The construction of the building for the California NanoSystems
Institute won’t be completed until around May 2005, but
collaborative efforts between institute members are already well
underway.
Nanotechnology ““ working with materials at this miniscule
atomic and molecular level ““ can influence everything from
agriculture to the aerospace industry. Such a broad span of
influence will stem from the unprecedented teamwork of researchers
from all areas of science.
“That’s the most remarkable part of this nano
revolution: bringing together people of different backgrounds and
watching them collaborate and do something they probably would not
or could not do” said J. Fraser Stoddart, director of the
institute and professor of chemistry at UCLA.
The CNSI hopes to foster an environment for the 26 faculty
members ““ hailing from departments in the College of Letters
& Science, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering, and the
David Geffen School of Medicine ““ to communicate.
An example of such a venue is the UCLA NanoSystems Seminar
Series. As many as 250 researchers from UCLA and other institutions
have attended these seminars given by influential guest scientists
in the nanotech field.
A reception in which attendees can mix, mingle and exchange
ideas follows the seminars.
“Collaboration occurs spontaneously,” Stoddart said.
“With the fact that the membership exists, (members) have
come to know each other through formal and informal
meetings.”
And when faculty begin to set up a network across the academic
departments, Stoddart added, their students are soon to follow.
A group of graduate students has formed the CNSI Young
Investigators Society, which puts out a quarterly publication,
“Spheres,” featuring reviews on each of the seminars
and includes profiles of the speakers making presentations.
The CNSI also hopes to extend an outreach program to high school
students, encouraging them to attend seminars and lectures.
Once the building is completed, faculty from UCLA and other
institutes with a background in any discipline can use the
facilities with permission and a paid fee.
“We want to use (the Institute) as a carrot to entice some
of the very best people in the world to come to UCLA,”
Stoddart said.
“You’ve got to get the most creative and talented
people brought together in a big enough grouping to create
something that won’t just be magic.”
For example, Stoddart has collaborated with mechanical engineers
to develop tiny machines that can perform functions similar to a
desktops computer’s fundamental actions. But instead of
electrical parts, the components of these small devices are
molecules that can switch on and off in a motion similar to that of
a sliding abacus bead. When enough of these switches are placed
together, one can create the molecular equivalent of electronic
memory used for data storage.
Jeffrey Miller, professor and chairman of the Microbiology,
Immunology and Molecular Genetics Department, also studies what he
calls “nanomachines” which are similar to the tiny
mechanisms used by viruses to inject proteins and genetic material
into infected cells.
With an understanding of how these so-called “molecular
syringes” are engineered, a better understanding can be
obtained of how the physiological processes of a cell are
manipulated.
“The CNSI is an opportunity to change the way we do
science and facilitate interactions between disciplines that need
to interact but might not otherwise,” Miller said.
The members of CNSI emphasize the importance of a collaborative
scientific team over the physical building itself.
“It’s not just about the building,” Miller
said. “It’s the associations that we’re forming
right now which are also extremely valuable.”