Researchers working to sequence mammalian-sized genomes today rely on nanopore-based methods that are hampered by two significant bottlenecks that limit precision and hinder progress in the field, says theoretical physicist Murugappan Muthukumar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has a four-year, $1.39 million grant from NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute to overcome these hurdles to make way for a new wave of low-cost, rapid, high-quality sequencing technologies.

“Right now, DNA reading accuracy in the nanopore-based method is about 95 percent,” he points out. “We want to improve that.”

With the current method of sequencing DNA, Muthukumar explains, nucleic acid units in a DNA strand pass through a 1.5-nanometer opening, or pore, one at a time where they are read and recorded, “like unwinding a ball of wool and passing it through the eye of a needle,” he says. Except that in the case of DNA waiting to be read, it is not neatly coiled like a ball of yarn, but is jumbled, disordered and influenced by electrical and entropic forces, water currents, temperature and salt ions.

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The American Physical Society has announced that Jennifer Ross, professor of physics, and Ryan Hayward, professor of polymer science and engineering, were elected fellows of the American Physical Society (APS) by the APS Council of Representatives at its September meeting.

As recommended by its Division of Biological Physics (DBIO) Ross is recognized for “significantly advancing understanding of the self-organizational principles of the microtubule cytoskeleton via motor proteins and severing enzymes and how that organization affects intracellular transport. Also, for outstanding service to DBIO and the biophysics community.”

Hayward is recognized by the division of polymer physics for “developing innovative approaches to control the structure and properties of polymeric materials through processes of elastic buckling and self-assembly.”

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E. Bryan Coughlin, head of polymer science and engineering, has been selected as a 2018 fellow of the American Chemical Society(link is external), which recognizes members for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession and the society. The honor was announced in the society’s weekly magazine, Chemical & Engineering News.  

Coughlin is credited as a co-inventor of DuPont’s Versipol polyolefin technology platform and noted for his pioneering work in functional polymeric materials. He also served the society’s polymer science and materials engineering division in many leadership roles including chair, vice-chair, past chair, treasurer and membership chair and currently as a member of the finance committee. ACS’s 2018 fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the national meeting on Aug. 20 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. 

There are only about 1,000 ACS fellows among the society’s full membership of more than 157,000. Coughlin says, “I am proud to join my colleagues Todd Emrick who was elected in 2014, Greg Tew and Kenneth Carter who were elected in 2013 and Maria Santore who was elected in 2010.”

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Ashwin Ramasubramaniam, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, is leading a joint U.S. and Israeli team of researchers looking for inexpensive, large-scale methods of fabrication of electronic and optical devices within single sheets of two-dimensional (2D) materials. The research is funded by a three-year, $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Materials Research.

Two-dimensional materials are crystalline and composed of extremely thin sheets—one or a few atoms in thickness—with the potential to create smaller and faster electronic and optical devices. Existing methods for preparing such devices are not suited to 2D materials, however, so new approaches must be discovered that promote their easy integration into device construction.

“This project studies 2D materials that are coated with polymers, which can be applied with extreme precision to manipulate the physical and electronic properties at specific locations,” the researchers say. “This promotes inexpensive, large-scale fabrication of electronic and optical devices within single sheets of 2D materials, enabling applications in low-power, nanoscale, electronic and optical devices, including wearable and conformable devices.”

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