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The CRANN Factor
Ireland’s first purpose-built nanoscience research institute has been opened in Trinity College.
The Naughton Institute, a new €100M state-of-the-art science facility, houses Ireland’s first purpose-built nanoscience research institute, the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN). It was officially opened by the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern T.D., on 23 January 2008.
CRANN also includes the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), which provides support for the industry-facing activities of the Institute.
WHAT IS NANOSCIENCE?
Nanoscience involves the study of nanoscale objects that already exist in nature, and also the fabrication of new nanometre-sized structures. This involves looking at and working with individual atoms and molecules or minute particles. These objects are far too tiny, however, to see using conventional microscopes and optical devices. Instead, special techniques have been developed allowing us to view them – for example, we can map out an image of a nano-object by passing a super-fine pointed tip over its surface.
RESEARCH AT CRANN
Trinity’s researchers in CRANN are developing ground-breaking research with the potential to enable revolutionary development in both the health care sector and information and communication technology. It is providing solutions that will drive the miniaturisation of existing technologies, resulting in more powerful and multifunctional mobile electronics. Applied to health, nanoscience research in CRANN has the potential to radically improve patient care through improved diagnostics for cancer and other disease. Approximately 150 researchers, postgraduates and technicians are currently working at CRANN.
INDUSTRY AT CRANN
CRANN operates an industry-approved ‘Researcher in Residence’ (RIR). This engagement mechanism embeds industrial researchers and technologists within the institute’s research groups to facilitate the rapid technology transfer from knowledge to materials. This ensures that CRANN’s industrial programme maintains a strong practical focus, while offering the industrial researcher cutting-edge instrumentation and access to world-class research expertise and training.
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMES AT CRANN
CRANN’s scientific programme focuses on three themes: bionanoassay and biosensing, spin electronics and sensors, and integrated nanoscale devices. These areas map onto the expertise of CRANN Principal Investigators (PIs) and intersect with the plans of industry partners.
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH AT CRANN
CRANN’s education and outreach mission is to promote the field of nanoscience for the benefit of its students, researchers, industrial participants and the general public. It does this by engaging in activities that raise awareness and understanding of the Institute’s activities in nanoscience. In 2007, CRANN made its first foray into the world of Web 2.0 with a profile on Bebo to promote its 2007 Schools Competition. The profile is available at
www.bebo.com/CRANN-nano.
For further information on CRANN please contact:
Keelin Murphy B.A. (1999)
e.
keelin.murphy@tcd.ie
(Photo captioned: The Provost, Dr John Hegarty, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern T.D. and Martin Naughton LL.D (h.c) 1995.)
>> NANOSCIENCE IN A NUTSHELL
• A nanometre is one million times smaller than a millimetre or one billion times smaller than a meter. It is abbreviated to ‘nm’
• A human hair, for example, is about 80,000 nanometres wide
• A red blood cell is about 7,000 nm across
• A typical virus is about 100 nm wide
• A strand of DNA is a mere two nm long
• ‘Nano’ derives from the Greek word for dwarf
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