PEOPLE & PLACES

Knighthood for UCLA chemist Fraser Stoddart

Fraser Stoddart, director of

the California NanoSystems

Institute (CNSI) and the

Fred Kavli Professor of

NanoSystems Sciences at the

University of California, Los

Angeles (UCLA), has been

appointed as Knight Bachelor

by the Queen in the UK’s

New Year Honors List, in

recognition of his services to chemistry and molecular

nanotechnology.

Stoddart is the first UCLA professor to receive this

distinction. “This special honor is a reflection not only

of my own achievements but also the considerable

support that I have received from my academic

colleagues, my students and, above all, my late wife

Norma,” comments Stoddart. “It also recognizes the

significance and relevance of chemistry to everyday

life and the international standing of the CNSI at the

beginning of 2007.”

Purdue to lead NIH nanomedicine centerA multidisciplinary team of researchers from Purdue

University are to lead one of the eight national

nanomedicine development centers funded by the

National Institutes of Health (NIH). The team have

been awarded $7 million over five years to study

the potential use of a nanomotor for diagnosing and

treating diseases such as cancer, AIDS, hepatitis B, and

influenza. It is hoped that the research will lead to the

use of nanomotors to package and deliver therapeutic

DNA or RNA to disease-causing cells, revolutionizing

medicine.

Nanodevices may hold key for detecting early-stage cancer The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has

announced a $4.25 million grant to develop a research

lab at McMaster University to develop low-cost

nanobiosensors and imaging systems for noninvasive,

real-time cancer detection and diagnosis. Such systems

could form ‘miniature labs’ that could be swallowed

like a pill, injected through a catheter, or even woven

into fabric. These systems could screen for, detect,

and potentially treat cancer and other diseases at an

early stage of development, for example, when still

at a single-cell size. They will also be able to detect

harmful pathogens in food and water.

Society high-flyers receive awardsThe American Physical Society (APS) has announced

the recipients of their 2007 awards and prizes.

Winners include Samuel D. Bader, who receives the

David Adler Lectureship award in the field of materials

physics for his research in the area of nanomagnetism,

magnetic films, and multilayers. The Davisson-Germer

prize in atomic or surface physics has been awarded

to Franz Himpsel for pioneering investigations of the

electronic structure of surfaces, interfaces, adsorbates,

and nanostructures.

Five scientists at the US Department of Energy’s

(DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have

been named fellows of the APS. These include

Yimei Zhu, the director of BNL’s Institute for

Advanced Electron Microscopy and group leader

for the Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Zhu

is recognized ‘for outstanding and innovative

development and implementation of advanced

electron beam experiments to understand electronic

and magnetic structures and the physical behavior

of functional materials such as superconductors and

ferromagnetics’. The work includes assessment of the

properties of materials that may lead to nanoscale

magnetoelectronic devices for use in applications

ranging from digital communications to data storage.

European excellence award for EwelsOne of the five winners of the prestigious European

Marie Curie Excellence Awards 2006 is Chris Ewels

of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

(CNRS) at the Institute of Materials in Nantes, France.

Ewels is the first researcher from either France or the

UK to receive this award. Speaking about his research

in nanotechnology, he says that it “holds the promise

of doing more with much less”. Ewels adds, “by

controlling the structure and design of new materials

at the atomic level, we are hoping to make new

materials that could make planes lighter and more

efficient, solar cells cheaper and more effective, and

chemical production cleaner and less polluting.”

Bayer appoints new CEOPatrick Thomas has been appointed chairman of the

board of management of Bayer MaterialScience. With

sales of $14 billion in 2005, Bayer MaterialScience is

one of the world’s largest polymer manufacturers. Its

main fields of activity are the production of high-tech

polymer materials and the development of innovative

solutions for products used in many areas of everyday

life.

European Union calls for cooperationThe European Union (EU) has published

the first round of calls for proposals

in its largest ever funding program

for research, the 7th Framework

Programme (FP7). The total budget for

FP7 is $67 billion, with $5.7 billion

allocated to the first set of 42

proposals. The four specific programs

of FP7 are cooperation, ideas,

people, and capacities. Within the

cooperation theme, there are four

calls within the areas of nanosciences,

nanotechnologies, materials, and new

production technologies.

Campaigning scientist receives honorSimon Campbell, former president of

the UK Royal Society of Chemistry

(RSC), has been made a Commander of

the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s

birthday honors list. The prestigious

accolade recognizes his ‘services to

science’. Campbell was at the forefront

of the RSC’s campaign to obtain more

government funding for the chemical

sciences.

Plastic electronics set for manufactureThe UK firm, Plastic Logic, is set to

build the world’s first factory to

produce plastic electronic devices. The

Cambridge-based company has secured

$100 million in venture capital funding

for a plant in Dresden, Germany. Once

constructed, the factory will produce

circuits vital for the development of

novel gadgets such as electronic paper.

Unlike silicon, plastic circuits-based

devices can be made using simple

printing techniques, dramatically

reducing the price of consumer

electronics.

Oak Ridge researcher elected AAAS fellowThomas Thundat, a researcher at Oak

Ridge National Laboratory, has been

elected a fellow of the American

Association for the Advancement of

Science (AAAS). Thundat received the

accolade in response to his pioneering

research into the development of a

novel class of sensors for molecular

recognition using nanomechanical

sensor platforms. Microcantilevers can

be used to detect minute amounts

of chemical and biological such as

trinitrotoluene (TNT). Please send details of new appointments, honors, and awards to nanotoday@elsevier.com

FEBRUARY 2007 | VOLUME 2 | NUMBER 1 53

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