NER: Nano-Scale Volume Cells

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

VOXEL is focused on investigating the feasibility of building hollow, 3-D, programmable-volume, nano-scale, artificial, non-biological volume-cells or voxels. The aim is to make a shell to encapsulate nano-scale quantities of various materials. The target size is of the order of 30 to 100 nanometers in diameter, much bigger than a supra-molecule made by organic chemistry, but much smaller than MEMS structures; small enough in fact to allow traversal through the pores of biological membranes. This has never been done before. The proposed work is a one-year EXPLORATORY project and will focus, following an origami-inspired strategy, on making the basic planar shaped platelets of the right size and shape that in later work will be raised from the plane to join to make the desired volume. Pentagonal platelets, the basis of a dodecahedral shell, will be made in this one year plan, from assemblies of 5 and 10 n meter gold spheres using a Scanning Probe Microscope and then fused by plating. Successful results will give a good basis for focused collaborations with colleagues from a wide variety of scientific disciplines most certainly including medicine, in order to explore the biological implications including specifically the extension to the use of bio-compatible materials.