Interdisciplinary
Research

Research Snapshots

Snapshots are brief summaries of significant materials-related breakthroughs by MRI researchers.

2011 Snapshots

people working on a beach to clean up an oil spill

A New Materials Invention for Oil Spill Clean-up

Bitumen and Toulen

A New Process Cleanly Extracts Oil from Tar Sands and Fouled Beaches

Localized etching of a silicon wafer

A Misunderstanding Leads to Method for Making Nanowells

2010 Snapshots

cylindrical glass resonators designed to hide a metal cylinder of 15 micrometers in diameter

An Invisibility Cloak Made of Glass

sebaceous fingermark deposited on a glass slide

Coating Approach Clears Up Fingerprints

sebaceous fingermark deposited on a glass slide

MRI Researchers Hope to Improve Solar Cell Efficiency Using Fly Eyes

Graduate student Jen Rygel in the XPS Lab

A Ray of Hope for Better UV Blocking

energy of the electrons emitted during their removal from the atoms' outer shells

Taking Superatoms to a New Level

A 100mm graphene wafer containing approximately 75,000 devices and test structures

Key Milestone Reached on Road to Graphene-based Electronic Devices

2009 Snapshots

Light is directed by streams of fluid

Fluidic Lenses on a Chip

Flexible glass for energy storage

High Density Glass for Portable Power

aluminum clusters reacting with water to produce hydrogen

Aluminum Clusters Split Water

fluorescent nanoparticles accumulate in tumors of live mice models

Early Detection of Breast Cancer through Near Infrared Nanoparticles

The eye of a fruit fly is captured in glass

Biomimetic Coatings Capture Nature in Glass

nanowire assembly on chip diagram

Bottom-Up Assembly of Nanowires for Chip-based Sensing

aluminum clusters reacting with water to produce hydrogen

Polymer Microcapsules for Off-the-shelf Drug Deliver

Biomedical Materials Brochure Snapshots

Amra Tabakovic examines fluorescent dyes encapsulated in nanoparticles

Biomedical Materials at Penn State

surgical implant device

A New Approach to Metal Implants

accoustic tweezers

Acoustic Tweezers

model cell developed in the lab of Christine Keating at Penn State uses as the cytoplasm a solution of two different polymers, PEG and dextran

A Simple Model Cell Reveals Complexity of Cellular Function

nanowire array positioned on a silicon chip

An Early Detection Sensor for Cancer

microsurgical instrument

Microsurgical Tools for Self-Healing Incisions

accoustic tweezers

Engineering the Brain

Chris Siedlecki in his laboratory

A Materials Answer to Deadly Blood Clots

Mary Beth Williams in her laboratory

Creating Systems that Mimic Nature

Nadine Barrie Smith shows off an ultrasound device

Treating Chronic Disease with Ultrasound

calcium phosphate nanoparticles

Tracking and Treating Cancer Using Nanoparticles

Coray Colina in fromt of a modeled protein on her computer

Modeling Deadly Viruses

Genevieve Brown watches cancer cells attack bone in a molecular microscope

Following Breast Cancer into the Bone