Howard Curler Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Juan de Pablo is among four UW-Madison faculty newly elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Other UW-Madison faculty to join this group of pre-eminent scholars and leaders are archaeologist J. Mark Kenoyer, Biochemistry Professor Marvin P. Wickens, and Economics Professor Steven N. Durlauf. The four are among the 212 new members announced Tuesday, April 19, in an annual tradition of honoring the leading "thinkers and doers" from academia, business, public affairs, and the arts and humanities.

They join an impressive roster of fellows that includes Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Albert Einstein.

de Pablo's research interests include molecular modeling, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, complex fluid and polymer physics, and nanomaterials.  [MORE]

Using an advanced form of a rubber stamp, researchers have developed a way to adhere an ultra-thin antibacterial coating to a wound.

The active ingredient, silver, "has been used to prevent and treat infections for ages," says first author Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral fellow in chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "But silver can also kill skin cells, and therefore we need to develop materials that deliver antibacterial but nontoxic levels of silver to wounds."

In a study just published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, Agarwal, chemical and biological engineering professor Nicholas Abbott, and colleagues described a process for creating a transparent ultra-thin polymer coating carrying precise loads of extremely fine silver nanoparticles.

The coating, just a few molecules thick, was assembled on a flexible piece of rubber and then rubber-stamped onto a piece of cadaver skin that simulated a wound in the experiment.

To test the activity against bacteria, the researchers treated skin samples with two bacteria that commonly infect wounds. Using a silver dosage that had not harmed skin cells in previous tests, the bacteria were undetectable within 12 hours, Agarwal says.

MRSEC Director Juan de Pablo has received the 2011 Oersted Lectureship Award from Denmarks Technical University. He is the 17th recipient of this award, which commemorates the accomplishments of Hans Christian Oersted, who discovered electromagnetism and was the founder of the Technical University of Denmark. Previous recipients of the Oersted Award include Nobel Laureates Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Ivar Giaever, Harold Kroto, and Ahmed Zewail.

Juan has also been selected to deliver the 2011 Julian C. Smith Memorial lectures in chemical engineering at Cornell University. The Smith lectures were initiated in 1988 and provide unique forum for recognizing outstanding contributions to research in engineering science. Juan will deliver two lectures entitled “Dimension Dependent Properties at the Nanoscale, and the Need for Alternative Nanofabrication Strategies” and “Directed Assembly and its Use in Genomics and Sensor Development” on April 18-19.

Congratulations, Juan!

UW-MRSEC faculty member Tom Kuech received a Humboldt Research Award to study Fundamentals of Epitaxial Growth in Berlin at the Paul Drude Institute.

He was also was named a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for two years at the Advanced Study at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which will allow interactions with researchers there on semiconductor materials and devices.

Congratulations, Tom!

University of Wisconsin-Madison Meloche-Bascom Professor of Chemistry Martin Zanni is being honored for contributions to the advancement of science within his laboratory and beyond.

In January, the National Academy of Sciences named Zanni the winner of the 2011 Award for Initiatives in Research, which "recognizes innovative young scientists and encourages research likely to lead toward new capabilities for human benefit," according to Zanni's citation.

The academy pointed out Zanni's "revolutionary advances in multidimensional spectroscopies, which are enabling discoveries in biological, medical and condensed matter chemical systems," in its award announcement.

Zanni has developed methods for studying the movement and development of complex molecules. His UW-Madison lab has applied the technology to diabetes research — for which he recently won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House Office of Science and Technology — but it has spread to other fields as well.  [MORE]

Professor Nick Abbott has been elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Selection as a AAAS fellow is a high honor conferred by peers in recognition of distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society. The tradition of naming AAAS fellows in honor of their achievements dates to 1874. New fellows will be recognized at the Fellows Forum, held during the annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19.

Nick was recognized for the transformative engineering and analysis of biotic-abiotic interfaces, including the imaginative use of liquid crystalline materials to report on the interactions of biomolecules.  [MORE]

On Wednesday, December 8, Troy Dassler, a three-time, award-winning UW MRSEC RET Participant, will share his knowledge and passion about science education during a grand-opening event for the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (WID). Dassler will join the likes of Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Evers; UW School of Education Dean, Julie Underwood; and UW Community Relations Director, Dawn Crim; during a panel session at 5pm that day, "Spotlight on Education at the Institutes."

The Fall 2010 newsletter of the American Physical Society (APS) Forum on Education (FEd) features an invited article by IEG director, Greta Zenner Petersen. In the article, Zenner Petersen frames her innovative approach for thinking about education-outreach efforts through Vanilla Ice's hit song from 1990, "Ice, Ice, Baby". Although non-traditional, she suggests that the former hip-hop star offers sound advice in his opening lyrics when he says to "Stop, collaborate, and listen." The article (and full newsletter) is available online:  [MORE]

Growing human embryonic stem cells in the lab is no small feat. Culturing the finicky, shape-shifting cells is labor intensive and, in some ways, more art than exact science.

Now, however, a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports the development of a fully defined culture system that promises a more uniform and, for cells destined for therapy, safer product.

Writing this week (Nov. 14, 2010) in the journal Nature Methods, a team led by Laura Kiessling, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry, unveiled an inexpensive system that takes much of the guess work out of culturing the all-purpose cells.  [MORE]

Dr. Kermin Martinez-Hernandez joined the IEG today as our second post doc. He recently received his PhD in chemical education from Purdue. Welcome to Wisconsin, Kermin!