Around 2001, "while working on his doctoral thesis, Hubert created a universal 'pick-and-place' nano-assembly machine, capable of picking up and assembling thousands of atoms of almost any material at one time. His device could potentially be used for moving and patterning segments of DNA strands, ultimately enabling doctors to discover genetic-related diseases in a matter of minutes—long before the patient showed any symptoms.

In 2000, Hubert received a patent for his plastic memory chip. Composed of aluminized plastic, it is mechanically flexible and cheaper to produce than a silicon chip, but still capable of storing digital information, even when the power is off. The design is ideal for smart cards, digital cameras and portable computational devices."