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July 2013 Issue

PublicationsHighlights Exploring an AncientMinerals MedicalPotential Better Recipe forHydrotalcite, aPromising Gene andDrug Delivery Vehicle MembershipHighlightsAVS 2013 MajorAward Winners

Symposium HighlightsAVS 60thInternationalSymposium &Exhibition Call for AVS 61 FocusTopic Proposals

Upcoming Events

21st InternationalSymposium on PlasmaChemistryAugust 4-9, 2013Cairns, AustraliaWebsite Texas ChapterConferenceAugust 7-8, 2013Dallas, Texas Website Prairie ChapterSymposium

Publications Highlights

Exploring an Ancient Mineral's Medical Potential

Article: Modeling biominerals formed by apatites and DNA,

Biointerphases 2013, 8:10

Of the nearly 5,000 known mineral species, only one has the distinction of being a

major part of us. That mineral is hydroxyapatite, the calcium-phosphate compound

that gives our bones and teeth their structure and strength. Besides being made of

cheap, abundant elements, hydroxyapatite, or HAp, can form complexes with

other biological molecules, including proteins and DNA. This ability has captured

the interest of scientists, who are investigating HAp-based biominerals both for

their medical applications and for their potential to help us understand how life on

Earth emerged.

Hydroxyapatite has been around since the planet's early days, predating the

evolution of life. DNA-HAp complexes are also ancient; paleontologists have

detected such biominerals in fossilized bones. But only in the past few decades

have scientists investigated HAp's medical potential. The mineral has been used as

a bone substitute or growth stimulant during bone grafts, and as a drug delivery

system targeting cancer cells. Scientists have also embedded DNA into HAp

nanoparticles as a means to introduce genetic material into a cell for gene therapy

- a process known as transfection. Although DNA-HAp complexes are not the most

efficient way to achieve transfection, they are among the safest and least likely to

provoke an immune response.

To further explore HAp's medical potential, a group of scientists from two Spanish

universities and a medical technology company has modeled different approaches

to creating such DNA-HAp biominerals. In one simulation, the scientists

investigated the requirements for placing a DNA molecule inside an HAp crystal.

They found that double-stranded DNA - the form found in our bodies and those of

every other creature on Earth - will readily settle inside an HAp crystal, provided

the crystal has pores with internal diagonals at least 20-30 ångströms (2-3

nanometers) wide. The researchers also found that the base pair sequence of the

DNA was irrelevant to its ability to be encapsulated, and that the DNA was not

damaged inside the crystal.

The team next investigated whether an HAp crystal could be grown around a DNA

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September 4, 2013Chicago, ILWebsite Rocky MountainChapter SymposiumSeptember 19, 2013Westminster, COWebsite IVS 2013 September 30, 2013Herzliya, Israel Website

PacSurf 2014December 7-11, 2014Kohala Coast, HIWebsite Event Calendar Announcements

Upcoming Board

Meetings

2013October 27, 2013 Long Beach, California 2014January 12, 2014Santa Fe, New Mexico April 27, 2014San Diego, California August 4, 2014 New York, NY

November 9, 2014Baltimore, Maryland

Corporate Members

Advanced EnergyIndustries Inc. Agilent Technologies AJA International, Inc. Alicat Scientific, Inc. Altair Technologies, Inc. BellowsTech, LLC Capitol Vacuum Parts CeramTec North America Denton Vacuum LLC

molecule. Using a technique that plots the location and interaction strength of each

individual atom in space, the researchers found that at standard temperature and

pressure, calcium and phosphate did start crystallizing out of solution, using DNA's

phosphate backbone as a template. The result was "not only a group of calcium

and phosphates in unorganized way, but a real crystal," says Carlos Alemán, a

professor of chemical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and

one of the team members. This process was also independent of the specific

sequence of DNA bases, and could provide a deeper understanding of

encapsulation processes as a way to create DNA-HAp complexes.

The team, which included researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia,

the University of Lleida and B. Braun Surgical S. A., published their results recently

in the journal Biointerphases. In the weeks since then, the scientists have

experimentally confirmed nearly all their theoretical predictions. They are now

working to develop novel therapies based on DNA-HAp complexes as part of a

wider research project that includes researchers at the Institute of Photonics

Sciences and the Institute of Catalan Health, all of which are located in the

Catalonia region of Spain.

Beyond medical applications, the paper authors believe their findings may have

implications for our understanding of the origins of life. While reviewing the

literature on HAp-DNA complexes, they unearthed research by a Russian scientist

named Eduard Kostetsky, who has noted in several papers that the period of

translation of HAp in one of its dimensions is 3.4 angstroms, almost exactly the

same as the distance between neighboring base pairs in DNA. Kostetsky has

proposed that HAp may have provided a template on which DNA could have

formed from inorganic components during primordial times. While the

Biointerphases paper does not provide proof for or against this hypothesis, the

authors note that their modeling results are "compatible" with relevant parts of

Kostetsky's theory. "The truth is that when we started the project, we never

imagined that someone would find something similar with such wide potential

interest," says Pau Turon, a researcher at B. Braun Surgical. "It is intriguing and

exciting."

A Better Recipe for Hydrotalcite, a Promising Gene and Drug Delivery

Vehicle

Article: Charge density and particle size effects on oligonucleotide and

plasmid DNA binding to nanosized hydrotalcite, Biointerphases 2013,

8:8

Five years ago, physical chemist Gary Beall and biochemist Kevin Lewis, both of

Texas State University in San Marcos, teamed up to explore how various

nanoparticles interact with DNA. In their time together, Beall, whose specialty is

nanoparticles, and Lewis, who studies DNA damage and repair, have come up with

some surprising results. In one collaboration, they discovered a systematic error

that had gone unnoticed for decades: the little plastic test tubes, used almost

universally in biochemistry for centrifuging, were leaching out chemicals that

absorbed ultraviolet light at the same frequencies at which DNA absorbs the light,

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Duniway StockroomCorp. Evans Analytical Group FMG Enterprises, Inc. Gamma Vacuum GNB Corporation Helium Leak Testing,Inc. Hiden Analytical, Inc.

Innovative VacuumSolutions, Inc.

INTELLIVATION LLC ION-TOF USA Inc. Kratos Analytical Kurt J. Lesker Company LAM Research Corp. MEWASA North America,Inc. MKS Instruments, Inc. Nordiko TechnicalServices Limited Omicron NanotechnologyUSA, LLC Oxford Instruments -Austin Scientific Pfeiffer VacuumTechnology Physical Electronics Plasmaterials, Inc. Plasma-Therm Precision Plus VacuumParts Process Materials, Inc. R.D. Mathis Company RBD Instruments, Inc. RF VII, Inc. RHK Technology Inc. SAES Getters USA, Inc. Semicore Equipment

and interfering with the signal for DNA. In that study, "we overturned a lot of

concepts in the literature that were just wrong," Beall said.

Recently the team turned its attention to the mineral hydrotalcite (HT), which has

found use as an antacid and, perhaps more dramatically, as a promising candidate

for a carrier that can deliver DNA to cells for gene therapy. HT is biocompatible,

meaning it is safe to use in the body. Its positive charge creates a sticky surface

ideal for catching negatively charged biomolecules such as DNA. And its crystalline

structure, which includes several thin, sheet-like layers of material, gives it a large

surface area, meaning there is ample space on which DNA can attach. The

mineral's many layers also could provide protection for biomolecules sitting

between the sheets, which would make HT useful for delivering drugs that need to

be released slowly. An HT structure full of medicine "would forestall the pH in the

stomach from eating up the drug" and allow it to be released later in the digestive

process, Beall said.

Researchers studying hydrotalcite as a potential DNA or drug carrier have the

option of using a commercially available HT, or of making their own HT at room

temperature in the lab. Beall and Lewis wanted to find out whether these typical

methods of preparation were indeed the best for creating hydrotalcite that could

be used for delivering biomolecules.

The Texas State University team first tested whether the temperature at which HT

crystals are grown affects their ability to attract DNA. The researchers grew HT

crystals at various temperatures ranging from 25 to 150 degrees Celsius and

found that the higher the temperature, the larger the crystals; and the larger the

crystals, the more surface area to which DNA can adhere. "Size matters," Lewis

said. Most commercially available versions of the mineral are made at lower

temperatures, yielding smaller sized particles and surface areas.

Next, the researchers looked at the effect of HT's charge density on its ability to

carry DNA. Commercially made HT has a high charge density, meaning it is

extremely sticky for negatively charged particles. But Lewis and Beall found that

more stickiness does not translate to better binding between HT and DNA. Instead,

there is a charge density "sweet spot," high enough to attract the DNA but not so

high that the DNA has to compete with charged particles such as chloride. "It turns

out there's an optimum, and most previous studies had not paid attention to that,"

Lewis said. Lewis, Beall, and their colleagues Brian Sanderson, Drew Sowersby,

Sergio Crosby and Marcus Goss present their results in a recent issue of the AVS

journal Biointerphases.

The team hopes that their results will change how HT is produced, so that it is

maximally effective for ferrying DNA and other biomolecules. In an upcoming

study, the researchers plan to turn their attention to another particle, called

halloysite, a naturally occurring nanotube with potential as a biomolecule carrier.

They say they want to see whether, under the right conditions, DNA will insert

itself into the tubes.

"There's some preliminary data from other studies suggesting that it will," Beall

said. "We'd like to explore that."

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Sequoia Brass andCopper SPECS Surface NanoAnalysis GmbH

Staib Instruments, Inc. Sumitomo (SHI)Cryogenics of America,Inc. Super ConductorMaterials, Inc. Ted Pella, Inc. Thermo Fisher Scientific Transfer Engineering andManufacturing, Inc. U-C Components Inc. Vacuum Engineering &Materials Co., Inc.

Vacuum Research Corp.

VAT Inc. VG Scienta, Inc.

Membership Highlights

AVS 2013 Major Award Winners The AVS Awards Ceremony will be held on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, at 6:15p.m. in a Ballroom within the Long Beach Convention Center to be followedimmediately by an Awards Reception. This year, AVS honors the followingawardees. Medard W. Welch Award Chris G. Van de Walle, University of California, Santa Barbara, "for seminalcontributions to the theory of heterojunctions and its application to semiconductortechnology, and for elucidating the role of hydrogen in electronic materials"

Albert Nerken AwardHoward A. Padmore, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "for sustainedcontributions to the design, development and application of novel synchrotron x-ray instrumentation used to study a range of scientific problems from biology tomaterials and solid state science "

John A. Thornton Memorial Award and LectureIvan Petrov, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "for seminalcontributions in determining the role of low-energy ion/surface interactions forcontrolling microstructure evolution during low-temperature growth of transition-metal nitride layers"

Peter Mark Memorial AwardDaniel Gunlycke, Naval Research Laboratory, "for significant contributions to theunderstanding of the electronic properties of low-dimensional graphenenanostructures"

George T. Hanyo AwardSteven R. Blankenship,NIST, "for outstanding contributions to the scanningtunneling microscopy user facilities and other laboratories at the Center forNanoscale Science and Technology at the National Institute of Standards andTechnology."

Chris G. Van de Walle

Howard A. Padmore

Ivan Petrov Daniel Gunlycke

Steven R. Blankenship

AVS FellowsAVS Fellows are members who have made outstanding contributions in areas ofinterest to AVS.

Morgan R. Alexander, The University of Nottingham

Jane P. Chang, UCLA

Mark H. Engelhard, Northwest National Laboratory

Tony F. Heinz, Columbia University

Melissa A. Hines, Cornell University

Aart W. Kleyn, FOM DIFFER and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Ganpati Ramanath, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Frances M. Ross, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Jochen M. Schneider, RWTH Aachen University

Roger G. Tobin, Tufts University

Klaus Wandelt, University of Bonn, Germany, and University of Wroclaw,

Poland

National Student Award Finalists There are five (5) top-level named Graduate Student Awards and four (4)Graduate Research Awards, described below. The recipients of these awards aredetermined after a general competition with all the graduate research applicantsand a presentation to the Awards Committee at the International Symposium.The finalists are:

Bonggeun Shong, Stanford University

Indira Seshadri, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Jason Kawasaki, University of California, Berkeley

Ming Wei, University of Central Florida

Tevis Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania

Timothy Lawton, Tufts University

Vincent Sauer, University of Alberta

Xiaofeng Feng, University of California, Berkeley

Zhu Liang, University of Illinois at Chicago

RUSSELL AND SIGURD VARIAN AWARD NELLIE YEOH WHETTEN AWARD DOROTHY M. AND EARL S. HOFFMAN AWARD DOROTHY M. AND EARL S. HOFFMAN SCHOLARSHIPS GRADUATE RESEARCH AWARDS Nominations for the 2014 awards are currently being solicited. For moreinformation, please contact Angela Klink, AVS, 212-248-0200 X 221, fax: 212-248-0245, angela@avs.org.

Symposium Highlights

AVS 60th International Symposium & Exhibition (AVS 60)

October 27-November 1, 2013Long Beach, CaliforniaWebsite

Division/Group Program

Advanced Surface EngineeringApplied Surface ScienceBiomaterial InterfacesElectronic Materials & ProcessingMagnetic Materials, Films & InterfacesManufacturing Science & TechnologyMEMS & NEMS

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Nanometer-Scale Science & TechnologyPlasma Science & TechnologySurface ScienceThin FilmVacuum Technology

Focus Topics/Other Sessions

Accelerating Materials Discovery for Global Competitiveness Actinides and Rare EarthsAdvanced Imaging of Cell and Bacteria Interactions with SurfacesAtom Probe TomographyBiomolecules at Aqueous InterfacesSpectroscopic EllipsometryEnergy FrontiersExhibitor Technology SpotlightGraphene and Other 2D MaterialsHelium Ion MicroscopyIons at Aqueous InterfacesIn Situ Spectroscopy and MicroscopyScientific Discovery through the Materials Genome InitiativeNanoparticle-Liquid InterfacesScanning Probe Microscopy Synchrotron Analysis Transparent Conductors and Printable ElectronicsTribology

Call for AVS 61 Focus Topic ProposalsWe are starting to plan the AVS 61 Symposium and your input is requested on theFocus Topics to offer at the AVS 61st International Symposium and Exhibition,which will be held in Baltimore, Maryland November 9-14, 2014. Focus Topics areseparate sessions which compliment sessions being offered by the divisions; FocusTopics typically run from 1-4 days at the symposium and showcase new, fast-moving, areas of research of interest to AVS members. These areas are at theintersection of the AVS divisions, and the program chairs and the symposiumcommittee want to ensure that they are represented as Focus Topics at the AVS61st symposium. If you have a suggestion for a focus topic please send a proposal to the AVS-61program chair, Vin Smentkowski, at vincent_smentkowski@avs.org by August26, 2013. The proposal should contain the following information:

1. The suggested title of your proposed focus topic.2. A brief summary of the area and its history at the AVS and other meetings.

Is this a topic that falls naturally under one of the divisions, or does it fall atthe intersection of two or more divisions? If so, which ones?

3. The names and affiliations of the proposed organizational team. It issuggested that the team consist of 2-4 people who are in a position tochampion the focus topic by inviting speakers, soliciting abstracts from thecommunity, and organizing sessions for AVS-61.

4. The names, affiliations, and tentative titles of researchers you would like toask to be invited speakers.

5. For your reference, a link to the AVS 60th Technical Program, which liststhis year's focus topics, is provided:http://www2.avs.org/symposium/AVS60/pages/greetings.html

Decisions regarding those proposals selected for support will be made anddisseminated by mid September. We look forward to hearing your suggestions and making AVS 61 an exceptionalSymposium! Thank you. Vincent Smentkowski, AVS-61 Program Chair, vincent_smentkowski@avs.org Anthony Muscat, AVS-61 Vice-Program Chair, anthony_muscat@avs.org

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