Veeco Instruments Inc., maker of atomic force microscopes (AFMs), has announced that it will host the “Seeing at the Nanoscale VIII” conference at the Congress Center in Basel, Switzerland, on August 30 to September 1, 2010. In its eighth year, the conference provides an optimum forum for academic and industrial scientists to share information and exchange ideas on a wide variety of cutting-edge nanotechnology topics, ranging from novel imaging approaches and unique material characterization to combining AFM with other technologies, such as confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.

“Nature is the best example of a system functioning on the nanometer scale, where the involved materials, energy consumption and data handling are optimized,” said conference chair Christoph Gerber.

“The emergence of the STM and AFM led to a paradigm shift in the understanding and perception of matter at its most fundamental level, and opened the doors to the nanoworld,” he added. “Today these technologies are still making a tremendous impact on disciplines ranging from physics and chemistry through information technology, spintronics, quantum computing and molecular electronics – all the way to life sciences. According to the Web of Science, over 7,000 AFM-related papers were published in 2009 alone, bringing the total to more than 80,000 since the technology’s invention. As a consequence, revolutionary concepts have stimulated a wide spread of new technologies in recent years. Veeco’s annual Seeing at the Nanoscale conference is therefore a must in the agenda of every nanoscientist.” Gerber is the director for scientific communication, NCCR, Institute of Physics at the University of Basel.

“I think we can all appreciate how the traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines are blurred at the nanoscale,” added conference co-chair Roderick Lim, Argovia Professor for Nanobiology, Biozentrum and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute at the University of Basel. “Not just in the methods of visualizing and manipulating molecular processes, but even more so in how we conceive of new concepts and solve problems. With this in mind, Christoph and I are committed to bringing out the synergies that exist between the physical and biological sciences in our planning of Seeing at the Nanoscale VIII in Basel. We are particularly honored that several of the leading experts who practice such interdisciplinarity have agreed to attend. It is also fantastic that our enthusiasm is shared by our joint organizers: Veeco, the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, the Biozentrum, and the M.E. Müller Foundation of Switzerland. I do urge folks from all walks of science to join us for this remarkable event.”

The “Seeing at Nanoscale conference continues the tradition of building the SPM community in leading technology innovation and applications. This year we are excited by the attendance of distinguished speakers and the close proximity of the conference location to the birthplace of SPM technology,” remarked Chanmin Su, Director of Technology at Veeco.

Abstracts for oral and poster presentations are now being accepted.

The conference sessions for 2010 are slated to include Molecular Machines and Systems, featuring invited speakers Hermann Gaub of Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München in Germany and Zhifeng Shao of Shanghai Jiaotong University in China; Cells and Tissues, featuring Alan Grodzinsky of MIT and Michael Sheetz of Columbia University and the National University of Singapore; Electric, Magnetic, Chemical, Thermal, and Optical Properties of Nanomaterials, featuring Julie MacPherson of the University of Warwick, U.K. and Fraser Stoddart of Northwestern University; Nanomechanics, featuring Greg Meyers of Dow Chemical and Ernst Meyer of the University of Basel; and Advances in SPM Instrumentation, featuring Gerhard Meyer of IBM Zürich in Switzerland and Markus B. Raschke of the University of Washington.

In conjunction with the 2½-day conference, Veeco will host a half-day training course covering a variety of AFM techniques, including the new, groundbreaking ScanAsyst and PeakForce QNM imaging modes. Together, these proprietary advances provide unique capabilities for AFM quantitative analysis and ease of use.

For more information, visit: www.veeco.com/nanoconference