Institute for Advanced Materials | Sustainability

Advanced Sustainability

Researchers at the institute are pioneering new materials to help us make the most out of natural resources, reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and extend the useful lives of products.

Materials for sustainability include:

Water and air purifications substances help us better manage our resources, supplying more clean water and breathable air
Environmentally benign materials— renewables, recyclables and biodegradables—reduce the impact of manufacturing and innovation on the environment, giving the new products we need a smaller carbon footprint
Extended life materials and coatings like anti-corrosion, self-healing, self-cleaning and anti-fouling agents make the most of what we have, helping our current products last longer

Our changing way of life

Created in the spring of 2009, Case Western Reserve University's Institute for Sustainability brings a diverse array of scholars and students together to help chart the course to that brighter future. Learn more about Institute for Sustainability.

CWRU researchers make biosensor 1 million times more sensitive

04/08/16

Physicists and engineers at Case Western Reserve University, including Umut Gurkan, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, have developed an optical sensor, based on nanostructured metamaterials, that’s 1 million times more sensitive than the current best available—one capable of identifying a single lightweight molecule in a highly dilute solution.

Their goal: to provide oncologists a way to detect a single molecule of an enzyme produced by circulating cancer cells. Such detection could allow doctors to diagnose patients with certain cancers far earlier than possible today, monitor treatment and resistance and more.

The prognosis of many cancers depends on the stage of the cancer at diagnosis,” said Giuseppe “Pino” Strangi, professor of physics at Case Western Reserve and leader of the research.

Ultra sensitive optical biosensor can detect cancer in very early stages

04/01/16

Opening the door for new detection method that could allow doctors to diagnose patients with certain cancers far earlier than possible today, researchers have developed an optical sensor that they claim is one million times more sensitive than the current best available.

Initiatives Funded by America Makes Lead to Commercialization

02/24/16

Jim McGuffin-Cawley, chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and John Lewandowski, the Arthur P. Armington Professor of Engineering II, discussed their projects funded through the America Makes initiative.

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Institute for Advanced Materials | Sustainability

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