Jonathan Midgley, Development Editor – Molecular Systems Design & Engineering Blog

Author Archive

Applied Nanotechnology and Nanoscience International Conference – ANNIC 2016

16 Aug 2016

The Applied Nanotechnology and Nanoscience International Conference is an annual event that hosts high-profile plenary speakers, world class researchers, oral and poster presentations, workshops, sponsor exhibits and afterworks. It is a great opportunity to share your research findings with wide audience, promote knowledge exchange, and network. Macro topics cover:

Nanoelectronics
Nanophotonics & Nano-optics
Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology for Energy and Environment
Nanobiotechnology, Nanomedicine & Nanosafety
Nanocharacterization & Nanomanufacturing

Submit your abstract before August 26, 2016

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Zing Functional Energy Materials Conference

02 Aug 2016

Zing Functional Energy Materials Conference

28 Sept – 1 Oct 2016

Hotel Croatia Cavtat
Cavtat, Dubrovnik, Croatia

This conference will consider advances in research on materials for energy harvesting and storage with a special emphasis on photosynthesis, organic and inorganic photovoltaics, batteries and fuel cells, thermoelectric materials, magneto-, mechano- and electrocaloric materials and catalysts.

A goal of this international conference is to bring together experts in advanced experimental and characterization techniques with theorists and specialists in numerical simulation. The plenary and invited speakers will be chosen to present the state of the art in energy materials with an appropriate balance between fundamental and applied sciences.

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44th Young Researchers Meeting in Polymers (Journées d’Etudes des Polymères)

25 Jul 2016

The JEPO meeting enables Young Researchers in polymer science to present and share their work with their peers (young and senior colleagues) in a privileged environment. The congress in open to any contribution related to polymer science, ranging from synthesis and physico-chemical properties to applications, and from industrial and academic background.

Invited speakers

Pr. Stefan A. F. Bon (Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick – UK): Supracolloidal Chemical Engineering: playing with gels & catalytic swimmers and shakers

Pr Neil R. Cameron FRSC (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University – Aust.): Sugar-decorated nano- and microstructures

Dr Adeline Jasselin (Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand – France): From vulcanization to new rubber networks

Dr Alba Marcellan (UPMC – ESPCI, Paris – France): From gel reinforcement to gel adhesion using polymer adsorption onto nanoparticles

Dr Guillaume Michaud (Bostik – Arkema, Venette – France): Functionalized polymers obtained by metathesis applied to adhesives and sealants

Dr Frédéric Prochazka (Laboratoire IMP – Université Jean Monnet – France): Polymer blends and biomaterials

Dr Michael Shaver (School of Chemistry – University of Edinburgh, UK): Catalyst driven advances in sustainable polymer synthesis

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European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Sciences (ESBES) 2016

20 Jul 2016

European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Sciences (ESBES) 2016

11-14 September 2016, Dublin, Ireland

ESBES 2016 is shaping up to be an exciting conference with a packed programme of

plenaries
invited keynotes
over 117 presentations in four parallel sessions
over 100 poster presentations
pre-conference workshop – QBD Related Modelling and Control Strategies
Raw Materials Forum
writing workshop
BEJ Young Investigator Award
Jobs Forum – companies can see their employees of the future and students will have the opportunity to share their CV and engage with future employers

Plenary speakers are:

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, chief executive officer, Steve Bagshaw, who pose the question of a global bioeconomy and what is our role?

Professor Massimo Morbidelli from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich will be highlighting efficiency gains and cost savings in the biopharmaceutical sector.

Professor Lisbeth Olsson, from the department of Biology and Biological Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, will examine current challenges and opportunities associated with designing new processes for a bio-based economy.

View the full programme and register now to secure your place

BEJ Young Investigator Award

The editors of the Biochemical Engineering Journal, in cooperation with the ESBES Society, are very pleased to announce the selection of Peter M Tessier as the recipient of the 2016 Award.

Sponsoring and exhibiting

Does your organisation want to exhibit? Join exhibitors:

to raise you profile, brand recognition as well as taking to future purchasing clients, email to sign-up.

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1st International Conference of Molecular Engineering of Polymers

18 Jul 2016

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Crawling chemical system acts as if it’s alive

09 Jun 2016

They crawl. They eat. They excrete. So you’d be forgiven for thinking these globules created by a team Japan were alive – but they’re not.

Discovering life-like motion in non-living systems fascinates Akihisa Shioi, from Doshisha University. He and his team are constantly combining new chemicals to investigate the idea.

They already knew that droplets of didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), a cheap surfactant, react with iodide ions, then scoot around and leave chemical traces, like miniature turbo-snails. Unlike snails though, these vesicles shrank, and collapsed after a few seconds. They needed feeding. Oleic acid and calcium ions proved the missing link.

Read the full story by Kathryn Gempf in Chemistry World.

This article is open access:

M Nakada et al, Mol. Syst. Des. Eng., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/C5ME00012B

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Issue 1 of Molecular Systems Design & Engineering

08 Jun 2016

Issue 1 of Molecular Systems Design & Engineering is now published online, read it here.

The front covers feature work by Darling et al. and Mansour et al. Take a look inside for articles on molecular engineering for carbon capture, gene delivery, organic photovoltaics and more!

All articles published in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering in 2016 and 2017 are free-to-access for all. Access is automatic through registered institutions, or individuals can fill in this simple online form to create a free publishing personal account and obtain access to Molecular Systems Design & Engineering and a host of other free content from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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Chemistry Means Business

16 May 2016

Date: 15 – 16 June 2016

Venue: Intercontinental London – The O2

Chemistry Means Business is our annual two-day event for industry, uniting SMEs, multinational organisations, investors, academic entrepreneurs and decision makers from across the UK and Europe.

View more details and full programme

Over two days:

1 Discover the best ways to commercialise new technologies, build a sound financial strategy and develop your business skills through more than 20 talks, workshops and panel discussions.

2 Find out what GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, P&G, Unilever, Croda and Mondelēz are looking for from SME and academic partnerships when they share their technology and supply chain needs on day 2.

3 Hear innovative small companies and university entrepreneurs’ present new technologies in health & wellbeing, energy & environment, food & water and materials sectors to expert panels as part of our Emerging Technologies Competition final – find out who wins in the evening.

4 Use structured networking sessions and one-to-one meetings to form new partnerships, discuss potential relationships and make connections to strengthen your business.

5 Discover new services, specifically created to support scientific companies and early stage businesses. Save time, improve efficiency, and find out what others are doing in four key industry sectors.

Tickets are available until 30 May, so there’s still time to secure your place.

#ChemMeansBusiness

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Design, System, Application

10 May 2016

The first articles that include the new Design, System, Application box have now been published online!

The common theme running through all articles in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering is a problem solving strategy or vision based on molecular-level design or optimisation (be it through theory, modelling or experiment) leading to desired systems-level functionality and performance. We hope that many articles will present methodologies that will guide and stimulate ideas across disciplines.

The Design, System, Application box gives authors the chance to explain their molecular design strategy in general terms so readers can be inspired by its ideas. This text should also set work in the context of a wider development story by emphasising the desired systems functionality and application potential. Please see the journal specific guidelines for more details.

Take a look at this example from the paper “Modeling and simulation of compositional engineering in SiGe films using patterned stress fields” by Daniel Kaiser, Swapnadip Ghosh, Sang M. Han and Talid Sinno.

In this work the authors model atomic diffusion under mechanical stress, which can be used to determine the process parameters needed to create structures in SiGe films exhibiting quantum confinement. The model enables optimisation to create specific structures for device applications. This is an important addition to the molecular engineer’s toolbox and the authors do a great job of explaining the concept and its potential in their Design, System, Application statement:

Design, System, Application

Semiconductor nanostructures exhibiting quantum confinement are at the heart of numerous existing optoelectronic technologies, such as lasers and detectors. They are also potentially a route for building future devices for quantum computing, cryptography and ultra-high density information storage. A key obstacle to realizing this potential is the ability to fabricate large numbers of such nanostructures on semiconductor substrates with a high degree of spatial and size uniformity. Here, we describe and deploy a predictive multiresolution model for describing atomic diffusion in the presence of mechanical stress in the silicon–germanium alloy system over large length and timescales. The model is used to investigate processing avenues for creating highly structured, nanoscale compositional profiles in silicon–germanium substrates consistent with the quantum confinement properties required for next-generation optoelectronic devices. Specifically, we study a process in which a patterned template of nanoindenters is pressed against the alloy substrate, thereby inducing structured stress fields that manipulate atomic diffusion to create desired compositional gradients. The model is used to probe the impact of select parameters in the high-dimensional process space, such as indenter shape, size, and spacing. Future process optimization will provide guidelines for creating compositional profiles targeting a wide range of device requirements.

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Update to article guidelines

15 Apr 2016

All Molecular Systems Design & Engineering articles must now include a separate paragraph (no more than 200 words) that:

explains the molecular design or optimisation strategy and its general utility
emphasizes the desired systems functionality and design constraints
highlights the immediate or future application potential of the work.

This paragraph is intended to be accessible to the broad interdisciplinary readership of the journal, and therefore should be written in a general manner to complement more detailed discussions of these aspects within the main text. It should not reproduce the abstract.

For more information please see the journal homepage, or if you have any questions get in touch by email.

When will I see a change?
This change has taken effect from now and is applicable for all submissions. The text will appear in a new ‘Design, System, Application’ box on the first page of all articles, excluding those currently published.

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Molecular Systems Design & Engineering Blog