Working in large collaborations can help you understand how nanotechnology is closely related to other fields.
When studying nanotechnology it is common to learn that structures with nanoscale dimensions have unique physical and chemical properties, which differentiate them from particles of bigger sizes. But things are not always as disconnected as they may seem. While working on the synthesis of microbubbles to be used as multimodal contrast agent, Elizabeth Huynh discovered that nanoparticles formed by the destruction of her porphyrin particles of micrometre size by ultrasound would retain some of properties of the larger structures. Most importantly she came to her conclusions after intensive collaboration with colleagues with different expertise, showing her that nanotechnology cannot really work as isolated discipline.
Read Elizabeth Huynh’s article going from nano to micro and back on Nature Nanotechnology for free.
Recent comments on this blog
African astronomy and how one student broke into the field
From Doctorate to Data Science: A very short guide
Work/life balance: New definitions