A birthday cake with a difference, but don’t ask for seconds

Crann, an Irish nanotechnology institute based at Trinity College Dublin, celebrated its birthday the same way anyone would – with a cake. This one, however, was 2,000 times smaller than a grain of salt.

The centre for research on adaptive nanostructures and nanodevices (Crann) celebrated its 10th anniversary yesterday, and to mark the day the researchers installed their miniature cake in the zero on an old coin.The cake structure is typical of the nanomaterials that can be built at Crann, which is a collaboration involving Trinity and the Tyndall Institute in Cork.

Crann now involves a team of more than 300 post-graduate and post-doctorate researchers from 45 different countries, said Prof John Boland, director of Crann. During the past 10 years Crann has obtained €200 million in competitive funding for its research.

“We do world-class science to raise the profile of science in Ireland,” Prof Boland said.

He talked about the transformation that took place in Crann. When the Science Foundation Ireland-funded institute was established in 2003, there were only six researchers. The institute has helped Ireland build an international reputation for nanotechnology research.

“Ireland is now ranked sixth for nanoscience and eighth for materials science internationally,” Prof Boland said.

“Crann is an institution that has placed Ireland on the nanosciences world map,” European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said at the event at the Science Gallery. “We need to accelerate the application of nanotechnology in the economy.”

Science Foundation Ireland and the US National Science Foundation have signed an accord which will see student research fellows supported by science foundation spending from three to 12 months.