Dear colleagues and friends of SNI, One year ago, we were experiencing our first lockdown. Back then, we could never have imagined that the Corona pandemic would continue to exert such a colossal influence on our lives in spring 2021. In fact, many things we would have found highly unusual just one year ago have […]

The prize for the best master’s thesis in nanosciences goes to two young female scientists   Every year, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute awards the prize for the best master’s thesis in nanoscience at the University of Basel submitted in the previous year. In 2021, two young female researchers will receive the award. Charlotte Kress and […]

For her master’s thesis, Charlotte Kress synthesized a complex organic compound with potential applications in molecular electronics. Bottom-up instead of top-down Molecular electronics uses individual organic molecules, for instance as tiny switching elements in a circuit. In this bottom-up approach, larger electronic components are built from scratch using individual molecules, in contrast to the conventional […]

In 2021, one of the awards for the two best master’s theses goes to Anna Leder for her paper on the characterization of a helper protein using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Anna wrote her thesis while working in the research group led by Professor Sebastian Hiller at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum. In order […]

This year, the SNI held a range of events celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. Some of the women in the SNI network produced short videos for the SNI in which they introduced themselves and discussed the topics they research. (Video) In honor of International Women’s Day, the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) launched […]

    The SNI’s Nano Argovia program will be celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. Every year since 2007, this SNI program has financed new projects devoted to investigating applications in nanotechnology. These applications are then realized as part of a collaborative effort with a partner company located in Northwestern Switzerland. At the beginning of […]

In the Nano Argovia project ACHROMATIX, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is developing a novel lens system that can be used for scientific investigations using X-rays. Dr. Joan Vila-Comamala of the Paul Scherrer Institute is leading the project in which scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University of Basel and the company XRnanotech are […]

In the Nano Argovia project HPDET-EM, electron microscopy experts from the University of Basel and the Paul Scherrer Institute, led by Professor Timm Maier (Biozentrum, University of Basel), are collaborating with the team of Dr. Sacha de Carlo from DECTRIS AG (Baden-Dättwil) to install and test a new hybrid pixel detector. The new device will […]

As part of the Nano Argovia project Hydrogel-Patch, an interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Lucy Kind (University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, FHNW) is working with the company credentis AG (Windisch) to develop a plaster for use on nonspecific ulcers in the oral mucosa. The plaster consists of a synthetic, self-assembling peptide hydrogel that initially […]

As part of the Nano Argovia project LanakPro, teams from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) are working with the industrial partner Orvinum AG (Magden) to achieve effective and reliable control of laser nanostructuring processes. The planned instrument will use acoustic signals that provide quick and reliable information on the progress […]