INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The proposal requests NSF travel support for three young scientists (or engineers) to attend the European Materials Research Society (eMRS) Spring 2013 Meeting, Symposium Q, "Bionanomaterials for Imaging, Sensing, and Actuating" in Strasbourg, France, May 27- 31, 2013. The supported participants will include one untenured faculty member from a US institution, and two graduate students or postdocs from underrepresented groups (women, minorities) at U.S. institutions. Young US investigators are frequently unable to participate in key international meetings due to limited funds. The upcoming 2013 eMRS Symposium Q will highlight the most exciting recent research in the areas of nanobiotechnology, including (i) design, synthesis, and characterization of biologically relevant nanomaterials; (ii) self-assembly and self-organization; (iii) imaging of nanomaterial localization and fate in live cells and model organisms; (iv) nanotoxicology - the effect of material, shape, size, and surface properties on adverse responses from cells to organisms; (v) applications of nanomaterials to biosensing, diagnostics, imaging and contrast agents, vectorization; (vi) nanomedicine and nanopharmacy. Many eminent workers in the area will attend and speak at this meeting. This proposal seeks to increase the intellectual excitement and diversity of the meeting by supporting three young investigators (one faculty member, two graduate students or postdocs) to give last minute, "hot topic" talks at this Symposium.
BROADER IMPACTS: The location of the Symposium in France will provide an opportunity for the young US participants to broaden their range of contacts and experience. These participants will gain access to an international network of colleagues and potential collaborators and mentors they would have not otherwise realized. The organizers of Symposium Q (including the PI) will write a joint Perspective article for ACS Nano, a major nanotechnology journal published by the American Chemical Society, that will highlight the key topics, discussion points, and emerging research directions as revealed at the Symposium, propagating the ideas from the Symposium.
The goal of this project was to support the attendance of US young investigators at an international meeting: the 2013 Spring Meeting of the European Materials Research Society. Two assistant professors from the US and one graduate student were awarded travel funds under this award. This award allowed these young scientists to present their work to an audience they normally would not be in contact with, which may lead to possible international collaborations. The young US scientists spoke in a symposium about the intersection of nanotechnology with biotechnology; Europe has very different ideas on these topics than the US, which contributed to the professional development of the US scientists. The young scientists spoke on topics that were otherwise not well-represented at the eMRS meeting. One assistant professor spoke about using DNA origami to make new hybrid inorganic-biomaterials. Another assistant professor spoke on using plasmonic nanomaterials to make biosensor devices. A graduate student spoke on making mesoporous silica nanoparticles that could serve as drug delivery vehicles with controllable pore sizes. The audience of approximately 100 (for this symposium, which was in parallel with about 30 other symposia) was very appreciative of the presented work and asked numerous questions. As a followup to this conference, the PI is writing a Perspective article, to be published in a major journal, that will describe the controversies and challenges of the nano-bio area.
