Over the past decade, teams of engineers, chemists and biologists have analyzed the physical and chemical properties of cicada wings, hoping to unlock the secret of their ability to kill microbes on contact. If this function of nature can be replicated by science, it may lead to development of new products with inherently antibacterial surfaces that are more effective than current chemical treatments.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: ORNL researchers simulated the nanostructure of a cicada-wing-like surface to gain insight into its antibacterial abilities. Top view cross-section: simulated lipid bilayer vesicles interact with nanopillars, showcasing the lipid arrangement and membrane rupture in high-curvature regions. Credit: Jan-Michael Carrillo/ORNL When researchers at Stony Brook University's Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering developed a simple technique to duplicate the cicada wing's nanostructure, they were still missing a key piece of information: How do the nanopillars on its surface actually eliminate bacteria? Thankfully, they knew exactly who could help them find the answer: Jan-Michael Carrillo, a researcher with the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For nanoscience researchers who seek computational comparisons and insights for their experiments, Carrillo provides a singular service: large-scale, high-resolution molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on the Summit supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at ORNL. "We immediately contacted Jan-Michael and expressed our interest and motivation in the possibility for a simulation. Although we know how an MD simulation works, it's a complicated process, and we just don't have much experience doing them," said Maya Endoh, a research professor at Stony Brook and co-author of the team's paper, which was published earlier this year in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Getting compute time on Summit isn't as easy as making a phone call, of course—nanoscience researchers must apply to receive such simulation work at the CNMS, and their projects are subject to peer review as part of the application process. But that's not the only service Carrillo…