The Electronic and Biological Nanostructures Laboratory, headed by Professor Virginia M. Ayres, investigates both inorganic and organic nanostructures. The small physical dimensions of nanostructures result in new and fascinating localized and sometimes quantised interactions. At the nano (10-9 m) level, the distinction between inorganic and organic behaviour can be reduced to fundamental interactions common to both. However, very different applications are enabled by different combinations of the same fundamentals! Our group investigates two combinations, those that facilitate biocompatibility between living and non-living nanostructures, and those that facilitate fast nanocircuit-based binary logic in harsh radiation and low temperature environments.
Additionally, great emphasis is placed on the development and use of reliable nano-investigative techniques. Scanning Probe Recognition Microscopy is a new scanning probe microscopy capability developed by our group. High resolution electron microscopies (SEM, HRTEM and EELS) provide complmentary nanoscale information. Confocal optical microscopy, and micro Raman and FTIR spectroscopies, are also utilized. Students are encouraged to develop high-caliber nano-experimental expertise of their own, working with the guidance of experts both at Michigan State University and through national and international links with our collaborators.
Note: This is an archived version of the EBNL webpage due to a spam attack earlier this year. Repairs are underway and we should be current again soon.
Teaching Spring Semster 2012:
ECE 875: Semiconductor Physics and Electronics Devices
ECE 390: Ethics, Professionalism and Contemporary Issues
Group News
ECE480 Design Team07 First Prize Prism VentureWorks Award in Spring 2011 Design Day competition!
Congratulations to ECE 480 Design Team 07 whose project "Small Animal Barostat Instrument", sponsored by the Michigan State University Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, won the First Prize Prism VentureWorks Award in the Spring 2001 Design Day competition (10 Teams). Prof. Virginia Ayres has now served as the Faculty Facilitator for the First Prize winning Team three times in a row!.
55th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, 05-09 March 2011, Baltimore, MD
Prof. Virginia Ayres and graduate research assistant Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki attended the 55th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, March 05-09, 2011, Baltimore, MD, and presented "Astrocyte Cell-Cell Interactions Via Long-range Connective Bridges on Directive Surfaces".
Research Collaboration Meetings 05-07 January 2011
Prof. Virginia Ayres, graduate research assistant Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki, Dr. Sally Meiners, Prof. David Schreiber and Dr. Ijaz Ahmed met to discuss experiments, interpretation and proposed research in neural cell system regenerative medicine through nanobiology. The meeting was hosted at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. Mr. Tiryaki also received two days of in-laboratory training in primary neural cell preparation and analysis techniques from Dr. Ijaz Ahmed.
MRS Fall Meeting, 30 November-04 December 2010, Boston, MA
Best Poster Nominee
Graduate research assistant Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki and undergraduate research assistant Kan Xie attended the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, 30 November-04 December 2010, Boston, MA and gave two presentations, in neural cell responses to nanofibrillar biomaterials and carbon nanomaterial responses to heavy ion irradiation. It was Kan Xie's first conference and his poster was nominated for a Best Poster Award. Nice work!
Three-year Grant: NSF Physics of Living Systems Program
We received a new three-year continuing grant from the National Science Foundation Physics of Living Systems Program: PHY 0957776 Collaborative Research: Nanoscale Cues for Regenerative Neural Cell Systems, on 01 October 2010. Prof. Virginia Ayres is the Principal Investigator.
Congratulations to Raeid Al-duhileb
who successfully defended his Master's thesis " Electronic and Structural Properties of Carbon Onions in Extreme Environments" on 19 July 2010! Raeid, who is currently on leave, has been accepted to the PhD program and will be returning.
54th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, 20-24 February 2010, San Francisco, CA
Prof. Virginia Ayres, graduate research assistant Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki and Mr. Theodore Caldwell, Director of the Diversity Programs Office at MSU, gave two presentations at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, one in nanobiology of the regenerative neural cell system and the other in our experiences with biophysics as a successful attractor for diversity participation.
MRS Fall Meeting, 30 November-04 December 2009, Boston, MA
Prof. Virginia Ayres, and graduate research assistants Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki and Raeid Al-duhileb, all headed for the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, 30 November-04 December 2009, Boston, MA and gave three presentations, in nanofibrillar biomaterials, carbon nanomaterials and gallium nitride nanowires. We all headed but Raied broke his ankle at the last minute and wound up overnight-expressing his poster over for presentation by the other two instead!
Congratulations to Volkan Mujdat Tiryaki
who passed his Qualifying Examinations, held 24 September 2009, on the first go-round!
Congratulations to Kaylee McElroy
who successfully defended her Master's thesis "Catalyst-Free Gallium Nitride Nanowire Nucleation" on 14 August 2009!
Abstract. And congratulations to Kaylee and Ben McElroy both, who welcomed daughter Cora Elaine McElroy (their first!) on 15 September 2009.
Congratulations and thanks to Adeel Kahn
our Summer Undergraduate Research Academy 2009 (SURA 2009: 15 June - 15 August 2009) visiting research assistant from Western Michigan University! Adeel presented poster "Neural Cell Investigations in Relation to Spinal Cord Injuries" at the SURA 2009 Symposium at Michigan State University on 15 August 2009 and did the EBNL group proud!
Prof. Virginia Ayres seminar at the University of Michigan
"Nanoscale Cues for Regenerative Neural Cell Systems Investigated by Scanning Probe Recognition Microscopy" Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, on 13 July 2009
Abstract Current seminars
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