Penn State will receive $4.2 million over the next three years from the National Science Foundation to continue the work of the National Nanotechnology Applications and Career Knowledge Network (NACK Network), founded at the University with a four-year grant from the NSF in 2008. The NACK Network provides national coordination of workforce development programs and activities on behalf of NSF in an effort to meet industry needs for skilled micro- and nanofabrication workers. The market value of U.S. products incorporating nanotechnology will total $1 trillion by the year 2020, according to an NSF report, and nanotechnology's share of the gross domestic product (GDP) will be 5.0 percent. The nation in 2020 will require 2 million people in the primary workforce engaged in nanotechnology production.

Mark Kester, a pharmacologist at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, was working with a new drug that showed real promise as a cancer therapy but that could be dangerous if injected directly into the bloodstream. Jim Adair, a materials scientist in University Park, was creating nontoxic nanoparticles that could enclose drugs that might normally be toxic or hydrophobic and were small enough to be taken up by cells. The two combined their efforts and, licensing the resulting technology from Penn State, they joined with entrepreneur Jeff Davidson to form Keystone Nano.

A technique that uses acoustic waves to sort cells on a chip may create miniature medical analytic devices that could make Star Trek's tricorder seem a bit bulky in comparison, according to a team of researchers. The device uses two beams of acoustic -- or sound -- waves to act as acoustic tweezers and sort a continuous flow of cells on a dime-sized chip, said Tony Jun Huang, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State. By changing the frequency of the acoustic waves, researchers can easily alter the paths of the cells. Huang said that since the device can sort cells into five or more channels, it will allow more cell types to be analyzed simultaneously, which paves the way for smaller, more efficient and less expensive analytic devices.

Three Penn State scientists have received national honors for their pioneering research, begun more than 40 years ago, that led to the development of implant materials widely used today in human bone and joint repairs. Della Roy, Eugene W. White and the late Jon N. Weber are among eight researchers nationwide who have been recognized with the newly created Golden Goose award, sponsored by American Association of Universities and other educational and scientific organizations.

"Penn State conducts more than $800 million in annual research, providing thousands of jobs across the Commonwealth," said Henry C. "Hank" Foley, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school. "Seeing this recognition for the positive impact on countless lives that a handful of those faculty have had over decades is exciting. This kind of impact is occurring every day through the work of our world-class faculty and researchers."

A free mobile app developed by Penn State researchers can help dairy farmers plow through financial planning by helping them track feed costs and income. The DairyCents app, currently available on the Apple iPhone, helps farmers estimate income over feed cost per cow, a number that tells farmers how much money is left over to pay other expenses minus the feed costs, according to Virginia Ishler, nutrient management specialist and dairy complex manager in animal science. Another function compares feed prices in several locations across the country.

The first integrated understanding of how the human genome functions will be published this week -- the triumphant result of a collaborative five-year project called ENCODE, involving more than 440 researchers working in 32 labs worldwide. Penn State's contribution to the ENCODE project involves using the new ENCODE data to help explain how genetic variants that do not affect the structure of encoded proteins could affect a person's susceptibility to disease. The research findings are a significant advance in understanding the precise and complex controls over the expression of genetic information within a cell.

An illustration and more information are online at
http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2012-news/Hardison9-2012.