Nanotech: It's Bigger in Texas
Universities across the state of Texas are taking a leading role in nanotechnology research and development. The Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) was founded at Rice University by Richard Smalley, a world-renowned scientist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry with two other scientists for discovering nanoparticles known as Buckyballs. Smalley passed away in October 2005 but his legacy lives on, with Buckyballs as the building block for nanotechnology research throughout the world.
One current project at CBEN is focused on delivering medication to cancerous tumors using nanotechnology. Previously, researchers used targeting agents such as antibodies to deliver single drugs to attack malignant cancers. The emerging nanotechnology approach uses buckyballs to attach nanoparticles containing cancer-fighting agents to antibodies, which are then delivered to targeted malignant tumors. Scientists at Rice University have partnered with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to use nanotubes to carry electrical signals to nerve cells. These could serve as an electrical interface between living tissue and prosthetic devices or biomedical instruments.
Rice University scientists have also produced a nanocar powerered by light. When light strikes the nanocar’s motor, it rotates to move the vehicle. The vehicle is a mere four nanometers in length (20,000 nanocars could be parked side-by-side on the width of human hair) but has a rigid chassis and four axles that spring and swivel independently. No word yet on development of nanopassengers.
At the University of Houston, researchers are working on nanotechnology that could eventually hold the contents of the entire Library of Congress on a device the size of a Palm Pilot, or 1,000 movies on a single two-inch disk. This nano-patterned medium recording technology could store one terabyte, or a trillion bytes, of data per square inch and significantly extend the physical limits of data storage. The project, funded by a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, uses lithography techniques to reduce the physical requirements for data storage.
Other Texas universities are also conducting nanotechnology research. For example, Texas Tech University researchers have developed a two-millimeter-square clock that won the 2005 Sandia National Laboratories microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) design competition. And researchers at Texas A&M University have developed nanotechnology devices to rapidly detect and identify bacteria. The technology uses a “nanowell device” with two tiny antenna-like electrodes that can detect changes in electrical fields when a particular type of virus has infected a bacterium.
