NANO @ IOWA
News from the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute at UI
November 18, 2015
Items in red are new this issue.
(Others are carried forward from previous issues.)
1. Upcoming conferences and seminars including nanoscience and nanotechnology:

“Quantitative Confocal Imaging of Nanoporous Silica”
Yan Hu, Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa
E232 Adler Journalism Building, University of Iowa
Thursday November 19, 12.30-1.20pm

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/

Pacific Conference on Spectroscopy and Dynamics
Pacific Grove, CA
January 28-31, 2016
http://www.cvent.com/events/63rd-pacific-conference-on-spectroscopy-and-dynamics/eventsummary-984c0d26160043038577d0ae64cf1a51.aspx

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/

Nanotech 2016
Washington, DC
May 22-25, 2016
http://www.techconnectworld.com/Nanotech2016/
2. Upcoming grant opportunities and funding requests in nanoscience and nanotechnology:

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

Scalable Nanomanufacturing
National Science Foundation
16-513
Deadline Dates: December 8, 2015 (Internal deadline); February 16, 2016 (Sponsor deadline)
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505265

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

CHEEC seed grant research proposals
University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination
Deadline date: January 4, 2016
http://research.uiowa.edu/impact/news/cheec-seed-grant-research-proposals-are-due-january-4

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=clic
k

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

Materials Engineering and Processing
National Science Foundation
PD 13-8092
Deadline Dates: February 1 – 16, 2016
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504950

Nanomanufacturing
National Science Foundation
PD 16-1788
Deadline Dates: February 1 – 16, 2016
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13347&org=NSF

Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology
National Institutes of Health
PAR-14-285
Deadline Dates: April 14, 2016 and October 13, 2016
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-14-285.html

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:

David Cwiertny named one of the directors of UI Public Policy Center
Associate Professor David Cwiertny has been named the new director of the Environmental
Policy Research Program of the UI Public Policy Center. Cwiertny is an executive committee
member of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute, an associate professor in civil and
environmental engineering and a core faculty member in the campus wide Water Sustainability
Initiative. His research program broadly focuses on pollutant fate in natural and engineered
systems, with particular expertise related to emerging pollutant transformation pathways and
the development of nanomaterial-based treatment technologies that promote water
sustainability.

NNI Announce Keynote Speaker for Winter 2016 Symposium
The Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Institute announce Professor Karen Wooley, W. T. DohertyWelch Professor Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University as this
year's symposium keynote speaker! Professor Wooley has served as the director of a Program of
Excellence in Nanotechnology, which is financed by the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute, was the recipient of the 2014 Centenary Prize of Royal Society of Chemistry, and
serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society. In 2015,
Professor Wooley was recognized by and named as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences for her expertise in the novel development of degradable polymers. Her group
focuses on both fundamental and applied studies of these materials for the diagnosis and
treatment of disease, use as non-toxic anti-biofouling coatings, and applications such as ultrahigh resolution photoresists for microelectronics patterning. The NNI Winter 2016 Symposium
will take place on Friday February 12, 2016. Please check the symposium event page for
upcoming further details: http://nanotech.uiowa.edu/events/nanoscience-and-nanotechnologywinter-symposium-2016
4. Highlights of some new interesting nanoscience and nanotechnology research and articles:

A new way to look at metal organic frameworks
An international collaboration of scientists led by Omar Yaghi, a renowned chemist with the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has developed a technique they dubbed
"gas adsorption crystallography" that provides a new way to study the process by which metalorganic frameworks (MOFs) - 3D crystals with extraordinarily large internal surface areas - are
able to store immense volumes of gases such a carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. This
new look at MOFs led to a discovery that holds promise for the improved design of MOFs
tailored specifically for carbon capture, or for the use of hydrogen and natural gas (methane)
fuels. "Up to this point we have been shooting in the dark in our designing of MOFs without
really understanding the fundamental reasons for why one MOF is better than another," says
Yaghi. "Our new study expands our view and thinking about MOFs by introducing gas-gas
interactions and their organization into superlattices that are a major factor in achieving high
storage capacity for gases."
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=41801.php

Onion-like layers help this efficient new nanoparticle glow
A new, onion-like nanoparticle could open new frontiers in biomaging, solar energy harvesting
and light-based security techniques. The particle's innovation lies in its layers: a coating of
organic dye, a neodymium-containing shell, and a core that incorporates ytterbium and thulium.
Together, these strata convert invisible near-infrared light to higher energy blue and UV light
with record-high efficiency, a trick that could improve the performance of technologies ranging
from deep-tissue imaging and light-induced therapy to security inks used for printing money.
When it comes to bioimaging, near-infrared light could be used to activate the light-emitting
nanoparticles deep inside the body, providing high-contrast images of areas of interest. In the
realm of security, nanoparticle-infused inks could be incorporated into currency designs; such
ink would be invisible to the naked eye, but glow blue when hit by a low-energy laser pulse—a
trait very difficult for counterfeiters to reproduce. "It opens up multiple possibilities for the
future," says Tymish Ohulchanskyy, deputy director of photomedicine and research associate
professor at the Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics (ILPB) at the University at
Buffalo. "By creating special layers that help transfer energy efficiently from the surface of the
particle to the core, which emits blue and UV light, our design helps overcome some of the
long-standing obstacles that previous technologies faced," says Guanying Chen, professor of
chemistry at Harbin Institute of Technology and ILPB research associate professor.
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-onion-like-layers-efficient-nanoparticle.html

Engineers make material gains to improve desalination process
In a study published in Nature Communications, the Illinois team modelled various thin-film
membranes and found that MoS2 showed the greatest efficiency, filtering through up to 70 per
cent more water than graphene membranes. “Even though we have a lot of water on this planet,
there is very little that is drinkable,” said study leader Narayana Aluru, a U. of I. professor of
mechanical science and engineering. “If we could find a low-cost, efficient way to purify sea
water, we would be making good strides in solving the water crisis. “Finding materials for
efficient desalination has been a big issue, and I think this work lays the foundation for nextgeneration materials. These materials are efficient in terms of energy usage and fouling, which
are issues that have plagued desalination technology for a long time,” Aluru said in a statement.
Most available desalination technologies rely on reverse osmosis, a process that yields relatively
small amounts of fresh water. “Reverse osmosis is a very expensive process,” Aluru said. “It’s
very energy intensive. A lot of power is required to do this process, and it’s not very efficient. In
addition, the membranes fail because of clogging. So we’d like to make it cheaper and make
the membranes more efficient so they don’t fail as often. We also don’t want to have to use a
lot of pressure to get a high flow rate of water.”
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/energy/news/engineers-make-material-gains-to-improvedesalination-process/1021398.article

Nanotech-based sensor developed to measure microRNAs in blood, speed cancer detection
In a study published in the Nov. issue of ACS Nano, a peer-reviewed journal of the American
Chemical Society focusing on nanoscience and nanotechnology research, the IUPUI researchers
describe their design of the novel, low-cost, nanotechnology-enabled reusable sensor. They also
report on the promising results of tests of the sensor's ability to identify pancreatic cancer or
indicate the existence of a benign condition by quantifying changes in levels of microRNA
signatures linked to pancreatic cancer. MicroRNAs are small molecules of RNA that regulate
how larger RNA molecules lead to protein expression. As such, microRNAs are very important in
biology and disease states. "We used the fundamental concepts of nanotechnology to design
the sensor to detect and quantify biomolecules at very low concentrations," said Rajesh Sardar,
Ph.D., who developed the sensor. "We have designed an ultrasensitive technique so that we can
see minute changes in microRNA concentrations in a patient's blood and confirm the presence
of pancreatic cancer." Sardar is an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the
School of Science at IUPUI and leads an interdisciplinary research program focusing on the
intersection of analytical chemistry and the nanoscience of metallic nanoparticles.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151117112527.htm
About NANO @ IOWA
NANO @ IOWA is a biweekly electronic newsletter to inform faculty, staff and students about important
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