FALL 2006 BECKMAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUE 3

Richard Powers weaves neuroscience and nature in his new book, The Echo Maker, to explore the stories of what makes us who we are. Page 2

T he Beckman Before being honored as one T he ability to continue Institute and of the top young the interdisciplinary researcher s like scientists in the country, approach he enjoyed at Michael Insana are Mark Hersam gained some Bell Labs was one rea- leading the way in the vital experience son Richard Sproat growing field during his time at Beckman. joined the Beckman of bioimaging. Page 11 Institute. Page 14 Page 5 QUESTION AND ANSWER WITH RICHARD POWERS

views prior to coming here. But once I was here I R had several new avenues of connection and new ichard Powers is one of resources available. One was access to informal America’s most acclaimed novel- conversations with scientists here, and that’s been ists and a faculty member in the invaluable. The number of times that somebody has Beckman Institute’s Cognitive pointed me to other bibliographies, to an error in Neuroscience group. Powers, a my preconceptions, or just to new and exciting professor in the Department of English, has earned research, I can’t count. Just in casual conversations. numerous literary and academic awards and hon- Beyond that, I’ve had several chances to sit down ors, including Time magazine Book of the Year with some incredibly exciting researchers like Award, four National Book Critic Award finalist William Greenough and Neal Cohen, people who nominations, an American Academy of Arts and were working in areas that were important to my Sciences Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship. own narrative. The ability to sit and be in seminars On November 15 his latest novel, The Echo Maker, with them and pick their brains one on one was won what many consider the highest honor for really invaluable to me. Then I also started to works of fiction, the National Book Award for attend the regular research seminars here, for Fiction. instance the Advances in Sensory and Powers had been at Beckman in the 1990s, Developmental Neuroscience events. That’s where then returned to the Institute last year to continue folks are bringing stuff fresh out of the lab and put- researching and writing The Echo Maker, a book ting it up for public discussion, even stuff that is that weaves family tragedy and the annual migra- still in formulation. The benefits of that were really tion of the Sandhill cranes to Nebraska’s Platte Netherlands for many years and was invited by two-fold: learning about research before it actually River into a story that probes basic questions about Illinois to stay as an artist-in-residence, Dick hit publication, just as a sense of where things are the self. Wheeler and Ted Brown – who was head of the going right now. But also a chance to see as an Powers read the neuroscience literature, attend- Beckman then – came up with this plan to give me observer – but someone sitting in the same room – ed seminars, and talked with neuroscientists at an office and an affiliation here; this was in 1992. the whole culture of science. The way that scien- Beckman and elsewhere in researching the book. And by spending that year here, I came up with the tists interact with each other as people was very The Echo Maker tells the story of Mark Schluter, a idea for Galatea 2.2. There’s a fictionalized Center interesting and eye-opening and part of the story 27-year-old Nebraska slaughterhouse worker in that book that’s sort of a thinly disguised that I ended up creating. whose truck accident leaves him with a rare case of Beckman. So after finishing that book I gave up the Capgras syndrome. Unable to recognize his sister office and went back south of Green to the English SM: There are numerous references to real world or even his dog, Schluter is trapped inside a mind Department and stayed there, wrote some more neuroscience cases in the book, such as HM, the that is connected to his old self in many ways but books and taught some classes and helped start the man Neal Cohen discussed in his Director’s strangely disconnected to those people and things graduate program, the Masters in Fine Arts degree Seminar talk Oct. 20 of 2006. How much research that were most familiar to him before the accident. that the English Department now issues. I’d been did you do before sitting down to write and why A famous neurologist, Dr. Gerald Weber, is brought teaching with them for some years when I started was Capgras syndrome the choice for Mark, the in and a story unfolds that reveals how fragile our working on this book with neuroscientific themes. character the story revolves around? connections to the world can be and how amazing I realized that I needed to come back and test my the workings of the mind really are. The Echo story against the stories that were unfolding here RP: I did hear the Director’s Seminar and Dr. Maker is Powers’ ninth novel and was composed and the research that was being done. I came back Cohen’s work is just stunning. I was knocked out with a tablet PC using speech recognition software. a year ago last spring and have been enjoying being by that. But I have had a couple of chances to talk a fly on the wall once again. to Neal privately and I also heard a similar talk that – Steve McGaughey, Beckman Institute Writer he had given in the past. I was participating in a SM: What do your interactions with neuroscientists memory seminar that he also participated in and, of SM: You’ve been at Beckman since March of at Beckman consist of and did they influence The course, I read him. So being at the Beckman was 2005. How did you end up here? Echo Maker? an exciting way to connect the formal presentation of these insights and discoveries as you come RP: This is my second time through. When I first RP: Very much so. I was working on the book and across them in published form with the actual guy came back to the States after living in the had done a lot of research in print and also in inter- doing the work. To see what he’s like and what his

2 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu fears and his hopes and his dreams are. That was recent years is that the self is messy and aggregate very thrilling to me. I had read him on HM and RP: That would be my guess. As a lay bystander in and improvised and made up of all these multiple read a lot about other people’s research with HM, this, watching the field as someone in the grand- parts. The feeling of continuity and recognizability but to actually hear him stand up and talk personal- stands trying to figure out the rules of the game, I and consistency may be a story, it may be some- ly about the narrative of his experience with this would say the fact that you can have hugely accom- thing of a narrative. On the one hand that’s a terri- guy, the kind of stuff that you can’t put into schol- plished and masterful scientists at war with each fying thing. The more that we look under the hood arly publications, was really useful to me. other about their prevailing model leads me to and see that we aren’t what we feel that we are, the believe that the issues are going to remain compli- more destabilizing and de-centering it is to contin- SM: In The Echo Maker, the neurologist Weber, cated for awhile to come and the grand unified ue to be alive. And science has always done that to when assessing his career, wonders about con- sense of consciousness will incorporate all these us, right? It’s always taking a hard look at the story sciousness – what are its neurological correlates, do views in the final model somewhere. The mental that we’re telling about who we are and saying, we have free will, etc. After researching and writ- network, when we learn how to think and talk clear- let’s think about this again. So, yes, neuroscience is ing this book, what are your thoughts on what neu- ly about it, is not going to be dominated by any just the latest blow to our narrative of self. On the roscience tells us about the “basic riddle of con- simple mechanism. It’s going to be a hybridized and other hand, there are things that are coming out of scious existence”? aggregate view that partakes of many positions that neuroscience now that give us our first glimpse of the field has embraced. These countervaling ways how the brain itself makes empathy and how our RP: What’s really interesting about writing this of looking at what’s going on inside the brain are individual selves are actually quite dependent on book and publishing it in the year 2006 is I think going to have to be integrated in some way. our connections to other people. How memory is a we’re right in the middle of a complete trans- collaborative phenomenon and how mirror formation of attitude, even toward asking that neurons inside our brain are actually simu- question. In other words, when I started writing lating and recreating other people. When I 20 years ago or more, scientists would not In some ways the book is see someone smile it causes a kind of sym- touch that question. To do so would be an pathetic circuit, a recapitulation of that embarrassment, overreaching, philosophy. Now about empathy. It’s about smile inside me and a simulation of the everybody’s asking that question. It’s tremen- mind of that other person. So there are pos- dously exciting, but we’re still in our infancy in whether it’s possible for sibilities coming out of the new neuro- our ability to formulate an answer. So in a way science that suggest maybe this destabiliza- the question is still philosophy but it’s under- any of us to know what it tion of the old monolithic ego-centered self girded now by these new kinds of data, imag- would feel like to be some- isn’t such a bad thing and may be making ing data for example, ways into the locked us more aware of the ways in which we are room that didn’t exist before. So we’re right in one else, or something collaborations or nodes in a network and between having the question being respectable that our selves don’t end so violently with and having the question being answerable. else. In what way does the the limits of our skin, but that they are actu- ally produced in concert with other people. SM: You write that “imaging and drugs are self blind us to the realities Maybe that’s quite a wonderful and liberat- opening the locked-room mystery of the mind.” of other people and our ing and an encouraging position for us as But there are issues with all advances, includ- social beings. ing as Weber worries about, the deterministic dependence on them? view that technology will eventually provide a SM: Would someone like the character neurological basis for consciousness. He wants Bonnie be comforted by that? to find more explanation, higher processes, than just interdependent modules making up con- RP: No, but it’s absolutely true that science can’t sciousness. What does his search tell us about the SM: In The Echo Maker the connections that tie us proceed according to whether or not the data is field and about him? most intimately to our worlds are called into ques- comforting. It’s up to us to revise our story in a tion. Every character in the book has some broken way that still makes it palatable to ourselves and RP: I think it tells us that the field is exploding and link: Mark, whose closest ties in the world – his sis- yet accepts the repeatable and demonstrable phe- it also tells us that the field is incredibly optimistic ter, his dog, even his house – have no emotional nomenon. in a way that it wasn’t until recently but, finally, connection for him because of Capgras syndrome; that the field is incredibly messy and a work in his friend Bonnie questions religion because neuro- SM: You write in The Echo Maker that because of progress. Anyone who enters this investigation scientists showed that stimulating a certain region knowledge advancements in neuroscience, cogni- thinking that we will finally have a complete, sim- of the brain can produce religious-type effects like tion is heading toward grasping itself and wonder ple, reduced, elegant sense of who’s driving who out-of-body experiences; Weber has doubts about what that would mean for us as a species. If that around inside the human skull is going to be disap- his past neuroscience work that make him feel dis- ever did become reality, what do you think that pointed. The field continues to point to models that connected. Man as a species seems to require those would mean for people? Would that be a tipping are interdirectional, complicated, richer than we family and social connections, but neuroscience point? thought. So as always the most interesting research tells us it’s all a construct. So how would you rec- shows us that we have to up the ante with the ques- oncile the “illusion of solidity” that Weber talks RP: Yeah, I think it is. I think that process is very tions, make the questions more sophisticated, make about with living a whole, integrated life? slow and fitful and gradual and qualified. In fact, the questions more open to complexity. when you describe that process, it’s the same RP: In some ways the book is about empathy. It’s process that we’ve been undertaking since the SM: An idea that comes out of the book is that one about whether it’s possible for any of us to know beginning of the scientific revolution. This slow theory for explaining the basic riddle of conscious what it would feel like to be someone else, or some- and steady revising of our official narrative answer existence used to dominate in neuroscience, then thing else. In what way does the self blind us to the to who are we and what are we doing resembles in another opposing theory took hold, but it seems to realities of other people and our dependence on a macrocosm the constant checks to an individual’s say that currently no one theory is dominant. them? Part of what neuroscience has been saying in self-narration: who are you and what are you trying 3 to do. Every day presents us with challenges to our a physics major and science infuses most if not all of disciplines. That’s going to cause rivalry and turf official self-narrative. We revise and we improvise your writing, so obviously it’s an important topic to wars. But I think there are larger issues at stake. If we and we carry on. The sense of human culture and you. Sometimes people feel threatened by science or really want to be true to our disciplines, we have to human society has changed so profoundly since believe that they can’t understand it, but you share it see how everything connects to everything else. Copernicus said we’re not at the center of the uni- with them through your novels. Could you make a That’s where fiction comes in. Science, and to a large verse. We’ve been constantly demoted from our case for why science is important and should be extent the humanities, have succeeded by incorporat- human-centric vision. In a sense these new views of embraced by all of us? ing this model of reductionism where we can under- the mind and the self can be seen as the latest chal- stand the whole in terms of the parts. Everybody has lenges. But I think it’s wrong to think of science as RP: The case can be made in so many ways. Every their specialization and moves ahead controlling the diminution of the story of what it means to be aspect of our existence right now, the terms on which variables, and simplifying and talking about individ- human. In fact, looked at in the way most scientists we lead our daily lives, result from the changes in the ual things in isolation. The arts are one of the few look at it and the way that the educated lay person world brought about by science and technology. Our places where you can still think holistically and ask: looks at it, the challenges that science has presented whole contract with time and space is different now how does everything connect to everything else, and to our official self-images, have actually been and continues to change every year because of scien- what happens when complicated people, each of incredibly enriching. The smallest things in us that tific and technological developments. So like it or not, whom is living these separate existences, have to get we take for granted are miracles. Science has inten- who we are reflects and incorporates what we’ve together in the same room and talk to each other. sified our awe and wonder at who we are and That’s what I would like to do inside novels. how we got here. I think, for instance, to Literature is a way of voicing different world- bring it right into the central arena that It’s going to take a lot of views and making them bump up against each America is fighting over right now, evolution people, scientists and other, seeing what kinds of new perspectives as a story is far more staggering and full of arise when we’re not allowed to dictate the amazement and much grander than creation- humanists alike, to say world entirely through our unique views. It’s a ism. Looked at carefully and soberly, evolu- place for showing multiplicity and diversity of tion hugely increases our astonishment at the we don’t want to go back- viewpoints and connectivity. Inside a rich story mere existence of humans. However much of wards, we don’t want the smallest ripple in one person’s world is a shock it is to put aside old stories, the new going to have consequences in another – which stories can be full of greater possibility. I tend darkness, we want more is also true in life, but often we’re not allowed to to be a guarded optimist in general and my talk about that inside our specialties. books tend to try to find some way of affirm- light on things. We want to ing the human story. There’s no question that convey the astonishment SM: The characters of Mark and Weber are cap- this upheaval of science is extremely painful tured very well even though they come from and volatile. We’re witnessing now in the last and awe and new sources very different social strata and, except for Weber six years a retrenchment on the part of society of meaning that these new in some ways, different backgrounds than your toward funding science, toward supporting own. How do their social differences fit into the science, toward teaching science, toward discoveries are creating. themes of the book? believing in science. Preserving scientific advance is not going to be easy. In fact, today RP: The book shows how each of us is this we’re in great danger of going backward. It’s going done in the scientific disciplines. Even the most terri- complex multiple performance. We act as different to take a lot of people, scientists and humanists fied anti-scientific Luddite in this country is assuming people with different people. We’re constantly impro- alike, to say we don’t want to go backwards, we certain things about health and happiness and welfare vising new selves in the presence of others. But that’s don’t want darkness, we want more light on things. that have been allowed by these scientific develop- only appropriate, given the things that neuroscience is We want to convey the astonishment and awe and ments. So if the humanist mission is to say who we telling us. If the self is this kind of core-making story- new sources of meaning that these new discoveries are and how we got here and where we think we’re teller for these hundreds of distributed systems inside are creating. When the right attacks science as going, you can’t ask those questions without really the brain, is it any surprise that each of us socially is somehow a threat to family values or the sanctity of confronting the single largest consolidated enterprise also this kind of core-making storyteller for all the life, it’s out of ignorance. When the left attacks sci- that we have going on right now, which is collective different ways we have to be in the world? ence as some corporate-driven hegemonic threat to science. Part of the problem is that in American uni- equality, it’s doing so out of ignorance. Scientists versities, there is a huge fight for resources. Often The Echo Maker is published by Farrar, Straus and need to realize that part of the job of science is there is the perception in the humanities that all the Giroux and is available at their Web site bringing that data back into a palpable new vision money is being sucked out of the old-style humanistic (http://www.fsgbooks.com/) as well as bookstores. of social humanity. Our future is also going to depend on the humanists, who right now are often is a quarterly publication of the External Relations office of the Beckman Institute for suspicious and terrified of science, to embrace and Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Each issue will to understand and to narrate and to celebrate, and spotlight the people and science that make the Institute one of the premier facilities for interdisciplinary also to interrogate and to question and understand in research in the world. every possible way, the things that are coming out Contact information: Photo Credits: of the lab. I can see us living in a very fitful rela- Office of External Relations Cover Image: The Echo Maker book jacket photo is tionship to science and technology indefinitely. But Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology courtesy of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; Richard I can also see us gradually coming to terms with 405 N. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801 Powers photo courtesy Richard Powers. and accepting and moving forward these really www.beckman.uiuc.edu Cover Bottom Left: Image courtesy Bioimaging magnificent new stories of who we are and what we Editor: Sue Johnson, [email protected] Science and Technology Group might still do. Writer: Steve McGaughey, [email protected] Cover Middle: Image courtesy Mark Hersam Design: CarltonBruettDesign Cover Bottom Right: Richard Sproat image courtesy SM: You started out at the University of Illinois as Web: Rick Valentin, [email protected] the Beckman Institute.

4 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu Research spotlight increasingly falls onbioimaging When the call went out last year for that bioimaging in itself can also be interdis- The seed proposal from Insana and four seed proposals aimed at developing a possi- ciplinary, or multimodal, with many differ- other Beckman collaborators – Thomas ble new research initiative at the Beckman ent techniques applied at the same time. Huang, Zhi-Pei Liang, Stephen Boppart, and Institute, three of the 11 proposals selected That is something that is very much by Rohit Bhargava – is for developing molecular for funding involved biological imaging. nature a Beckman-like topic.” imaging technologies for imaging breast can- A long list of Beckman faculty members Wiltzius said there are a couple of rea- cer. and colleagues from outside the Institute sons for the emergence of bioimaging as a Carle Hospital in Urbana is dedicating proposed projects that involve using bioimag- field of study. an entire floor of its new Mills Breast Cancer ing for advancing medical research in the “I think generally there is a lot of empha- Institute, set to open in 2008, to research by areas of breast cancer, speech birth defects, sis on bioimaging. In optical imaging this is scientists associated with the University of and targeted delivery of drugs and other indeed driven by technological advances that Illinois. Insana said his group hopes to be a agents at the molecular level. come all the way from new infrared light part of this new facility for fighting cancer. The growing interest in bioimaging and sources invented in the telecommunications “We’re thinking how is it we can develop biological engineering for medical and other industry and new detectors, signal process- our science and technology with the eventual scientific uses can be measured by the goals ing and so on,” he said. “The other reason is goal of perhaps interfacing with them,” of funding agencies and through the use of that as a lot of these tools have been devel- Insana said. “That’s the context in which various imaging modalities, including mag- oped in the physical sciences and engineer- we’re building.” netic resonance imaging, optical imaging, ing, they do find new applications in the life Boppart, who has been working on using and ultrasound imaging by researchers from sciences and biological sciences.” optical coherence tomography as a non-inva- an increasing number of disciplines. The Beckman faculty member Michael sive or minimally invasive method for

magnets at Beckman’s own Biomedical Insana is playing a leading role in bioimag- detecting breast cancer, has already located Imaging Center, for example, have been ing developments at the University of Illinois his new imaging equipment at Carle and used in expected ways such as neuroscien- and at the Institute. Insana, who was chosen conducted trials there. A current focus of tists imaging the brain, and in surprising to head the new Bioimaging Science and Insana’s Ultrasonic Imaging Laboratory is fashion, like engineers imaging microfluidic Technology group at Beckman, is co-author on the elasticity of cancer tissue. Liang has flow. Bioimaging is one of four cornerstone of one of the seed proposals and is a faculty worked on improving MRI techniques for research lines at the recently created member in the Department of better detection of cancer. Along with Department of Bioengineering at the Bioengineering. Huang’s expertise in image analysis and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Insana said a possible research initiative Bhargava’s knowledge of imaging tools and If a new Beckman Institute research ini- centered on bioimaging would complement a cancer pathology, the group looks to have all tiative were added within the near future, broader push to integrate bioimaging theory the components to succeed in its goal of bioimaging would seem to be a likely candi- and research with real-world applications. developing new and comprehensive methods date. Beckman Director Pierre Wiltzius said “From my point of view in bioengineering to fight breast cancer. discussion of a new research initiative is still we’re trying to put together a new depart- “What we’re hoping to do is to study cer- a few months off, but added that bioimaging ment,” Insana said. “How are we going to be tain aspects of the problem from the tiniest would be a natural fit. able to compete with people like Duke and scale all the way up to the very largest “For the Beckman Institute this is a very Johns Hopkins, and other places with strong scale,” Insana said. “So each of our technolo- natural area for us to be in because that is medical schools? The things we thought gies in this group looks at a different aspect the interface where we want to be at, about focusing on were really important and of breast cancer. There really isn’t someone between the physical sciences and the life interesting problems in the biological sci- who has put all this together to come up sciences, biological sciences, and social sci- ences for which new technologies can be with a fairly comprehensive view of what’s ences,” Wiltzius said. “Where it gets interest- applied. The area that I, and many of us in going on in the progression of cancer as it ing in the context of the Beckman Institute this group, have been funded to work on is transforms into a metastatic process. What being driven by interdisciplinary research is cancer.” we’re trying to do with that particular 5 5 " We will be collaborating in strategic areas ... we will certainly be broader in terms of our imaging activities, particularly when it comes to neuroimaging." -- Pierre Wiltzius, Director, Beckman Institute process is eventually feed it into a model of human disease.” Industry is joining the gov- neering, you know exactly what your under- how cancer is formed and progresses.” ernmental and academic push to take advan- grads coming in have in terms of their core Wiltzius said the collaboration with Carle tage of emerging bioimaging and bioengineer- courses. In bioengineering we take people is exciting, but this research line will go ing breakthroughs. from biology, chemistry, all kinds of places. So beyond any one project. Insana said that researchers from large our challenge is to try to get them up to speed “We will be collaborating in strategic pharmaceutical companies to universities are very quickly so they can become productive, areas with Carle and the new breast cancer incorporating bioimaging and bioengineering and yet still maintain some sort of a base institute,” Wiltzius said. “But it will be well into their thinking when it comes to drug dis- knowledge. That’s essentially what a disci- beyond that. We’ll collaborate where it makes covery and delivery and the development of pline is. We had to generate a discipline.” sense but we will certainly be broader in cutting edge biological treatments to develop At Beckman, the Bioimaging Science and terms of our imaging activities, particularly and test new methods and treatments. He Technology group Insana heads includes when it comes to neuroimaging.” said researchers envision using imaging to Sutton, Bhargava, and Wang, but also has Imaging of the brain has been a key com- custom design for a particular disease researchers like Boppart, whose focus is on ponent for Beckman psychology researchers process, for example, and then test for reac- biophotonics, and Kenneth Suslick from the for many years, but improving techniques tions to a targeted drug delivery method for Chemistry Department. This interdiscipli- and developing new imaging modalities is a treating that disease. nary approach and improvements in imaging goal for both neuroscientists and engineers. “Imaging is a way to do this without the technology offer a powerful combination for Brad Sutton, a member of the BST group and expensive, time-consuming (methods of the advancing medical research. an assistant professor in the Bioengineering past),” Insana said. “Imaging can look at a “In each of these imaging modalities the Department, was the chief engineer for BIC’s smaller group of animals and watch them sensors are getting much more sensitive, 3Tesla headscanning magnet used for neu- progress over time.” broader band, so we’re delivering much high- roimaging. Part of Sutton’s research is geared Insana added that most imaging tech- er quality images,” Insana said. “But at the toward improving MRI signal processing for niques are non-invasive and non-destructive, same time we’re starting to understand how brain scans. so studies can be done with living organisms these radiation systems are interacting with In addition, neuroscientists at Beckman without perturbing the system. Researchers the body. are developing their own imaging techniques. are also developing ways to deliver drugs at “We’re bringing chemists into the imaging Kara Federmeier uses an electrophysiological the same time they are imaging a system. realm and these chemists are developing cap developed at her laboratory to measure Imaging is also playing a role in functional probes – meaning little tiny molecules – that event-related brain potentials (ERPs) that are genomics. Insana said researchers in the are very novel and able to deliver a contrast used to gauge how the brain reacts to certain Bioengineering Department using computa- media to various areas. So this is bringing stimuli. Gabriele Gratton and Monica tional methods employ imaging data to model together people from chemical engineering Fabiani, directors of the Cognitive a phenotype or a cell that expresses diseases who are doing drug delivery that are interest- Neuroimaging Laboratory, have developed a such as cancer. ed in bringing drugs into these probes, system called EROS (Event-Related Optical “So a big view of what we’re working on chemists who are interested in how to attach Signal) that uses light and optic fiber bundle is, can we take all of this imaging information a sensitive molecule to a vehicle, and imaging detectors for dynamic imaging of brain activi- and all of these different scales and feed that people who are really interested in how to ty. Fellow Cognitive Neuroscience group back into this functional genomic model so we tune their systems to be very, very sensitive member Denise Park and BIC director Art can study not only the DNA component but to these probes without disturbing them.” Kramer use the 3T magnet for both MRI and how the environmental factors, things like Insana came here in 2005 after serving as functional MRI studies of the brain. hormones, other metabolic factors, feed back head of the graduate program in the The Environmental Scanning Electron and maybe influence the way the genome Bioengineering Department at California- Microscope of Beckman’s Imaging Technology influences the disease and progresses,” Davis. He was drawn by the reputation of the Group (ITG) is used by both researchers in Insana said. “Then maybe we can get a pretty U of I’s College of Engineering, the chance to the life sciences and students involved in good idea about why cancer is so different in help build a new department at Illinois, and ITG’s Bugscope program to view cells without so many different patients.” by the opportunities offered for collaborations completely dehydrating them. ITG also fea- The Bioengineering Department is so new and new research at Beckman. tures a micro-CT scanner useful for bioengi- that it only began accepting graduate stu- “It’s the No. 4-ranked engineering college neers interested in imaging bone structure. dents in 2004. Beckman faculty members and the kinds of things that I do are really The funding is following the bioimaging make up most of the department’s faculty. related to electrical engineering for imaging trend. In August, the National Institutes of Bruce Wheeler, leader of Beckman’s and biology,” Insana said. “More recently I’m Health’s National Center for Research NeuroTech group, is interim head of the moving into materials science and mechanical Resources announced High-End department, while Beckman researchers engineering, so it’s very, very interdiscipli- Instrumentation (HEI) grants totaling $21.5 Yingxiao Wang, Sutton, Bhargava, and nary. When I saw what Beckman does, the million so research facilities could acquire Insana are professors in Bioengineering. fact they can take people from all these differ- cutting-edge imaging equipment such as MRI “We sort of revamped the entire process ent disciplines and put them together, it was and computed tomography technology for with a couple of principles in mind, which I just a wonderful place and it’s been that way “advancing biomedical research and increas- found quite exciting,” Insana said of the for me.” ing knowledge of the underlying causes of department. “If you’re in, say electrical engi- 6 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu

HERSAM VALUES LESSONS LEARNED AT BECKMAN Up and Coming Researcher Touts Interdisciplinary Approach Mark Hersam This figure contains a scanning tunneling microscopy image of individual cyclopen- tene molecules on a silicon surface taken at a temperature of 80 K.

Reference: N. P. Guisinger, N. L. Yoder, and M. C. Hersam, “Probing charge transport at the single molecule level on silicon using cryogenic ultra-high vacuum W scanning tunneling microscopy,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 102, 8838 (2005). hat does a researcher with a Ph.D. in electri- electronics and materials science, we went to biochem- cal engineering do when confronted with one of the istry to find a solution.” biggest challenges facing carbon nanotube technology? Hersam is just six years removed from a Ph.D. in Mark Hersam's experience at the Beckman Institute electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at told him to look outside the materials science box and Urbana-Champaign, but he already has his own try something from the biochemistry labs. research group at Northwestern, a solid line of papers Carbon nanotubes have been touted for years as one in peer-reviewed journals, and two of the most coveted of the next great technological breakthroughs for every- awards any young researcher can win. Last year, thing from electronics to sensors, but their properties Hersam was given a Sloan Fellowship and in July of make them difficult to control and, therefore, produce 2006 he was honored at the White House with the 2005 on a large scale. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and “Carbon nanotubes, due to a lack of uniformity in Engineers. their physical and electronic structures, are not suit- A native of Downers Grove, Hersam earned a B.S. able for large-scale production in most technologies,” in electrical engineering from the U. of I. and a Master's said Hersam, a professor of Materials Science and in physics from Cambridge in England. As an under- Engineering at Northwestern University. “So we've graduate and as a graduate student, Hersam did recently developed a strategy for sorting carbon nan- research at Beckman, working with Joe Lyding in the otubes by their diameter and electronic properties.” Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures research ini- Hersam used a technique in biochemistry called tiative. Lyding, who built the first scanning tunneling density gradient ultracentrifugation, calling upon a microscope (STM) at Illinois, was a mentor for Hersam, centrifuge to sort the nanotubes by their diameter and and they collaborated on research projects and papers electronic properties. involving subjects such as atomic level manipulation “What we recognized is that carbon nanotubes, as a and silicon-based molecular nanotechnology. function of their diameter, will have subtle differences Hersam took his STM expertise and research inter- in their buoyant densities, that is their mass per vol- ests to Northwestern in 2000 when he joined the facul- ume,” Hersam said. “As a result, if you can come up ty there. He also brought along an approach to re- with a way of sorting nanotubes by their density, then search that was ingrained during his time at Beckman. you should be able to sort them by their structure and “The number one thing that I learned at Beckman properties. As it turns out, there was already a strate- is how to interact in an interdisciplinary environment,” gy in biochemistry that allows separation by density. Hersam said. “The idea of Beckman really works, all “This work is an excellent example of how my inter- the way down to the student level. At a lot of places disciplinary training at Beckman taught me to look faculty may interact with each other but students keep outside of my discipline when faced with a challenging to their own research group. problem. In this case, when faced with a problem in “But at Beckman the students really interacted. That allowed me to understand how interdisciplinary

7 research works and also learn country. He said the Presidential many of the skills and Early Career Achievement Award techniques not only in my field, was special because researchers from but also in other fields. Since all the sciences are eligible for it. becoming a faculty member at Hersam was also impressed that Northwestern, I've been successful President Bush took time out of his in establishing interdisciplinary busy schedule to attend the event. research programs as a direct “President Bush made the time, result of my time at Beckman.” which was surprising because on At Northwestern, STM tech- that day he had to meet with the nology has remained an important Iraqi Prime Minister,” Hersam said. part of Hersam's work. He cur- “I think it would have been easy and rently is using scanning tunneling understandable for him not to microscopy to probe the electrical This figure contains a three-dimensional rendering of an ultra-high attend. His attendance showed his properties of organic molecules on vacuum scanning tunneling microscope image of individual cyclopen- support of scientific research and tene molecules on a Si(100) surface. The foreground contains a ball silicon surfaces. Improving the and stick model of the experimental data. education.” performance of electronics at the Hersam appreciates his Teacher level of individual molecules is the Reference: N. P. Guisinger, R. Basu, M. E. Greene, A. S. Baluch, of the Year Award from Northwest- and M. C. Hersam, “Observed suppression of room temperature long-range goal. Hersam said that negative differential resistance in organic monolayers on Si(100),” ern's Department of Materials Intel Corporation is currently Nanotechnology, 15, S452 (2004). Science and Engineering as much working on transistors at the as any of his honors. scale of about 100 nanometers, “The teaching award is very but the ultimate goal is to get meaningful to me. I became a profes- down to the molecular scale, or sor first and foremost to educate and about one nanometer. the teaching award was granted by “We are exploring what could the students,” Hersam said. happen in future electronic tech- For anyone thinking about pursu- nologies,” Hersam said. “If you ing a career in academia, Hersam look at the trends in microelec- has a couple of pieces of advice. He tronics you're looking at 20 or said keeping an open mind is crucial maybe even 30 years in the future for any person interested in an where, if things continue at the academic career of teaching and same rate as today, you would research — and the Beckman have devices made at the molecu- Institute is an excellent place to lar length scale in industry. develop that mindset. “That's a long way off; this is “Being in an environment like very long-term research. But with Beckman is perfect because you can the scanning tunneling micro- be exposed to a wide range of topics, scope we can begin to probe how not just what is going on in your such devices work and if it is particular research group,” he said. worth continuing electronic minia- “I think that's critical for many turization all the way down to the reasons, one being that most of the single molecule level. We may find interesting problems in research that electronics cannot be pursued today are at the boundaries between as we know it at this length scale This figure is an atomic resolution ultra-high vacuum scanning tun- disciplines.” or that there are some fatal flaws neling microscopy image of one-dimensional styrene molecular chains Hersam added that having a to molecular electronic technology. on a hydrogen passivated Si(100) surface. The apparent width of the wider range of interests also helps styrene molecular chains is approximately 1 nanometer. However, at this point, it looks when it comes to securing funding for promising enough to continue our Reference: R. Basu, N. P. Guisinger, M. E. Greene, and M. C. research proposals. research.” Hersam, “Room temperature nanofabrication of atomically registered “If you have a broad training, heteromolecular organosilicon nanostructures using multi-step feed- The work with carbon nan- back controlled lithography,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 85, 2619 (2004). then you can diversify your research otubes is another current focus for program and be less sensitive to the Hersam. In the October issue of handle hundreds of liters of solution at a winds of change in Washington,” Nature Nanotechnology, Hersam and his time. With this technology, we anticipate Hersam said. “The second piece of advice, collaborators reported original research that our process can be scaled up to pro- which is true not only in academia, but using density gradient ultracentrifuga- vide large quantities of purified carbon true for any career in science, is to tion for sorting nanotubes by their densi- nanotubes.” become as efficient as possible in your work. ty. Hersam's research has already made “Everyone at this level is putting in “One advantage of this technique is an impact, as evidenced by the papers the maximum number of hours, so there's that it is fully scalable,” Hersam said. “If and awards. The Sloan Research no way that you can outwork anyone. The you look at industry today, for example Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan only way you can be more productive is to the pharmaceutical industry, you can find Foundation is the oldest and one of the be more efficient and make good decisions large-scale centrifuges that continuously most prestigious fellows program in the regarding how to spend your time.”

8 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu H H ONORSA& AWARDS

Fabiani, Federmeier Earlier this year Kara Federmeier Park Headlines honored by Society for was honored with the 2006 Distinguished Surgeon General's Workshop Psychophysiological Scientific Award for Early Career Contri- on Health Literacy Research bution to Psychophysiology by the Society. Federmeier is director of the Cognition and Beckman Institute researcher Denise Brain Laboratory at Beckman. Her Park was a featured panelist on the research focuses on how people communi- Surgeon General's Workshop on Improving cate meaning and comprehend language. Health Literacy held Thursday at the Fellow Beckman researcher Denise National Institutes of Health in Park was the featured speaker at a panel September. discussion on women in science at the Park was a panelist for a discussion on Society for Psychophysiological Research “Meeting the Health Literacy Needs of meeting, discussing experiences unique to Special Populations.” women in science and academia based on Park, Co-director of the Center for the research literature. Federmeier, Park, Healthy Minds at the Beckman Institute, and Fabiani are all members of the continues to be a resource for United Institute's Cognitive Neuroscience group. States government officials concerned with the nation's health. Last year Park testi- fied before a United States Senate commit- Huang earns tee investigating fraud against the elderly, The University of Illinois at Urbana- IBM Award sharing her insights into why older adults Champaign has long played an important are more susceptible to scams. Recently, role in the Society for Psychophysiological Beckman researcher Park was awarded a 10-year, $5 million Research, considered one of the top profes- Thomas Huang has MERIT award from the NIH's National sional organizations in the field of psychol- been chosen for an IBM Institute on Aging for a landmark study ogy, and researchers from the Beckman Faculty Award for 2006. that will focus on cognition in middle-aged Institute are carrying on that tradition. Huang is Co-chair of the adults. Monica Fabiani, Co-chair of Beckman's Human-Computer Biological Intelligence research initiative, Intelligent Interaction research initiative. was elected President of the Society for Dr. Huang received the IBM Faculty Nancy Sottos to be Psychophysiological Research at the orga- Award for a project titled “Audio-Visual named SES Fellow nization's meeting Oct. 25-29 in Recognition of Human Emotional and Vancouver, Canada. Cognitive States” which aims to provide Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures Fabiani joins a number of other real-time, robust algorithms for applica- Co-chair Nancy Sottos was named a University of Illinois faculty members who tions such as computer-aided learning, Fellow of the Society of Engineering have earned this distinction, including smart kiosks, electronic games, and auto- Science. The honor is for her distinction in Beckman researcher Gregory Miller. mobiles. the field of Engineering Science and her “Monica's election is particularly impres- The IBM faculty awards program hon- contributions to the Society. sive because it has come at a relatively ors researchers worldwide in its goal of fos- Sottos will receive the award during the young age, which reflects how widely rec- tering collaboration between researchers at 44th Annual Technical Meeting of the ognized and respected her work has been,” leading universities worldwide and those Society of Engineering Science, October 21- Miller said. “This is a great honor for in IBM research, development and services 24, 2007, at Texas A&M University, Monica, the Department of Psychology, the organizations. It seeks to promote course- College Station, Texas. Neuroscience Program, the Beckman ware and curriculum innovation to stimu- Sottos, a member of Beckman's Institute, including its Biomedical Imaging late growth in disciplines and geographies Autonomous Materials Systems group, is a Center, and the campus.” that are strategic to IBM. Candidates for Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Miller said Illinois has contributed the award must be nominated by an IBM Engineering in the Department of more presidents than any other university employee with common interests who Materials Science and Engineering. to the 46-year-old Society, which he said will serve as a liaison for the collaboration. Her research focus at Beckman centers is “the most prominent in the world in Huang's research interests at Beckman on development of autonomic materials psychophysiology and highly respected focus on topics such as multimodal human- systems that have the ability to adapt to across the whole range of psychology.” computer interfaces, multimedia databas- and respond in an independent and auto- Fabiani is co-director with Gabriele es, and image processing. matic fashion to cracks and other materials Gratton of the Cognitive Neuroimaging failures. Sottos is part of the Beckman Laboratory. Their research focuses on the team that was awarded a $5M grant cognitive neuroscience of human memory last year from the Air Force Office of and aging, while developing tools for the Scientific Research for the development non-invasive mapping of human brain of Microvascular Autonomic Composites. function.

9 H H ONORSA& AWARDS RECENT BECKMAN INSTITUTE RESEARCH I I N N

T Two ITG entries The multi-university proposal included T H H finalists in MRS Scientific a lead group from the University of E E Film Festival Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that fea- tures Cangellaris, and fellow Beckman NEWS Beckman's Imaging Technology Group researchers Narayana Aluru, Philippe has two out of the six finalists for top hon- Geubelle, Ioannis Chasiotis, and ors in the inaugural Materials Research Umberto Ravaioli. The other universi- Society “Scientific Film Festival.” ties involved in the award are Purdue, The Festival will take place at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and A SAMPLING OF BECKMAN INSTITUTE RESEARCH MRS Fall 2006 meeting in Boston Nov. Lehigh, as well as industrial partner RECEIVING NATIONAL MEDIA ATTENTION: 27-30. Conference attendees will get to MEMtronics. The $4.5M grant from the vote for the top science films and a panel Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) of will then choose from the top vote getters. DARPA is for six years. DETECTING COCAINE Prizes will be awarded for the three best The goal of the Center is to develop November 14, 2006 — Researchers at Illinois films in both the professional and ama- the physics-based knowledge needed to led by Beckman researcher and U. of I. chem- teur categories and will be awarded dur- enhance the lifetime performance and istry professor Yi Lu, have developed a simple ing the Symposium X session of the con- functionality of highly integrated "dipstick" test for detecting cocaine and other ference. MEMS/NEMS-based micro- and nano-sys- drugs in saliva, urine or blood serum. The test One of the two ITG entries is about tems for commercial and military sys- is based upon DNA-gold nanoparticle technol- Scott White's work with self-healing tems. materials. The other was made with ogy, and can be packaged in user-friendly kits John Rogers for the Tech Museum in similar to those used for home pregnancy San Jose about his research into stretch- Anderson named tests. able silicon. White and Rogers are Boss of the Year Nanotechwire.com members of Beckman's Molecular and Beckman Institute Electronic Nanostructures research METALLIC SINGLE-WALLED CARBON initiative. Associate Director Van Anderson has NANOTUBES been named 2006 November 14, 2006 — Metallic single-walled Boss of the Year by carbon nanotubes can be selectively etched Secretariat, a and eliminated from a substrate without dam- University of Illinois aging their semiconducting single-walled nan- organization of supervisory level employees. otube neighbors, thanks to a finely tuned Anderson was nominated by Cathy methane plasma reaction process developed by Rix, assistant program administrator at scientists at Stanford University. "The tech- Beckman. nique is important, in part, because it has the potential to advance efforts that seek to use dense, aligned arrays of nanotubes as effective thin-film semiconductors for scalable, ultra- high-performance electronics," says John Rogers, Beckman researcher and chemistry professor at Illinois. Chemical & Engineering News

GLOWING SUGAR Large grant awarded November 09, 2006 — As reported in today's for new MEMS/NEMS issue of Nature (Nov. 9), Beckman researcher Center and U. of I. chemistry professor Kenneth S. Suslick and graduate student Nathan C. Beckman researcher Andreas Eddingsaas have used high-intensity ultra- Cangellaris is the principal investigator sound in liquid slurries of sugar and other on a multi-university grant award of organic crystals to create mechanolumines- $4.5M toward the development of a new cence up to 1,000 times more intense than can center advancing research in the area of micro-scale and nanoscale electromechan- be achieved by grinding. ical systems (MEMS and NEMS). The PhysicsWeb proposal is for the establishment of IMPACT - Center for the Advancement of Multitasking 20-Somethings MEMS/NEMS VLSI. November 06, 2006 — The best at switching back and forth between tasks seem to be 20- somethings, based on research at Illinois. 10 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu

People ages 7 to 82 were asked to switch 29 issue of Physical Review Letters, U. of I. unique structures. "The world abounds with between two memory tasks in some simple physics professor and Beckman affiliate Alexey particles that have traditionally been treated numeric experiments. Both ends of the age Bezryadin and his research group have studied as geometrically symmetric, chemically spectrum did poorly, with young kids faring the effect of applying a magnetic field to ultra- isotropic and electrically uniform," says Steve worst, says Art Kramer, Beckman researcher narrow superconducting wires only a few hun- Granick, a Beckman affiliate and U. of I. pro- and U. of I. professor of psychology. dred atoms across, and have used a microscopic fessor of materials science and engineering, The Seattle Times theory proposed by physics professor Paul chemistry and physics. "We have muddied the Goldbart and his team to explain the results. waters a bit by asking: 'What happens when STUDENTS EXPERIENCE BUGSCOPE Technology News Daily we build clusters from particles that have an November 02, 2006 — Researchers at the uneven distribution of electric charge?' " Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and ENTOMOLOGY, AGRICULTURE AND ScienceDaily Technology at the University of Illinois are THE ENVIRONMENT using the latest technology to allow students October 19, 2006 — American honeybees, which THE ECHO MAKER in grades K-12 to explore the furriest, scaliest pollinate more than 90 domestic commercial October 13, 2006 — If the term "science fic- and slimiest details of those ever-popular crops, have declined by 30 percent in the last tion" had no prior meaning, it would describe creatures: bugs. Bugscope brings kids togeth- 20 years. U.S. farmers had to import honeybees all the novels of Richard Powers. The er with both science and bugs. last year for the first time since 1922, under- MacArthur "genius"-grant winner, whose The Chattanoogan scoring the extent of the problem, says Gene ninth novel, The Echo Maker, comes out this Robinson, Beckman affiliate and a U. of I. pro- fall (and is nominated for a National Book FUEL-CELL ENGINEERING fessor of entomology. "The honeybee industry is Award), does not just write about scientists, November 02, 2006 — Paul Kenis, Beckman at a critical juncture," Robinson said. "The time programmers, and engineers, though such researcher and professor of chemical and bio- for action is now." professions populate most of his books. molecular engineering at Illinois, and col- The Washington Post Slate leagues have designed and built ceramic microreactors for the on-site reforming of PRESCRIBING EXERCISE BUGSCOPE hydrocarbon fuels, such as propane, into October 18, 2006 — A new study suggests that October 06, 2006 — Fourth grade students at hydrogen for use in fuel cells and other prescribing exercise may be more effective than Derby Academy in Hingham, Mass., are using portable power sources. simply recommending it. Commenting on the Bugscope, a computer software created by Chemistry World study, William Greenough, a professor at the U. Illinois's Beckman Institute that allows partic- of I.'s Beckman Institute, said vagueness about ipants to communicate with an environmental ENTOMOLOGY AND GENETICS what exercises should be done limits doctors scanning electron microscope by means of a October 31, 2006 — Using a new combination and patients. With prescription medicines, remote computer. of techniques, Jonathan Sweedler, Beckman there's no confusion. "Justice is not being done The Hingham Journal researcher and U. of I. chemistry professor by just suggesting exercise and not saying how and director of the Biotechnology Center at to do it," he said. The Echo Maker Illinois, and colleagues in Belgium have iden- United Press International October 02, 2006 — If you simply rely on the tified 36 genes that encode brain chemicals superficial in evaluating writer Richard likely to play a role in the complex behaviors EXERCISE AND AGING Powers, you might be baffled by what appear of the honey bee. October 16, 2006 — In terms of physical activi- to be contradictions. Powers, a Beckman affili- National Science Foundation ty, you don't need to be a triathlete to reap the ate and the author of eight critically acclaim- benefits of exercise, says Arthur Kramer, ed novels that often examine how we respond SECRETS REVEALED IN SEQUENCING Beckman researcher and a professor of psychol- to the soul-numbing technological changes OF HONEY BEE GENOME ogy at Illinois. Kramer and his colleagues have that surround us, rides a bicycle to his cam- October 26, 2006 — What do fruit flies, mos- found evidence that modest aerobic exercise in pus office. quitoes, silk moths and honey bees have in older adults boosts the efficiency of the frontal Chicago Sun-Times common? First, they are all insects. Second, cortex, a brain region important for multi-task- they have all had their genomes sequenced, a ing, planning and other high-level cognitive func- CELLULAR SCIENCE feat that will make it much easier to discern tions. September 29, 2006 — Klaus Schulten, both similarities and differences. Los Angeles Times Beckman researcher and head of the Theore- U of I News Bureau tical and Computational Biophysics group at POLARIZED, SELF-ASSEMBLING Illinois, says the University of Texas's new SUPERCONDUCTIVITY PARTICLES MADE supercomputer will help researchers better October 19, 2006 — U. of I. researchers not October 13, 2006 — U. of I. scientists have cre- understand how cells work, how viruses infect only have discovered an unusual phenomenon ated polarized, spherical particles that self- human cells and how proteins fight obesity in which ultra-narrow wires show enhanced assemble into clusters with specific shapes and within cells. superconductivity when exposed to strong distributions of electric charge. The researchers magnetic fields, they also have developed a say the polarized particles can be used in the theory to explain it. As reported in the Sept. directional self-assembly of intricate shapes and 11 Austin American-Statesman order to come up with a suitable cyberinfra- be computers made of materials, flexible and NANOLITHOGRAPHY structure for biology. One of the five integration strong, laced with microelectronics. That's the September 29, 2006 — Northwestern models Jakobsson outlines is "integration of vision of two Illinois professors: Osman University scientists have created 55,000 algorithmic development with computing archi- Ataman, a UI architecture and design profes- images of Thomas Jefferson and put them tecture design." sor, and John Rogers, a Beckman researcher into a space the size of a nickel. It demon- HPC Wire and professor of materials science and engi- strates the commercial viability of dip pen neering. "You're sort of living in a Pentium," nanolithography, a technology discovered and OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY Rogers says. pioneered at Northwestern. Beckman September 22, 2006 — "In the past we were USA Today researcher and U. of I. electrical and comput- constantly going to telecoms firms to convince er engineering professor Chang Liu is among them that their products could be useful for EVOLUTIONARY SOFTWARE the authors of a paper presenting the work, OCT (optical coherence tomography)," said September 18, 2006 — Software designed by which was published online Monday by the Stephen Boppart of the U. of I. Beckman Illinois chemist Zaida Luthey-Schulten and journal Angewandte Chemie. Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. her research team at the Beckman Institute is Photonics.com "However, today there has been a switch and allowing researchers to effectively analyze and photonics companies are now making light compare sequence and structure data of pro- GAMES GET SERIOUS sources specifically for OCT." teins and nucleic acids. "By placing bioinfor- September 25, 2006 — U. of I. molecular Optics.org matics in the context of evolution, we can also researcher Klaus Schulten and his team gen- perform comparative dynamics studies of pro- erate computer simulations of working com- ONE PROTEIN, TWO CHANNELS: SCIENTISTS teins from different domains of life," she ponents of human cells in a process that EXPLAIN MECHANISM IN AQUAPORINS added. starts with an expensive supercomputer September 21, 2006 — Using computer simula- UI News Bureau crunching data about millions of atoms. tions and experimental results, researchers at When it's time to view the resulting interac- the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY tive molecules interacting, the researchers and the University of Arizona have identified a September 15, 2006 — Jonathan Sweedler, a turn to PCs with relatively inexpensive video key component of the gating mechanism in Beckman researcher and director of the cards - the same Nvidia and ATI cards that aquaporins that controls both the passage of Biotechnology Center at Illinois, is one of 12 serious game players buy online or off the water and the conduction of ions. scientists who will be recognized by the shelves of electronics stores. "It's been a U of I News Bureau Pittsburgh Conference for significant contri- godsend, a gift to science, to use this," said butions in the fields of analytical chemistry Schulten, director of the Theoretical and BIOENGINEERING and applied spectroscopy. Sweedler will Computational Biophysics group at the September 20, 2006 — Engineers and biologists receive the Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry Beckman Institute. have developed the world's first functional arti- Award during Pittcon, a symposium held Feb. San Diego Union-Tribune ficial hair cell to mimic one of nature's most 25 through March 2, 2007, in Chicago. widespread and versatile data-collecting sys- Laboratory Talk.com SCIENTISTS EXPLAIN MECHANISM IN tems: the lateral lines of fish. In a paper pub- AQUAPORINS lished in an August issue of EURASIP Journal DETECTING BREAST CANCER Sepember 25, 2006 — Using computer simu- on Applied Signal Processing, engineer Chang September 13, 2006 — Researchers at Illinois lations and experimental results, researchers Liu, a Beckman researcher and U. of I. profes- are developing a near-infrared imaging tech- at Illinois and the University of Arizona have sor of electrical and computer engineering, nique that could significantly affect the ways identified a key component of the gating describes how biologically inspired microstruc- physicians detect and treat breast cancer. mechanism in aquaporins that controls both tures enable a model fish to locate and track a "Tissue removed during biopsy or surgery the passage of water and the conduction of dipole source. must be microscopically examined by a ions. "Understanding the molecular mecha- Science Magazine pathologist, which can sometimes result in a nism behind gating in membrane channels lengthy and anxious wait for the patient," could lead to more effective protein engineer- CERAMIC MICROREACTORS DEVELOPED FOR ON- says Stephen Boppart, a Beckman researcher ing," said Emad Tajkhorshid, a professor of SITE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION and professor of electrical and computer engi- biochemistry at Illinois and a researcher at September 20, 2006 — Scientists at the neering, bioengineering, and medicine. "We the Beckman Institute. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign want to move the microscopic examination of Medical News Today including Beckman researcher Paul Kenis have tissue from the pathology lab to the patient's designed and built ceramic microreactors for point of care and do the analysis in real time." COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY the on-site reforming of hydrocarbon fuels, such United Press International September 22, 2006 — In the quarterly publi- as propane, into hydrogen for use in fuel cells cation CTWatch, Eric Jakobsson, Beckman and other portable power sources. HEALING WOUNDS researcher and a U. of I. professor of molecu- UI News Bureau September 13, 2006 — Scientists at lar and integrative biology, discusses the ini- Northwestern University have found a way to tiatives that will be required between appli- HABITABLE COMPUTER use nanotechnology to speed wound healing, a cations scientists and system architects in September 19, 2006—In the houses of the process that could someday offer hope to mil- future, the walls and windows will, in essence, lions of victims of heart attacks and other 12 FALL NO. 3 www.beckman.uiuc.edu

major injuries. The findings were reported FISH NAVIGATION DENISE PARK ON ORNERINESS AND SMARTS Tuesday at a semiannual meeting of the September 08, 2006 — In a paper published in August 16, 2006 — A recent study from American Chemical Society in San Francisco. an August issue of EURASIP Journal on Morgan State University in Baltimore sug- "It looks like great stuff," says Steven Zimmer- Applied Signal Processing, Beckman Researcher gests that, after age 60, the most disagreeable man, a Beckman affiliate and chemist at and U. of I. engineering professor Chang Liu people are the smartest. Although she says Illinois who helped organize the symposium. describes how biologically inspired microstruc- she doesn't doubt the findings, Beckman One of the Northwestern researchers is tures enable a model fish to locate and track a researcher and U. of I. psychology professor Samuel Stupp, who was a chemistry dipole source. Real fish use a linear swatch of Denise Park says, "I doubt that being dis- professor at Illinois. hair cells on their sides, known as the lateral agreeable is the reason for the higher intelli- Science line, to coordinate group movements, avoid gence." Better educated, wealthier adults, who predators, and otherwise navigate. generally have higher IQs, may not react VISUALLY TASTING AND SMELLING Science cheerfully to the patronizing treatment that is September 12, 2006 — Beckman researcher often given to the elderly, says Park, an expert and U. of I. chemistry professor Kenneth HORMONE-REPLACEMENT THERAPY on cognitive aging. Such people "have more of Suslick has developed a technique that essen- August 31, 2006 — Women pondering hormone- a sense of mastery and entitlement. So it could tially tastes and smells a substance visually. replacement therapy also should consider regu- be high ability that's causing their disagree- Suslick, who founded the company lar exercise. A new U. of I. study suggests that able quality and not vice versa." ChemSensing Inc. in Champaign, Ill., has being physically fit offsets cognitive declines USAToday worked on developing colorimetric arrays for attributed to long-term therapy. "This study several years. The company's emphasis is on not only tells us that there is a benefit to being EXERCISE MAY SLOW IMPACT OF AGING early-stage disease detection, but Suslick has highly fit, it pinpoints where in the brain it mat- August 11, 2006 — A review of 40 years of applied the technology to other subjects, ters for postmenopausal women who have been data by conducted by Beckman Institute including volatile organic compounds and, now, using the two strategies," said lead author Kirk researchers Arthur Kramer, Kirk Erickson beer. People can smell and taste the difference I. Erickson, a postdoctoral researcher at the and Stanley Colcombe found evidence that between beers, and Suslick noted that the col- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and exercise may slow age's impact on brain func- orimetric approach has some advantages when Technology at Illinois. tion, helping maintain whip-smart cognitive it comes to duplicating that feat. NewsTarget ability well into the senior years and prevent- Photonics Spectra ing dementia-like illness. JAW-DROPPING SPEED Forbes HealthDay BIO-INSPIRED SENSORS August 21, 2006 — A tiny ant has the fastest September 12, 2006 — Beckman researcher U. jaw in the animal kingdom - literally quicker LIFE CYCLE OF PROTEIN OBSERVED of I. electrical and computer engineering pro- than the blink of an eye. The trap-jaw ant can August 11, 2006 — Using a sensitive, single- fessor Chang Liu and University of Virginia clamp its mandibles shut at between 125 and molecule measurement technique, U. of I. professor Joseph Humphrey are collaborating 233 kilometers per hour, according to a report in researchers led by Taekjip Ha, a professor of on a project funded by the U.S. Defense Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the physics at Illinois and a Beckman Affiliate, Advanced Research Projects Agency to build National Academy of Sciences. It can snap its have observed the life cycle of RecA, a protein new bio-inspired sensors. jaws shut with such force that it can propel that plays a major role in repairing damaged Daily Progress itself backward out of danger, says co-author DNA. Andrew Suarez, a Beckman affiliate and U. of I. Physics.org WALL STREET JOURNAL TECHNOLOGY entomology professor. INNOVATION AWARD USA Today HIGHER FITNESS LEVELS BENEFIT September 11, 2006 — Semprius Inc., a start- LONG-TERM HORMONE THERAPY up based in Chapel Hill, N.C., won a 2006 Wall ERIC JAKOBSSON ON BIOINFORMATICS August 04, 2006 — A U. of I. study suggests Street Journal Technology Innovation Award August 17, 2006 — Eric Jakobsson, Beckman that being physically fit offsets cognitive for a process for making large-scale, high-per- researcher, U. of I. engineering professor and declines attributed to long-term hormone ther- formance electronic circuits that can be applied director of the National Center for the Design of apy in women. "We found that higher fitness to any surface. The technology, developed by Biomimetic Nanoconductors, spoke at Stanford levels enhance the effects of shorter durations Beckman researcher and U. of I. materials sci- University this week about the difficulties relat- of hormone treatment and offset the declines ence and engineering professor John Rogers, ed to biomedical computation. He discussed how associated with long-term use," said Arthur the company's president and co-founder, along biomedical computing tools are difficult to use Kramer, a professor of psychology and with a team of researchers at Illinois, does this and fragile, and they also have limited dissemi- researcher at the Beckman Institute. by using a two-step process: In the first, elec- nation possibilities. However, he noted that Xagena tronic devices are formed on semiconductor technology is improving. wafer using conventional techniques. Then an The Stanford Daily extremely thin layer that contains the com- plete transistor is lifted from the wafer and printed onto the desired material, which can include thin plastic sheets, fabric or rubber The Wall Street Journal 13 www.beckman.uiuc.edu

RE-ENGINEERING MILK Y

August 04, 2006 — Beckman affiliate and T

U. of I. animal sciences professor Matt Wheeler L

comments on research at the University of U California at Davis involving engineering goat's C milk to be more similar to human breast milk. A F The re-engineered milk has reduced the amount PROFILE of harmful bacteria in piglet guts. Wheeler says Electrical and Computer Engineering and this demonstration of safety and efficacy is the the Department of Linguistics, Sproat has first step before any scientific review boards or more than a half-dozen current research the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will projects. allow human consumption of the milk. Sproat's research interests center on ScienceNOW Daily News various aspects of speech processing, as well as writing systems, and all of his work has a computational component to it. His NANO-TECHNIQUE ALLOWS interests include such topics as language FOR REFINED PATTERNING August 01, 2006 — In work at the U. of I., modeling for colloquial Arabic speech researchers used nanoimprint lithography and recognition, named entity detection and transliteration for multiple languages, and carbon nanotubes to replicate features with Sproat's research path leads from industry prediction of prosody from text for affective nanometer dimensions. "We were able to to Beckman demonstrate reliable patterning at the 2nm speech synthesis. scale, and even some capability down to 1nm," Sproat said the named entity detection said John Rogers, Beckman researcher and project is one of two he is currently spend- professor of materials science and engineering ing a lot of his time on. It involves creating ichard Sproat felt energized by the at U of I. software that can pick out the same words interdisciplinary research environment he Semiconductor International R or phrases in streams of news texts from found while working at Bell Labs and AT&T varying languages, including ones with Labs. His desire to continue doing research completely different scripts such as ANIMATION ASSISTS VICTIMIZED CHILDREN in that type of setting was one reason Sproat August 01, 2006 — According to Sharon Chinese and English. came to the Beckman Institute and the Tettegah, Beckman affiliate and a professor of The other key project, funded by a University of Illinois in 2003. curriculum and instruction at UIUC, some of Critical Research Initiative grant from the “One of the things that was always very the same qualities that make animation work University of Illinois, is for developing nice about Bell Labs—which was quite dif- for comedy make it valuable, too, as an outlet for methods for second-language fluency ferent from what I knew the case to be in victimized children and for a new research assessment. That project is part of a collab- academia—was that I could walk down the method that tests the empathy of teachers who oration with Beckman colleagues Chilin hall and talk to an engineer, or a computer may deal with them. Shih, Kay Bock, Brian Ross, and Mark scientist or psychologist, all on the same Medgadget Hasegawa-Johnson. They are looking at hallway,” Sproat said. “You would never get developing ways to assess and improve sec- that in a typical academic environment. So ond-language fluency, an important topic one of the things that was so appealing in our increasingly global economy. There about Beckman is you do have people with is hope the project will lead to a new center all kinds of backgrounds and we really do on campus for second language learning. work together. So it was really the interdis- If it happens, the center would truly be ciplinary nature that was the pull here.” interdisciplinary, Sproat said. Bock is a What the business world did not quite psycholinguistic, Ross is a psychologist, prepare him for was the juggling act that while Hasegawa-Johnson tackles speech often comes with being a full-time professor issues from an engineering perspective. and researcher at a place like Beckman. Sproat said the second language project “One of the things I have to admit is that and a future center would have both when I came to academia I didn't really research and practical implications that know what the term busy meant,” Sproat could lead to a quantitative measure of flu- said with a laugh. “It's not so much the ency and improve the teaching of second amount of work; the issue is the number of languages. things that I have to keep juggling at the “There's a whole bunch of issues out MARK YOUR CALENDARS! same time.” there to be investigated,” Sproat said. “This A member of Beckman's Artificial center could serve as a test bed for develop- Beckman Institute Open House Intelligence group who holds faculty ing these kinds of ideas across the board.” March 9-10, 2007 appointments in both the Department of

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