Emerging Turkish nanotech reverses brain drain
Nanotechnology has entered the development plans and research priorities of many countries in the last five years. The prospective fields of application vary from cancer treatment to intelligent textile products.
Advances in the Turkish nanotechnology industry have drawn a number of young scientists who studied in Turkey and are doing research abroad, mainly in the United States, back to the country. The foundations of the Turkish National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) have been laid in Ankara under the auspices of Bilkent University by the Turkish State Planning Organization with a budget of $21 million.
Construction of the six-storey building started in November and was scheduled to be completed in January 2007. The Turkish State Planning Organization granted nearly $8 million to the project and Bilkent University contributed nearly $3 million.
Financial support by Turgut Özal
The initial staff consists of 25 scientists and 40 assistant students, including those who came from universities abroad. The staff, chaired by Prof. Salim Çıracı, has been formed within the last six months. Çıracı said that they proposed the idea of a hub research center rather than a separate one at each university, and each city and set their investment goal at over $100 million per year.
In order to attract public attention, the nanotechnology team presented the world's smallest Turkish flag to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Masters of Science program in Materials Science and Nanotechnology at Bilkent University, which was approved by the Council of Higher Education (YOK) in July 2006, began to accept students at the masters and doctorate level -- many of these students had already been accepted by universities abroad. Just as with university models in the United States, the students are going to be able to conduct scientific research and also establish companies around UNAM.
The nanotechnology adventure of Turkey dates back to the era of the late Turkish President Turgut Özal, who died in 1993. After a NATO meeting in 1986, Professor Çıracı explained to Özal that the world was moving toward advanced technology. Afterwards the Advanced Researches Laboratory (IAL) was established at Bilkent University with support of the Industry Undersecretariat of the Turkish National Defense Ministry. The state contribution to the project was $3.5 million and Bilkent contributed $1.5 million. Currently a number of studies including sensitive missile detectors for planes, atomic powered microscopes, nanotechnology experiments and energy projects are being conducted at the laboratory.
UNAM is conducting joint research with the State Planning Organization, the Ministry of Health and a number of other public and private establishments. In addition to the 25 scientists available, UNAM is also in close contact with 25 more nanotechnology scientists abroad, mainly from the United States. Among those in the research groups are Professor Ali Erdemir from the Argonna National Laboratory, who ushered in a new era in frictionless surfaces, Professor Dr. Ilhan Aksay, known for his work with nano materials; Dr. Refik Kortan, who specialized in organic solar batteries; and Dr. Taner Yildirim, who worked with hydrogen storage, from Princeton University.
Besides those who are participating from abroad, there is also a group of young scientists who have returned to Turkey to fan the flames of nanotechnology. Asst. Prof. Erman Bengü, Asst. Prof. Mehmet Bayındır, Prof. İhsan Gürsel, Asst. Prof. Ömer İlday, Dr. Aykutlu Dana and Asst. Prof. Tuğrul Şenger studied in Turkey and conducted successful research in the United States, but in a move of reverse brain drain decided to come back to Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Mehmet Bayındır is one of those who left the laboratories and scientific opportunities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and joined UNAM. He paved the way for developments that might lead to a revolution in the U.S. Army's clothes, camouflage and supplies within the next 20 years as a result of his successful studies on fabrics that are sensitive to heat and light. He holds the patents on his inventions that might revolutionize the U.S. Military Nanotechnology Institute and its market of $1 billion. Bayindir said that when he returned to Turkey he was surprised with the huge amount of resources assigned to research. He also believes that many more young scientists will come back with the new research centers to be established.
Studies are under way at UNAM in a number of fields including:
* frictionless surfaces
* atomic-level manipulation and imaging microscopes
* new materials for nanostructures
* nanophotonics, nanoelectronics and spintronic devices
* fiber lasers
* atomic-level surface modification
* fiber-based intelligent sensors
* lasers and novel fibers for medical applications
* nanobiotechnology
* nanotubes
* nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS)
* fuel cells: hydrogen storage
* nanolithoography
* nanotechnology-based textiles
* nanomagnetic sensors
* nanowires and quantum conductivity
* Ab initio modeling in the nanoscale
* Macroscopic correspondence in low-dimensional systems.
Fiber technology for cancer cells
Much of the research conducted by Mehmet Bayindir has made the cover of international scientific journals. Cauterizing cancer cells with intelligent fibers that can carry high energy has been a revolutionary development in the field. The cancerous cells in a patient's lung due to smoking were destroyed at Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard without surgery in a procedure conducted via cameras. Thin laser fibers, invented by a group in which Bayindir was involved, were used to burn the tumors. This method avoided an increase in cancer cells or the duplication of tumors. Bayindir and his team want to improve and produce those fibers in Turkey.
The team is currently working on a fiber-sensor project consisting of infrared lights and next-generation fabrics that are sensitive to heat and light and that can turn sunlight into energy. This project will be implemented in producing intelligent military uniforms.
Asst. Prof. F. Ömer İlday marked a scientific breakthrough with his invention of the "similariton laser" at Cornell University laboratories. Ilday managed to produce strong successive light pulses in femtoseconds (one billionth of a millionth of a second) at a distance of nanoseconds (one billionth of a second) from each other. He has already applied for the patent for this fiber laser, which allows the cutting and processing of any type of material -- from steel, glass and ceramic to living tissues - on the nanometric scale with precision and without damage. This technology is used in optic surgery as well as major military and economic applications. It is forecasted that cell and tissue loss will be brought to a minimum in surgical operations and cells will be operated on one by one.
Pain-free ear and tooth treatment
The U.S. company Clark-MXR started producing the laser named "Magellan" one year after its invention. In a separate project, Ilday is working to adapt femtosecond lasers to medical applications. This is aimed at removing tumors that are micrometers long in surgery as well as pain-free dental procedures, including fillings. Nanosurgery on living cells and risk-free operations on sensitive inner organs might also be possible. And maybe one day, we will be able to mount nanochips and cameras in our teeth!
Another major project of UNAM is hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is the lightest atom in the world and does not pollute the environment when it is burnt. However, the biggest problem with it is that it cannot be stored in sufficiently small areas. Either high pressure or nanotechnology is required.
Prof. Salim Çıracı and Dr. Taner Yıldırım from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and PhD student Engin Durgun increased hydrogen storage capacity to 22 percent from six percent, which was considered a success by the NIST. Nano-fuel cells are going to be used in automobiles when feasible and cost-effective for production and operation.
Güvenen: This possibility is a hope for Turkey
Hundreds of thousands of heart patients carry coronary stents (wire or perforated tube) that unclog their heart vessels. However, the stents become unusable over time. This problem was resolved by a group at MIT three years ago. They worked on materials that keep the sticky substances carried in the blood successfully away from the stents, in addition to coming up with a new method so that the stents would never have to be removed or replaced due to corrosion. In 2004, the company manufacturing stents earned $3 billion from sales, and in 2007 sales of over $10 billion are expected. The older, riskier model of stents sold for $1,500-2,000 while the newer ones are available for $10,000.
Prof. Orhan Güvenen, state planning organization advisor and instructor at Paris and Bilkent University, is working on the possible economic and political gains of nanotechnology to Turkey. He believes that nanotechnology is going to pave the way for a revolution in materials, information and communication technologies, medicine, genetics and so on. He predicts that it will bring huge economic power to the countries that are working on it, and notes that Turkey is going to be among the top eight countries.
Prof. Güvenen, who is the first Turk assigned to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, said: "The U.S. is due to update 80 percent of its army via nanotechnology within the next 10 years. This is economically and physically an enormous task. The Turkish textile industry is in trouble. It should lean toward heat and light-sensitive intelligent products."
Turkish paint manufacturers DYO and Yasar Boya are using nanotechnology to increase their profits. This technology introduced fire-proof, energy-saving and automatic cleaning properties into their paint. DYO's R&D department is also conducting projects with the Turkish Scientific & Technological Research Institute (TÜBİTAK).
Asst. Prof. Yüksel İkiz of Pamukkale University managed to produce nanofibres by using the electro-spinning method and points to nanotechnology as the salvation of the textile industry.
Zorlu Holding Textile Group provides industrial support for the nanotechnology-based textiles project. Meanwhile, Europe's techno-textile center KORTEKS in Bursa produces 50 percent of Turkey's total polymer production with 203,000 tons and also produces 55 percent of the total thread production. Patents have been obtained through working with nanotechnology at KORTEKS. Home textiles releasing fragrance via microcapsules that burst open have started to be produced; projects that combine academic and industrial efforts.
The future of nano-Turkey will be determined in 2008
Prof. Yıldırım Erbil of the Gebze Institute of Advanced Technology said that the future of nanotechnology in Turkey will be determined by the studies conducted between 2005 and 2008. He said that the institute is currently conducting six projects with TUBITAK, the United States and the European Union. The study of frictionless surfaces (nanotribology) is also a priority at UNAM as well.
Economic loss due to friction and corrosion accounts for 4 percent of the national income, costing Turkey over $11 billion in 2004 alone. Boron-based materials are due to be used because Turkey has the only known reserves of boron in the world.
15.02.2007
FATİH UĞUR ANKARA, Daily Zaman, LINK...
Nanotechnology has entered the development plans and research priorities of many countries in the last five years. The prospective fields of application vary from cancer treatment to intelligent textile products.
Advances in the Turkish nanotechnology industry have drawn a number of young scientists who studied in Turkey and are doing research abroad, mainly in the United States, back to the country. The foundations of the Turkish National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) have been laid in Ankara under the auspices of Bilkent University by the Turkish State Planning Organization with a budget of $21 million.
Construction of the six-storey building started in November and was scheduled to be completed in January 2007. The Turkish State Planning Organization granted nearly $8 million to the project and Bilkent University contributed nearly $3 million.
Financial support by Turgut Özal
The initial staff consists of 25 scientists and 40 assistant students, including those who came from universities abroad. The staff, chaired by Prof. Salim Çıracı, has been formed within the last six months. Çıracı said that they proposed the idea of a hub research center rather than a separate one at each university, and each city and set their investment goal at over $100 million per year.
In order to attract public attention, the nanotechnology team presented the world's smallest Turkish flag to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Masters of Science program in Materials Science and Nanotechnology at Bilkent University, which was approved by the Council of Higher Education (YOK) in July 2006, began to accept students at the masters and doctorate level -- many of these students had already been accepted by universities abroad. Just as with university models in the United States, the students are going to be able to conduct scientific research and also establish companies around UNAM.
The nanotechnology adventure of Turkey dates back to the era of the late Turkish President Turgut Özal, who died in 1993. After a NATO meeting in 1986, Professor Çıracı explained to Özal that the world was moving toward advanced technology. Afterwards the Advanced Researches Laboratory (IAL) was established at Bilkent University with support of the Industry Undersecretariat of the Turkish National Defense Ministry. The state contribution to the project was $3.5 million and Bilkent contributed $1.5 million. Currently a number of studies including sensitive missile detectors for planes, atomic powered microscopes, nanotechnology experiments and energy projects are being conducted at the laboratory.
UNAM is conducting joint research with the State Planning Organization, the Ministry of Health and a number of other public and private establishments. In addition to the 25 scientists available, UNAM is also in close contact with 25 more nanotechnology scientists abroad, mainly from the United States. Among those in the research groups are Professor Ali Erdemir from the Argonna National Laboratory, who ushered in a new era in frictionless surfaces, Professor Dr. Ilhan Aksay, known for his work with nano materials; Dr. Refik Kortan, who specialized in organic solar batteries; and Dr. Taner Yildirim, who worked with hydrogen storage, from Princeton University.
Besides those who are participating from abroad, there is also a group of young scientists who have returned to Turkey to fan the flames of nanotechnology. Asst. Prof. Erman Bengü, Asst. Prof. Mehmet Bayındır, Prof. İhsan Gürsel, Asst. Prof. Ömer İlday, Dr. Aykutlu Dana and Asst. Prof. Tuğrul Şenger studied in Turkey and conducted successful research in the United States, but in a move of reverse brain drain decided to come back to Turkey.
Asst. Prof. Mehmet Bayındır is one of those who left the laboratories and scientific opportunities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and joined UNAM. He paved the way for developments that might lead to a revolution in the U.S. Army's clothes, camouflage and supplies within the next 20 years as a result of his successful studies on fabrics that are sensitive to heat and light. He holds the patents on his inventions that might revolutionize the U.S. Military Nanotechnology Institute and its market of $1 billion. Bayindir said that when he returned to Turkey he was surprised with the huge amount of resources assigned to research. He also believes that many more young scientists will come back with the new research centers to be established.
Studies are under way at UNAM in a number of fields including:
* frictionless surfaces
* atomic-level manipulation and imaging microscopes
* new materials for nanostructures
* nanophotonics, nanoelectronics and spintronic devices
* fiber lasers
* atomic-level surface modification
* fiber-based intelligent sensors
* lasers and novel fibers for medical applications
* nanobiotechnology
* nanotubes
* nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS)
* fuel cells: hydrogen storage
* nanolithoography
* nanotechnology-based textiles
* nanomagnetic sensors
* nanowires and quantum conductivity
* Ab initio modeling in the nanoscale
* Macroscopic correspondence in low-dimensional systems.
Fiber technology for cancer cells
Much of the research conducted by Mehmet Bayindir has made the cover of international scientific journals. Cauterizing cancer cells with intelligent fibers that can carry high energy has been a revolutionary development in the field. The cancerous cells in a patient's lung due to smoking were destroyed at Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard without surgery in a procedure conducted via cameras. Thin laser fibers, invented by a group in which Bayindir was involved, were used to burn the tumors. This method avoided an increase in cancer cells or the duplication of tumors. Bayindir and his team want to improve and produce those fibers in Turkey.
The team is currently working on a fiber-sensor project consisting of infrared lights and next-generation fabrics that are sensitive to heat and light and that can turn sunlight into energy. This project will be implemented in producing intelligent military uniforms.
Asst. Prof. F. Ömer İlday marked a scientific breakthrough with his invention of the "similariton laser" at Cornell University laboratories. Ilday managed to produce strong successive light pulses in femtoseconds (one billionth of a millionth of a second) at a distance of nanoseconds (one billionth of a second) from each other. He has already applied for the patent for this fiber laser, which allows the cutting and processing of any type of material -- from steel, glass and ceramic to living tissues - on the nanometric scale with precision and without damage. This technology is used in optic surgery as well as major military and economic applications. It is forecasted that cell and tissue loss will be brought to a minimum in surgical operations and cells will be operated on one by one.
Pain-free ear and tooth treatment
The U.S. company Clark-MXR started producing the laser named "Magellan" one year after its invention. In a separate project, Ilday is working to adapt femtosecond lasers to medical applications. This is aimed at removing tumors that are micrometers long in surgery as well as pain-free dental procedures, including fillings. Nanosurgery on living cells and risk-free operations on sensitive inner organs might also be possible. And maybe one day, we will be able to mount nanochips and cameras in our teeth!
Another major project of UNAM is hydrogen storage. Hydrogen is the lightest atom in the world and does not pollute the environment when it is burnt. However, the biggest problem with it is that it cannot be stored in sufficiently small areas. Either high pressure or nanotechnology is required.
Prof. Salim Çıracı and Dr. Taner Yıldırım from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and PhD student Engin Durgun increased hydrogen storage capacity to 22 percent from six percent, which was considered a success by the NIST. Nano-fuel cells are going to be used in automobiles when feasible and cost-effective for production and operation.
Güvenen: This possibility is a hope for Turkey
Hundreds of thousands of heart patients carry coronary stents (wire or perforated tube) that unclog their heart vessels. However, the stents become unusable over time. This problem was resolved by a group at MIT three years ago. They worked on materials that keep the sticky substances carried in the blood successfully away from the stents, in addition to coming up with a new method so that the stents would never have to be removed or replaced due to corrosion. In 2004, the company manufacturing stents earned $3 billion from sales, and in 2007 sales of over $10 billion are expected. The older, riskier model of stents sold for $1,500-2,000 while the newer ones are available for $10,000.
Prof. Orhan Güvenen, state planning organization advisor and instructor at Paris and Bilkent University, is working on the possible economic and political gains of nanotechnology to Turkey. He believes that nanotechnology is going to pave the way for a revolution in materials, information and communication technologies, medicine, genetics and so on. He predicts that it will bring huge economic power to the countries that are working on it, and notes that Turkey is going to be among the top eight countries.
Prof. Güvenen, who is the first Turk assigned to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, said: "The U.S. is due to update 80 percent of its army via nanotechnology within the next 10 years. This is economically and physically an enormous task. The Turkish textile industry is in trouble. It should lean toward heat and light-sensitive intelligent products."
Turkish paint manufacturers DYO and Yasar Boya are using nanotechnology to increase their profits. This technology introduced fire-proof, energy-saving and automatic cleaning properties into their paint. DYO's R&D department is also conducting projects with the Turkish Scientific & Technological Research Institute (TÜBİTAK).
Asst. Prof. Yüksel İkiz of Pamukkale University managed to produce nanofibres by using the electro-spinning method and points to nanotechnology as the salvation of the textile industry.
Zorlu Holding Textile Group provides industrial support for the nanotechnology-based textiles project. Meanwhile, Europe's techno-textile center KORTEKS in Bursa produces 50 percent of Turkey's total polymer production with 203,000 tons and also produces 55 percent of the total thread production. Patents have been obtained through working with nanotechnology at KORTEKS. Home textiles releasing fragrance via microcapsules that burst open have started to be produced; projects that combine academic and industrial efforts.
The future of nano-Turkey will be determined in 2008
Prof. Yıldırım Erbil of the Gebze Institute of Advanced Technology said that the future of nanotechnology in Turkey will be determined by the studies conducted between 2005 and 2008. He said that the institute is currently conducting six projects with TUBITAK, the United States and the European Union. The study of frictionless surfaces (nanotribology) is also a priority at UNAM as well.
Economic loss due to friction and corrosion accounts for 4 percent of the national income, costing Turkey over $11 billion in 2004 alone. Boron-based materials are due to be used because Turkey has the only known reserves of boron in the world.
15.02.2007
FATİH UĞUR ANKARA, Daily Zaman, LINK...
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