Penn Engineers Overcome a Hurdle in Growing a Revolutionary Optical Metamaterial

When John Crocker, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science was a graduate student, his advisor gathered together everyone in his lab to “throw down the gauntlet” on a new challenge in the field.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier

Using nanotechnology to expand health care access

A team is using commercially available nanotechnology to develop a low-cost, handheld diagnostic device that can monitor HIV. This device would increase access to high-quality treatment of HIV in developing countries and lower the cost of health care in the U.S.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier

Penn Engineers Demonstrate a ‘Hybrid Nanomanufacturing’ System

Nanoscale structures have properties that can’t be achieved in any other way, stemming from precise control over the structure’s composition and geometry. Unfortunately, simultaneously achieving high levels of control of both characteristics can be challenging.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier

Penn Engineers Calculate Interplay Between Cancer Cells and Environment

Interactions between an animal cell and its immediate environment, a fibrous network called the extracellular matrix, play a critical role in cell function, including growth and migration. But less understood is the mechanical force that governs those interactions.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier

Penn Engineers and Chemists Make Nanoscale ‘Muscles’ Powered by DNA

The base pairs found in DNA are key to its ability to store protein-coding information, but they also give the molecule useful structural properties. Getting two complementary strands of DNA to zip up into a double helix can serve as the basis of intricate physical mechanisms that can push and pull molecular-scale devices.

Evan Lerner, Ali Sundermier