Not all fun and games at Nanocollege

  Dr. Nathaniel Cady has always approached biology in increasingly tiny ways.  He has shot past the “macro,” skated past the “micro,” and now finds himself staring into the “nano.”
   This is the frontier of scientific development that the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany has made accessible.
   To put it into perspective, a single strand of human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide.        Everyday, the university works with elemental particles that are smaller than one nanometer.
   “The way science has been done for years is that you look at things as a big fabric, you ask how a chemical reaction works—you’re looking at an average of billions of molecules doing it,” says Dr. Cady, “but that doesn’t give the whole story. [In nanoscience] you can set up a mini experiment that lets you see what’s happening to individual atoms, how they interact, how they overlap.”
   Research in nanoscience centers first on discovering the properties of nano-particles, then on exploring possible applications of these particles in the development and exploration of numerous scientific fields. Any element on the periodic table can be explored on the nanoscale.
   “Gold in a large amount is pretty inert. If you take that same gold material and make it small, you extract a nanoparticle; it now becomes a catalyst; it becomes a reactor,” Dr. Cady explains.
   “Something that looks inert and boring at the macro scale looks completely different at the nanoscale.”
   Dr. Cady has been with the university for three years, joining the staff shortly after the first building opened.  He holds a PhD in Microbiology from Cornell University. His official title is Assistant Professor of Nanobioscience, a concentration described by the UAlbany as “the application of nanoscale scientific concepts and principles to the study of biological and biomedical structures and systems.”
   In his research, Dr. Cady likens himself to a small business owner. The son of a commercial maple syrup farmer in a small town outside of Burlington, Vermont, perhaps this is not too far of a stretch.
   “As I started out here, I had a couple of projects that I had started working on in grad school, I did it in my own corner of the laboratory. As I got better at it and got more funding to do work, I could expand out.”
   Dr. Cady leads a constantly growing research group composed of Graduate students pursuing degrees within the fields of Nanoscale Science and Engineering as well as undergraduate students studying “across the street.”
   “I started off with one student. We had a little project. As I began identifying other projects and gaining support, I slowly built up a group,” says Dr. Cady,
   “It’s like building up a little army.
   “You’re always on the hunt for more support, more research, publishing what you do, documenting what you do, it’s very much like running a business.  You advertise it by publishing papers saying ‘this is some of the great stuff that we’re doing!’”
   Mary Graham is a welcome surprise in Dr. Cady’s laboratory.  Hailing from a small mountain town in Dutchess County and graduating from UAlbany with a degree in Math, Graham found herself unexpectedly emerged in the potential of nanotechnology.
   “I discovered so many things going on here and right away I knew I wanted to be here. I pulled together an application; usually it takes people a few months to pull together an application. I pulled it together faster than a bat out of hell.”
   Graham is currently working towards a doctorate degree in Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Wearing a dark blue blouse and jeans, silver slip on shoes, stylishly large silver earrings, a silver necklace and heavy blue eye-shadow, Graham is not a typical white coat scientist.
   In her current research, Graham develops biomimetics—a study that analyzes naturally occurring instances in biology on the nanoscale and attempts to recreate these phenomena for human use—why a shark’s skin repels water viruses, why a gecko’s feet are sticky.
   The college is one of the first academic research institutes in the country to integrate on-site corporate partners on such a large scale.
   Dr. Cady explains that most scientists work with corporate sponsors in mutually beneficial relationship, extending scientific knowledge that simultaneously can be commercialized. “That’s the cool part of having companies on site, unlike other universities.  They talk to me at lunch and say ‘hey, we have an idea’”
   Perhaps the defining element of this emerging field and school is that it is impossible to exactly define. The sciences overlap in a general theme and then shoot out in their own directions—as complex as the buildings themselves.
   “We’re all human,” Dr. Cady reflects, “something in my life led me to be interested in biology. When I look around, certain things peak my interest. I identify things I want to explore and I consider how I can use nanotechnology to explore them. Everybody comes from their own framework. It’s a human-driven thing. Yes, we have money and things to drive this forward, but nobodies telling me I have to do this project or that project.”
   The College of Nanoscale science and Engineering stays illuminated late into the night, long after the corporate bustle of the day has dissipated.
   “There’s always someone here,” says Graham, “students work six days a week, Monday through Friday. Saturday we have meetings. It’s easier to do the work at night.”
   For Dr. Cady, work begins every day before 8 a.m. He doesn’t leave the building until well after 5 p.m. After which, he spends time with his wife and 16-month-old son. Then it’s back to more work.
   A victory for Dr. Cady can range from earning a $500,000 grant to a student in his lab group’s experiment unexpectedly working.
   “Research works about ten percent of the time,” Dr. Cady said, “it becomes a practice. It’s easy for most scientists to get excited about the little things.”