Recent News 
Recent work featured on the cover of Integrative Biology
A recent paper on parylene peel arrays for cell patterning has been featured on the cover of Volume 1 Issue 10.
15 Oct 2009 Parylene technology focus
Graduate student Christine Tan is interviewed and her work featured in a special article "Uses of Microarrays Increasing Rapidly", in the 15 Oct issue of Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN).
1 Oct 2009 Piezoresistive transduction in multilayer polycrystalline silicon resonators
A new paper has been published by J. D. Cross et al. in the journal Applied Physics Letters. These resonators, fabricated from highly doped polycrystalline silicon layers separated by a dielectric layer, effectively transduces their mechanical motion as a vertical piezoresistor.
17 Sept 2009 Poster award at Cornell NanoScale Facility Annual Meeting
Congratulations to Ben Cipriany for winning an award based his work "Single-molecule studies of native chromatin."
15 Sept 2009 A method for nanofluidic device prototyping using elastomeric collapse
A new paper has been published by S.-M. Park et al. in the journal PNAS, demonstrating a technique for nanofluidic fabrication based on the controlled collapse of microchannel structures.
3 Sept 2009 Labeling and purification of cellulose-binding proteins for high resolution fluorescence applications
A new paper has been published by Jose M. Moran-Mirabal et al. in the journal Analytical Chemistry, demonstrating a new protocol for labeling cellulases with three different fluorophores and their purification and separation of the labeled products.
27 Aug 2009 Parylene peel-off arrays to probe the role of cell–cell interactions in tumour angiogenesis
A new manuscript has been published by C. P. Tan et al. in the journal Integrative Biology. This work uses parylene as a stencil in order to pattern arrays of material which cells preferentially bind to. By simply varying the size and spacing of these arrays, the communication between single and groups of cells can be studied as a function of cell number and spacing, which should continue to give insights into tumor cell behavior and angiogenesis.
18 Aug 2009 Detection of prostate specific antigen with nanomechanical resonators
A new paper has been published by P. S. Waggoner et al. in the journal Lab on a Chip, demonstrating the detection of prostate specific antigen, a biomarker used for prostate cancer detection. The molecule could be detected at concentrations as low as 50 fg/mL (1.5 fM) in undiluted serum.
15 Aug 2009 Prion Protein detection in serum using micromechanical resonator arrays
A new paper has been published by Madhukar Varshney et al. in the journal Talanta, demonstrating the detection of Prion proteins in serum using secondary mass labeling.
22 June 2009 Micromechanical drumhead resonators for pressure sensing
A new paper has been published from D.R. Southworth et al. entitled, "Pressure dependent resonant frequency of micromechanical drumhead resonators," in Applied Physics Letters. These devices were found to be excellent pressure sensors, giving a linear response in frequency shift from pressures of roughly one hundredth of an atmosphere up to nearly 4 atmospheres.
15 May 2009 Recent research selected for inclusion in the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology
A paper recently published by P. S. Waggoner et al., High-Q, in-plane modes of nanomechanical resonators operated in air, has been chosen for virtual publication in the May 18th issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology, published by the AIP and APS in cooperation with others to compile outstanding research in this field across many journals.
This marks the second publication from the Craighead Group recently highlighted in this virtual journal, joining the recently published The relationship between material properties, device design, and the sensitivity of resonant mechanical sensors, included in the March 23rd issue.
05 May 2009 New paper published on high-Q, in-plane resonators operated in air
Recent results showing that side-to-side vibration of nanomechanical resonators feature high quality factors at atmospheric pressures have been published by P. S. Waggoner et al. in the Journal of Applied Physics, DOI:10.1063/1.3123767. These trampoline-shaped devices are promising for sensor applications at high/atmospheric pressures, and suggest that this in-plane resonant mode can be beneficial for other resonator designs as well.
28 Apr 2009 Recent aptamer publication featured as "Hot Article" by RSC
A recently published paper from S.-M. Park et al. in Lab on a Chip DOI:10.1039/b819905a has been featured on the Royal Society of Chemistry website as a "Hot Article." This work describes a microfluidic device used to select and purify aptamers using individually addressable sol-gel capture droplets which can capture specific aptamers but later be removed with integrated heaters. This chip-based method shows promising results for improving the way aptamers are developed and prepared.
07 Apr 2009 Sugar-based microfluidics paper featured on cover of Soft Matter
A recently published paper from Leon Bellan et al. using cotton candy to form dense microfluidic channels for artificial tissue in Soft Matter DOI:10.1039/b819905a has been featured on the front cover of issue 7 (Vol. 5, 2009).
09 Mar 2009 Relationship Between the Design and Sensitivity of Resonant Sensors
A new paper has been published by Philip S. Waggoner and Harold G. Craighead in the Journal of Applied Physics, DOI:10.1063/1.3079793, looking into how resonator design affects the detection mechanism and sensitivity of the sensor. Notably, traditional cantilever devices were shown to not always be the most sensitive, and it was suggested that in most resonant biosensing applications, only the bound mass would be detected rather than stiffness.
Update: This paper has been selected for inclusion in the 23 Mar 2009 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.
03 Mar 2009 RSS News Feed now available
Now recent news and publications from the Craighead Group can now be read using RSS 2.0/XML news feed! Subscribe using the xml link above.
27 Feb 2009 New Craighead Group Website Launched
The website has been given a new look, the content has been updated, and some improved features and content have been added. It will continue to be polished in near future, and older content archives will be posted gradually. If you have comments or suggestions, please send a note to the webmaster.
25 Feb 2009 Cotton Candy Can Help Labs Grow Tissue, featured in Discovery News
In an effort to improve the relatively thick artificial tissue implants, a cotton candy based approach has been developed to form a widespread and interconnected network of microfluidic channels. This research was published by Leon M. Bellan et al. in the journal Soft Matter DOI:10.1039/b819905a
This work was also highlighted in a video feature on the Discovery Channel program Daily Planet.