MRI: Aquisition of a Dip Pen Nanolithography System for Surface Nanofunctionalization

技术摘要史蒂文斯理工学院将获得蘸笔纳米光刻（DPN）系统。 有了它，史蒂文斯和它在地区大学的合作者将创造一个新的资源，用于表面的高分辨率功能化。 DPN是一种新的方法，它特别适合于在小至10 nm的长度尺度上对表面进行化学改性。 由于其能够精确定位其尖端，DPN可以以不同的用户定义模式调节这种化学修饰，以增强各种不同的研究项目。 来自三个不同的北方新泽西机构的五名研究活跃的科学家将使用DPN系统，大大提高了一套前瞻性的项目，其中包括：基于纳米水凝胶的蛋白质纳米阵列的发展;一致的表面增强拉曼光谱使用银和Au纳米颗粒阵列的定向沉积;和干细胞分化的生化纳米图案化表面。 除了这些研究倡议外，DPN系统还将锚几项新的教育和推广活动。 例如，表面纳米功能化的新概念将被纳入史蒂文斯和附近的新泽西理工学院提供的一系列课程。 纳米技术的前瞻性想法也将被引入到正在进行的夏季外展计划，以贫困高中学生。 这一努力，与美国化学学会种子计划合作执行，将鼓励这些年轻人追求科学和工程的大学机会。 浸笔纳米光刻（DPN）是最新和最先进的科学工具之一，用于控制材料表面如何与周围环境相互作用。 DPN可以创建比先进的计算机芯片等最先进的电子设备小近1000倍的图案。 此外，DPN可以在表面图案的每个点上存款少到几个分子，这种能力使科学家和工程师对表面上非常特定点发生的化学反应进行令人印象深刻的新控制。 我们将在研究项目中使用DPN来了解单个细胞在粘附到表面时的行为，开发可以检测微量有害化学物质的新传感器，并为生物医学研究和临床诊断构建新工具。 我们还将使用DPN系统作为一个非常成功的项目的一个新的组成部分，该项目名为“种子项目”，为贫困高中生提供暑期实习机会。 我们希望向这些学生介绍一些与纳米技术相关的令人兴奋的机会，这将有助于鼓励他们接受大学教育，并致力于科学和工程事业。

Technical AbstractThe Stevens Institute of Technology will acquire a dip pen nanolithography (DPN) system. With it, Stevens and its collaborators at area universities will create a novel resource for high-resolution functionalization of surfaces. DPN is a new approach, which is uniquely suited for chemically modifying surfaces at length scales as small as 10 nm. Because of its ability to precisely position its tip, DPN can modulate such chemical modifications in diverse user-defined patterns to enhance a broad range of different research projects. A group of five research-active scientists from three different Northern New Jersey institutions will use the DPN system to substantially enhance a set of forward-looking projects that include: development of nanohydrogel-based protein nanoarrays; coherent surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using directed deposition of Ag and Au nanoparticle arrays; and stem cell differentiation on biochemically nanopatterned surfaces. In addition to these research initiatives, the DPN system will also anchor several new educational and outreach activities. For example, new concepts of surface nanofunctionalization will be incorporated into a series of courses offered at Stevens and at the nearby New Jersey Institute of Technology. Forward-looking ideas of nanotechnology will also be introduced into ongoing summer outreach programs to underprivileged high-school students. This effort, executed in collaboration with the American Chemical Society SEED program, will encourage these young people to pursue college opportunities in science and engineering. Lay AbstractDip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is among the newest and most advanced scientific tools for controlling how the surfaces of materials interact with their surroundings. DPN can create patterns that are almost 1000 times smaller than those in state-of-the-art electronic devices like advanced computer chips. Furthermore, DPN can deposit as little as a few molecules at each point in the surface pattern, and this capability gives scientists and engineers impressive new control over chemical reactions that occur at very specific points on a surface. We will use DPN in research projects to learn how individual cells behave when they stick to a surface, to develop new sensors that can detect trace quantities of harmful chemicals, and to build new tools for biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. We will also use the DPN system as a new part of a very successful program called Project SEED that provides summer internships to underpriviledged high-school students. We expect that introducing these students to some of the exciting opportunities associated with nanotechnology will help encourage them to pursue a college education and work towards careers in science and engineering.