The Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences (M-NIMBS) is a multidisciplinary team of chemists, physicists, engineers, pharmacists, (bio)informatics specialists and biologists collaborating on nanoscience in biology and medicine. The interaction of these groups will accelerate discovery in Nanoscience. Currently, approximately 60 faculty members are involved, in a "no-walls" model using facilities in the Engineering, Medical and LS&A schools.
Technologies being developed include examination of nanoparticle interactions with membranes, synthesis and characterization of novel nanoparticles for targeted cancer treatment and MRI contrast enhancement, as well as development of minimally invasive two photon fiber optic probes for detection and diagnosis of cancer. In each of these cases, the success of the investigation required the interdisciplinary skills provided by a team of researchers drawn from across campus. For more information
The Trapped Ion Quantum Computing group designs, fabricates, and operates semiconductor devices that confine individual atoms on a chip in spaces between arrays of electrodes. The atoms are manipulated, probed, and imaged with resonant laser light, which can also link several atoms together in order to form a quantum network relevant to the fabrication of a future quantum computer. For more information
The Kopelman Laboratories are focused on developing roaming nano-sensors and nano-activators. Nanosensors have been designed, synthesized and used for non-perturbative imaging of small molecules, radicals, ions, as well as local physical parameters, in living cells. They have been instrumental in the elucidation of the roles of toxins, bacteria and metabolic processes in specific cells. Nano-activators have been successfully used in the detection, monitoring and therapy of brain cancer models in rats. They have also been shown to be non-toxic, bio-degradable and bio-eliminable, with controllable residence times and no evident side effects. Steps towards FDA approval have been taken. For more information
The Laboratory for Atomic-Scale Design of Electronic Materials is developing strategies for manipulating and identifying atoms in order to tailor new nanostructured materials and devices, as well as to examine the mechanisms of several fundamental processes at the nanoscale, including strain relaxation, alloy formation, diffusion, and segregation; and correlations between microstructure and electronic, magnetic, and optical properties. For more information