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The University of Maryland (UMD) MRSEC joined the NISE Network in the nation-wide effort to bring nanoscience to communities across the country during the week of March 29 - April 6, 2008.

Graphene (2-D carbon) is being considered for spintronics due to its low spin-orbit coupling. While graphene-based devices are being made one-at-a-time successfully, there is a need for a high-throughput fabrication method.

Immucor, Inc., a global leader in transfusion and transplantation diagnostics, has acquired Sentilus, Inc., a company focused on developing a novel, inkjet-printed antibody microarray-based technology called Femtoarrays™.

  Heterogeneous brittle solids such as ceramics, lamellar intermetallics, and  olycrystalline hexagonal-close-packed (hcp) metals such as Zr, Zn and Cd are   echnologically important and broadly used. Zirconium, for example, has a low  bsorption cross section for neutrons, and is therefore used in nuclear energy pplications. Titanium aluminide (TiAl) is a candidate material for many

Professor Buehler of IRG-II has employed atomistic-based multiscale simulations to theoretically demonstrate the concept of “mechanomutability," i.e. the capability of a material to change its mechanical properties reversibly in response to an external stimulus.

MRSEC researchers have used newly developed loop counting methods to precisely measure the storage moduli and loop fractions of a range of rubbery gels. A new theory, called Real Elastic Network Theory (RENT) was derived that describes how loop defects affect bulk elasticity.

Researchers at Yale University have invented a high-performance material for future generations of transistors and devices. New oxide materials are required to make faster computer chips for the future. These new oxides will replace the oxide that has been the standard for the last 50 years, silicon dioxide. To replace silicon dioxide, these new oxides must perform better by having a large dielectric constant and a small leakage current. The oxide LaAlO3 has a dielectric constant that is six times larger than that of silicon dioxide.

Professor Belcher previously engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire. In the new work, the research team created a cathode to pair with the anode: they genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then attach to carbon nanotubes to create a highly conductive material.

Block copolymers, with their complex morphologies, are widely used in many applications. A grand challenge associated with these materials is accelerating their design and discovery. UC Santa Barbara MRSEC researchers have developed a versatile and efficient strategy by rapidly building expansive, high-quality, and detailed block copolymer libraries through a combination of controlled polymerization and chromatographic separation. X-ray scattering studies aid in screening block copolymer morphology.

Hydrogels are hydrated three-dimensional networksof hydrophilic polymers that are commonly used in the biomedical industry due to their mechanical and structural tunability, biocompatibility, and similar water content to biological tissues.