Abstract
Adding the Chemical Dimension to Nanolithography for Biotechnology and Quantum Science
We control the exposed chemical functionality of substrates from the submolecular to the wafer scale to control biological, chemical, and physical interactions with materials. This work has enabled sensing of signaling molecules. It has led us to explore the manipulation of the molecules in biological and biomimetic membranes, so as to enable the growth of biological twins of tumors for personalized medicine and med chem testing. We use functionalized surfaces to explore the ultimate limits of miniaturization – the smallest switches and motors in the world. We manipulate charge on these surfaces with modest electric field, in analogy to systems in nature, and demonstrate dramatic changes in thermal conductivity and the launch of chiral phonons.
Biography
Paul S. Weiss is a nanoscientist and holds a UC Presidential Chair and is a distinguished professor of chemistry & biochemistry, bioengineering, and materials science & engineering at UCLA, where he was previously director of the California NanoSystems Institute. He currently holds visiting appointments at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and several universities in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, and Korea. He studies the ultimate limits of miniaturization, developing and applying new tools and methods for atomic-resolution and spectroscopic imaging and patterning of chemical functionality. He and his group apply these advances in other areas including neuroscience, quantum information, microbiome studies, tissue engineering, cellular agriculture, high-throughput gene editing, liquid biopsies, and personalized medicine. He led, coauthored, and published the technology roadmaps for the BRAIN Initiative and the U.S. Microbiome Initiative. He was the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Nano and served in that role from 2007–2021. He is involved in startups from his and other laboratories in biotechnology, food security, energy, entertainment, and healthcare. He has won awards in science, engineering, teaching, publishing, and communications. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AAAS, ACS, AIMBE, APS, AVS, Canadian Academy of Engineering, European Academy of Sciences, IEEE, MRS, National Academy of Inventors, and an honorary fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society and Chemical Research Society of India.