1406966(Di Carlo) This grant supports the international nano-biotechnology workshop held in Japan in December 2013. The field of nanotechnology is very promising and holds considerable potential for societal impact. Early career US academic scientists will have an opportunity to participate in a conference held in Japan. This conference will lead to exchange of ideas and will allow US scientists to bring home new ideas for projects. Such exchange of ideas will contribute to US innovation and development of new products that will be benefit USA.
PROJECT SUMMARY This grant supported the travel of 10 young US scientists to Japan to promote the intellectual merits and broader impacts described below. This was a reciprocal visit. In March 2013, young Japanese scientists visited the United States on a grant funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT). During this Japanese visit, Professors Dino Di Carlo (PI) and Daniel Kamei (co-PI) hosted the Japanese delegates at UCLA, and formed contacts with the Japanese organizers. NSF and MEXT developed this young scientist exchange program in 2003 as a means to promote collaborations and cultural exchange between the scientists in the two countries. The funds from this grant were requested to cover airfare, local transportation, meals, and hotel accommodations for the US researchers. The US participants departed from the US on December 7, 2013, and returned on December 14, 2013. They visited leading Japanese labs in the area of bio-nanomaterials at Tsukuba University, National Institute of Materials Research, University of Tokyo, Osaka University, and Kyoto University. The young US delegates met not only with their young Japanese scientist peers, but also with leaders of the different institutions, such as, Professor Tomoji Kawai at Osaka University and Professor Hidetoshi Kotera at Kyoto University. The US delegates took part in several workshops where they gave oral and/or poster presentations, and engaged in deep scientific discussions with the Japanese scientists. The Japanese scientists also provided laboratory tours so that the US delegates could see the facilities available in the Japanese institutions, such as the ultra-high voltage electron microscope at Osaka University that is over 13 meters high. Overall, this grant offered outstanding opportunities for professional growth for up-and-coming US scientists due to interactions with the Japanese scientists and also fostered scientific relationships among the US delegates. INTELLECTUAL MERIT This grant offered young US scientists an opportunity to visit leading Japanese research institutions, to interact with established as well as young Japanese researchers, and to present their own work to the community of Japanese scientists. US researchers gained multiple benefits from this visit. 1) Intellectual advancement through the exchange of scientific ideas with their peers in Japan, 2) discussions that have the potential to lead to collaborations with leading Japanese institutions for future sabbatical stays, grant submissions, personnel exchange, and recruitment, 3) better appreciation for how research is organized in one of the world’s leading economies. Due to the success of the visit, discussions were already begun for the Japanese visit to the US even before the US delegates departed Japan. Moreover, intellectual exchange and scientific relationships developed among the US scientists due to spending a week together in a foreign country. BROADER IMPACTS This grant allowed some of the best and brightest young academic researchers from the US to have an opportunity to visit Japan on a multi-institution, multi-city science tour of the country. The broader benefits of this exchange were numerous. Science is very much a global enterprise with some of the best research in nanomaterials, biosensors, and stem cells being done in Japan. US scientists had an opportunity to form lasting science relationships with the Japanese counterparts. Such relationships have the potential of benefiting US scientists in a way of collaborative projects, future sabbatical stays, and also personnel recruitment. The invited US delegates are predicted to become leaders in their respective fields of nano-bio research in a not too distant future. As future leaders, US delegates benefited from this scientific exchange by learning about research organization, funding, and infrastructure in Japan - one of the leading research powers in the world. The US scientists also learned about the culture in Japan, and how it impacted research practices, e.g. taking off shoes and wearing designated slippers in laboratories. US PARTICIPANTS Adam Abate – Assistant Professor, UCSF, research topic: "Ultrahigh-throughput single cell analysis with droplet microfluidics" Dino Di Carlo – Associate Professor, UCLA, research topic: "Biophysical measurement and manipulation of cells" Brendan Harley – Assistant Professor, UIUC, research topic: "Instructive biomaterials for regenerative medicine and stem cell engineering" Xiaoming He – Associate Professor, Ohio State, research topic: "Biomimetic microtissue engineering" Daniel Kamei – Associate Professor, UCLA, research topic: "Engineering trafficking pathways and paper-based diagnostics" Anson Ma – Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut, research topic: "The rheology and processing of nanofluids" Alex Revzin –NSF Program Director, Professor, UC Davis Herman Sintim – Associate Professor, University of Maryland College Park, research topic: "Using biofabrication and chemical synthesis to study bacterial cell signaling" Lin Tian – Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis, research topic: "Monitoring and engineering of neural circuitry in health and disease" Peter Vikesland – Professor, Virginia Tech, research topic: "Applications of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy for environmental sensing"
