“We often look to mother nature for interesting things. When scientists take a look at these things, it often involves the nanoworld,” said Kevin Walsh, associate dean of research and facilities, professor of electrical engineering at UofL’s and founding director of UofL’s Micro/Nano Technology Center (MNTC).

Cicada wings’ antibacterial properties in particular interested University of Louisville engineers. Along with UofL biologists, the team analyzed the nanostructure of the insects’ wings and developed a nanofabrication technique to replicate it for potential use in spaces where bacteria are undesirable, such as food service, health care facilities and medical devices.

The team, led by Chuang Qu, Walsh and Mark Running, has developed a process to synthesize a surface material that mimics the wings’ structure and has the same antibacterial and water repellant properties as the wings that inspired it. The development and testing of the innovative manufacturing process was made possible through the use of , which include a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and nanomaterial production capabilities.

With the help of an SEM, scientists can see that cicada wings’ surface consists of tiny, bowling-pin-shaped structures with a diameter of around 100 nanometers – about one-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. The wings owe their antibacterial properties to the spike-shaped tops which act like daggers, piercing the cellular membranes of bacteria that have the misfortune of landing on them, ultimately killing the bacteria.

To replicate the cicada wings’ nanopillar cone structure, Qu, a senior research engineer at Speed School specializing in advanced nanofabrication, developed a two-step process of self-assembly and glancing-angle deposition (GLAD).

“All the structures we discovered under the microscope are challenging to recreate because they are so small and three-dimensional,” Qu said. “Using a two-step self-assembly plus glancing angle deposition, we were able to recreate the structure and confirm that, like their cicada wing template, they have these antimicrobial properties.”

The manufacturing method consists of two processes. First, bases of the nanopillars are created using self-assembly, in which the material spontaneously falls into place. To create the tips of the bowling pin shapes, the researchers used GLAD, a technique in which physical vapor is deposited onto the base structure at an oblique angle. This procedure reduces the number of steps required to manufacture complex nanostructure materials that is cheaper and more scalable than other methods.

To verify the antibacterial effect of the nanostructure they had developed, the team tested it using E. Coli, common bacteria that have a fairly tough cell wall. Examining the effects of the manufactured surface on bacteria using the SEM at MNTC, the researchers found that the new material functioned in the same way as the cicada wings – destroying the bacteria with its dagger-like spikes.

Since the cicada wings and the replica material rely on physical nanostructures to kill the bacteria and can be made of virtually any material, the surfaces avoid possible negative effects of chemical antimicrobials in biomedical applications.

“We didn’t know it was going to be physical and that we would be able to detect it, so I was really happy that we were able to determine that,” said Mark Running, a UofL biology professor and coauthor of the .

While further work is needed to fully adapt the material to commercial use, it has potential for applications such as on doorknobs or other surfaces that need to be kept clean and germ free, food preparation surfaces and implantable medical devices that are prone to bacterial infection. The team has filed a provisional patent on a process called “inverted GLAD” to create materials such as the cicada wing replication and is seeking to hire students to assist with additional research.

“The challenges are how to scale the production up to larger areas and how to apply them to curved surfaces,” Walsh said. “Right now, we can just use it on flat surfaces.”

UofL’s MNTC facilities are available for use by researchers within and outside of UofL, as well as businesses conducting product research and development. It is one of 16 facilities at universities nationwide funded by the National Science Foundation to support research and industry. MNTC is one of eight advanced manufacturing facilities in the , a consortium of resources at UofL and the University of Kentucky.

His talk will center around the significance of nanoparticles in medicine.

“Nanoparticles have incredible potential to revolutionize several aspects of our lives ranging from electronics to health care,” O’Toole said. “But what are they? Why is there so much interest in them, especially for use in research and medicine? We will go on a casual journey through the “World of Nano,” where everyday materials take on bizarre properties and new medical breakthroughs may be just around the corner.

O’Toole’s talk will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, at , 8023 Catherine Lane. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

The next Beer with a Scientist program will be May 15.

And, if you’re Jason Lopes, you can use them to create a working “Iron Man” suit for actor, Robert Downey Jr., or a life-size replica of soccer superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It’s called pushing the boundaries,” said Lopes, who worked in film special effects before joining technology company, . “When people tell you no, use that as inspiration to show them how it can be done.”

And to push those boundaries, universities and industry can accomplish more by working together. That was the subject of the 2018 , held Aug. 1-2 at the Speed Art Museum on UofL’s Belknap campus. Lopes was the first keynote speaker.

The inaugural conference, themed “Strengthening Industry Collaborations with Academia,” focused on collaboration in advanced manufacturing fields, including additive manufacturing and micro/nanotechnology.

“Universities play a critical role in the advancement and application of these technologies for industry,” said Dr. Kevin Walsh, associate dean of research at UofL’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering, who led the organizing committee. “Our goal was to bring both sides together, and showcase the innovation generated by that collaboration.”

The event was a partnership between UofL and the University of Kentucky. Together, they offer a collection of advanced manufacturing core facilities open to industry and academia, called the Kentucky Multi-Scale Network. 

Kentucky Multi-Scale is part of the National Science Foundation’s National Nanotechnology Network, which consists of 16 academic sites across the U.S. with similar advanced core facilities.

At UofL, those facilities include the Micro-Nanotechnology Center (MNTC), the Rapid Prototyping Center (RPC), and the Conn Center for Renewable Research. Those facilities work with industry on a variety of projects, from to saving energy when manufacturing cement.

This goes to show that the potential applications for nanotechnology and 3-D printing are broad, and can impact diverse industries — from space travel, to manufacturing, to medicine, to movies.

Lopes, for example, has also used 3-D printing to create a giant sneezing monster for Comic-Con and light-up mohawks for Katy Perry.  Now, he’s working with the dental division at Carbon to make better dentures and embedding tracing technology into .

“This is what excites me,” Lopes said. “Embedding the technology inside all of this.”

And Walsh said combining these technologies, as in Lopes sneakers, could lead to more innovation. For example, he said, future human prosthetics and implants could be both 3-D printed, and contain sensors so they’re smarter, safer and function more effectively.

“But for that to happen, we need the micro/nano community to be fully engaged with the additive manufacturing community,” he said. “This symposium provides that opportunity and we plan to offer it every year.”

Keynton is a professor and the Lutz Endowed Chair of Biomechanical Devices of the Department of Bioengineering at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Keynton was founding chair of the bioengineering department, which under his tenure grew into the most productive basic and translational research department in the Speed School. He is also the director of research initiatives in the office of the executive vice president for research and innovation.

“I am humbled by the nomination and support from my colleagues at UofL and I am truly honored to have been selected to be a member of the National Academy of Inventors and to be associated with such a prestigious group,” Keynton said.  

Keynton’s research focuses on Lab-on-a-Chip devices, microsensors, biomedical devices and biomaterials. He joined UofL in 1999 and has co-founded three companies with UofL colleagues. His career has centered on multidisciplinary research, which includes more than $51 million of funding from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and the Veterans Administration.

“Professor Robert S. Keynton is a leader in research and innovation at UofL and the nation and around the world,” said William Pierce, UofL executive vice president for research and innovation, who was named an NAI Fellow in 2015. “As founder of our department of bioengineering, he has built a talented faculty as he built his own research efforts. He has brought in many millions of research dollars in research funding individually and has led or helped lead development of our Nanotechnology Center, our Coulter Project initiative, our REACH (NIH) for proof-of-concept centers, and our NSF I-Corps Centers to provide opportunity for so many. Currently he leads efforts that will provide opportunities for untold numbers of students, fellows and future alumni. We are proud to have Rob as one of our leading innovators, inventors and scientists.”

Keynton is the fifth UofL researcher to be named an NAI Fellow. In addition to Pierce in 2015, honorees have been Suzanne T. Ildstad, MD, and Kevin M. Walsh in 2014 and Paula J. Bates in 2016.

With the election of the 2017 class there are 912 representing more than 250 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2017 Fellows are named inventors on nearly 6,000 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 32,000 issued U.S. patents.

The new NAI Fellows will be inducted April 5 as part of the of the National Academy of Inventors at the Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection in Washington, DC.