NSEC: Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymer Biomedical Devices (CANPBD)

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The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center entitled Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymer Biomedical Devices (CANBD) is a partnership between the U. of Akron, Boston University, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Florida A&M, and Purdue. The NSEC includes 38 investigators from 9 departments. The Center seeks to develop polymer-based low-cost nanoengineering technology that can be used to produce nanofluidic devices and multifunctional polymer-nanoparticle-biomolecule nanostructures for the next generation medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The research plan is comprised of three thrust areas. The Nanomanufacturing Thrust Area combines 'top-down' fabrication and 'bottom-up' molecular self-assembly to produce well-defined passive and active nanostructures. In the Transport Phenomena Thrust Area, the research will achieve design capabilities at the nanoscale by combining nanofluidic design, transport phenomena at the nanoscale, and multiphase transport structures with multiscale modeling and macroscalar property assessment. Biocompatibility issues will be addressed in the Biocompatibility Thrust Area in parallel with the development of new nanofluidic designs and devices. The near-term goal of the three closely linked research thrust areas is to design and fabricate polymer-based, 3D nanofluidic circuits for manipulating the shape, orientation and transport behavior of individual biomolecules in well-defined nanoscale flow fields (5-100 nm). Test bed examples include a simple, handheld protein separation/diagnostic device; a nanoneedle cell patch for low-invasive delivery of genes and macromolecular medicines into cell walls; and biomolecular nanopumps as synthetic ion channels. The ultimate goal is to design and assemble a nanofactory based on the integration of nanofluidic circuits, synthetic chemistry and biological complexation.Center collaborators include at least 20 companies in Ohio and the U.S., Battelle, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Labs, and researchers in Asia, Australia and Europe. The Center also plans to coordinate closely with NSECs at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Illinois-Urbana (nanomanufacturing), the NSF STC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (environmentally responsible solvents), and the NSF ERCs at the University of Washington (biomaterials and biocompatibility) and the Georgia Institute of Technology (3D tissue models) because of complementary research agendas. The education and outreach vision of the Center is to integrate the latest research developments into a practical student curriculum that imparts multidisciplinary skills and global awareness to both graduate and undergraduate students. The key education elements include a series of new courses to introduce nanoengineering of biomedical devices and related topics; an interdisciplinary curriculum offering an undergraduate minor and a graduate certificate; internships and visits to industry and national laboratories in the U.S. and abroad; and web-based dissemination. The recruitment and retention of minorities and women will be emphasized through close collaboration with minority institutes such as FAMU/FSU. Undergraduate students will participate in research via senior honors theses and targeted REU support. Outreach activities include web-based science modules for K-12 students nationwide; workshops and short courses for high school science teachers and industrial researchers; and on-site research projects and workshops for middle school and high school students supervised by graduate students.