Bradley J. Nelson teaching Nanotubes traverse the gap between electrodes in Bradley J. Nelson's laboratory. For Co-Me Bradley Nelson is developing microrobots that will be steered inside the vitreous of the eye for surgical operations on the retina.

We like to congratulate Co-Me-researcher Bradley J. Nelson of the ETH Zurich for being named "Research Leader"within the "2005, Scientific American 50". The magazine's prestigious annual list recognises outstanding acts of leadership in science and technology from the past year.

Nelson has been named a Research Leader because of his work over the last year in nanorobotic manufacturing. His nanorobotics research group, part of the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) at ETH, investigates new manufacturing technologies capable of creating building blocks for a variety of nanometer size devices.

Nelson and his team align hundreds to thousands of multiwalled nanotubes on and between tiny electrodes by applying a standard two-dimensional electrical field to a suspension of tubes. He then burns off the nanotube's top layers, breaks them in the middle, or otherwise tweaks them to create electronically controlled emitters, rotating actuators and telescoping linear actuators.

Currently developed nanomachines, such as motors and sensors, will form the components of nanorobots that may be used for a variety of purposes, such as to explore the inner workings of biological cells, to perform surgery on single cells, or to deliver drugs to specific locations throughout the body. Bradley Nelson is the head of both IRIS and the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH.