides for Infectious Disease Prevention

X. Zhu, C. T. Hu, J. Yang, L. A. Joyce, M. Qiu, M. D. Ward, B. Kahr

MRSEC investigators rediscovered DFDT and found that amorphous and crystalline forms of DFDT and a mono-fluorinated chiral congener, MFDT were more active against Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes, the former the disease vector for malaria and the latter for Zika, yellow fever, dengue, and chikungunya.
Jun 12, 2020
NYU Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (2014)

Path to the PhD Panel Discussion

NYU MRSEC & NYU CSTEP

NYU-MRSEC pursues its partnership with NYU-CSTEP (Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program). The Center was invited to give a guest lecture as part of the NYU-CSTEP Research Initiative. 
Jun 12, 2020
Big Idea: Quantum Leap

Test-Tube Gemstones

Stefano Sacanna, New York University

The research funded by this grant has enabled  to develop a conceptually new approach to colloidal self-assembly that borrows no material from biology and entirely relies on the innate charge that any colloidal particle develops in water.
Top: In medium alone, P. aeruginosa (green) attaches to host cells (bright field), triggering cellular rounding and death (red). 
Bottom: The presence of mucin prevents P. aeruginosa from attaching to and killing host cells, thus maintaining a healthy host cell monolayer without rounded morphology.
Top: In medium alone, P. aeruginosa (green) attaches to host cells (bright field), triggering cellular rounding and death (red). Bottom: The presence of mucin prevents P. aeruginosa from attaching to and killing host cells, thus maintaining a healthy host cell monolayer without rounded morphology.
Jun 10, 2020
Big Idea: Understanding the Rules of Life

Mucin Glycans Regulate Microbial Virulence

Katharina Ribbeck

A slimy layer of mucus serves as the first line of defense against problematic microbes like the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We have identified mucins, the major gel-forming components of mucus, and their complex sugar structures (glycans) as protective molecules that suppress microbial virulence traits including toxin secretion, bacterial communication, and surface attachment.
Schematic diagram showing the nanoemulsion system and thermally-induced surfactant displacement. By displacing charged surfactants we can change the droplet-droplet interactions and induce gelation.
Schematic diagram showing the nanoemulsion system and thermally-induced surfactant displacement. By displacing charged surfactants we can change the droplet-droplet interactions and induce gelation.
Jun 10, 2020
Big Idea: Quantum Leap

Thermally Induced Surfactant Displacement to Induce Colloidal Gelation

Patrick Doyle

Doyle has discovered a new way to thermally-induce gelation of nanoemulsions. They developed a platform wherein colloidal gelation is controlled by tuning repulsive interactions.
(a) Functional filament is quickly fed through a short hot end to print a 3D star structure. (b) Filament surface heating allows the outer cladding to be heated above its Tg, while the inner core of the filament is maintained at a lower temperature, preserving its structure. (c, d) Cross-sectional images of fused microstructured filaments, which can be further shaped into 3D cm-scale objects. (e) Schematic of a printed airplane wing with light-emitting and photodetecting functionalities for detecting structural defects. The top and bottom print layers of the airplane wing are light-emitters, and the middle 3 layers are photodetectors. (f) Photograph of printed airplane wing; scale bar, 2 cm. The locations of structural defects can be determined by measuring the magnitude of the photocurrent after defects are made and correlating the photocurrent magnitude with the severed length of the photodetecting filament.
(a) Functional filament is quickly fed through a short hot end to print a 3D star structure. (b) Filament surface heating allows the outer cladding to be heated above its Tg, while the inner core of the filament is maintained at a lower temperature, preserving its structure. (c, d) Cross-sectional images of fused microstructured filaments, which can be further shaped into 3D cm-scale objects. (e) Schematic of a printed airplane wing with light-emitting and photodetecting functionalities for detecting structural defects. The top and bottom print layers of the airplane wing are light-emitters, and the middle 3 layers are photodetectors. (f) Photograph of printed airplane wing; scale bar, 2 cm. The locations of structural defects can be determined by measuring the magnitude of the photocurrent after defects are made and correlating the photocurrent magnitude with the severed length of the photodetecting filament.
Jun 10, 2020
Big Idea: Quantum Leap

Tunable Persistent Random Walk in Swimming

A. Izzet, P. Moerman, P. Gross, J. Groenewold, A. D. Hollingsworth, J. Bibette, and J. Brujic, New York University

Here we explain the molecular engine of droplet motion that gives rise to their persistent random walk. This result allows us to tune their swimming speed and turning frequency over a range that is much broader than that of solid active particles.
Jun 10, 2020
Big Idea: Quantum Leap

A hydrogen-bonded framework toolkit for molecular structure determination

Y. Li, S. Tang, A. Yusov, J. Rose, A. Borrfors, C. T. Hu, M. D. Ward

MRSEC investigators reported that a versatile toolkit of guanidinium organosulfonate hydrogen-bonded host frameworks can form inclusion compounds with complex “stubborn” molecules that cannot be crystallized or form suitable single crystals for X-ray diffraction analysis by themselves, enabling determination of their molecular structure.
Jun 10, 2020
MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering (2014)

A general framework for nanoscale electromagnetism

John D. Joannopoulos and Marin Soljačić, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The d parameters are a convenient parametrization for surface-related, quantum corrections. We  establish  a  systematic  approach  to measure the d parameter dispersion of a general two-material interface.
Jun 10, 2020
MIT Center for Materials Science and Engineering (2014)

Voltage Control of Optical Properties by Ionic Gating

Geoffrey Beach, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Using a simple device structure, it has been shown that electrical control of optical properties can be achieved through electrochemical hydrogen gating, sourced from moisture in the air.