Ten years ago, the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures Research Initiative was given a pioneering mission to combine biology with nanoscale engineering. Today, those worlds are closer than ever as M&ENS researchers use nature as a blueprint for creating man-made nanodevices, and explore the natural world using the latest technology and theories borne of their interdisciplinary approach to science.
As electronic devices and the chips that drive them become smaller–on the scale of molecules– they are entering the realm of quantum mechanics. Work on this scale presents both problems and opportunities for nanotechnology and nanomanufacturing. With a decade of discovery behind it, the M&ENS Research Initiative is ahead of the curve with innovative theories and solutions that can take advantage of the potential found at the nanoscale. Many see nanotechnology as the next great scientific revolution, as the quantum world paves the way for tremendous advances in medicine, manufacturing, and electronics. At the quantum level the sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics begin to merge and M&ENS researchers – representing all those fields and armed with an interdisciplinary approach–are perfectly positioned to explore this world with a diverse line of projects.
The various relationships between “wet” (biology) and “dry” (electronics, physics, chemistry) nanostructures are not only a focus for M&ENS researchers, but also of great interest to industry and medicine. Can electronic devices be made to mimic the biomolecular world in order to achieve better performance? Could an interfaced bio-electronic system perform tasks like disease detection that current electronic instruments cannot? These are questions M&ENS researchers are asking as the world looks increasingly to nanotechnology for answers in the areas of manufacturing, medicine, electronics, and science.
M&ENS researchers have been able to visualize and manipulate the nano world to produce breakthrough results and applications in everything from manufacturing and electronics to biology and medicine. Nanotechnology is the new frontier and no one understands the science of it better than M&ENS researchers at the Beckman Institute.