A STATE of SUBSTANCE Key Investments in People and Infrastructure Have Helped Illinois Become a Major Player in Chemistry

Home , Matthew Tirrell, University of Chicago

UNITED STATES | NATURE INDEX

Argonne National Laboratory, a hub for battery research and a contact point for Illinois’ leading institutions. A STATE OF SUBSTANCE Key investments in people and infrastructure have helped Illinois become a major player in chemistry.

BY CASSANDRA WILLYARD These institutions have a long history of major infrastructure projects and people. chemistry excellence. In the wake of World In the mid-1990s, Northwestern Univer- llinois has become a hotbed of research in War I, as supplies of organic chemicals sity hired a new leader, Henry Bienen, who the science of matter and its elementary dwindled from manufacturers in Germany, developed ambitious plans to expand the uni- substances. In the index, the state ranks Urbana-Champaign launched an opera- versity’s research capabilities. Chad Mirkin, a TIGERHILL STUDIO Ifourth in the United States for its chemistry tion to synthesize them in the US. The move chemist who had joined Northwestern in 1991, research output, with a weighted fractional attracted high-profile chemists like Roger suggested to Bienen that the university build count (WFC) of 360. Almost half the contribu- Adams, who worked out the composition of a centre dedicated to research on the rapidly tion to authorship in the index from research- substances such as complex vegetable oils and emerging field of nanotechnology. Mirkin ers in Illinois is in chemistry plant alkaloids. In 1955, chemists at Argonne knew that Northwestern could find a niche in Four institutions produce the lion’s share co-discovered two new elements, einsteinium a less established field. of these papers: Northwestern University, and fermium. Bienen backed the idea. The International University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, In the past decade, despite recession, these Institute of Nanotechnology (IIN) launched Argonne National Laboratory, and The Uni- four institutions have fuelled the state’s chem- in 2000, the same year President Bill Clinton versity of Chicago. istry research output by pouring money into announced the National Nanotechnology

NATURE INDEX | UNITED STATES

CHEMISTRY BONDS Illinois In 2016, the top 10 chemistry collaborative relationships in the United States in the Nature Index were between institutions in the same state. Collaboration score (CS) sums the contribution from papers with authors from both partnering institutions. Massachusetts Institutions in Illinois contributed to four of the top partnerships.

The University of California, Berkeley (CS: 63.7) contributes to a California larger proportion of the authorship in papers it collaborates on with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (CS: 42.9). Total CS is 106.6. Tennessee

University of California, 06.6 Lawrence Berkeley Berkeley National Laboratory Harvard University 5.6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Northwestern University 39.5 Argonne National Laboratory

University of California, Los Angeles 2.9 University of California, Santa Barbara

Harvard University 9.5 Boston University The University of Chicago 8.5 Argonne National Laboratory

Northwestern University 8.2 The University of Chicago

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 7.9 The University of Tennessee at Knoxville Harvard University 7.3 Tufts University Northwestern University 7.2 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 CS CS

Initiative — a US$497-million, multi-agency laboratory. “Lyrica brought in more than a bil- faculty from junior faculty level,” says chemis- project to boost nanoscale science. The IIN’s lion dollars to the university at a time when try department head, Martin Gruebele. US$30 million-plus home was opened in 2002. US markets were imploding. So we were in a A contact point for the three universities is The IIN and other centres have helped strong position to keep building,” Mirkin says. the Argonne National Laboratory, which has Northwestern attract top-tier researchers, Thirty kilometres south, the University a synchrotron producing powerful X-rays Mirkin says. In 2007, the university recruited of Chicago, has also expanded its chemistry chemists use to determine the molecular struc- superstar chemist Fraser Stoddart, whose work capabilities. In 2009, workers finished a US$49 ture of materials. building molecular rings that can move along million overhaul of the Searle Chemistry Labo- Researchers at Argonne, Northwestern, an axle helped pave the way for nanoscale ratory building. The University of Chicago and the University machines. Stoddart won the Nobel Prize in When construction costs fell and interest of Illinois at Chicago have recently developed Chemistry in 2016. rates plummeted after the housing bubble a soft, electrically conductive material made Mirkin has also raised the university’s burst, its president, Robert Zimmer, seized the of silicon nanowires that can be injected into research standing with the discovery of an opportunity to further expand. “Many institu- the body and degrade naturally. They used the entirely new way of detecting DNA and other tions were concerned with financial risk, as of material to optically stimulate nerve cells on molecules using gold nanoparticles. Today, he course were we,” says Zimmer. a dish, showing its potential for engineering is one of the most cited chemists in the world. “But, we determined the greater risk was to artificial organs. Their research was published Building facilities and recruiting talent take a less programmatically ambitious path in Nature Materials in June 2016. requires serious money, which Northwestern that could reduce the university’s eminence in Argonne is also a hub for battery research. had access to. In the late-1980s, chemist Rich- the long term.” In 2012 the US Department of Energy awarded ard Silverman discovered the key ingredient in the lab US$120 million over five years to create what eventually became a blockbuster drug for HIGH-ENERGY RING the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research. treating nerve pain and epilepsy — pregabalin In 2011, the university broke ground on the The centre connects scientists and engineers (marketed by Pfizer as Lyrica). William Eckhardt Research Center, a US$215 from industry, five national laboratories and 10 Most of the funds from the sale of the drug million facility that houses the Pritzker universities, including Northwestern, Urbana- went into Northwestern’s already healthy Nanofabrication Facility and the Institute for Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago endowment, but quarterly payments from Molecular Engineering, a joint venture with and The University of Chicago, which manages Pfizer helped the university weather the worst Argonne. Over the past eight years, the uni- and operates Argonne. of the 2008 economic downturn, which halted versity’s chemistry department has hired 15 Illinois has imported an enormous amount building plans in other top-tier universities. new faculty, and an additional three chemists of talent in the past decade, and continues to do Annual endowment payouts and drug roy- and five chemical engineers have joined the so, says Matthew Tirrell, chief research officer alties were spent on hiring chemistry faculty Institute for Molecular Engineering. for Argonne National Laboratory and direc- and subsidizing new construction, including At the University of Illinois at Urbana- tor of the Institute for Molecular Engineering. the Integrated Molecular Structure Educa- Champaign, the focus has been on nurturing “They’re coming because this is the place to do tion and Research Center, a chemical analysis and retaining top-tier faculty. “We grow a lot of chemical and materials sciences.” ■