A $10.5 million grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania aims to transform the Delaware Valley into a leading center for nanotechnology research and business.

Nanotechnology manipulates atoms and molecules to create new and smaller products.

The Nanotechnology Center will be co-directed by David E. Luzzi, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Penn’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, and Kambiz Pourrezaei, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University.

Nanotechnology requires cross-disciplinary research involving physicists, chemists and computer scientists. Luzzi calls the field “a great melting pot of all the scientific and engineering disciplines.” He predicts a dramatic growth in its applications in the coming decade.

Applications may include microscopic capsules that selectively deliver drugs to tumors and electronic circuits a fraction of their current size.