Using state-of-the-art laser
techniques, Cornelia Bohne is starting a new research program
at the University of Victoria, in Victoria, B.C. She examines
how easily certain molecules (acting as tiny
"probes:") move between hydrophobic and hydrophilic
environment. She will be able to study how rigid membrane
walls are, and learn about the strength of protein-protein
interactions.
Jennifer Bardwell, at the
National Research Council in Ottawa, is trying to figure out
what processes are at work in semiconductor cleaning and
passivation (that is, cleaning off the oxide film that forms
in reaction with air, and stopping the surface from reacting
further). Other scientists' work in this area has typically
used a recipe-writing approach — finding out which
solutions do the job, but not worrying about how they do it.
Dr. Bardwell's group is one of the few in the world trying to
find out why the solutions work as they do.
