Northwestern University

Design and nanomanufacturing have collided inside of a Northwestern University laboratory. An interdisciplinary team of researchers has used mathematics and machine learning to design an optimal material for light management in solar cells, then fabricated the nanostructured surfaces simultaneously with a new nanomanufacturing technique. “We have bridged the gap between design and nanomanufacturing,” said Wei Chen,…

From checkout counters at supermarkets to light shows at concerts, lasers are everywhere, and they’re a much more efficient light source than incandescent bulbs. But they’re not cheap to produce. A new Northwestern University study has engineered a more cost-effective laser design that outputs multi-color lasing and offers a step forward in chip-based lasers and…

Finding new functional materials is always tricky. But searching for very specific properties among a relatively small family of known materials is even more difficult. But a team from Northwestern Engineering and Los Alamos National Laboratory found a workaround. The group developed a novel workflow combining machine learning and density functional theory calculations to create…

Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified for the first time the unique targets of two enzymes that activate ubiquitination, a key modification of proteins that controls a variety of cellular processes. The findings, published in Nature Communications, have the potential to be translated into novel therapies for certain types of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, as alterations in the ubiquitination…

Northwestern Medicine scientists have demonstrated an enhanced approach to using nanomaterials to target inflammatory cells involved in atherosclerosis. The findings, published in the journal ACS Nano, could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis, a leading cause of heart disease. Edward Thorp, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology, was a co-author of the paper. The…

In January 2010, a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than 200,000 people and displacing over 1 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and creating the ideal conditions for the spread of cholera. Conditions facilitating infection with Vibrio cholerae bacteria, the pathogen responsible for cholera, included contaminated water and food sources, inadequate…

When reaching into a pocket or purse, it is easy to use the sense of touch to distinguish keys from loose change. Our brains seamlessly integrate the tactile, sensory cues from our fingers with hand movements to perceive the different objects. This process of “sensorimotor integration” is often severely disrupted in disorders such as stroke…

From swarming bees to clustering bacteria colonies, nature stuns with its ability to self organize and perform collective, dynamic behaviors. Now researchers have found a way to mimic these behaviors in active materials on the microscale — by varying just a single parameter. Northwestern University’s Erik Luijten and Steve Granick of Korea’s Institute for Basic…

The discovery power of the gene chip is coming to nanotechnology. A Northwestern University research team is developing a tool to rapidly test millions and perhaps even billions or more different nanoparticles at one time to zero in on the best particle for a specific use. When materials are miniaturized, their properties — optical, structural,…