Volume 9 Issue 8, August 2014

DNA nanotechnology has proven to be a powerful approach for fabricating active nanostructures with biological functionality. Now, it is time to investigate more solutions from biology to downscale robotics, says Christian Martin.

A polymer–lipid nanoparticle with a low molecular weight can preferentially deliver small interfering RNA to endothelial cells, offering an opportunity to treat many diseases.

Naphthalocyanine nanoparticles offer intense photoacoustic signals for mapping the gastrointestinal tract.

Electrical signals can be used to assemble and tune enzymes, resulting in controlled levels of optically, electrochemically and biologically active products.

A half-cell lithium metal battery can cycle with good efficiency at relatively high current density by engineering a nanostructured surface between the negative electrode and the electrolyte.

Ultrafast, coherent spin dynamics in semiconductor heterostructures can be measured with a scanning tunnelling microscope by using femtosecond pulses of circularly polarized light.

Massless electrons in graphene exhibit a mass when considered as collective excitations known as plasmons.

This article reviews the fundamentals and applications of scanning probe lithography, focusing on the methods that offer genuinely lithographic capabilities such as those based on thermal effects, chemical reactions and voltage-induced processes.

Spin dynamics in semiconductor heterostructures can be probed by a modified scanning tunnelling microscopy technique with a temporal resolution of a few picoseconds.

The ensemble of massless electrons in graphene shows a collective non-zero inertia that can be measured by measuring the kinetic inductance of an encapsulated graphene device.

A gain-enhanced plasmon laser is used to detect explosives with sub-ppb detection limit.

Electrical signals can be used to assemble and control an enzyme system that produces a bacterial signalling molecule.

Valley-dependent spin polarization is directly observed in a polytype of bulk MoS₂ that has broken inversion symmetry.

Hollow carbon nanospheres form a stable solid electrolyte interphase on lithium metal anodes that suppresses dendrite growth and improves cycling Coulombic efficiency.

Trapping of single HIV virions by optical tweezers reveals substantial heterogeneity in the numbers of envelope glycoproteins, which could have important consequences for infection and transmission.

Nanoparticles with high near-infrared absorption that transit the gut without being absorbed can be used for gastrointestinal imaging using photoacoustic and positron emission tomography.

A carbon nanotube–polymer composite as an artificial antigen-presenting cell is used to expand therapeutic T cells for cancer immunotherapy.

Polymeric nanoparticles can efficiently deliver siRNAs to endothelial cells in vivo and silence multiple genes for weeks.

Willingness to ask questions and having frank conversations with your collaborators can lead to many opportunities in translational research, reflects James E. Dahlman.