Training events and courses
CALIT
Michael ROUKES || 28 October || Visionary Symposium on Nano-Bio-Cogno
Toward Biological Large-Scale Integration
Abstract
Transitioning nanoscale devices from the realm of one-of-a-kind feats into robust and reproducible nanosystems – that is, tools useful for medical and biological research – is a monumental challenge that transcends the capabilities of any one lab. First steps have been taken towards the requisite scale-up to complex systems, and such efforts are critical for realizing the promise of “active” (powered) nanotechnology. Two essential elements must be in place to realize the vast applications potential that awaits. First, an unfamiliar fusion of technologies is required; one that melds techniques from traditionally-separate disciplines with an appropriate scale of approach. Second, robust methods for biological large-scale-integration are required, and these must engender routes to production en masse.
This kind of disciplined assemblage of disparate technologies required is, perhaps, more familiar within the commercial sector than academia. But it is now essential, whether for pursuing fundamental research in medicine and the life sciences or, subsequently, for the development of future biomedical technology.
To illustrate the emerging potential of nanosystems, I will describe advances in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) that now allow us to envisage unprecedented measurements at the level of single cells and molecules. Three examples among such opportunities are mapping the forces generated by living cells in real time, ultimately with piconewton-scale, single-molecule resolution; performing mass spectrometry on all of the proteins within an individual cell; and monitoring the metabolic processes of individual cells in real time.
Michael Roukes:
Co-Director, Kavli Nanoscience Institute (http://kni.caltech.edu)
Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering
California Institute of Technology
Chaire d’Excellence
Réseau Thématique de Recherche Avancée (RTRA)
Fondation Nanosciences aux limites de la Nanoelectronique
Grenoble, France
Co-Founder / Science and Technology Director
The Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI (www.nanovlsi.com / www.nanovlsi.fr)
Pasadena, CA / Grenoble, France