Journal of Glycobiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2168-958X
ISSN: 2168-958X
Michael S Strano
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Glycobiol
Our laboratory has been interested in how 1D electronic material such as carbon nanotubes can be utilized to illustrate new
concepts in molecular transport and energy transfer. In the first example, we predict and demonstrate the concept of thermo
power waves for energy generation. Coupling an exothermic chemical reaction with a thermally conductive CNT creates a selfpropagating
reactive wave driven along its length. We realize such waves in MWNT and show that they produce concomitant
electrical pulses of high specific power >7 kW/kg. Such waves of high power density may find uses as unique energy sources. In
the second system, we fabricate and study SWNT ion channels for the first time and show that the longest, highest aspect ratio and
smallest diameter synthetic nanopore examined to date, a 500 μm SWNT demonstrates oscillations in electro-osmotic current
at specific ranges of electric field that are the signatures of coherence resonance yielding self-generated rhythmic and frequency
locked transport. The observed oscillations in the current occur due to a coupling between stochastic pore blocking and a
diffusion limitation that develops at the pore mouth during proton transport. Lastly, our laboratory has been interested in how
semiconducting single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) can be modified such that their fluorescent emission is modulated in
response to specific molecules, hence creating a new class of sensor. Such sensors have important advantages including enhanced
optical penetration of tissues in the near infrared, reduced auto-fluorescence, infinite resistance to photo bleaching and most
recently, single molecule analyte sensitivity. This presentation will review our recent efforts in this space including new platforms
for label free protein detection, nitric oxide, H2O2 and the interfacing of sensor arrays to living cells.
Michael S Strano is currently the Carbon P Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his BS from
Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY and PhD from the University of Delaware both in Chemical Engineering. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Rice
University in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Richard E Smalley. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before moving to MIT. His research focuses
on biomolecule/nanoparticle interactions and the surface chemistry of low dimensional systems, nano-electronics, nanoparticle separations and applications of
vibrational spectroscopy to nanotechnology. He is the Recipient of numerous awards for his work from 2005 to the present.