News

About the author: Jeremy Espano, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Materials Science under the supervision of Prof. Janet Macdonald in the Department of Chemistry. In their recent work published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Macdonald lab used a library of thioureas to study the effect of… Read More

On Tuesday, April 23, VINSE welcomed nine students from Clay County High School to our Forensics Lab. Their job was to find proof of “murderer” using the various tools in the lab before the end of the day! Our NanoGuides provided an introduction to the optical properties of natural and… Read More

“Non-Viral In Vivo Delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 using Protein-Agnostic, High-Loading Porous Silicon and Polymer Nanoparticles” published in ACS Nano, selected as VINSE Spotlight Publication. This research, led by Biomedical Engineering Prof. Craig Duvall and his 2023 PhD graduate Brock Fletcher, was recently published in ACS Nano. This interdisciplinary project involved… Read More

It seems like nothing eye-catching at the “crime scene”, but what are the hidden clues that you should not miss out? On Thursday, April 11, VINSE welcomed 16 students from White House Heritage High School to our Forensics Lab. During the forensics lab program, the students solved a whodunnit-themed activity using several types… Read More

How does a solar cell work and how can you make one? On Wednesday, April 3, VINSE welcomed 13 students from White County High School to our Cleanroom Solar Cell Lab. They went inside the VINSE cleanroom, home of the cleanest air in middle Tennessee, and found out with… Read More

Imagine you are a detective investigating on a murder scene, where do you start? On Thursday, March 28, VINSE welcomed 16 students from Springfield High School to our Forensics Lab. During the forensics lab program, the students solved a whodunnit-themed activity using several types of spectroscopies including Raman, FTIR,… Read More

How differences in designs can alter the behavior of the fluid? On Wednesday March 27, VINSE welcomed 8 students from Waverly High School to our Cleanroom Microfluidics Lab. They went inside the VINSE cleanroom, home of the cleanest air in middle Tennessee, and found out with hands-on activities! The… Read More

Lauren Buchanan, assistant professor of chemistry, has received a prestigious NSF CAREER Award. Her CAREER project, “Understanding Nanoparticle-induced Changes to Protein Structure,” will address a critical gap in our understanding of protein-nanoparticle interactions: the detailed surface-induced changes to protein structure and dynamics that that potentially impact protein function. The five-year,… Read More

Learn more about Dr. Xiaoguang Dong and his group. The Dong group develops novel stimuli-responsive mechanisms, microdevices, and microrobots for minimally invasive medical operations. Watch on YouTube | Hear more from Xiaoguang Dong Dong Lab… Read More

VINSE NanoGuides program is a new initiative launched in Fall 2023. This program formalizes the group of student volunteers who lead many of VINSE’s STEM outreach activities and now receive formal recognition for their passion for science outreach. Congratulations to Chris Whittington and Courtney Ragle for earning their VINSE backpack… Read More