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Seeing is believing: using electron microscopy to probe teeny tiny structures

May 4, 2020

We recently spoke with Ellen Lavoie, Molecular Analysis Facility staff scientist and electron microscopy expert, about how she came to be a TEM expert and what she loves about her work. Read our Q&A with Ellen! [...]

Pacific oysters in the Salish Sea may not contain as many microplastics as previously thought

May 1, 2020

Using advanced instrumentation in the Molecular Analysis Facility, researchers in the lab of MolES faculty member and materials science & engineering professor Christine Luscombe have discovered that Salish Sea oysters may not contain as many microplastic contaminants as previously thought. [...]

Researchers identify rules for effectively regulating gene expression in bacteria

April 16, 2020

Jason Fontana, a molecular engineering Ph.D. student in the labs of chemical engineering professor James Carothers and chemistry professor Jesse Zalatan, has identified features of bacterial genes that impose strict requirements on CRISPR-Cas transcriptional activation tools. This work defines new strategies to effectively regulate gene expression in bacteria, bringing researchers closer to their goal of using bacteria to produce valuable biosynthetic products. Read this Q&A with Jesse Zalatan featured on the Science in Seattle blog. [...]

New system outcompetes traditional biofactories with on-demand, remote chemical production

February 27, 2020

A team was led by Dr. Alshakim Nelson, an assistant professor of chemistry at the UW, and Dr. Hal Alper, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas, developed a new method that combines the bioactivity of microbes and a 3D-printed, synthetic hydrogel "” a water-based gel structure "” to create desired chemical compounds. The products can vary from pharmaceuticals to nutraceuticals, alluding to the vast potential for this new finding. [...]

Fall 2019 molecular engineering Ph.D. graduates

February 13, 2020

Since launching the molecular engineering Ph.D. program in 2014, it has grown to include over 70 students working across the University of Washington on everything from designing and testing battery materials to designing proteins that can turn genes on or off at will. Congratulations to our latest graduates - Justin Davis, Dion Hubble and Grant Williamson! [...]

Microscopy: Where science meets art

February 12, 2020

Scott Braswell, Molecular Analysis Facility staff scientist and Scanning Electron Microscopy expert, loves that microscopy draws on many areas of knowledge; knowledge of what you're observing, technical skills in capturing a good image, and your own aesthetic. Read our Q&A with Scott. [...]

First-of-its-kind hydrogel platform enables on-demand production of medicines and chemicals

February 4, 2020

Researchers in the lab of MolES faculty member and professor of chemistry Al Nelson along with collaborators at the University of Texas unveiled a new way to produce medicines and chemicals and preserve them using portable "biofactories" that are embedded in water-based gels known as hydrogels. The approach could help people in remote villages or on military missions, where the absence of pharmacies, doctor's offices or even basic refrigeration makes it hard to access critical medicines and other small-molecule compounds. [...]

Collaborating for Clean Tech

January 24, 2020

MolE PhD student Ted Cohen shares how molecular engineering has opened new opportunities for collaboration. Cohen is a 4th year molecular engineering Ph.D. student co-advised by Professor of Chemistry Daniel Gamelin and Professors of Materials Science & Engineering Christine Luscombe and Devin Mackenzie. [...]

PECASE Honoree Elizabeth Nance highlights the importance of collaboration in nanotechnology

November 24, 2019

Elizabeth Nance, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle and a recent recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), focuses her research on understanding the barriers in the brain and other cell- and tissue-based barriers in the body to see how nanoparticles interact with them. [...]

Team uses golden "˜lollipop' to observe elusive interference effect at the nanoscale

November 7, 2019

A team led by MolES faculty member David Masiello and scientists from the University of Notre Dame used recent advances in electron microscopy to observe Fano interferences "” a form of quantum-mechanical interference by electrons "” directly in a pair of metallic nanoparticles. [...]

Light-based "˜tractor beam' assembles materials at the nanoscale

November 4, 2019

A team led by MolES faculty member Peter Pauzauskie, a professor of materials science and engineering, has developed a method that could make reproducible manufacturing at the nanoscale possible. The team adapted a light-based technology employed widely in biology "” known as optical traps or optical tweezers "” to operate in a water-free liquid environment of carbon-rich organic solvents, thereby enabling new potential applications. [...]

New technique lets researchers map strain in next-gen solar cells

October 31, 2019

A team led by David Ginger, professor of chemistry and MolES faculty member, has developed a way to map strain in lead halide perovskite solar cells. Their approach shows that misorientation between microscopic perovskite crystals is the primary contributor to the buildup of strain within the solar cell, which creates small-scale defects in the grain structure, interrupts the transport of electrons within the solar cell, and ultimately leads to heat loss through a process known as non-radiative recombination. [...]

New metasurface design can control optical fields in three dimensions

October 4, 2019

A team led by MolES faculty member Arka Majumdar, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics, has designed and tested a 3D-printed metamaterial that can manipulate light with nanoscale precision. As they report in a paper published October 4 in the journal Science Advances, their designed optical element focuses light to discrete points in a 3D helical pattern. [...]

Research team receives NSF award to develop "˜smart' synthetic cell systems

September 24, 2019

An interdisciplinary research team led by MolES faculty member James Carothers, Dan Evans Career Development Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, received a new $1 million research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate whether cells can learn. [...]

Corie L. Cobb receives DARPA Young Faculty Award

September 12, 2019

Corie L. Cobb, Washington Research Foundation Innovation Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Clean Energy, is the recipient of a 2019 Young Faculty Award from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). [...]

Cell with nucleus in mitosis and multiplication of cells

A New Clue to How Life Originated

August 12, 2019

A new study published in PNAS from the lab of Sarah Keller, MolES faculty member and UW professor of chemistry, was recently featured in The Atlantic. [...]

Scientists can now control thermal profiles at the nanoscale

August 9, 2019

In a paper published online July 30 by the journal ACS Nano, David Masiello, MolES faculty member and professor of chemistry, and colleagues from Rice University and Temple University, report a new breakthrough on controlling the thermal profiles of materials at the nanoscale. The team of researchers designed and tested an experimental system that uses a near-infrared laser to actively heat two gold nanorod antennae "” metal rods designed and built at the nanoscale "” to different temperatures. The nanorods are so close together that they are both electromagnetically and thermally coupled. Yet the team measured temperature differences between the rods as high as 20 degrees Celsius. By simply changing the wavelength of the laser, they could also change which nanorod was cooler and which was warmer, even though the rods were made of the same material. [...]

First-ever visualizations of electrical gating effects on electronic structure could lead to longer-lasting devices

July 17, 2019

For the first time, scientists have visualized the electronic structure in a microelectronic device, opening up opportunities for finely tuned, high-performance electronic devices. UW physicists David Cobden and Xaiodong Xu, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Warwick, developed a technique to measure the energy and momentum of electrons in operating microelectronic devices made of atomically thin "” so-called 2D "” materials. Their findings, published last week in the journal Nature could lead to new, finely tuned, high performance electronic devices. [...]

Elizabeth Nance is one of six UW professors to a receive 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers

July 9, 2019

The award, also known as the PECASE, is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to early-career scientists and engineers "who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology." [...]

Hail to the fiber king

June 26, 2019

Hao Shen pioneered the creation of self-assembling protein fibers from scratch in the lab of UW Biochemistry professor David Baker. Hao was part of our first cohort of students and is the first student to receive a PhD in molecular engineering from the University of Washington. Read more about Hao's scientific journey! [...]