Nest Laboratory

NEST, the National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology, is an interdisciplinary research and training centre where physicists, chemists and biologists investigate matter at the nanoscale level. This knowledge is exploited to develop innovative nanobiotechnological systems and nanoelectronic and photonic devices and architectures.

The NEST initiative comprises four distinct institutions: Scuola Normale Superiore, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. Although each institution has its own research and administrative staff (the "NEST Laboratory" of the Normale, the  "Center for Nanotechnology Innovation" of IIT, the "Istituto Nanoscienze" of the  CNR and the "Nanoplant" of the Scuola Sant’Anna), the equipment and research activities are shared and co-ordinated, researchers collaborating in the achievement of specific scientific goals, independently of their affiliation.

This concentration of strengths and flexibility allows NEST scientists to address a broad range of research activities that span from semiconductor/superconductor nanostructure design, growth and experimental investigation to single-molecule studies in cells and tissues in vitro. Despite this broad scope of research, NEST scientists adopt a unified approach thanks to the close integration of its multidisciplinary research teams characteristic of nanoscience.