£5.6 million award for London Centre for Nanotechnology

The award will enable the creation of new experimental techniques to allow precise measurements on the 'nano' scale. It is the largest award made in the second round of the Science & Innovation Awards from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The LCN is a joint venture between UCL and Imperial College London, two internationally leading institutions in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Nanotechnology takes place at the scale of one billionth of a metre and involves creating novel structures and materials, and devices with unique properties.

Nanotechnology is already developing new materials and devices, such as tiny drug delivery systems for inside the body, but nanometrology, which involves the precise characterisation and measurement on the nano scale, remains a key issue. Nanometrology will play an increasingly important role in understanding the complexities of the way things operate at the nanoscale and in developing reliable manufacturing tools. The issue of how to reproduce new structures, materials and devices on the nano scale will be crucial and it poses a major challenge.

Nanometrology is extremely complex given the tiny scale at which nanotechnology operates, and it requires specialist tools and a greater understanding than scientists currently have of how things work at a nano scale. The new award will enable the LCN to recruit four new academics, four postdoctoral researchers and ten PhD students to tackle the challenges involved, bringing together experts from areas such as materials, physics, chemistry, engineering and medicine. 

Professor Tim Jones, Imperial's Co-Director of the LCN, said: "Measuring things at the nano scale is one of the biggest challenges to be overcome if we are going to move on from basic research and make nanotechnology happen in the commercial world. This award will allow us to bring in new people who will work with our existing outstanding talent in nanoscience and nanotechnology. It will take all these people to make nanometrology work."  

Professor Gabriel Aeppli, UCL's Co-Director of the LCN, added: "By acting as a bridge between the biomedical, physical, chemical and engineering sciences, the centre will cross the 'chip-to-cell interface'. This is an essential step for the UK to remain internationally competitive in biotechnology."

The LCN is based in Bloomsbury and South Kensington. It has a unique operating model that accesses the combined skills of the departments of chemistry, physics, materials, medicine, electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and earth sciences across the two universities.

To find out more about the LCN, use the link at the bottom of this article.

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• LCN