Nanobiotech workshop brings engineers and biologists face-to-face

By David Brand

ALBANY, N.Y. -- An attempt to bridge the communications gap between two very different disciplines brought researchers from the engineering and the physical sciences face to face with specialists in the life sciences at a daylong workshop April 29 at the state Cultural Education Center in Albany. The meeting was essential, said co-organizer Michael Isaacson, Cornell professor of applied and engineering physics, because "we speak different languages."

The occasion was the second Annual Workshop on Nanobiotechnology, appropriately titled "Interfacing the Physical and Biological Worlds." Nanobiotechnology -- a term coined at Cornell -- is not an investigator discipline, noted Isaacson. Its development, he said, "will need teams of people who speak different languages but have figured out how to communicate."

Nanobiotechnology is an emerging field that employs the ultra-small fabrication technology used for making computer chips to manipulate and examine biological systems -- strands of DNA, for example -- and, potentially, to turn them into useful devices. As Harold Craighead, director of the newly established Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) at Cornell, explained during his talk, "DNA will be the molecule of choice for experiments" at the center aimed at developing devices such as fluidic integrated circuits. "One thing we are learning in the center is that we get a different feeling for the way things can be manipulated," he said.

Among the Cornell graduate students presenting posters at the second annual Workshop on Nanobiotechnology at the State Cultural Center in Albany April 29 were, from left, Conrad James, Andrea M. Perez Turner and Andrew Spence, all studying in the School of Applied and Engineering Physics. David Brand/Cornell

Throughout the day, speakers emphasized the duality of these new techniques: researchers from the life sciences crossing over into the engineering of materials, and physical scientists learning about the possible applications of life systems. As one example of this wedding of solid state physics to biology, Carlo Montemagno, Cornell associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, talked of developing biosensors containing fluorescently labeled antibodies that could be used in cell-sorting. In particular, he noted, the new technology might make it possible to detect the waterborne pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum, found in 28 percent of drinking water and not removed in normal water treatment. The hope, he said, is to develop an electronic hand-held device for detection.

And as yet another example of how nature can aid in the fabrication of engineered devices, Cornell neurobiologist Elke Buschbeck discussed how on the one hand a fly's hearing system is helping engineers develop human directional hearing aids, and how on the other hand nanofabrication technology is allowing biologists to "listen" to the fly's nervous system using micro-electronic arrays.

But, as speaker after speaker pointed out, the level of difficulty involved in developing this nascent technology is very high. Asked during a panel discussion to compare the current state of nanotechnology to the early development of integrated circuitry, Sandip Tiwari, director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility (CNF), noted that "there is a lot more scientific content in what we are doing now than in just plain scaling of transistors. Biological systems are much more complex." Nanobiotechnology, he said, is currently "in a time of ferment."

Although the goal of the workshop was to introduce the potential of nanobiotech-nology to the next generation of scientists and engineers, much emphasis was given by all speakers to the education of the next generation of nanobiotechnologists. The workshop organizers also encouraged students and postdoctoral fellows to participate by presenting posters on their research.

"We need students like those here today, who are capable of performing research effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries," said Kraig Adler, Cornell vice provost for life sciences, in his remarks closing the workshop. What is needed, said Adler, is nothing less than a new breed of interdisciplinary scholar. "Most engineers still do not know nearly enough biology, and biologists certainly do not know enough engineering. It is not just a question of language and terminology, although that is part of the problem. It is the difference between wet and dry, organic and inorganic, but especially a question of different approaches and cultures."

The workshop, organized by Isaacson and James Turner, senior scientist at Wadsworth, was sponsored by Cornell, NBTC, CNF, the Wadsworth Center (the New York State Department of Health's public health research laboratory) and the National Nanofabrication Users Network. NBTC is a consortium of four institutions, led by Cornell, that was established as a national science and technology center last year with a grant of about $19 million from the National Science Foundation.