Skip to main content

Instrumentation for a Better Tomorrow Proceedings of a Symposium in Honor of Arnold Beckman (2006) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Nanoscale Science and Engineering--Michael L. Roukes
Pages 39-42

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 39...
... Roukes is cofounder, vice president, and chief technology officer of Nanotechnica Corporation and cofounder and codirector of the Caltech Initiative in Computational Molecular Biology. A fellow of the American Physical Society, he was a Lillian M
Read the entire page →
From page 40...
... What does "nano" bring to the table here? A key element of these chips is that they must be able to detect biological molecules at very low concentrations -- even down to the level of single molecules, which is, after all, the "quantum" of biochemical information exchanged within cells and organelles.
Read the entire page →
From page 41...
... . When a given electron spin is the right distance from the magnetic cantilever tip and therefore exposed to the right steady magnetic field, a resonance occurs, causing the electron spin to flip direction and generating a small change in force that can be monitored by interferometric observation of the cantilever oscillations.
Read the entire page →
From page 42...
... Proteins produced by the cell bind to these nanosen in science are sors and change their mechanical or electrical properties, which can then be measured in the electrical domain by electronic transducers integrated within the chip. The overarch ing principle here is that it is now feasible to make devices so small and so sensitive that we launched by new can resolve individual binding events -- that is, resolve the individual biochemical bits of information exchanged by the cell.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • electron spin
  • coming era
  • information exchanged
  • mass spectrometry
  • nanomechanical resonator

  • biochemical processes
  • individual biochemical
  • single molecules
  • carbon nanotube
  • cell cycle

  • biochemical information
  • biological molecules
  • flow happens
  • nanomechanical device
  • tunable carbon

  • various diseases
  • require entirely
  • resonator operating
  • force microscopes
  • paul mceuen

  • biological materials
  • particular cells
  • drug screening
  • polymerase chain
  • cantilever oscillations

  • chain reaction
  • sensors absolutely
  • devices analogous
  • extra dimensions
  • biological sensors


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.