Nanofibers Power Attoscale Chemistry

March 10, 2009 | Source: Technology Review

Bowling Green State University researchers have developed a new way to perform chemical reactions involving only about 1,000 molecules, using minuscule chemical reactions that take place at the intersections between polymer nanofibers.

(Pavel Anzenbacher and Manuel Palacios)

(Pavel Anzenbacher and Manuel Palacios)

The process is cheap and simple; among other applications, it could be used to perform high-throughput testing of new protein- or DNA-identifying labels that improve on those currently employed for sequencing, and to detect rare biological molecules such as trace proteins characteristic of the early stages of cancer and other diseases.