December 2024 • Newsletter from the Center for Nanoscience, Lund University Strategic Research Area NanoLund |
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The end of 2024 is getting closer, and in the midst of the final hectic attempt to finish all projects and ideas, we can look back at the year. We sadly had to say goodbye to our deputy director Maria Messing, who took a new leadership position at Chalmers. After a thorough process, the recruiting group found a new top candidate, Martin Leijnse, who already contributes hugely to the leadership. This work found that NanoLund has many excellent candidates for scientific leadership positions, which bodes well for the future.
This year, six of our researchers became or were renewed as Wallenberg Scholars. This is a great recognition and boost for fundamental research in NanoLund, which is a core strength of our environment. Scientific endeavors conducted simply to satisfy human curiosity are of the highest value in themselves and are the long-term foundation for our applications to stand on.
Finally, towards the end of the year, we got the message that Vectura was chosen as the landlord for NanoLab Science Village. This is a great step forward for this project, which will be central to our efforts to create a new hub for science, education, and innovation here in Lund. This will contribute to the vision and action work we will do in the new year, to form a new strategy for NanoLund for 2030 and beyond. I look forward to exciting discussions and new ideas – to be pioneering we must be ready to jump into the unknown.
For the leadership of NanoLund,
Anders Mikkelsen
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The procurement process is concluded. Vectura Fastigheter will host Lund University’s Nanolab Science Village, a lab for manufacturing nanomaterials and semiconductor components. The lab will be a neighbour of the major research facilities ESS and MAX IV, and together they will form a hub of scientific facilities that will create a competitive research environment with great opportunities.
“We are pleased to see Lund University move one step closer to breaking ground for the new nanotechnology laboratory. Here we can conduct cutting-edge research in sustainability and create an international centre for materials science, linking research in physics, chemistry, and biomedicine,” says Erik Renström, Vice-Chancellor of Lund University.
Ready to take the next step in the construction process
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New devices to separate cells and nanoparticles using ultrasound is the aim of Per Augustsson’s project.
Sound contains energy that can generate forces on microscopic objects such as blood cells and biological nanoparticles. Blood is mostly made up of red blood cells, but also contains white blood cells that are part of the immune system. The blood of cancer patients may also contain circulating tumour cells, which are thought to play a role in how cancer spreads to different organs in the body. It is important to be able to separate different types of cells from the blood to examine them in detail.
Studying the physics of ultrasound waves interacting with fluids and microscopic objects can lead to new ways to improve the diagnosis and treatment of metastatic diseases, such as cancer.
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NanoLund keeps growing and has over 100 research groups, over 60 faculty members, and over 50 affiliated faculty members. Since last newsletter was sent out, we have welcomed four new affiliated faculty members:
Edith Hammer, Microbial Ecology, Faculty of Science
Johannes Svensson, Electromagnetics and nanoelectronics, Faculty of Engineering (LTH)
Vasili Hauryliuk, Molecular Enzymology, Faculty of Medicine
Wei Qiu, Biomedical Engineering, LTH |
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We welcome Martin Leijnse, Professor of Condensed Matter Physics, as our new Deputy Director of NanoLund. He succeeds Maria Messing who is currently at Chalmers. The NanoLund Board has a new chair after Heiner Linke: Margaret McNamee, Professor in Fire Safety Engineering and Deputy Dean of LTH. |
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Heiner Linke, Professor of Nanophysics, Principal Investigator at Lund University, and Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, is now elected to IVA's Education and Research Division.
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NanoLund researchers engage in three of the competence centres invested in by Sweden’s Innovation Agency, Vinnova. It has been a productive year for all of them.
C3NiT, managed by Vanya Darakchieva has for the second time arranged its yearly meeting in Lund with great success together with industrial and academic partners. The updates on the 6 projects demonstrated that for HEMTs, improvements in growth and processing achieved ever higher breakdown voltages and reduction of electron trapping effects. Epitaxial growth has been improved for better doping control, higher power outputs and higher switching frequencies. The young researchers took the scene for posters or short talks. This time, we tested for the first time fully digital posters, and everyone had good discussions. Invited guests were Qin Wang who updated us on Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Based Devices and Applications research performed at RISE. Also, Mats Alaküla discussed Power Electronics in Automotive Applications and Lars Palm presented the plans with the National Chips Competence centre. Industrial talks by Hexagem and United Monolithic Semiconductors revealed a long list of topics for collaboration between industry and academia. C3NiT celebrated being the core of the Swedish node of the imminent WBG pilot line, highlighted on the IVA 100 project list for 2024, a major achievement and recognition of C3NiT excellence.
The two other centres – ACT, managed by Lars-Erik Wernersson, and SENTIO, managed by Anders Mikkelsen – have now concluded their first year in operation. The centres have been inaugurated, work has been initiated together with partners and new PhD-students and post-docs are welcomed.
We look forward to their next steps. You can follow the centres’ activities on their websites and we will continue highlighting the achievements.
C3NiT – Janzén – Centre for III-nitride technology
ACT | Advanced Chip Technologies
Sentio | Sentio Competence Centre |
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Synchrotron radiation researcher Ziyun Huang shows how to grow free-standing perovskite nanowires in a ligand free way. The yield is dramatically improved by using a controlled nitrogen flow, and in situ microscopy is used to visualize the growth dynamics.
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In a study published in Advanced Science, Roger Olsson and Martin Hjort together with several other researchers including Fredrik Ek describe how they can use light to create electrically conductive materials directly in the body, showing promising results in animal trials.
Bioelectronics is successfully used for treating heart arrhythmia, epilepsy, and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, to name a few. However, it’s well known that today’s bioelectrodes and implantation methods require the tissue to adapt to the electrodes, rather than the other way around. This can lead to complications.
Roger Olsson, professor of chemical biology and drug development at Lund University, explains that current bioelectrodes often lead to complications like inflammation, scarring, and mechanical mismatch, especially in soft tissues like the brain.
“Our goal is to create biocompatible solutions that seamlessly integrate with the body. This study shows that we are on the right path.”
Electrodes formed directly in tissues
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