News Archive for 2009
Ten grad students awarded life sciences fellowships
Cornell has announced that 10 new graduate students were selected for this year's Presidential Life Sciences Fellowships, a program intended to help form integrative new disciplines within the life... read more
New research offers clues to how shells grow in nature
Single crystals of the mineral calcite -- the chief material in limestone -- are predictable, homogeneous and, well, a little boring.But scientists have long marveled at how biological crystals of... read more
Recent work featured on the cover of Integrative Biology
A recent Craighead Group paper on parylene peel arrays for cell patterning has been featured on the cover of Volume 1 Issue 10. read more
Small optical force can budge nanoscale objects
With a bit of leverage, Cornell researchers have used a very tiny beam of light with as little as 1 milliwatt of power to move a silicon structure up to 12 nanometers. That's enough to completely... read more
Researcher works toward making biological imaging 1,000 times faster with stimulus grant
Fluorescence lifetime imaging is a useful but relatively complex technique for probing the local microenvironment of a fluorescent molecule. The method can be used to help determine biochemical... read more
Researchers find reliable, mess-free way to grow graphene
Single layers of carbon atoms, called graphene sheets, are lightweight, strong, electrically semi-conducting -- and notoriously difficult and expensive to make. read more
'Temporal telescope' compresses optical signals
Cornell researchers have developed an ingenious method to time-compress optical signals. The process could enable optical communication systems to carry many more bits per second or could also be... read more
Stimulus funds to pay for equipment at nanoscale facility
The Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) has received $1.38 million in federal stimulus funds to help with equipment upgrades.CNF is one of 14 members of the National... read more
Battling cancer with engineering: National Cancer Institute funds Cornell-led $13 million research center
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has funded the new Center on the Microenvironment and Metastasis, which will be headquartered at Cornell. The center will focus on using nanobiotechnology and... read more
Student inventions -- artificial tissue networks and a skull base sealer -- honored in competition
Using a cotton candy machine to make artificial tissues with an embedded vascular system and a skull base sealer to help surgeons repair holes in the base of the skull after surgery are two... read more
Harold Craighead wins research honor from UPenn
The University of Pennsylvania's Nano/BioInterface Center has presented its annual Award for Research Excellence in Nanotechnology to Harold Craighead, Cornell's C.W. Lake Professor of Engineering. read more
Piezoresistive transduction in multilayer polycrystalline silicon resonators
A new paper has been published by J. D. Cross et al. in the journal Applied Physics Letters. These resonators, fabricated from highly doped polycrystalline silicon layers separated by a dielectric... read more
'Time telescope' could boost web
Researchers have demonstrated a "time telescope" that could squeeze much more information into the data packets sent around the internet. read more
Researchers receive prestigious NIH grants
The Transformative R01 grants are awarded for "exceptionally innovative, high-risk and unconventional research projects that have the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms." The... read more
A method for nanofluidic device prototyping using elastomeric collapse
A new paper has been published by S.-M. Park et al. in the journal PNAS, demonstrating a technique for nanofluidic fabrication based on the controlled collapse of microchannel structures. read more
Stimulus funds help synchrotron research, Energy Recovery Linac stay the course
The National Science Foundation is continuing its support of Cornell's world-renowned synchrotron X-ray research facility, thanks in part to federal stimulus funding.Nearly $19 million allocated this... read more
Carbon nanotubes could make efficient solar cells
Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to... read more
As Jefferson fellow, Paul Kintner to spend the year at the State Department
Paul Kintner, professor of electrical and computer engineering, will advise the U.S. government on global positioning systems (GPS), space weather, navigation satellite systems and other... read more
U.S. News & World Report ranks five CU programs in top 10
In its 2010 rankings, U.S. News and World Report ranks Cornell second in the category for undergraduate engineering science/engineering physics programs at doctorate-granting schools. read more
Labeling and purification of cellulose-binding proteins for high resolution fluorescence applications
A new paper has been published by Jose M. Moran-Mirabal et al. in the journal Analytical Chemistry, demonstrating a new protocol for labeling cellulases with three different fluorophores and their... read more
Parylene peel-off arrays to probe the role of cell-cell interactions in tumour angiogenesis
A new manuscript has been published by C. P. Tan et al. in the journal Integrative Biology. This work uses parylene as a stencil in order to pattern arrays of material which cells preferentially bind... read more
Synchrotron unveils long-hidden N.C. Wyeth painting
Stubborn layers of paint had kept them hidden for several decades, but the bluish, purplish and reddish hues of a 1919 painting by 20th-century artist N.C. Wyeth have finally come to light, thanks to... read more
Detection of prostate specific antigen with nanomechanical resonators
A new paper has been published by P. S. Waggoner et al. in the journal Lab on a Chip, demonstrating the detection of prostate specific antigen, a biomarker used for prostate cancer detection. The... read more
Prion Protein detection in serum using micromechanical resonator arrays
A new paper has been published by Madhukar Varshney et al. in the journal Talanta, demonstrating the detection of Prion proteins in serum using secondary mass labeling. read more
Three faculty members invited to National Academy of Engineering symposium
Three Cornell faculty members from among the nation's "brightest young engineers" have been invited to participate in the 2009 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Sept. 10-12, at the National... read more
Micromechanical drumhead resonators for pressure sensing
A new paper has been published from D.R. Southworth et al. entitled, "Pressure dependent resonant frequency of micromechanical drumhead resonators," in Applied Physics Letters. These devices were... read more
New paper published on high-Q, in-plane resonators operated in air
Recent results showing that side-to-side vibration of nanomechanical resonators feature high quality factors at atmospheric pressures have been published by P. S. Waggoner et al. in the Journal of... read more
DNA molecules engineered to detect pathogens
First, Cornell researchers created DNA "bar codes" -- strands of the genetic material that quickly identify the presence of different molecules by fluorescing. Now, they have created new DNA... read more
Metal sheets with DNA framework could enable future nanocircuits
Using DNA not as a genetic material but as a structural support, Cornell researchers have created thin sheets of gold nanoparticles held together by strands of DNA. The work could prove useful for... read more
Cornell team shares in grant to see how graphene can replace silicon in microchips
Silicon has been the main ingredient in microchips since they replaced vacuum tubes in electronics. But the common element graphene, found in pencils, may one day supplant silicon on the... read more
CU, Ireland nanoscientists to co-host workshop in Dublin
Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) and colleagues in Ireland are co-hosting an International Workshop on Nanotechnology Enabled Sensors and Diagnostics, June 4-5 at Dublin City University,... read more
Recent research selected for inclusion in the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology
A paper recently published by P. S. Waggoner et al., High-Q, in-plane modes of nanomechanical resonators operated in air, has been chosen for virtual publication in the May 18th issue of the Virtual... read more
The Harry Potter effect: Cornell researchers experiment with making objects 'invisible'
Somewhat the way Harry Potter can cover himself with a cloak and become invisible, Cornell researchers have developed a device that can make it seem that a bump in a carpet -- or, indeed, any flat... read more
Small Times again ranks Cornell among top 10 nanotechnology institutions
Small Times magazine's annual rankings of institutions for nanotechnology research and innovation have once again placed Cornell in the top 10 of each of six categories. read more
Stimulus money will fuel energy research and add jobs
Cornell researchers have won federal stimulus funding for three projects that will help meet the nation's future energy needs, with additional state support for one project. The proposals are the... read more
Lois Pollack seeks answers to questions at the forefront of molecular biology
Lois Pollack loves to build tools. One of her favorites is a paper-thin purple square of silicon, less than an inch across, with channels thinner than a human hair. "This is one of the earlier mixers... read more
Recent aptamer publication featured as "Hot Article" by RSC
A recently published paper from S.-M. Park et al. in Lab on a Chip DOI:10.1039/b819905a has been featured on the Royal Society of Chemistry website as a "Hot Article." This work describes a... read more
Putting the squeeze on an old material could lead to 'instant on' electronic memory
The technology of storing electronic information -- from old cassette tapes to shiny laptop computers -- has been a major force in the electronics industry for decades.Low-power, high-efficiency... read more
Sugar-based microfluidics paper featured on cover of Soft Matter
A recently published paper from Leon Bellan et al. using cotton candy to form dense microfluidic channels for artificial tissue in Soft Matter DOI:10.1039/b819905a has been featured on the front... read more
Relationship Between the Design and Sensitivity of Resonant Sensors
A new paper has been published by Philip S. Waggoner and Harold G. Craighead in the Journal of Applied Physics, DOI:10.1063/1.3079793, looking into how resonator design affects the detection... read more
Funding renewed for national nanotechnology network
A high-profile consortium of nanotechnology research centers, of which Cornell is the lead institution and a founding member, has received a five-year renewal grant from the National Science... read more
Cotton Candy Can Help Labs Grow Tissue, featured in Discovery News
In an effort to improve the relatively thick artificial tissue implants, a cotton candy based approach has been developed to form a widespread and interconnected network of microfluidic channels.... read more
Nanotech facility receives five-year renewal grant from NSF
Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) has received another five years of funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).The facility, which is the flagship of Cornell's... read more
Carbon nanotube 'ink' may lead to thinner, lighter transistors and solar cells
Using a simple chemical process, scientists at Cornell and DuPont have invented a method of preparing carbon nanotubes for suspension in a semiconducting "ink," which can then be printed into such... read more
