By spring, the $84-million Molecular Foundry on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) campus will allow staff and visiting scientists to begin making new types of nano-scale material — and to help “fact check” existing ones, says Steven Chu, director of the LBNL in Berkeley, California.

Vetting newly created materials is very important in nanotechnology. Many scientists are creating new types of molecule, that, if duplicated, could benefit their colleagues. But few labs are equipped to fully characterize these creations, duplicate the synthesis consistently and watch for fraud.

“There are all sorts of claims in the literature that if you follow this procedure you can make this molecule,” says Chu. “Sometimes these processes are less than reliable.”

Not only will the foundry have its own nanofabrication, computing and microscopy equipment, but it is also near other unique infrastructure. The Advanced Light Source synchrotron will enable scientists building nanomaterials to quickly obtain three-dimensional images and other structural data. The centre will also benefit from the National Center for Electron Microscopy and the largest US Department of Energy supercomputer available for non-classified research, both at LBNL. This equipment will help scientists better understand and make predictions on the properties of their novel nanoscale materials.

The Molecular Foundry is recruiting two broad categories of scientists — one to help visiting users tap into the centre's nanofabrication capabilities and another to conduct research on nanostructures. There will also be a group of theoretical scientists to help steer the development of new nanomaterials.

The centre will have a “very strong biology component”, says Chu, mirroring the Nobel laureate's interest in biophysics. About a quarter of its $20-million operating budget will be devoted to biology-related projects. The biological nanostructures labs will be equipped to do mammalian and microbial cell cultures, molecular cloning and genetic and protein engineering.

About 40 projects have already been approved, with two or three people on each. “That's going to grow,” Chu says. He adds that the foundry's access to unique computing and imaging resources, as well as its programme of constructing both published molecules and new ones, will attract top people in the field. “It should be nanoheaven.”