N1005 IBM Research

Microfluidic Probe for Personalized Healthcare

<span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The sequencing of the entire human genome back in the early 2000s is considered one of the most important scientific breakthrough enabling data-driven medicine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It flooded researchers in biology with a tremendous amount of Big Data that needed to be processed and tested. It was around then that DNA microarrays, small glass chips where thousands of DNA fragments are deposited, became popular because they enable high-throughput and multiplexed testing for gene expression and mutations, for example in cancer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "helvneue light for ibm" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span>  <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpA2zI9pGJWzWVKfDujm_IbFOqFKOiv6xiGohNsSOrHq8jgH7uXGJM6dPvXJWqHU9Rms7sPYKO8MbEWm1Yp-7Pf7fZoafrSaLVoMGQbNkhXoPiweC18jeF6K4ZJgQXxZz7VjurvzYKi8g/s1600/group+photo+--+Analytical+Chemistry+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpA2zI9pGJWzWVKfDujm_IbFOqFKOiv6xiGohNsSOrHq8jgH7uXGJM6dPvXJWqHU9Rms7sPYKO8MbEWm1Yp-7Pf7fZoafrSaLVoMGQbNkhXoPiweC18jeF6K4ZJgQXxZz7VjurvzYKi8g/s400/group+photo+--+Analytical+Chemistry+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left to right, Julien Cors, Govind Kaigala and David Taylor</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Interestingly, DNA and protein microarrays were one of the convergence points of microtechnology and biology that resulted in the fabrication of high-density arrays of biomolecules. </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />While protein microarrays have significant value for drug discovery, and molecular profiling, the same success in the use of DNA arrays was not transferable to protein arrays due to the limited quality of protein arrays.</span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> </span><br />  <br />  <span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This inspired a team of IBM scientists to develop a new biopatterning method for efficient, accurate and high-quality patterning of proteins on surfaces by addressing fundamental bottlenecks inherent to the fabrication of protein microarrays. Such high-quality microarrays will benefit quantitative biological assays for personalized diagnostics and screening applications. </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A new paper appearing this month on the cover of <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b04649"><i>Analytical Chemistry</i></a> details their latest research breakthrough. I spoke with two of the authors <a href="http://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-GOV">Govind Kaigala</a> and <a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-JCO">Julien Cors</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGDL8AloPQcHClEw7dE3ANzFAShlEyZAFH2-GaZ8CwIZpMzD4CsUU6r6xMsduYbQEL1ty5-lTbeeB3BVUWQkleiGZFlZnkHO5B-2he5t7m_FFXkHAAtcGUJVsuilUyZeMDg6vHVywA4g/s1600/JCO+--+Biopatterning+--+cover+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGDL8AloPQcHClEw7dE3ANzFAShlEyZAFH2-GaZ8CwIZpMzD4CsUU6r6xMsduYbQEL1ty5-lTbeeB3BVUWQkleiGZFlZnkHO5B-2he5t7m_FFXkHAAtcGUJVsuilUyZeMDg6vHVywA4g/s320/JCO+--+Biopatterning+--+cover+page.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover of Analytical Chemistry<br />Credit: ACS Publications</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div> <b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">One of the benefits of your technique is depositing reagents on surfaces in a wet environment. Why is this important and how does it compare to current approaches?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="http://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-GOV" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Govind Kaigala</span></a> (GK): </span><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Current techniques for protein patterning use inkjet and pin spotters, and they do not produce homogeneous protein patterns -- largely because they operate in a dry environment.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So we asked ourselves, biology is wet, so how can we accurately test samples when we are changing it’s make up by drying it out?</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In contrast, our method relies on a microfluidic probe (MFP) that confines nanoliter volumes of reagents in a wet environment. By fully immersing the substrate in a liquid, the “coffee stain effect” (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marangoni_effect" style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">Marangoni effect</span></a>), is minimized with the reduction of evaporation. In addition, we use continuous flows on the surface, which ensure improved reaction kinetics compared to deposition relying on diffusion in existing techniques. Also via a technique of re-circulating liquid we improve reagent utilisation, which is important because its very expensive.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In our article we studied the transport of biomolecules in flows and their surface interactions and to address this we designed specific MFP heads to create homogeneous protein patterns with volume consumption comparable to inkjet spotters.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The paper also describes the convection-enhanced transport and recirculation of sub-microliter volumes using analytical models.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <br />  <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A major factor of your research is working at the micrometer level. Can you explain what the trick is when working with such small sample sizes?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"><a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-JCO" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Julien Cors</span></a> (JC): </span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">IBM is considered the birthplace for scanning probe techniques with the original scanning probes developed for atomic imaging. Our scanning probe isn’t imaging atoms, the MFP technology that we are developing is for biological applications, in this case protein patterning. But, the technique is similar in that the probe head never comes into contact with the sample and is used in liquid environments and with a resolution of a few micrometers.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">By continuously injecting and aspirating liquids, nanoliter volumes of liquids are confined at the tip of the head. To put this into perspective, we are working with volumes of liquids thousands of times smaller than a tear drop.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">At this micrometer-length scale both reaction kinetics and transport of biomolecules onto the surface are highly favourable  By exposing one or multiple such confined liquid using the probe on a surface diverse patterns of biomolecules can be created. </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <br />  <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Can you talk about some specific applications for the innovation?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <br />  <span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">GK: <i>Protein-based assays (immunoassays) are very broadly applicable, and our method can be used to create high-quality substrates to implement such tests.</i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Current protein microarrays provide qualitative information i.e. presence or absence of a specific biomarker. Because of the inhomogeneity of the deposited patterns, extracting quantitative information remains challenging. Quantitative data have great importance both in diagnostics and biomarker discovery. </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />    <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2854/12953095294_191b7d42e0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2854/12953095294_191b7d42e0.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The MFP comes with different microfluidic <br />patterns based on the type of application.</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, in the Analytical Chemistry paper we demonstrate an assay for the detection immunoglobulins (IgGs). IgGs are used as a diagnostics marker for several autoimmune diseases and as a measure of the immune response. </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This research is partially funded by your European Research Council (ERC) grant. What do you hope to achieve by the end of the grant?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GK: <i>Within the ERC-</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.bioprobe.eu/"><span style="color: black;">BioProbe</span></a><span style="color: black;"> project, we are developing new concepts, tools and methods for improved molecular profiling of tissues for tumor diagnosis for personalized medicine. </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Techniques for liquid recirculation and analytical models for improved protein microarrays was in fact an off-shoot of this work – while in BioProbe, we will focus on the main theme, we keep an eye for such projects and pursue them.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What's next for your research and when can we expect it to be used outside of IBM by partners?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GK: <i>We are very excited about the progress and evolution of the microfluidic probe, particularly as it is now starting to be applied in various areas including pathology and personalized medicine. </i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Convection-Enhanced Biopatterning with Recirculation of Hydrodynamically Confined Nanoliter Volumes of Reagents, <span style="color: #333333;"><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/author/Autebert%2C+Julien"><span style="color: blue;">Julien Autebert</span></a>, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/author/Cors%2C+Julien+F"><span style="color: blue;">Julien F. Cors</span></a>, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/author/Taylor%2C+David+P"><span style="color: blue;">David P. Taylor</span></a>, and <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/author/Kaigala%2C+Govind+V"><span style="color: blue;">Govind V. Kaigal</span></a>a, </span>Anal. Chem., 2016, 88 (6), pp 3235–3242, <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b04649"><span style="color: blue;">DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b04649</span></a></span></i><b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

The sequencing of the entire human genome back in the early 2000s is considered one of the most important scientific breakthrough enabling d...

IBM scientist Abu Sebastian Develops Future Memory and Computer Paradigms with Prestigious European Grant

1:42 AM N1000 0

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In 2007 the </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://erc.europa.eu/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">European Research Council (ERC)</span></a><span style="color: #333333;"> began funding frontier research projects through individual grants.<br /></span><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The grants are split into several categories including consolidator grants, which target world-class </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">mid-career scientists. In 2015 the ERC awarded a total of €585 million, as part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020 with grants worth millions of Euro each. </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />Nine IBM scientists in Zurich currently hold ERC grants and three have been recently awarded to <a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-ASE">Abu Sebastian</a>, <a href="http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.ch/2016/02/ibm-scientist-kirsten-moselund-awarded.html">Kristen Moselund</a> and <a href="http://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-LGR">Leo Gross</a>.</span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />Sebastian, who is based in Zurich, is focused on exploratory memory and cognitive technologies and his grant will focus on investigating resistive memory and its applications in non-von Neumann computing.</span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />Before the hard work begins I asked him about the grant and his specific plans.</span><br /><br />  <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76Zf4NykyWJW6AfDRxbNJceFE1h-0OR9Euxsnt0-Hb-nBQsHZe3YIveScCDDtw9Yv4JzsXZzGHJGXV-ewwAMylotoFhJqGWxgrC31IZC-0sM0eTEVsT5c80HrnmQa1gVGLqWwbtSHLos/s1600/LabPic_ERC.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76Zf4NykyWJW6AfDRxbNJceFE1h-0OR9Euxsnt0-Hb-nBQsHZe3YIveScCDDtw9Yv4JzsXZzGHJGXV-ewwAMylotoFhJqGWxgrC31IZC-0sM0eTEVsT5c80HrnmQa1gVGLqWwbtSHLos/s640/LabPic_ERC.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Abu Sebastian (bottom left) said the support of his colleagues, including (clockwise) Tomas Tuma, Wabe Koelmans, and Manuel Le Gallo-Bourdeau was an important factor in winning <br />the ERC grant.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></span><br /> <b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Q. Resistive memory devices are being developed by several organizations around the world. Can you explain what makes your memory device different?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Abu Sebastian (AS): <i><span style="color: black;">Resistive memory devices are nanoscale devices whose resistance depends on the history of the current that had previously flowed through it.</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />We can store information in these decides using the resistance as the storage variable, much like using the charge state of a capacitor to store information in DRAM and Flash.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <br />  <i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">These devices also possess other interesting attributes that go beyond information storage. It is believed that they could have a significant influence on future computing systems. </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"></span><br />  <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4G0mEXq1OE6TIYSwVxOkpuxPKr8IT2bIy26giN2VYGKzhuyhhTlSGZSh7y4mQbXqv7G3uH6YE_K3X0dsdastQ6shkJL_vHa-9pGPBe6bKWH3PsgEsWKhSvDTrEZ42gT3SqFzfeFPu1vg/s1600/ProjectedCells_Array.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4G0mEXq1OE6TIYSwVxOkpuxPKr8IT2bIy26giN2VYGKzhuyhhTlSGZSh7y4mQbXqv7G3uH6YE_K3X0dsdastQ6shkJL_vHa-9pGPBe6bKWH3PsgEsWKhSvDTrEZ42gT3SqFzfeFPu1vg/s640/ProjectedCells_Array.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Large networks of resistive memory devices could play a </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">central role in future non-von Neumann computing systems.</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Therefore, it is not surprising that several research institutions are conducting research in this field. I should note that <a href="https://www.research.ibm.com/labs/zurich/sto/pcm/"><span style="color: blue;">phase change memory</span></a> is a type of resistive memory that we have been researching at IBM for nearly a decade.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />In conventional resistive memory devices, the physical mechanism of resistance storage is coupled to the information-retrieval process. For example, in a phase change memory device, we use the same material for writing information, by making it undergo a phase transition, and for retrieving the information stored, by reading its low-field electrical resistance. In a <a href="http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.ch/2015/09/eureka-moments-lead-to-radical-new.html"><span style="color: blue;">projected memory device</span></a>, this coupling is broken down by a careful design of the device geometry. This could lead to a dramatic improvement in its performance. This approach could also open up new applications. </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the ERC project, we will explore certain highly innovative projected memory designs and their applications in non-von Neumann computing where there is no physical separation between between the central processing unit (CPU) and the memory.</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q. Your application is split into three parts. What are the time frames for each?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AS: <i>Two of them focus more on the technology side of the project, where we investigate the design and fabrication of projected memory devices, and one on the algorithmic side, where we focus on applications. My guess is that these two aspects of the project will consume an equal amount of time and resources. I am hoping that, since it is an ERC project, there will be a certain amount of leeway in the execution of the project.</i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q. What impact will this technology have on society?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AS: <i>As I mentioned earlier, resistive memory devices could have a dramatic impact on future computing systems, in particular on cognitive computing: the third era of computing where we derive insights and intelligence from the vast amount of data at our disposal. Resistive memory devices could play a critical role either as an ultra-fast, ultra-dense non-volatile cache memory or even as elements of non-von Neumann processers or co-processors. It is believed that the new concepts being pursued in the project could help make some key steps in this direction.</i> </span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q. I believe you are looking to build up a team with your grant. What skills are you looking for?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AS: <i>My emphasis will be on assembling a very competent research team with highly multi-disciplinary skills. The team as a whole will have competence all the way from physical sciences to the area of “mathematical engineering” – a term coined by the famous mathematician Norbert Wiener to cover the areas of signal processing, information theory, control, computation etc. Luckily at IBM we already have some very good resources to tap into. To fill any gaps, we will hire a few additional postdocs and students. If anyone is interested in applying please email me.</i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Q. What advice do you have for future ERC applicants?</span></b><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">AS: <i>The ERC application process was indeed a great learning experience. There are several pieces of advice I could give to potential applicants. But if I have to focus on 2 or 3, they would be the following ones:</i></span><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><ul><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Be      sure the proposed project falls into the high risk/high reward      category </span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></li><li><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Be      fully committed to the effort. It is quite an ordeal and demands      significant preparation</span></i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></i></li><li><i><span style="font-family: "HelvNeue Light for IBM",sans-serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Get as much help as possible. In my case. I got significant help from my colleagues, in particular <a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-UMA"><span style="color: blue;">Tomas Tuma</span></a> and <a href="http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-WKO"><span style="color: blue;">Wabe Koelmans</span></a>. I also received advice and guidance from people outside my immediate research area who are also ERC grant winners including <a href="http://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view.php?person=zurich-GOV"><span style="color: blue;">Govind Kaigala</span></a> and <a href="http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.ch/2016/02/ibm-scientist-kirsten-moselund-awarded.html"><span style="color: blue;">Kirsten Moselund</span></a>. Not to mention <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-trachsel-12100956"><span style="color: blue;">Catherine Trachsel</span></a>, from our business development team at ZRL, Charlotte Bolliger from the publication team, and also <a href="https://www.euresearch.ch/en/"><span style="color: blue;">Euresearch</span></a>, the Swiss entity providing advice on European research programs.</span></i></li></ul><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D3821464279005499761%23editor%2Fsrc%3Dheader&media=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-3FI_OaFcnpU%2FVuBZzd3r5bI%2FAAAAAAAAAvM%2FUc1UP0mvxik%2Fs640%2FProjectedCells_Array.png&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=tYDKQnV6ndWa&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 33px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 1379px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D3821464279005499761%23editor%2Fsrc%3Dheader&media=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-3FI_OaFcnpU%2FVuBZzd3r5bI%2FAAAAAAAAAvM%2FUc1UP0mvxik%2Fs640%2FProjectedCells_Array.png&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=tYDKQnV6ndWa&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 33px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 1379px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>

IBM scientist Abu Sebastian Develops Future Memory and Computer Paradigms with Prestigious European Grant

awards ERC EU Horizon2020 European Research Council IBM Research - Zurich PCM phase change memory IBM scientist Abu Sebastian Develops Future Memory and Computer Paradigms with Prestigious European Grant

In 2007 the European Research Council (ERC) began funding frontier research projects through individual grants. The grants are split ...