The latest scientific results of Ehud Gazit and Meital Reches of the Tel Aviv University were featured as a cover story in the recent December issue of Nature Nanotechnology (Vol.1 No.3 December 2006). The authors were able to form a unique "nano-forest", an array of vertically aligned nanotubes, made of self-assembled peptides:

The self-assembly of small molecular building blocks into large ordered structures is a simple and efficient way to create new functional materials. It was shown that small protein fragments - known as dipeptides - can organize into nanotubes, which, in turn, form vertically aligned arrays on glass substrates. The effects of both molecular size and electronic charge on this hierarchical assembly process were investigated. Furthermore, by attaching magnetic nanoparticles to these tubes and applying an external field, it was also possible to align them horizontally.

Gazit's research interests lie in the self-assembly of short aromatic peptides and could be summarized under the headline: from amyloid disease to nanotechnology. The self-assembly of well-ordered amyloid fibrils is the hallmark of several diseases of unrelated origin, including Alzheimer's disease, Type II diabetes, and Parkinson's disease. Gazit is the leader of Nano2Life's Strategic Research Group "nano assemblies".