The first-ever NanoDay brought together faculty, researchers, students, and industry partners to celebrate innovation at the nanoscale and its growing impact across Minnesota and beyond.
Hosted by the International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) and Minnesota Nanocenter (MNC), the event showcased groundbreaking work in nanofabrication, semiconductor technologies, and sensing applications, highlighting how interdisciplinary collaboration drives real-world progress in health, energy, computing, and advanced materials.
The day concluded with closing remarks from Shashank Priya, Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Minnesota, who emphasized the importance of partnerships between research centers, faculty, and industry in advancing discovery and innovation. This was followed by remarks by Sara Swisher, Director of MNCr and Patricia Khashayar, Director of IIB.
During this event, students and researchers working with IIB and MNC showcased their impressive research. Some of these works included:
Hyeonjeong Jeong, Ph.D. student Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering: "Ultrasensitive Detection of Alpha-Synuclein Oligomers Spiked into Blood Using Optimized Nano-QuIC"
Casey Wouters, Advisor Department of Chemistry: "Label-free detection of virus-like particles with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy."
Faija Farjana, Graduate Research Assistant Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering: "Real-time, Continuous Multi-ion Detection with Minimally-invasive Wearable Microneedle Patch Sensors."
Timmy B. Nguyen, Graduate Student Department of Chemistry: "Leveraging 11B NMR for Optimization of Boronic Acid-Diol Complexation Towards SERS-Based Diol Detection."
Adam Ley, PhD Student, Tranquillo Lab:"Measuring Spatiotemporal Trends in Cellular Force Generation Using a FRET-Based Biosensor"
The success of this inaugural event reflects the collective enthusiasm, talent, and support of our research community. A heartfelt thank-you to all presenters, attendees, and partners who made NanoDay possible — and to the University leadership for championing collaboration and the spirit of Small Science, Big Impact.
Together, we are shaping the future of innovation one nano at a time.
