Nanoscape: Exploring the Frontiers Ahead

What can the powerful punch of a mantis shrimp teach us about engineering stronger, more resilient materials? In this episode of Nanoscape, Northwestern University professor Horacio Espinosa reveals how nature's design secrets drive groundbreaking innovations in nanotechnology. Discover how nanoscale engineering and AI are shaping impact-resistant materials, advanced medical devices, and the future of personalized medicine.

Guest: Horacio D. Espinosa, PhD – Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University Hosts: Seth Zimmerman (IIN) & Erin Spain, MS

What can an anthropologist teach us about designing better nanotechnology? Northwestern University Anthropology professor Sera Young has dedicated her career to understanding how people experience water insecurity, looking beyond whether water is available to questions of access, safety, reliability and trust. In this episode, Young talks about her research that is helping shape rapid, at-home water diagnostics that can detect contaminants like lead, showing why the human experience is essential to designing technology that works in the real world.

Guest: Sera Young, PhD, Professor of Anthropology & Global Health, Northwestern University, Member of IIN

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

How do you design a medicine that can find the right cells in the body, navigating the body's natural defenses like the blood-brain barrier? Biomedical engineer Emily Day explains how nanotechnology is making drug delivery more precise by helping therapies navigate the body's natural barriers, target disease with greater accuracy, and reduce side effects. She also explores how bio-inspired nanoparticles, AI, and advances in diagnostics could shape the next generation of medicine.

Guest: Emily Day, PhD, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Delaware

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

What does the soft side of nanotechnology look like? Todd Emrick, professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, explains how polymers are transforming everything from medical devices and electronics to next-generation sustainable materials, and why some of nanotechnology's biggest breakthroughs happen at the interface between soft and hard materials.

Guest: Todd Emrick, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, associate director of marketing and communications, IIN, and Erin Spain, MS, podcaster and science communicator

Electrons move so quickly that, until recently, their motion was impossible to observe. In this episode, James Gaynor, an assistant professor of chemistry at Northwestern University and member of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, takes listeners inside the race to watch electrons move in real time. Using ultrafast laser tools that capture events lasting mere attoseconds, Gaynor's lab is uncovering the earliest moments of how light interacts with matter. He explains how this fundamental research could one day help scientists design faster electronics, more efficient energy technologies, and advanced bioelectronic devices by understanding chemistry at its beginning.

Guest: James D. Gaynor, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

In honor of Star Wars Day, this episode explores futuristic light technologies seen in science fiction—like invisibility cloaks or powerful directed energy— and how far away we are from such innovations. In this episode, Matt Jones, a chemist at Rice University and Northwestern alum, explains how scientists are learning to control light by engineering materials at the nanoscale and why when materials are reduced to billionths of a meter, they begin to exhibit entirely new optical properties—from color-changing nanoparticles to structures that interact with light in unexpected ways. The conversation explores the emerging field of metamaterials and how curiosity-driven, fundamental science lays the groundwork for innovations that may shape the future.

The future of robotics isn't just smarter software, but smarter materials. In this episode, Northwestern University's Ryan Truby explains how his lab is designing soft, bio-inspired robots powered by artificial muscles and nanoscale engineering. From safer human-robot interaction to real-world applications like disaster response and health care, he shares how rethinking a robot's body could transform what machines can do.

Guest: Ryan Truby, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, June and Donald Brewer Junior Professor, Northwestern University

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

Understanding polymers at the nanoscale is helping scientists design stronger, more sustainable materials. In this episode, Cécile Chazot, the Julia Weertman Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University, describes her lab's mission which includes designing next-generation textiles from naturally derived polymers that maintain high performance while improving recyclability and environmental impact. She also explains how lessons from nature and advances in nanoscience could reshape how we design, manufacture, and dispose of the materials that make up everyday products.

Guest: Cécile Chazot, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Julia Weertman Professor in Materials Science and Engineering

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

In this episode, Julius Lucks, takes us into the nanoscale multiverse of RNA and explains how tiny, dynamic molecules are being engineered into tools to tackle global challenges in human health, water quality, and the environment. He also explains how he keeps real-world needs at the center of his breakthrough research.

Sometimes nanotechnology sounds like science-fiction before it becomes science-fact. In this episode, Julia Kalow, a Northwestern University chemist, who is also trained in creative writing, helps us explore the overlap between fiction and fact in nanotechnology and the importance of creativity in scientific problem-solving.

Guest: Julia Kalow, Dow Chemical Company Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

What if the next industrial revolution is happening molecule-by-molecule? In this episode we explore this idea with Robert Macfarlane, PhD, a Northwestern alumni and MIT materials scientist who is pioneering programmable materials that self-assemble and respond to their environment. Macfarlane explains how his work moves beyond DNA-based assembly to create scalable nanomaterials with real-world potential—from flexible electronics and biomedical devices to photonic materials that manipulate light.

Guest: Robert J. Macfarlane, Richard P. Simmons (1953) Professor in Metallurgy, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

Dr. Ludmilla Aristilde is an expert in environmental chemistry, environmental biochemistry, and bioengineering, but at the heart of it all is nanoscience. In this episode of Nanoscape Atistilde talks about her research, which includes discoveries in microplastics and nanoplastics and why nanoscience plays a key role in her research group's activities which aims to gain a fundamental understanding of the "why" and "how" of the environmental behavior of organics, with implications for nutrient cycling, ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, and environmental biotechnology.

Guest: Ludmilla Aristilde, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicat

Professor Nicholas Peppas has spent five decades defining the field of medical nanotechnology and shaping the very foundations of modern drug delivery. He has been awarded the 2025 Kabiller Prize in nanoscience and nanomedicine by The International Institute for Nanotechnology. The $250,000 award — the world's largest monetary award in the field — recognizes his pioneering research, which has transformed how some of the world's most difficult diseases are treated. In this episode, Peppas talks about his influential career spanning over five decades and his journey from early polymer research to groundbreaking innovations like oral insulin delivery and his predictions for the future of nanomedicine.

Ted Sargent is a global leader in nanoscience and materials engineering, and his research at Northwestern University is advancing the field of solar energy harvesting by lowering its cost and increasing its efficiency by using nanoscale materials. His work also includes decarbonization in the chemical and fuel sectors alongside creating next-generation materials for consumer electronics. Sargent is the Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Executive Director, Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy

Guest: Ted Sargent Lynn Hopton Davis and Greg Davis Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Executive Director, Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy

Hosts: Seth Zimmerman, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, IIN and Erin Spain, MS, Podcaster and Science Communicator

At the intersection of nanoscience and chemistry, Omar Farha, PhD, Chair of the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University, is opening up new frontiers in climate resilience, water harvesting, catalysis and more through metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—versatile structures he describes as smart programmable sponges. In this episode he talks about taking on the role of chair, the legacy of those who came before him at Northwestern and discusses how the IIN is uniquely positioned to continue leading the field of nanotechnology.

Everyday items like tea bags and sponges are being reimagined in the lab of Northwestern University's Vinayak Dravid, who is using nanotechnology to tackle some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges. In this episode he explains how his team is using nanotechnology to remove toxic metals in water with brewed tea leaves and soaking up oil spills using a special sponge he invented, and many more ways he is leveraging nature's chemistry and nanotechnology to help solve global problems.

Once a postdoctoral fellow with Chad Mirkin here at Northwestern University, Jarad Mason now leads his own research group within the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University where his research includes investigating the potential of nanoparticle-loaded water to extend organ viability for transplantation. In this episode he discusses the balance between academia and industry in pushing scientific boundaries, as well as the future directions of his research in energy, sustainability, and biomedical applications.

In this episode, Northwestern University chemist Roel Templaar, PhD, gives a glimpse into the intricacies of quantum mechanics and its applications in nanotechnology. He explains how his work challenges classical theories, particularly in the field of chiral light-matter interactions.

In this episode, Northwestern Medicine neuro-oncologist, Priya Kumthekar, MD, discusses her pioneering work in nanomedicine on an early clinical trial in individuals with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma. The study showed an experimental spherical nucleic acid drug, developed by Northwestern University scientists, was able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and trigger the death of tumor cells. This was the first time a nanotherapeutic has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier. The study set a precedent at Northwestern University and has opened the door for similar studies and innovations to take place here.

Moving the chemical and energy industries away from fossil fuel consumption is going to require effective and sustainable energy solutions. Northwestern University's Dayne Swearer says nanotechnology is positioned to help make such solutions a reality. An assistant professor of Chemistry and a member of the IIN, Swearer's lab is actively engaged in pioneering efforts in plasmonic nanoparticles and groundbreaking applications in renewable energy. In this episode, he talks about projects underway in his lab and how climate change issues help motivate him to make a contribution to science that will help make the world a better place for tomorrow.