Thank you for 13 years of NIM!
The funding of the "Nanosystems Initiative Munich" by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) terminated in October 2019.
The final report is now available for download.
Simulating fundamental interactions with ultracold atoms
An international team of physicists succeeded in precisely engineering key ingredients to simulate a specific lattice gauge theory using ultracold atoms in optical lattices.
Galenus Technology Prize for Ulrich Lächelt
For his innovative research on “Metal-Organic Nanopharmaceuticals” Dr Ulrich Lächelt receives the 10th Galenus Technology Prize. The pharmacist is head of a research group at the Chair of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the LMU Munich.
No encapsulation needed for unprecedented stability
Are organic semiconductors as good as silicon semiconductors? Apparently they are even better! Prof. Thomas Weitz and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and at BASF are able to produce highly efficient organic thin film transistors.
Modelling leads to the optimum size for platinum fuel cell catalysts
An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has built platinum nanoparticles for catalysis in fuel cells: The new size-optimized catalysts are twice as good as the best process commercially available today.
LMU’s New Institute: Overlooking the English Garden
LMU's new Nano Institute on Königinstrasse was officially opened on 17. June 2019. Its research staff will seek novel ways of exploiting the unique properties of nanomaterials to enhance the efficiency of energy generation and storage.
Immortal quantum particles
Decay is relentless in the macroscopic world: broken objects do not fit themselves back together again. However, other laws are valid in the quantum world: new research shows that so-called quasiparticles can decay and reorganize themselves again and are thus become virtually immortal.
Black nanoparticles slow the growth of tumors
The dark skin pigment melanin protects us from the sun’s damaging rays by absorbing light energy and converting it to heat. Scientists around Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos managed to create melanin-loaded cell membrane derived nanoparticles, which improved tumor imaging in an animal model while also slowing the growth of the tumor.
Stable majorities
How could prebiotic information-bearing DNA sequences survive in the face of competition from a vast excess of shorter molecules with random sequences? LMU scientists now show that a relatively simple mechanism could have done the trick.
NIM member Erwin Frey holds Kavli Chair 2019
The NIM scientist Prof. Dr. Erwin Frey (LMU) receives the prestigious Kavli Chair of the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience of the TU Delft.
One transistor for all purposes
Be it in a mobile, fridge or plane - transistors are everywhere. But often they are specialized for only one current range. Prof. Thomas Weitz (NIM) and his team have now developed a nanoscopic transistor of organic semiconductor material that is working perfectly at low and high currents.
Force for activation
Tumor invasion and metastasis are major problems in the therapy of cancer patients. NIM scientists around Prof. Hermann Gaub and collaboration partners in Madrid and Heidelberg now elucidated the activation conditions for a key enzyme in this process – a step forward in the development of new therapeutic strategies.
Cells in a tight spot
Migrating cancer cells must overcome physical barriers such as tight pores in finely meshed tissues. A recent study by a team of NIM biophysicists provides a new theory to describe how cells manoeuvre such confining environments.
Happy about noise
Noise for physicists means nothing but trouble: unspecific signals, interfering frequencies and low
measurement sensitivity. Scientists from the Universities of Augsburg and Hannover now discovered that noise can be extremely useful – for example in quantum mechanics.
No support needed
For the development of new semiconducting devices, the properties of the material need to be clarified. Ideally, the analysis is done without supporting substrate distorting the measurements. The NIM scientists Prof Thomas Weitz and Prof Achim Hartschuh are now able to fabricate freely suspended ultrathin organic semiconductor films.
Valleytronics at room temperature
Essential in the development of new ultrathin information carriers is the stabilization of the excited state, which carries the information. The NIM physicists Prof Ursula Wurstbauer, Prof Alexander Holleitner and Prof Alexander Högele now found a tunable method, even at room temperature.
New EU consortium for new gene therapies
The NIM scientist Prof Ernst Wagner coordinates the working package “Tailor gene-delivery strategies” within the new EU project “UPGRADE: Unlocking Precision Gene Therapy”. Together with Dr Ulrich Lächelt he will optimize the non-viral delivery of new and precise gene-editing tools.
Models of life
Friedrich Simmel und Aurore Dupin, researchers at the TUM, have for the first time created artificial cell assemblies that can communicate with each other. The cells, separated by fatty membranes, exchange small chemical signaling molecules to trigger more complex reactions, such as the production of RNA and other proteins.
Delayed adaptation favors coexistence
Soil bacteria must be able to adapt to varying environmental conditions. – But a new study by LMU researchers indicates that rapid adaptation can be counterproductive, while delayed adjustment facilitates coexistence of different species.
Alexander Högele receives ERC Proof of Concept Grant
The NIM biophysicist Prof Alexander Högele won a Proof of Concept Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) for the development of a "cavity-enhanced optical microscope". This new project is based on his work on new microscopy technologies which were already funded by the ERC with Starting and Consolidator Grants.
In Memoriam Markus-Christian Amann
Prof. Markus-Christian Amann passed away unexpectedly on 23 November 2018 at the age of 67 years. Until April 2018 he was Full Professor for Semiconductor Technology at TUM and Director of the Walter Schottky Institut. Professor Amann was member of NIM since its foundation in 2007. We will always keep him in honorable memory.
Tim Liedl receives ERC Consolidator Grant
Prof. Tim Liedl was awarded with an ERC Consolidator Grant for his project on "DNA-based functional lattices". It is the second ERC Grant in the career of the NIM biophysicist whose research focusses on DNA origami and the applications of this technique.
New Honors for Peter Hänggi
Prof Dr Dr h.c. mult. Peter Hänggi was awarded two important honors: The NIM-physicist received the Smoluchowski-Warburg-Prize 2019 of the German Physical Society (DPG) and was appointed Honorary Professor of the Huaqiao University in China.
Viruses attack bacteria
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are on rise. Help comes from their natural enemies, the bacteriophages. Students from LMU and TU München, also from the group of NIM-scientist Prof. Friedrich Simmel, have developed a new method for their production. Their project was awarded with the second place in the renowned global iGEM competition.
Viral RNA Sensing
Even tiny amounts of viruses can have disastrous consequences. RNA identification can reveal the type of virus present. A fast and sensitive technique based on optical detection has now been outlined by researchers around the NIM biophysicist Prof Tim Liedl.
The Future of NanoScience
The NIM Conference “The Future of NanoScience” provided a platform for vivid discussions about the development and news in this exciting field. Research topics of participating scientists span from quantum nanophysics over nanosystems for energy conversion towards biomolecular and biomedical nanotechnologies.
Tiny technologies with enormous impact
The TEDx conference stands for short presentations that are attended online by millions of people worldwide. Since 2014, this format is also offered at the TUM. The presentation of Prof. Hendrik Dietz and other speakers of this year's event on "Tiny Superpowers" are now available online.
Measuring the nanoworld
Researchers establish a benchmark for the accurate determination of internal dimensions within individual molecules.
Pile-ups in protein transport
Motor proteins in cells can move along protein filaments in ways that interfere with each other’s progress. A new model developed by LMU physicists shows how this can lead to gridlock, even when there is still plenty of empty space.
All-in-one light-driven water splitting
Solar-powered water splitting is a promising means of generating clean and storable energy. A novel catalyst based on semiconductor nanoparticles has now been shown to facilitate all the reactions needed for “artificial photosynthesis”.
Self-centered
Rod-shaped bacterial cells normally divide by constriction midway along their long axis. LMU physicists have developed a theoretical model to explain how Myxococcus xanthus localizes the plane of division to mid-cell.
Surface Acoustic Waves Orchestrate Neuronal Networks
Biophysicists from Augsburg and Santa Barbara report in Physical Review E on the first successful outcome in the targeted dynamic positioning of nerve cells on a chip. The proven Augsburg surface acoustic wave technology now opens up new ways of understanding and influencing neuronal networks.
It’s getting hot in here, why don’t you change your twist
Increasing temperature changes the twist of the DNA helix. To quantify this process, an international team of researchers led by the biophysicist Prof Jan Lipfert applied single-molecule magnetic tweezers measurements and extensive computer simulations to DNA molecules.
Lattice vibrations boost photoluminescence
NIM physicists have characterized in detail the optical response of semiconducting tungsten diselenide bilayer crystals and explained their distinctive spectral signatures. Owing to their intriguing physical properties, ultrathin 2D materials have become a major focus of research in nanoscience.
Wave fronts and ant trails
NIM physicists investigating spontaneous pattern formation in a model system that includes motile proteins have discovered hitherto unobserved phenomena. Their findings afford new insights into biological processes.
Towards femtosecond on-chip electronics
Plasmonic metal antennas allow localizing and enhancing light on a nanometer scale – and also the generation of ultrafast electric pulses in macroscopic circuits, as NIM physicist Prof Alexander Holleitner and colleagues could now demonstrate by utilizing the effect of electron photoemission.
Nanosystems NEWS – New issue
The new issue of the NIM Newsletter “Nanosystems NEWS” is out now! It presents an overview over the various NIM events during the last year and provides insights into the exiting research on quantum sensors, diffusion processes, new ways of energy generation and smart drug carriers. In a new series, we discuss the family support programs of NIM.
Emergence of Life
In the new Collaborative Research Centre TRR 235 “Emergence of life: Explorating mechanisms with cross-disciplinary experiments”, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), several NIM scientists will explore this thrilling question under the lead of Prof Dieter Braun.
Supertetrahedra Lego for future batteries
New sodium-based all-solid-state batteries could enable future energy storage devices using only the easy-to-access, cheap and earth abundant elements Na, Si and P. By shaping them into sodium phosphidosilicates containing large supertetrahedral entities, Prof Dirk Johrendt and NIM scientist Prof Bettina Lotsch generated solid electrolytes with very high ionic conductivity.
Targeting cancer cells with sugars
Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death, also because the efficiency of chemotherapeutics is inadequate due to poor delivery to the tumor. NIM scientist Prof Olivia Merkel and her team develop targeted nanocarrier systems to increase the delivery rates of therapeutic formulations and their specific uptake into the target cells.
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