With record resolution and sensitivity, tool images how life organizes in a cell membrane

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Researchers induced the formation of tiny lipid raft-like gel domains on silicon chips (above). They then used LLNLs high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometer the NanoSIMS to image the samples and detect the gel domains at lateral dimensions as ...
Researchers induced the formation of tiny lipid raft-like gel domains on silicon chips (above). They then used LLNL's high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometer, the NanoSIMS, to image the samples and detect the gel domains at lateral dimensions as small as 100 nanometers (about 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair). The gel domains are shown as red in both the schematic and the NanoSIMS ion image (below). Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
What's the difference between a lifeless sack of chemicals and a living cell? It's all in the way they're organized, according to Stanford biophysical chemist Steven Boxer. With colleagues at Stanford, the University of California-Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he has developed a way to image cell membranes with unprecedented resolution-on the order of 100 nanometers, a scale larger than individual molecules but much smaller than entire cells.


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Sensitive nanowire disease detectors made by Yale scientists

Oct 10, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Yale scientists have created nanowire sensors coupled with simple microprocessor electronics that are both sensitive and specific enough to be used for point-of-care (POC) disease detection, according to a report in Nano ...

Mimicking gecko feet: Dry adhesive based on carbon nanotubes gets stronger

Oct 09, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
The race for the best "gecko foot" dry adhesive got a new competitor this week with a stronger and more practical material reported in the journal Science by a team of researchers from four U.S. institutions.

Researchers design artificial cells that could power medical implants

Oct 09, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers at Yale University have created a blueprint for artificial cells that are more powerful and efficient than the natural cells they mimic and could one day be used to power tiny medical implants.

A new material could act as a nanofridge for microchips

Oct 08, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In the past few years, the design and manufacturing of circuits at nanoscopic scale for integrated devices has become one of the frontier fields in new material science and technology. The significant reduction achieved in ...

Using living cells as nanotechnology factories

Oct 08, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In the tiny realm of nanotechnology, scientists have used a wide variety of materials to build atomic scale structures. But just as in the construction business, nanotechnology researchers can often be limited by the amount ...
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