Recent developments in the area of nanotechnology show another example of converging insights and techniques from multiple disciplines such as biochemistry and micro-engineering. The following example features the results of multi/transdisciplinary collaboration between chemists and engineers, initiated and encouraged by the Pratt School’s Center for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems.

A group of researchers at Duke University, led by Robert Clark, have developed Biocatalytic Microcontact Printing, a technique using biological catalysts to construct microdevices (e.g. labs on chips). Their inkless technique uses enzymes of escherichia coli bacteria and enables microcontact printing with an astonishing accuracy of less than 2 nanometres. The building of nifty nanodevices by future generations of their techniques can easily be envisioned. The research group is already experimenting with non-enzymatic catalysts as well.

Researcher Eric Toone notes:

“Soft lithography has really revolutionized the field of surface science over the last 30 years [and] I honestly believe that using catalysts instead of diffusive processes is going to become the way that soft lithography is done in the future.”

Note how it is again a printing metaphor leading to new ways of constructing, assembling, creating ‘things’.

Via Roland Piquepaille

Related posts:

1. meet Gina & her magnificent curves
2. more on new printing
3. new building materials

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 07:54 and is filed under envision, future, science, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.