Tag Archives: INRS

Promising new technique for controlled fabrication of nanowires

This research is the result of a collaboration between French, Italian, Australian, and Canadian researchers. From a Jan. 5, 2016 news item on *phys.org,

An international team of researchers including Professor Federico Rosei and members of his group at INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) has developed a new strategy for fabricating atomically controlled carbon nanostructures used in molecular carbon-based electronics. An article just published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications presents their findings: the complete electronic structure of a conjugated organic polymer, and the influence of the substrate on its electronic properties.

A Jan. 5, 2016 INRS news release by Gisèle Bolduc, which originated the news item, indicates this is the beginning rather than an endpoint (Note: A link has been removed),

The researchers combined two procedures previously developed in Professor Rosei’s lab—molecular self-assembly and chain polymerization—to produce a network of long-range poly(para-phenylene) (PPP) nanowires on a copper (Cu) surface. Using advanced technologies such as scanning tunneling microscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy as well as theoretical models, they were able to describe the morphology and electronic structure of these nanostructures.

“We provide a complete description of the band structure and also highlight the strong interaction between the polymer and the substrate, which explains both the decreased bandgap and the metallic nature of the new chains. Even with this hybridization, the PPP bands display a quasi one-dimensional dispersion in conductive polymeric nanowires,” said Professor Federico Rosei, one of the authors of the study.

Although further research is needed to fully describe the electronic properties of these nanostructures, the polymer’s dispersion provides a spectroscopic record of the polymerization process of certain types of molecules on gold, silver, copper, and other surfaces. It’s a promising approach for similar semiconductor studies—an essential step in the development of actual devices.

The results of the study could be used in designing organic nanostructures, with significant potential applications in nanoelectronics, including photovoltaic devices, field-effect transistors, light-emitting diodes, and sensors.

About the article

This study was designed by Yannick Fagot-Revurat and Daniel Malterre of Université de Lorraine/CNRS, Federico Rosei of INRS, Josh Lipton-Duffin of the Institute for Future Environments (Australia), Giorgio Contini of the Italian National Research Council, and Dmytro F. Perepichka of McGill University. […]The researchers were generously supported by Conseil Franco-Québécois de coopération universitaire, the France–Italy International Program for Scientific Cooperation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds québécois de recherche – Nature et technologies, and a Québec MEIE grant (in collaboration with Belgium).

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Quasi one-dimensional band dispersion and surface metallization in long-range ordered polymeric wires by Guillaume Vasseur, Yannick Fagot-Revurat, Muriel Sicot, Bertrand Kierren, Luc Moreau, Daniel Malterre, Luis Cardenas, Gianluca Galeotti, Josh Lipton-Duffin, Federico Rosei, Marco Di Giovannantonio, Giorgio Contini, Patrick Le Fèvre, François Bertran, Liangbo Liang, Vincent Meunier, Dmitrii F. Perepichka. Nature Communications 7, Article number:  10235 doi:10.1038/ncomms10235 Published 04 January 2016

This is an open access paper.

*’ScienceDaily’ corrected to ‘phys.org’ on Tues., Jan. 5, 2016 at 1615 PST.

An enzyme’s atoms are in a subtle dance that can affect protein function

This research comes from Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) according to a Dec. 10, 2015 news item on ScienceDaily,

Infinitesimal fluctuations occurring on the milli- and even nano-second time scales within the three-dimensional structure of enzymes may be one of the keys to explaining protein function. Professor Nicolas Doucet’s team at INRS has demonstrated that even when certain amino acids are far from the active site of an enzyme, a change in their flexibility and atomic fluctuations can significantly impact enzyme activity. This phenomenon, which has been underestimated up to now, could explain certain protein engineering failures and help improve the way synthetic functional enzymes are designed.

A Dec. 10, 2015 INRS news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides an explanation of an enzyme’s functions and what the researchers found out,

Enzymes are nanomachines that are exceptionally efficient at catalyzing a chemical reaction. They play a role in all cellular mechanisms. Like all proteins, they are made up of amino acid chains that are folded and assembled in a very precise 3D structure. Some enzymes, like ribonuclease A, are so efficient that they catalyze the transformation of chemical molecules thousands of times per second.

In this study, Donald Gagné, a researcher in Professor Doucet’s lab holding a PhD in biology from INRS, analyzed the impact of removing a methyl group located near a loop distant from the reaction site of ribonuclease A–a very slight change that presumably would have no effect. The mutation does not perturb the 3D structure of the enzyme. However, it did result in a four-fold reduction in the affinity of ribonuclease A for nucleotides (molecules to which it must bind to carry out its function). How is this possible?

Using crystallography techniques and nuclear magnetic resonance to examine the enzyme at atomic resolution, Donald Gagné compared normal ribonuclease A with the mutated enzyme. He observed that when ribonuclease A is modified, the nucleotides do not position themselves correctly and have a harder time binding to the active site. It appears that this repositioning is due to an increase in enzyme fluctuations caused by the elimination of this distant methyl group, which we can picture as creating vibrations that spread through the enzyme structure all the way to the site of catalysis.

This demonstration of the importance of enzyme dynamics could change our understanding of protein and enzyme mechanisms. While it remains a challenge to measure fluctuations at this atomic scale, researchers have studied the three-dimensional structure of proteins to understand how they function. Despite the staggering complexity of this phenomenon, we now know that proteins are increasingly regulated by the subtle dance of their atoms.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Perturbation of the Conformational Dynamics of an Active-Site Loop Alters Enzyme Activity by Donald Gagné, Rachel L. French, Chitra Narayanan, Miljan Simonović, Pratul K. Agarwal, Nicolas Doucet. Structure Volume 23, Issue 12, p2256–2266, 1 December 2015 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2015.10.011

This paper is behind a paywall.

Canadian nanoscientist, Federico Rosei, picks up a new honour (this one is from China)

I covered two of Federico Rosei’s awards last year in a Jan. 27, 2014 post about his Canadian Society for Chemistry award and in a Feb. 4, 2014 post about his E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. This year, China has honoured the Dr. Rosei with a scholar’s award that requires regular visits to China. From a Jan. 28, 2015 news item on Azonano,

Professor Federico Rosei of the INRS Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre has won the Chang Jiang Scholars Award, a highly prestigious distinction for world-class researchers given by the Chinese government. Professor Rosei was honoured for his work in the field of organic and inorganic nanomaterials. This is the first time the award has been given to an INRS faculty member. [INRS is Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique; the Université de Québec’s research branch]

A Jan. 23, 2015 INRS news release by Gisèle Bolduc, which originated the news item, fills in some more details about the award and Dr. Rosei,

As a Chang Jiang scholar, Professor Rosei will make regular visits to the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) over the next three years, where he will help set up an R&D platform in nanomaterials and electronic and optoelectronic devices. In addition to these joint research projects, Professor Rosei will train young Chinese researchers, make scientific presentations, and forge international academic ties.

Federico Rosei’s tenure as a Chang Jiang scholar will complement and enhance his work as UNESCO Chair on Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage (MATECSS). This INRS research chair is part of a North-South/South-South initiative to promote the international sharing of technical and scientific knowledge in the areas of renewable energies and sustainable development.

“Dr. Federico Rosei is an outstanding professor and researcher, and a true world leader in his field,” noted Yves Bégin, vice president (or principal) of research and academic affairs. “INRS is extremely proud to have Professor Rosei among its professors. Beyond his major scientific advances in his field, his presence in our institution helps build invaluable bridges between the local team of professors and large-scale international research projects.”

About the Chang Jiang Scholars Awards

Founded in 1998 by the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Chang Jiang Scholars program annually brings some 50 eminent international scholars, mainly in science and technology, to Chinese universities. The program’s aim is to raise standards of research in Chinese universities through collaboration with leading scientists from the world over.

About Federico Rosei

Professor Federico Rosei’s work in material physics has led to scientific innovations and practical applications in electronics, energy, and the life sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, distinguished lecturer at IEEE Nanotechnology Council (NTC), UNESCO Chair on Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage (MATECSS), and recipient of the NSERC 2014 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from NSERC. Professor Rosei has won numerous awards including the 2014 José Vasconcelos World Award of Education from the World Cultural Council, the 2011 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the 2013 Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists, and the 2011 Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry from the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Rosei is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Society for Photo-Image Engineers (SPIE), and a Fellow of the American Physical Society; the U.S. Association for the Advancement of Science; the Engineering Institute of Canada; the Institute of Physics; the Royal Society of Chemistry; the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining; the Institute of Engineering and Technology; the Institute of Nanotechnology; and the Australian Institute of Physics.

Odd, there’s no mention of the Canadian Society for Chemistry award but since this man seems to be the recipient of many awards, I imagine some hard choices had to be made when writing him up.

For anyone who’d prefer to read about Rosei in French or would like to test their French reading skills, here’s Gisèle Bolduc’s 21 janvier 2015 actualité.

A multiferroic material for more powerful solar cells

A Nov. 12, 2014 INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique; Université du Québec) news release (also on EurekAlert), describes new work on solar cells from Federico Rosei’s laboratory (Note: Links have been removed; A French language version of the news release can be found here),

Applying a thin film of metallic oxide significantly boosts the performance of solar panel cells—as recentlydemonstrated by Professor Federico Rosei and his team at the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS). The researchers have developed a new class of materials comprising elements such as bismuth, iron, chromium, and oxygen. These“multiferroic” materials absorb solar radiation and possess unique electrical and magnetic properties. This makes them highly promising for solar technology, and also potentially useful in devices like electronic sensors and flash memory drives. …

The INRS research team discovered that by changing the conditions under which a thin film of these materials is applied, the wavelengths of light that are absorbed can be controlled. A triple-layer coating of these materials—barely 200 nanometres thick—captures different wavelengths of light. This coating converts much more light into electricity than previous trials conducted with a single layer of the same material. With a conversion efficiency of 8.1% reported by [Riad] Nechache and his coauthors, this is a major breakthrough in the field.

The team currently envisions adding this coating to traditional single-crystal silicon solar cells (currently available on the market). They believe it could increase maximum solar efficiency by 18% to 24% while also boosting cell longevity. As this technology draws on a simplified structure and processes, as well as abundant and stable materials, new photovoltaic (PV) cells will be more powerful and cost less. This means that the INRS team’s breakthrough may make it possible to reposition silicon PV cells at the forefront of the highly competitive solar energy market.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Bandgap tuning of multiferroic oxide solar cells by R. Nechache, C. Harnagea, S. Li, L. Cardenas, W. Huang,  J. Chakrabartty, & F. Rosei. Nature Photonics (2014) doi:10.1038/nphoton.2014.255 Published online
10 November 2014

This paper is behind a paywall although there is a free preview via ReadCube Access.

I last mentioned Federico Rose in a March 4, 2014 post about a talk (The exploration of the role of nanoscience in tomorrow’s energy solutions) he was giving in Vancouver (Canada).

State-of-the-art biotech and nanophotonics equipment at Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

Canada Foundation for Innovation (a federal government funding agency) has awarded two infrastructure grants to Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) or more specifically their Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centreaccording to an April 18, 2014 news item on Azonano,

Professor Marc André Gauthier and Professor Luca Razzari of the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre have each been awarded large grants from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for the acquisition of state-of-the-art biotech and nanophotonics equipment.

To this funding will be added matching grants from the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie (MESRST). These new laboratories will help us develop new approaches for improving health and information technologies, train the next generation of highly qualified high-tech workers, and transfer technology and expertise to local startups.

An April 17, 2014 INRS news release by Gisèle Bolduc, which originated the news item (Pour ceux qui préfèrent l’actualité en français) , provides more details,

Bio-hybrid materials

Professor Gauthier’snew Laboratory of Bio-Hybrid Materials (LBM) will enable him to tackle the numerous challenges of designing these functional materials and make it possible for the biomedical and biotech sectors to take full advantage of their new and unique properties. Professor Gauthier and his team will work on developing new bio organic reactions involving synthetic and natural molecules and improving those that already exist. They will examine the architecture of protein-polymer grafts and develop methods for adjusting the structure and function of bio-hybrid materials in order to evaluate their therapeutic potential.

Plasmonic nanostructures and nonlinear optics

Professor Luca Razzari will use his Laboratory of Nanostructure-Assisted Spectroscopy and Nonlinear Optics (NASNO Lab) to document the properties of plasmonic nanostructures, improve nanospectroscopies and explore new photonic nanodevices. He will also develop new biosensors able to identify very small numbers of biomarkers. This may have an important impact in the early diagnosis of several diseases such as cancer and life-threatening infectious diseases.Besides this, he will investigate a new generation of nanoplasmonic devices for information and communications technology applications.

Congratulations!

Nano and the energy crisis, a March 25, 2014 presentation by Federico Rosei in Vancouver, Canada

ARPICO’s, Society of Italian Researchers and Professionals in Western Canada, is presenting a talk about the energy crisis and how nanoscience may help, which will be given by Federico Rosei, a nanoscientist based in Québec at the INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique). I don’t have much more information about the talk (from the March 4, 2014 ARPICO announcement),

Looming Energy Crisis & Possible Solutions
What is economically viable?
What is environmentally sustainable?
In the short term, in the long term…

Please join us for a presentation & lively discussion facilitated by

Federico Rosei, PhD
International award winning scientist, thinker and speaker

The exploration of the role of nanoscience in tomorrow’s energy solutions

There are more details about the speaker (from the ARPICO announcement),

Dr. Rosei’s research interests focus on the properties of nanostructured materials. Among numerous positions held, he is Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Organic and Inorganic Materials, Professor & Director of INRS-Energy, Materials & Telecommunications, Universite du Quebec, Varennes (QC), and UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage. He has published over 170 articles in prestigious international journals and his publications have been cited over 4,500 times. He has received several awards, including the FQRNT Strategic Professorship, the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry from the Royal Society of Canada, and the Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists.

Dr. Rosei’s biographical notes have not been updat4ed as he has recently won two major awards as per my Feb. 4, 2014 posting about his E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship and my Jan. 27, 2014 posting about his 2014 Award for Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry from the Canadian Society for Chemistry.

Here are the event details,

Date & Time:      Tuesday, March 25, 2014, 7pm

Location:      Roundhouse Community Centre (Room C),
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC
(Yaletown-Roundhouse Sky Train Station, C21 & C23 Buses, Parking $3)

Refreshments:      Complimentary—coffee and cookies

Admission & RSVP:      Admission is free.

Registration at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/looming-energy-crisis-possible-solutions-by-prof-federico-rosei-inrs-tickets-6582603745

I’m glad to see a talk about the energy crisis that’s geared to ways in which we might deal with it.

Federico Rosei (Québec nanoscientist) scores another honour, an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship

On the heels of last week’s announcement (featured in my Jan. 27, 2014 posting) that Federico Rosei of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) will be receiving the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s (CSC) 2014 Award for Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry comes this announcement (from a Feb. 4, 2014 news item on Azonano),

Federico Rosei, professor at the INRS Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre, is the recipient of an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, one of the most prestigious honours awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). An internationally renowned researcher, Professor Rosei has made a name for himself through his pioneering work on advanced materials, which has enormous technological potential in electronics, photonics, life sciences and energy conversion.

The Feb. 3, 2014 INRS news release by Stéphanie Thibault, which originated the news item, describes the fellowship (Note: A link has been removed),

The Steacie Fellowship, which is granted for a two-year period and comes with a $250,000 research grant and $180,000 salary support, will allow Professor Rosei to explore new avenues and implement effective new strategies in the design, development, and characterization of multifunctional materials.

“Receiving the highly-coveted E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowshipis a true honour that inspires me to redouble my efforts to gain a greater understanding of the multiple properties of nanomaterials in order to contribute to scientific and technological innovation,” Professor Rosei said.

E.W.R Steacie Memorial Fellowships

Every year NSERC awards up to six E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships in memory of Edgar William Richard Steacie, an outstanding chemist and research leader who made major contributions to the development of science in Canada. The Fellowships are awarded to enhance the career development of outstanding and highly promising Canadian university faculty by relieving them of teaching and administrative duties, so that they can devote all their time and energy to research.

Congratulations to Dr. Rosei.

L’actualité en français: http://www.emt.inrs.ca/actualites/attribution-dune-prestigieuse-bourse-steacie-au-professeur-federico-rosei

Canadian Society for Chemistry honours Québec nanoscientist Federico Rosei

Dr. Federico Rosei’s name has graced this blog before, most recently in a June 15, 2010 posting about an organic nanoelectronics project. Late last week, Québec’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) announced that Rosei will be honoured by the Canadian Society for Chemistry at  the 2014 Canadian Chemistry Conference (from the January 24, 2014 news release on EurekAlert),,

The Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) has bestowed its 2014 Award for Research Excellence in Materials Chemistry on Professor Federico Rosei, director of the INRS Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications research centre, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field. Professor Rosei will be honoured at the society’s annual conference, which will take place June 1 to 5, 2014, in Vancouver.

In conjunction with this honour, Federico Rosei has been invited to speak at this important scientific conference and to take part in a lecture tour of Canadian universities located outside major cities.

Professor Rosei has been widely honoured for his research on nanomaterial properties and their applications. He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the 2013 Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists, the Brian Ives Lectureship Award from ASM Canada, the 2011 Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry from the Royal Society of Canada, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s 2010 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the Institute of Physics; the Royal Society of Chemistry; the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining; the Institute of Engineering and Technology; and the Institute of Nanotechnology in the U.K.; the Engineering Institute of Canada; and the Australian Institute of Physics. In addition, Professor Rosei is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Society for Photo-Image Engineers (SPIE), and a member of Sigma Xi (scientific research society) and the Global Young Academy.

Please join us in extending our congratulations to Professor Rosei!

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The Canadian Society for Chemistry

The Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) is a not-for-profit professional association that unites chemistry students and professionals who work in industry, academia, and government. Recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the CSC awards annual prizes and scholarships in recognition of outstanding achievements in the chemical sciences.

About INRS

Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) is a graduate research and training university. As Canada’s leading university for research intensity in its class, INRS brings together some 150 professors and close to 700 students and postdoctoral fellows in its centres in Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, and Varennes. As active providers of fundamental research essential to the advancement of science in Quebec as well as internationally, INRS research teams also play a critical role in developing concrete solutions to problems that our society faces.

The French language version of the news release: de l’actualité le 23 janvier 2014, par Stéphanie Thibault (Note: Links have been removed from the excerpt),

Le professeur Federico Rosei du Centre Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications de l’INRS est récipiendaire du Prix d’excellence en chimie des matériaux 2014. La Société canadienne de chimie reconnaît ainsi sa contribution exceptionnelle dans ce domaine. Le professeur Rosei sera honoré lors du congrès annuel de la Société qui aura lieu du 1er au 5 juin 2014 à Vancouver.

À titre de lauréat, le professeur Rosei sera conférencier invité à cette importante rencontre scientifique et participera à une tournée de conférences qui l’amènera dans des universités canadiennes situées hors des grandes villes.

I have not found any specific details about Dr. Rosei’s upcoming chemistry lecture tour of universities.

The conference where Dr. Rosei will be honoured is the 97th annual Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition. It is being hosted by Simon Fraser University (SFU), located in the Vancouver region. While the conference programme is not yet in place there’s a hint as to what will be offered in the conference chair’s Welcome message,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I am delighted to welcome all the delegates and their guests to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the 97th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition that will take place from June 1 to 5, 2014. This is Canada’s largest annual event devoted to the science and practice of chemistry, and it will give participants a platform to exchange ideas, discover novel opportunities, reacquaint with colleagues, meet new friends, and broaden their knowledge. The conference will held at the new Vancouver Convention Centre, which is a spectacular, green-designed facility on the beautiful waterfront in downtown Vancouver.

The theme of the CSC 2014 Conference is “Chemistry from Sea to Sky”; it will broadly cover all disciplines of chemistry from fundamental research to “blue sky” applications, highlight global chemical scientific interactions and collaborations, and feature the unique location, culture and beautiful geography (the Coastal Mountains along the ocean’s edge of Howe Sound) of British Columbia and Vancouver.

We are pleased to have Professor Shankar Balasubramanian (University of Cambridge, UK) and Professor Klaus Müllen (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany) as the plenary speakers. In addition to divisional symposia, the scientific program also includes several jointly organized international symposia, featuring Canada and each of China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and the USA. This new type of symposium at the CSC aims to highlight research interests of Canadians in an international context. Interactions between chemists and TRIUMF (the world’s largest cyclotron, based in Vancouver) will also be highlighted via a special “Nuclear and Radiochemistry” Divisional Program.

All of the members of the local Organizing Committee from Simon Fraser University wish you a superb conference experience and a memorable stay in Vancouver. Welcome to Vancouver! Bienvenue à Vancouver!

Zuo-Guang Ye, Conference Chair
Department of Chemistry
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia

Conference abstracts are being accepted until February 17, 2014 (according to the conference home page). Dr. Shankar Balasubramanian was last mentioned (one of several authors of a paper) here in a July 22, 2013 posting titled: Combining bacteriorhodopsin with semiconducting nanoparticles to generate hydrogen.