E-Mail IMAGE: Fluorescent micrograph, above, shows the new nanomaterial in sheet form. The white scale bar is 4 micrometers in the main photo and 2 micrometers in the inset photo. view more Credit: Conticello Lab Chemists have developed a nanomaterial that they can trigger to shape shift -- from flat sheets to tubes and back to sheets again -- in a controllable fashion. The Journal of the American Chemical Society published a description of the nanomaterial, which was developed at Emory University and holds potential for a range of biomedical applications, from controlled-release drug delivery to tissue engineering. The nanomaterial, which in sheet form is 10,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair, is made of synthetic collagen. Naturally occurring collagen is the most abundant protein in humans, making the new material intrinsically biocompatible.