All’interno intervista
esclusiva al Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa di ENEA.
di: Marco La Rosa
Il “PALAZZO DELLA CIVILTA’ ITALIANA”, chiamato anche “della
Civiltà del Lavoro” e “Colosseo quadrato” (per via dei 54 archi per facciata),
è un edificio di carattere monumentale, sorge a Roma nel quartiere dell’EUR. Progettato nel 1936-37 fu iniziato nel 1938
ed inaugurato, ancora incompleto nel 1940. Fu ultimato dopo il 1945. Oggi è un
edificio di interesse culturale e quindi vincolato ad usi espositivi e museali.
Negli archi del piano terreno, sono collocate 28 statue
rappresentanti le virtù del popolo
italiano: EROISMO, MUSICA, ARTIGIANATO, GENIO POLITICO, ORDINE SOCIALE, LAVORO,
AGRICOLTURA, FILOSOFIA, COMMERCIO, INDUSTRIA, ARCHEOLOGIA, ASTRONOMIA, STORIA,
GENIO INVENTIVO, ARCHITETTURA, DIRITTO, PRIMATO DELLA NAVIGAZIONE, SCULTURA,
MATEMATICA, GENIO DEL TEATRO, CHIMICA, STAMPA, MEDICINA, GEOGRAFIA, FISICA,
POESIA, PITTURA, GENIO MILITARE.
ABBIAMO DIMENTICATO TUTTO
QUESTO. ABBIAMO PERDUTO LA NOSTRA IDENTITA’.
La “SCUOLA”, nel tempo è stata “cannibalizzata” di tutte le
risorse possibili, non è praticamente più in grado di trasmettere questi
valori, che nel tempo si sono prima diluiti e poi persi. Restano parole vuote
scolpite in qualche monumento, caduto pure quello nell'oblio.
Ma il DNA non è fantasia, per cui senza averne coscienza,
ognuno di noi ha dentro se il “seme” di questo immenso patrimonio. Quindi
nonostante tutto, esso continua a germogliare, ed anche se non ce ne
accorgiamo la pianta cresce, cresce e tende verso l’alto, verso il
sole, pure senza acqua.
Ho trovato una di queste "piante", non per caso. Perché se cerchi
trovi…eccome se trovi.
L’ ENEA, Agenzia
Nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico
sostenibile. E’ un fiore all’occhiello tutto italiano, specchio di quel
patrimonio “scolpito” nel travertino lassù. Fucina di idee e scoperte che fanno
invidia al mondo intero: Efficienza energetica, fonti rinnovabili, nucleare,
ambiente e clima, sicurezza e salute, nuove tecnologie… In questi tempi “cupi” è
come un gigante semi addormentato. Innumerevoli brevetti di importanza epocale
non solo per l’Italia, ma per tutti i paesi del mondo, giacciono polverosi nei
cassetti: mancano le aziende, mancano le risorse per “studiare” e “sviluppare”
i prototipi che poi faranno da volano al rilancio dell’economia… le eccezioni
sono poche, ma danno il polso di una situazione incredibile, basterebbe
veramente poco per cambiare le cose.
Leggete qua:
“ Un significativo passo avanti
per il rilancio dell’economia
italiana si sta compiendo grazie agli investimenti fatti nella ricerca e nel
sistema industriale ad alta tecnologia, che nonostante la crisi, è
uno dei pochi settori che ha accresciuto la propria competitività,
e la creazione di nuovi posti di lavoro.”
ha dichiarato Giovanni Lelli, Commissario dell’ENEA,
intervenendo alla cerimonia di avvio dei lavori per la costruzione di una
macchina sperimentale per la produzione di energia da fusione nucleare in
Giappone, con l’assemblaggio dei
primi componenti arrivati dall’Europa.
Si tratta di un programma internazionale tra Europa e Giappone, alla cui realizzazione
l’ENEA ha contribuito con il suo
progetto e lavorando in sinergia con le aziende italiane che forniscono alcuni
componenti essenziali. La collaborazione tra il sistema della ricerca pubblica
e quello dell’industria nazionale
dei sistemi energetici tecnologicamente avanzati ha portato alla qualificazione
di prodotti tecnologici che ora possono competere e vincere in tutti i mercati
mondiali. L’ENEA ha messo a
disposizione le infrastrutture tecnologiche dei Centri di ricerca di Frascati e del Brasimone, che sono tra i
più avanzati in Europa, e le
competenze tecnico-scientifiche dei suoi ricercatori per sviluppare e
qualificare i componenti tecnologici delle nostre maggiori realtà
industriali per il raggiungimento di quei livelli qualitativi di eccellenza che
hanno determinato il successo italiano
in tutti i programmi internazionali per la fusione nucleare.”
In particolare, le industrie italiane ad alta tecnologia
sono riuscite a cogliere l’opportunità
offerta dalla costruzione del reattore ITER, il più
importante programma internazionale di fusione nucleare, aggiudicandosi
commesse del valore totale di circa 750 milioni di euro per componenti
rilevanti, tra i quali i magneti superconduttori.
Un successo ottenuto grazie al ruolo che l’ENEA
svolge da più di 20 anni come
coordinatore nazionale dei programmi europei sulla fusione nucleare finalizzati
ad ottenere un’energia green,
che non comporta i rischi legati al nucleare da fissione, che è
la stessa energia che si verifica nelle stelle”.
Ecco un esempio
pratico:
Un’intervista esclusiva al Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa appunto di
ENEA, che ci onora della sua presenza sul nostro sito-blog e che ringraziamo per la seguente spiegazione
semplificata della sua scoperta:
Metodo per l’analisi di
immagini acquisite da strumenti di indagine nucleare
“Giuseppe Cotellessa
dell’Istituto Nazionale di Metrologia delle Radiazioni Ionizzanti (INMRI) dell'ENEA è l’inventore di un
procedimento fisico-matematico che permette un’analisi corretta della “natura”
e la “misura” affidabile delle dimensioni degli oggetti osservati nelle
immagini acquisite da strumenti di indagine nucleare ed estensibile ad immagini
non nucleari, per esempio: immagini radar, sonar, TAC, RMN, radiografiche,
ecografiche, da microscopi elettronici, ottici e telescopi. Il procedimento può essere applicato anche per
migliorare la precisione della lettura dei rilevatori di tracce nucleari, come
quelli utilizzati per misurare l’esposizione al radon e ai neutroni in ambienti
di lavoro per la radioprotezione dei lavoratori, come anche garantire la
sicurezza meccanica nel funzionamento dei componenti utilizzati negli impianti
nucleari, contribuire in modo significativo agli studi di ricerca sulla fusione
nucleare ed agli studi di ricerca nucleare in generale in quanto è in grado di
rilevare ed eliminare i segnali provenienti dalle pseudo tracce, cioè quei
segnali prodotti dalla presenza di impronte digitali sul rilevatore o da
imperfezioni del materiale”.
“I sistemi di indagine nucleare finora utilizzati si basano
sulla osservazione da parte di sistemi automatici di analisi di oggetti su
immagini bidimensionali a diverse tonalità di grigio, ricostruiti a partire
dalla misura del numero di danni delle radiazioni nucleari, provocate sulla
superficie del rivelatore, captate da una telecamera, dopo riflessione o
trasmissione sul o attraverso il rivelatore di un fascio luminoso.
L’interpretazione dell’immagine ottenuta è affidata esclusivamente a
procedimenti matematici di software che analizzano nella maggior parte immagini
trasformate in formato binario con notevole perdita di informazioni utili per
l’interpretazione degli oggetti. Gli oggetti delle immagini analizzate in campo
diagnostico e non (immagini radar, sonar, TAC, RMN, radiografiche, ecografiche,
da microscopi elettronici, ottici e telescopi) spesso sono analizzate
attraverso l’occhio umano dell’operatore, con notevoli errori
nell’interpretazione della natura degli oggetti, nella misura nel numero e
delle dimensioni degli oggetti interpretati.
Il procedimento brevettato consente di ricostruire grafici
tridimensionali facilmente interpretabili dall’occhio umano, che sono ottenuti
effettuando più letture dello stesso rilevatore, per diversi valori di
intensità luminosa. Ciò permette di differenziare le tracce nucleari emesse o
trasmesse dall’oggetto indagato, dalle pseudo tracce reali dovute alla presenza
di impronte digitali sul rilevatore o a imperfezioni del materiale, e da quelle
virtuali dovute a una non corretta impostazione dei parametri di lavoro.
L’eliminazione dei segnali delle pseudo tracce consente di ottimizzare i
parametri di lavoro e migliorare l’accuratezza e la riproducibilità della
lettura”.
Il brevetto, di proprietà ENEA, è stato depositato il 13
dicembre 2012 con numero RM2012A000637. È consultabile nella banca dati Brevetti
ENEA dal 19 dicembre 2012 ed è disponibile per licensing.
Chi è Giuseppe Cotellessa:
Laurea in fisica alla
Sapienza 1982, ricercatore all’ENEA dal 1985.
Specializzato in
metrologia dei gas, ha sviluppato prototipi di misura del gas radioattivo radon
(celle elettrostatiche), ha contribuito alla risoluzione di problematiche
relative alla taratura degli strumenti di misura del radon e di sviluppo dei
campioni relativi.
Ha partecipato a
contratti nazionali ed internazionali con funzione da parte di ENEA di
laboratorio garanzia per la taratura degli strumenti di misura: Italia,
Germania Orientale (Lipsia).
Ha partecipato alla
realizzazione di due sistemi integrati per la misura del radon e dei figli del
radon, denominati Radotron. Ha partecipato nel progetto di realizzazione dei
prototipi di flussimetri “Seeback” dell’Istituto tedesco di Jena per le alte
tecnologie, occupandosi della caratterizzazione ambientale tramite flussimetri
miniaturizzati in ambiente controllato. Questo progetto è stato selezionato
dalla Comunità Europea come esempio di “successo storico”.
Ha partecipato al
primo interconfronto italiano degli strumenti di misura passivi in Italia.
Ha partecipato a
diversi interconfronti con strumenti di misura passivi del radon in Inghilterra
presso NRPB e a Berlino.
Nel laboratorio ha
preso parte alla progettazione e ristrutturazione del sistema di gestione della
camera radon con microclima controllato.
Ha effettuato studi di
caratterizzazione della radioprotezione dei lavoratori dal gas radon nella
camera radon praticabile del laboratorio.
Ha partecipato alla
realizzazione di numerosi circuiti ed apparati per differenti finalità.
Il compito attuale è
quello di realizzare il primo campione primario assoluto per il radon per
l’INMRI (Istituto Nazionale di Metrologia delle radiazioni Ionizzanti) in
Italia.
MLR: Dott.
Cotellessa, può farci qualche esempio pratico per aiutare la gente comune, a
capire che la sua scoperta può davvero migliorare in modo sensibile tanti
aspetti della vita di società?
G.C.: Finora lo stato dell’arte da me raggiunto è di aver
verificato sperimentalmente la validità del procedimento fisico-matematico, con
un lavoro di ricerca applicata durato quasi cinque anni (da
Agosto 2007) utilizzando i mezzi disponibili nel laboratorio di tracce nucleari
dell’INMRI, in cui ho avuto la possibilità di sviluppare l’attività di ricerca dal 1985. In questo periodo di
tempo sempre nel campo dell’uso dei rivelatori di trace nucleari a stato solido,
ho depositato altri due brevetti di invenzioni originali:
1)RM2008A000148
|
“Processo per lo Sviluppo di Tracce
Nucleari Identificabili mediante la Loro Intensità Luminosa Rispetto ad Altre
Tracce Agglomerate, e Dispositivo per la Sua Attuazione” del 17-3-2008
|
2)RM92A000540
|
“Procedimento per la Separazione
Automatica delle Tracce con un Analizzatore di Immagini Utilizzando
l'Immagine Originaria.” Del 15-7-1992.)
|
Queste ricerche e relativi
brevetti hanno un comune obiettivo di migliorare gli aspetti metrologici dei
processi basati sulle applicazioni delle
analisi delle immagini.
Hanno aperto delle prospettive
per applicazioni in diversi campi, anche nel settore industriale e pertanto l’ENEA
ha ritenuto opportuno di proteggere i
risultati con la deposizione di un brevetto.
I passi ulteriori da effettuare
sono quelli di trovare i finanziamenti adeguati per continuare le ricerche; di promuovere le applicazioni in
collaborazione con le ditte interessate, preferibilmente italiane, concedendo
loro la licenza d’uso del brevetto ed incorporare
poi, lo stesso, in prototipi multidisciplinari, con la prospettiva di immettere sul mercato
l’innovazione.
Tutto ciò, potrà portare alla realizzazione di nuovi
dispositivi in campo medico, migliorando
la qualità di diverse tecnologie diagnostiche basate sull’analisi delle
immagini.
Ad esempio, per quanto riguarda
i trapianti di organi, riconoscere in
modo automatico, in un campione composto
di cellule morte e vive, la percentuale di cellule vive, fondamentale nei test per la determinazione della compatibilità dei
tessuti tra donatore e ricevente.
Procedendo per ipotesi, senza aver
ancora ottenuto le dovute verifiche sperimentali, penso a nuovi dispositivi nel
campo della produzione industriale.
Il procedimento consente di migliorare
le prestazioni dei microscopi ottici, elettronici, che hanno larga
applicazione. ecc.
Si potrebbero affrontare i
problemi più complessi da un punto di vista fisico, come la gestione dei
sensori di centrali solari termodinamiche con un procedimento molto più snello
e semplificato.
MLR: Dott.
Cotellessa, quanto importante sarà la sensibilizzazione della società, della
scuola a tutti i livelli (in questo momento di profonda crisi generale), affinché
il “genio” e la “ricerca” italiana ritrovino “splendore” di fronte al mondo, ma
sopratutto a quella parte del nostro paese ormai profondamente disillusa?
G.C: L’innovazione
costituisce un fattore significativo per dare impulso alla ripresa
socio-economica del paese. Questo processo deve essere reso operativo a tutti i
livelli, in particolare nella scuola.
MLR: Dott.
Cotellessa, è d’accordo sul fatto che se le Istituzioni italiane arresteranno
l’”emorragia di cervelli” dal nostro paese, con atti concreti, l’economia tutta
ne beneficerebbe da subito?
G.C.: .: La ricerca italiana, sia pubblica che privata, consentirebbe
se opportunamente valorizzata, un impulso positivo per superare le attuali
condizioni di ristagno nel nostro paese, e quindi anche “mantenere” in Italia i ricercatori che
si sono formati nelle nostre università e nei centri di ricerca.
In conclusione vorrei
evidenziare che il lavoro sperimentale è frutto di lavoro di equipe con il
concorso di altri ricercatori, ma anche della struttura operativa dell’INMRI dell’ENEA
che ha consentito e valorizzato questa linea di ricerca, portando anche alla
brevettazione dei risultati e dell’innovazione.
In particolare ringrazio il
Dott. Pierino De Felice, responsabile attuale dell'INMRI, il Dott. Marco
Capogni responsabile della sezione dell'INMRI per lo sviluppo dei campioni
primari (appartengo a questa sezione) e il Dott. Giuliano Sciocchetti mio
ex-responsabile, attualmente in pensione, che ancora mi segue quasi
quotidianamente nelle mie avventure scientifiche, Elvio Soldano (chimico) e
Massimo Pagliari (tecnico). Queste personalità, eccezionali all'interno
dell'ENEA, mi hanno creato le condizioni indispensabili per poter
conseguire questi risultati importanti.
MLR: Dott.
Cotellessa, la ringraziamo per la sua disponibilità e chiarezza, nella viva
speranza che quel “seme” di cui parlavo all’inizio di questo articolo,
custodito nelle nuove generazioni, possa
davvero trovare in ITALIA “terreno fertile” in cui germogliare e crescere…
questa volta con abbondanza di acqua.
SE TI E' PIACIUTO QUESTO POST NON PUOI PERDERE:
LA VERA "GENESI" DELL'UOMO E' COME CI HANNO SEMPRE RACCONTATO? OPPURE E' UNA STORIA COMPLETAMENTE DIVERSA?
"L'UOMO KOSMICO", TEORIA DI UN'EVOLUZIONE NON RICONOSCIUTA"
" IL RISVEGLIO DEL CADUCEO DORMIENTE: LA VERA GENESI DELL'HOMO SAPIENS"
DI MARCO LA ROSA
SONO EDIZIONI OmPhi Labs
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Hangout About MagVita Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression
A couple of months ago MagVenture’s MagVita transcranial magnetic stimulation system received FDA approval and in 2011 it was the first TMS system approved in the European Union. It’s used to treat major depressive disorder in patients who failed to respond to other therapies. We held a live hangout with Kerry Rome, VP of Sales at MegVenture, who discussed the device with us and its applications.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Smartwatch detects objects touched by wearer
A prototype smartwatch developed by scientists at Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University can identify objects that the wearer is touching.
Objects give off different electro-magnetic signals depending on their operations and composition. Using the human body as an antenna, the EM-Sense watch filters these signals to determine what objects the user is in contact with. Software can distinguish between a host of different everyday items, from drills and door handles, to computer screens and toothbrushes.
Calendar reminders could be activated by touching different objects, such as the handle of a door at home or in an office.
“Our approach exploits unintentional EM noise emitted by many everyday electrical and electromechanical objects, such as kitchen appliances, computing devices, power tools and automobiles,” the study’s abstract states.
“These signals tend to be highly characteristic, owing to unique internal operations (e.g., brushless motors, capacitive touchscreens) and different enclosure designs, material composition and shielding. When a user makes physical contact with these objects, electrical signals propagate through the user’s body, as it is conductive. By modifying a commodity software-defined radio receiver, we can detect and classify these signals in real time, enabling robust, on-touch object detection.”
Source: Disney Research
This ability to quantify the surrounding environment through touch alone has a range of practical applications. Calendar reminders could be activated by touching different objects, such as the handle of a door at home or in an office. Navigation information could be delivered when car keys are picked up, or instructions and diagrams provided when using power tools.
Because the EM-Sense prototype uses an off-the-shelf software-defined radio, the technology could potentially be incorporated into smartwatches and other products in the near future.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Nanotechnology could help artificial kidney filter blood
Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Vanderbilt University have developed new nanotechnology that could lead to a surgically implantable, artificial kidney.
Using a silicon nanofilter to remove toxins, salts, some small molecules, and water from the blood, the researchers have created a prototype device that mimics the function of a human kidney. Based on manufacturing methods used in the production of semiconductor electronics and microelectromechanical systems, the cup-sized device is designed to function on blood pressure alone, without a pump or electrical power.
According to the researchers, the silicon nanofilters have several advantages over the filters currently used in dialysis machines, including a more uniform pore size. The device will be connected internally to the patient’s blood supply and bladder and implanted near the patient’s own kidneys, which are not removed.
“We are increasing the options for people with chronic kidney disease who would otherwise be forced onto dialysis,” said nephrologist William Fissell from Vanerbilt University.
The research recently received a $6 million grant through the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering’s Quantum Program. In September the project was selected by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new Expedited Access Pathway, a programme intended to speed development of medical devices with the potential to combat life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases.
“We aim to conduct clinical trials on an implantable, engineered organ in this decade, and we are coordinating our efforts with both the NIH and the US Food and Drug Administration,” said Shuvo Roy, a bioengineer from UCSF who led the research with Fissell.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
SYMBIS Brain Biopsy Robot FDA Cleared for Procedures Inside MRI
Deerfield Imaging (Minneapolis, MN) received FDA green light to introduce its SYMBIS stereotactic brain biopsy system in the U.S. The robotic system allows for a biopsy to be performed while the patient is inside an MRI scanner, with the goal being improved targeting and faster procedure times. Being able to visualize the target while working toward reaching it can significantly improve tissue sampling, hopefully also reducing repeat biopsies.
Since IMRIS, a part of Deerfield Imaging, produces intra-op MRIs, the SYMBIS biopsy robot nicely fits in with the company’s existing product line.
The company has plans to use the SYMBIS robot as a platform to build other tools for varying neurosurgical and maybe even other applications.
Regarding the FDA clearance, Deerfield Imaging President and CEO Jay D. Miller said, “Developing a new image-guided neurosurgical robot is a big undertaking with many challenges. This is a major milestone and the result of commitment from our team to produce core technology upon which we believe future neurosurgical applications beyond biopsy can be built.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Quantum technology used to embed security in objects
Scientists at Lancaster University have developed a way to embed unique security codes into any type of device, using quantum technology to create nano-scale identities which they claim can’t be cloned.
The research, published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, is being commercialised via Quantum Base, a spin-out company from the university. Known as Q-ID, the device operates without passwords or counterfeit tags that can be imitated. According to the system’s inventors, this marks a significant leap forward from current security solutions.
Electronically stimulating an atomically random system, represented above by a key, produces a unique pattern that can be used for authentication or identification
Source: Lancaster University
Electronically stimulating an atomically random system, represented above by a key, produces a unique pattern that can be used for authentication or identification.
“The invention involves the creation of devices with unique identities on a nano-scale employing…quantum technology,” said first author Jonathan Roberts, a Lancaster University Physics PhD student of the EPSRC NOWNANO Doctoral Training Centre. “Each device we’ve made is unique, 100 per cent secure and impossible to copy or clone.”
Q-ID uses an electronic measurement with CMOS compatible technology, which the Lancaster team says can be easily integrated into existing chip manufacturing processes. On top of the primary security function, the device could also provide the ability to track and trace objects across a supply chain.
“One could imagine our devices being used to identify a broad range of products, whether it is authentication of branded goods, SIM cards, important manufacturing components, the possibilities are endless,” said Dr Robert Young, the research leader at Lancaster University and co-founder of Quantum Base.
According to the study, simulating the structures would require vast computing power and would not be achievable in a reasonable timescale, even using quantum computers. Due to the fact that the underlying structure is unknown unless pulled apart atom by atom, the security is virtually unbreakable.
“Q-IDs markedly increase the security gap between the good guys and the bad guys,” said Phil Speed, another co-founder of Quantum Base. “This is truly a step change in authentication and authorisation.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Quantum technology roadmap unveiled for the UK
The UK National Quantum Technologies Programme (UK NQTP) has laid out its plans to capitalise on the rapid advancements being made in the quantum sector.
At a launch event at The Royal Society, the NQTP unveiled its Roadmap for Quantum Technologies, which involves identification and investment in applications such as gravity imaging, quantum sensors, and quantum computing. Based around the principles and properties of quantum mechanics, quantum technology is a burgeoning area of industry that is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years.
Last year the government committed £270m of investment to quantum technologies.
Set up to take advantage of this opportunity, the NQTP is a coordinated effort between a range of government departments, as well as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). At a time when funding for science is increasingly under threat, the government’s commitment last year to £270 million of investment in quantum technologies is indicative of the sector’s potential.
“Quantum technology may sound like science fiction, yet the reality is that it has the power to transform many aspects of our daily lives from the way we communicate, to the way we manage our health,” said Dr Richard Murray, emerging technologies and industries technologist at Innovate UK.
“UK universities are playing a major role to develop and expand the range of quantum technologies on offer. Quantum technologies have the potential to boost the economy – but, in order to take them out of the laboratory and into the commercial world, we need to help make the right connections between business and academia.”
According to the NQTP, a primary goal of the roadmap is to translate the UK’s breakthrough quantum developments into profitable short- and long- term market opportunities across the finance, defence, aerospace, energy and telecommunications sectors.
“For the UK to realise its economic potential, we need to open the eyes of the business community and shine a light on the areas where it can have the most relevance,” said Prof David Delpy, chairman of the NQTP Strategic Advisory Board.
“By helping businesses to understand how it can be applied to their sector through the Roadmap, the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme can help companies identify who they need to work with to turn this opportunity into something which will impact the bottom line.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Mini-pump technology could help detect lung cancer
A new miniature pump from The Technology Partnership (TTP) is being used in a cancer detection system that its developers say could save over 10,000 lives by 2020.
Disc Pump, which is about the size of two £2 coins stacked together, is part of the LuCID (Lung Cancer Indicator Detection) programme developed by Cambridge manufacturer Owlstone. The programme hopes to deliver a cheaper, smaller and non-invasive method of identifying pulmonary disease.
Th pump is about the size of two £2 coins stacked together.
Working at ultrasonic frequencies, Disc Pump cycles 21,000 times per second. Each of these cycles passes a minute volume of air (100 nanolitres) over sensors, allowing the detection of low concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds can be early-stage indicators of diseases including lung cancer.
“TTP’s novel pump enables us to get the best out of our gas analyser and create a more responsive, more sensitive lung cancer detector,” said Alastair Taylor, chief product manager at Owlstone.
The pump can be configured to deliver pressures of 400mbar and flow rates exceeding 1L/min with fully adjustable control. According to TTP, the rate at which each pin-head-sized sample of air is captured makes it effective at identifying very low concentrations, with the even flow and high number of cycles improving the quality of measurements.
LuCID is due to enter Phase 2 clinical trials this month. As well as being used in this detection system, Disc Pump also has a role in Owlstone’s companion system to capture a patient’s breath. It can be turned on and off in a millisecond, meaning a sample can be taken at a precise point of exhalation. TTP also believes there are applications that go beyond pulmonary medicine.
“We are incredibly excited about working with Owlstone, and this is just one of the medical applications where Disc Pump’s novel characteristics can have a dramatic impact,” said Tom Harrison, project manager at TTP.
“In addition to this area of healthcare, we are actively pursuing many other opportunities that range from sleep apnea to vascular therapy.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
France Floats New Offshore Technologies
France faces a conundrum — encouraging offshore wind generation while maintaining the allure of its legendary Mediterranean beaches. The solution, according to Wind Power Monthly, is to install damping pool floating platforms far offshore, while inshore waters get vertical axis turbines (VAT) that are lower and less visible Floatgen floating platforms 55 m across handle large turbines, while the Spinfloat VAT promises to reduces platform and erection costs.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Sniffing out Bacteria in Water
Researchers have developed a bioelectronic nose to detect bacteria in water, according to ECN. The "nose" is designed to work like a human nose and can detect tiny amounts of bacteria and determine if the water is toxic or just smells bad. Traditionally, water is tested for bacteria contamination using gas chromatography or mass spectroscopy. The new nose-like device can detect smells at concentrations of 10 ng/L of water.
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No Fluorescence Required
The activity of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and other molecules can now be captured in seconds rather than minutes with new advancements to traditional vivo vibrational spectroscope imaging. Previously, the approach used fluorescent labels and a spectrometer that collected light going through samples. The new advancement eliminates the need for a spectrometer by imparting the photons that go into the specimen with known signature vibrational frequencies.
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Rapid Analysis of Virus Structures
Viruses and virus-like particles (VLPs) that mimic the activity of viruses are crucial for the development of vaccines and drugs, reports BioPharm International. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) can determine the structures of virus particles and VLPs and quantify particle size, heterogeneity, and aggregate content. The rapid analysis technology now allows for multiple detection angles to be taken on a single measurement platform.
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Mass Spec Accurately Measures Hormone
Inaccuracy in testing the parathyroid hormone (PTH), a hormone measured in patients with renal disease, has led researchers to implement mass spectrometry (MS) in an attempt to improve results. According to Drug, Discovery & Development, PTH has been inaccurately measured for more than 50 years. Researchers have determined that mass spectrometry can more completely detect, identify, and quantify full length PTH and selected fragments from renal patient plasma.
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Graphene's Role in Metrology
Graphene might answer the needs of scientists hoping to base the standard for the unit of electrical resistance upon quantum mechanical phenomena. As a recent article in IEEE Spectrum notes, some researchers want to exploit the quantum version of the Hall effect to produce a reference standard for the Ohm. Until recently, doing so required a massive superconducting magnet and temperatures within a few degrees of absolute zero. However, two different teams of researchers now report that using graphene in the Hall sensor lets it operate at higher temperatures and with a lower magnetic field.
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The Picture of Health
Helping medical professionals quickly and accurately find a vein when drawing blood (and thus avoid errant "sticks"), this vein visualizing device uses near-infrared light to gather an image of a patient's vein structure, then optically projects a vein "map" — unveiling vein patterns up to 15 mm deep — on the patient's skin.
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Breakthrough could make graphene 100 times cheaper
Researchers from Glasgow University have discovered a new method for producing graphene that could make it 100 times cheaper.
Widespread manufacture of the material - which consists of sheets of carbon just one atom thick - has so far been limited to some degree by cost. One of the primary methods for producing graphene is chemical vapour deposition, or CVD. This turns gaseous reactants into a film of graphene on a substrate. Though many materials can act as the substrate, copper is one of the most common.
Up until now an expensive type of copper has been needed, and it has often had to be treated before it was suitable as a substrate. But the Glasgow researchers have developed a similar method that produces high-grade graphene from commercially available copper, making the process around 100 times cheaper than current techniques.
“Our process produces high-quality graphene at low cost, taking us one step closer to creating affordable new electronic devices with a wide range of applications, from the smart cities of the future to mobile healthcare,” said Dr Ravinder Dahiya from Glasgow University’s School of Engineering.
“The commercially-available copper we used in our process retails for around one dollar per square metre, compared to around $115 for a similar amount of the copper currently used in graphene production. This more expensive form of copper often required preparation before it can be used, adding further to the cost of the process.”
Hailed by some as a ’wonder material’ since its discovery in the 2000s, graphene has a range of potential uses, from electronics and sensors, to energy storage and healthcare. Dahiya’s personal area of interest is synthetic skin, and he believes graphene could help produce prosthetics capable of delivering complex sensation to the wearers.
“Much of my own research is in the field of synthetic skin,” he said in a statement. “Graphene could help provide an ultraflexible, conductive surface which could provide people with prosthetics capable of providing sensation in a way that is impossible for even the most advanced prosthetics today.”
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Airbus Helicopters to conduct rotor blade research and investigate light armour.
Safer, more reliable helicopter blades, and more lightweight armour protection for the aircraft are being developed in research being carried out in the UK.
Airbus Helicopters UK, based at Oxford Airport, is taking part in two government-funded projects to develop technologies for blade health monitoring and armour protection.
The first of the two projects, worth £2m and part-funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute, will develop technologies to measure blade deformations in flight.
The project, which also involves Cranfield University under the leadership of PhD student Simone Weber, BHR Group and SME Helitune, will develop a tool to constantly monitor rotorcraft blades during flight, and to measure their performance under different conditions, according to Richard Atack, head of design and engineering at Airbus Helicopters UK.
“The goal of the project is to implement a health and usage monitoring system,” he said. “So you would monitor the blades throughout the duration of the flight, and then the data would be downloaded to record any anomalies.”
That will allow operators to better understand how the blades fly, and ultimately therefore to extend the periods between maintenance and reduce costs.
The system will consist of a Fiber Bragg Grating, or a fiber optic cable with a series of sensors down its length. This will be laid onto the rotor blade, although in the future it may be possible to build it into the blade itself, said Atack. “This would then sense the stress and strain on the blade while it is deflecting in flight, and that would be recorded and matched against a mathematical model to compare how the blade should fly and how it is actually flying,” he said.
By better understanding how the blade performs under different conditions, it should also allow operators to optimise their flight paths and thereby reduce travel times, the company said.
The second project, worth £1.2m and supported by the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, will develop lower weight, lower cost helicopter armour. The project, which will be led by partner NetComposites under the Dual Use Technology Exploitation (DUTE) cluster, will aim to develop armour that can be produced at an increased rate, and to enable more flexibility in military helicopter design.
The team will be using a radio frequency tooling technique to mould woven composite armour into different shapes, allowing them to make better use of the material than with existing flat panels, said Atack.
The technique allows the material to be heated and cooled at different points. In this way the material can be moulded into shape when cool, and then heated at that specific point in order to solidify it.
“So if you wanted to build seat (armour) for example, you would typically use a back plate and two side plates, whereas this technique can produce one integral formed panel,” he said. “This would sit around the seat, so you wouldn’t have any weak points.”
The project will mature existing technologies, reducing their time to market from up to 15 years to three.
The technology could also be used in areas such as personal protection and body armour, a global market estimated to be worth £2.4bn in 2013. “Body armour typically consists of flat plates that sit on the chest, and the aim is to develop armour that is able to mould around the body,” Atack said.
Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University are investigating the ergonomics of the human form, to understand how a mouldable material would work with the body.
The projects are the first time Airbus Helicopters has participated in UK government-led industrial development, and are part of an overall strategy to increase its UK-based research.
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New Technique Gives Transistors a Power Boost
While researchers knew about vanadium oxide's unique metal-to-insulator transition property, it was very difficult to synthesize. That problem has been overcome by materials scientists at Penn State University. As a result, the team has been able to add thin-film vanadium oxide to sapphire wafers and realize hybrid field-effect transistors, called hyper-FETs. These are more energy efficient than traditional transistors.
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Ekano laparoscopic surgery system brings down cost of keyhole surgery
Minimally invasive surgery carries less risk to patients than conventional procedures, and reduces recovery times.
But the cost of the laparoscopic equipment needed to carry out such procedures puts them out of reach of many hospitals in the developing world, particularly those in rural areas.
Now a concept system the size of a small suitcase could showcase the future of surgery in countries such as India and China.
The Ekano laparoscopic surgery system, developed by product design company Cambridge Consultants, could be used by surgeons in developing countries to perform operations via small incisions in the abdomen.
Conventional laparoscopy equipment can cost more than £100,000, while the Ekano system would cost around a quarter of the price, according to Rahul Sathe, head of surgical innovation for emerging markets at Cambridge Consultants.
The system creates its own WiFi hotspot that allows the surgical team to upload pre-operative images to help them plan the procedure, or to share data wirelessly with colleagues.
The portable system can be mounted on an IV pole in the operating theatre, to limit the amount of space it takes up.
Instead of using expensive three-chip camera sensors, the system uses a significantly cheaper single-chip sensor equipped with optical filtering and image processing, to allow it to enhance the pictures produced to ensure they are of comparable quality.
“In interviewing surgeons we found that in most basic procedures the key need was to visualise anatomy clearly, so that the surgeon can then make his or her own decision about what to do,” said Sathe. “So as long as they can see tissue in the right depth of field, with the right light, they can then manipulate tissue, dissect it or perform a procedure.”
The large and expensive xenon light sources typically used in theatres in the developed world, which require frequent maintenance, are also replaced with a compact LED array.
The system can be used with interchangeable tool tips, to allow the surgeon to use it for different types of procedures, Sathe said. “In emerging markets there is huge emphasis on total cost of ownership, so surgeons and hospitals prefer not to use disposable devices, but rather to pay more for a reusable device and be able to use it over multiple cases,” he said.
A team of product designers and engineers from the company visited hospitals in India to develop an understanding of the needs of surgeons in developing countries.
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ENEA with Westinghouse for an innovative Lead-cooled Fast Reactor
Westinghouse Electric Company announced the presentation of a proposal for the development of a Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) aimed at achieving new levels of energy affordability, safety and flexibility. ENEA will perform core design and analysis for the demonstration reactor.
Westinghouse Electric Company – the main vendor of nuclear systems in the world – announced the presentation of a proposal for the development of a Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) that will be designed to achieve new levels of energy affordability, safety and flexibility. The proposal was submitted for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) upcoming investment in advanced reactor concepts that can be demonstrated in the 2035 timeframe, for the next clean-energy innovation.
The Westinghouse led team, almost entirely American, gathers some of the main national laboratories (Argonne, Idaho, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos), universities (MIT, Wisconsin, California-Berkeley and Pittsburgh) and industries (Hydromine, Exelon and Ceramic Tubular Products). The only exception is for the participation of ENEA, included by Westinghouse to complement the team competences and ensure success to the proposal. The presence of ENEA “offers access to world-class well-established lead reactor technology facilities and expertise, matured through over 15 years of experience with lead technology”.
Specifically, at the research center in Bologna ENEA will perform core design and analysis for the demonstration reactor and provide general support in plant analysis. ENEA will also perform corrosion testing for structural materials, exploiting the experimental facilities at the Brasimone research center, which are among the largest in the world for heavy liquid metal testing.
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Water management: in Jordan a pilot initiative within the ‘Water-Drop’ Project
ENEA Headquarters hosted the Seminar “Water-DROP capitalization seminar: Italian experiences in ENPI CBC MED projects” on the theme of water in all its aspects: from sanitation to water resource management , to water use efficiency.
The Secretary General of the Jordan Ministry of Water and Irrigation Basem Ali Telfah (in the picture on the left, next to Filippo Moretti of ENEA, Coordinator of the project “Water DROP”) was among the leading figures at the seminar.
The project “Water DROP” (Water Development Opportunity Policies for Water Management in semi-arid areas), coordinated by ENEA, conducts monitoring of fresh and coastal water in Lebanon, treatment and water reuse for agriculture in Palestine, rainwater collection in Jordan and a feasibility study for the environmental restoration of the swamp of Torre Flavia in the Latium Region in Italy, all to the benefit of the almost three million citizens living in the four areas defined by “Water DROP” as “pilot” initiatives.
The objective is to establish a common area of peace, stability and prosperity among the Mediterranean Countries of the European Union (EUMC) and the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC). The project, lasting two years, is co-financed by 90% by the EU, with a financial contribution of approximately 1.7 million euro, 50% of which destined to the Southern Mediterranean Countries.
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Electric chip pulls unchanged nanoparticles out of blood
A technique developed for pharmaceutical research which pulls nanoparticles out of complex fluids without changing either’s properties could have far-reaching effects for industry
Graphical representation of the technique developed in Michael Heller’s lab. The purple arcs represent the electric field generated by the circular electrodes, pulling the yellow nanoparticles away from the red blood cells.
A technique developed by medical researchers to separate nanoparticles from blood plasma could have extended applications in industry, for separating the minute particles from other complex fluids, a concern across many sectors including environmental technologies.
The very small size of nanoparticles, and their tendency to exist at low density in solutions, makes them difficult to separate. This is a particular concern when the nanoparticles have some pharmaceutical effect, as researchers would like to be able to pull them out of the blood plasma for study, for example to see how proteins in the blood bind to their surfaces and affect their efficacy.
“We were interested in a fast and easy way to take these nanoparticles out of plasma so we could find out what’s going on at their surfaces and redesign them to work more effectively in blood,” said Michael Heller, a nanoengineering professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering of the University of California in San Diego, who led the research.
The nanoparticle removal chip, placed next to a US 10-cent coin for comparison
Previous methods for separating nanoparticles have depended on altering the properties of the particles in some way, which makes them more difficult to study after separation. Heller’s team used a technique employing electric fields, using a chip smaller than a penny developed by a company called Biological Dynamics, which had in fact licensed the underlying technology from UC San Diego in the first place.
The chip contains an array of hundreds of very small electrodes that generate an electric field that oscillates 15,000 times per second. When a nanoparticle-laden fluid passes through this field, positive and negative charges inside the particles and the fluid reorient themselves: but the ones in the particles move at a different speed. This sets up a momentary charge imbalance, the result of which is that the particles are attracted to the electrodes. This attraction repeats every time the current oscillates, pulling the particles out of solution. Heller’s team managed to clear plasma of a variety of nanoparticles used in medicine in about 7mins, as they explain in a paper in the journal Small.
“This is the first example of isolating a wide range of nanoparticles out of plasma with a minimum amount of manipulation. We’ve designed a very versatile technique that can be used to recover nanoparticles in a lot of different processes,” said researcher Stuart Ibsen. “It’s amazing that this method works without any modifications to the plasma samples or to the nanoparticles.”
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CS-200 Color and Luminance Meter.
Konica Minolta Sensing's CS-200 Chroma Meter enables highly accurate luminance and chromaticity measurements, comparable to those of a spectroradiometer while maintaining the simplicity, operability, and competitive price. It features 40 sensors to calculate the spectral response corresponding to human eye sensitivity. Uses include display measurement, gauge measurement, backlit switch, and button measurement.
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Graphene's thermal properties open door to electronics applications
Cheaper, more reliable electronics devices could be developed using graphene components, thanks to a new research partnership.
Alpha, a US-based company that manufacturers soldering and bonding materials for the electronics industry, has announced a partnership with the National Graphene Institute at Manchester University.
Graphene, a one-atom thick form of graphite, is the world’s thinnest and most conductive material, and is expected to revolutionise industries such as the energy sector.
The partnership will investigate new applications for graphene within electronics, where the so-called wonder material’s ability to manage heat and to act as a barrier to liquid could be particularly beneficial, according to James Baker, graphene business director at Manchester University.
“Electronic devices produce heat, and that heat can make them less efficient or cause packaging or reliability issues,” he said. “So any component, whether that is a plastic component or a paste or ink, which can provide better thermal management, could potentially reduce the cost or energy consumption of the component, and improve its reliability.”
Graphene can also act as either a barrier to water or as a perfect membrane, and the researchers will investigate applications for this property within electronics.
The partnership will fund a core team of academics, while Alpha will also bring in its own applications engineers to work alongside them, Baker said. This should help to accelerate the development of some of the applications of graphene, he said.
“Alpha brings the market, production, and volume application knowledge, while the university brings the fundamental science and graphene know-how,” he said. “By bringing that together under the NGI it will act like an accelerator, to develop these applications in a much more aggressive timescale than you would do traditionally.”
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Robot makes repairs on live London gas mains
UK gas distribution network SGN and US-based ULC Robotics have developed a new robotic system for inspecting and repairing live gas mains from inside the pipes.
The Cast Iron Robotic Repair Inspection System, or CIRRIS, consists of two complimentary robots. CIRRIS XI carries out inspection, collating data on the condition of large diameter metallic mains while travelling through the pipes. Sensors monitor corrosion levels, wall thickness and the stress the pipe is under - a level of analysis that SGN claims is a world first.
CIRRIS XR is the repair robot. It injects sealant into the walls and joints of the piping, repairing leaks and helping to prevent future damage. According to SGN, the system can inspect and repair hundreds of metres of live gas main from one small excavation, improving safety and minimising disruption to road users and gas customers. CIRRIS is currently being trialled in South London, with rollout across the network planned for spring 2016.
“We’re thrilled to be trialling CIRRIS on live gas mains in London,” said Gus McIntosh, SGN innovation and new technology manager. “It’s all part of us transforming how we work in the street – we want to develop innovative solutions to repair pipes that are causing us issues now and identify others before they cause issues in the future.”
“We have a significant number of large diameter metallic pipes in densely populated, traffic sensitive areas. Historically, maintaining and upgrading these pipes involved digging multiple excavations along the route of the pipe. CIRRIS will make this essential work considerably less disruptive to local communities as we can maintain and repair up to 300m of pipe from just one small excavation.”
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Method Bonds "Un-weldable" Metals
Welding isn't used to join advanced metals because heat weakens alloy microstructures. But a discovery by Ohio State University engineers could help welding play a stronger role in future auto making. They developed a technique that joins dissimilar metals without weakening them — in fact, the technique strengthens bonds by 50% over common welding while consuming 80% less energy.
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NASA Tests Windows for Orion Spacecraft
Windows in past spacecraft were glass — problematic because of weight and structural vulnerability. NASA's search for something better for Orion includes extensive testing of candidate materials. Polycarbonates came up short in optical properties, but an acrylic chosen for strength and clarity made test flights last
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Ingestible Sensor for Measuring Heart Rate and Breathing Rate
Researchers at MIT are developing an ingestible electronic sensor that can measure a patient’s heart rate and breathing rate. Current methods to monitor vital signs require physical contact between the device and the skin or at least constant nearby presence to the patient. However, this can result in skin irritation and pain, especially in patients with burns, while with contact-free devices the patient has to remain in bed if readings are to be gathered. Additionally, measurements may not be accurate under high physical activity conditions. The ingestible sensor developed at MIT would enable monitoring of these vital signs from the inside, sans contact with the skin.
Once ingested, the sensor acquires sound waves using a small microphone. The acoustic waves are then transformed into heart rate and respiratory rate using signal processing algorithms, thus acquiring vital signs from within the GI tract. The current sensor has been tested in pigs, indicating that heart rate and respiratory rate can be accurately measured under different conditions including whether the animals were fed or fasted. Moving forward, researchers need the make the multivitamin-sized sensor entirely wireless and composed of FDA approved materials. The device would only remain in the body for one to two days, and could also be used in non-clinical settings to monitor fatigue in military personnel or athletic performance.
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Nano-technique could make solar cells less “shiny” and more efficient
Researchers at Stanford University in the US have figured out a way of boosting the efficiency of solar cells by reducing the degree to which they reflect light.
Solar cells consist of a semiconductor sandwiched between metal contacts that carry the electrical current. However, the shiny metal on the top of the cell hampers its efficiency by reflecting sunlight away from the semiconductor.
The Stanford team, which was led by graduate student Vijat Narasimhan, has used nanotechnology to make this upper contact invisible to incoming light.
In most solar cells, the upper contact consists of a metal wire grid that carries electricity to or from the device. But these wires also prevent sunlight from reaching the semiconductor, which is usually made of silicon.
For the study, the Stanford team placed a 16-nanometer-thick film of gold on a flat sheet of silicon. The gold film was riddled with an array of nanosized square holes, but to the eye, the surface looked like a shiny, gold mirror.
Optical analysis revealed that the perforated gold film covered 65 per cent of the silicon surface and reflected, on average, 50 per cent of the incoming light. The scientists reasoned that if they could somehow hide the reflective gold film, more light would reach the silicon semiconductor below.
Silicon pillars emerge from nanosize holes in a thin gold film. The pillars funnel 97 percent of incoming light to a silicon substrate, a technology that could significantly boost the performance of conventional solar cells.
The solution was to create nanosized pillars of silicon that “tower” above the gold film and redirect the sunlight before it hits the metallic surface.
These pillars were produced using a one-step chemical process which involved immersing the silicon and perforated gold film in a solution of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide “The gold film immediately began sinking into the silicon substrate, and silicon nanopillars began popping up through the holes in the film,” said study co-author Thomas Hymel.
Explaining how the pillars work, Narashiman compared the nanopillar array to a colander in your kitchen sink. “When you turn on the faucet, not all of the water makes it through the holes in the colander. But if you were to put a tiny funnel on top of each hole, most of the water would flow straight through with no problem. That’s essentially what our structure does: The nanopillars act as funnels that capture light and guide it into the silicon substrate through the holes in the metal grid.”
The group claims that the technology could boost the efficiency of a conventional solar cell from 20 to 22 per cent, and now plans to test the design on a working solar cell. “Our new technique could significantly improve the efficiency and thereby lower the cost of solar cells,” said Narasimhan.
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Microwave Excitation Generates Ultrasound to Detect Tumors Deep Inside Body
Stanford researchers working on technology for detection of buried plastic explosives may have come up with a way of spotting tumors deep within the human body. The technology works by delivering microwaves toward the area being analyzed, exciting the tissue so that it in turn emits ultrasound waves. An ultrasound transducer is then used to detect the signal and a computer processes the results to reconstruct the image.
The technology relies on capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers that are able to detect very weak signals that travel through varying media. The device doesn’t even have to make contact with the object that’s being scanned.
The team performed experiments using objects stuck into a tissue-like material, which they were able to detect while keeping the device about a foot away from the target.
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New form of solid carbon exhibits diverse range of properties
Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered a third form of solid carbon that is distinct from graphite and diamond.
The new form, or phase, has been named Q-carbon and it has a range of surprising properties, such as being ferromagnetic, harder than diamond, and glowing in the dark when exposed to low energy. Other forms of solid carbon are non-magnetic.
Q-carbon
Source: Jay Narayan/NC State
A scanning electron microscopy image of microdiamonds made using the new technique.
“We’ve now created a third solid phase of carbon,” said Jay Narayan, a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and lead author of three papers describing the work. “The only place it may be found in the natural world would be possibly in the core of some planets.”
Q-carbon is produced by starting with a substrate such as sapphire, glass or a plastic polymer. This is then coated with elemental carbon that does not have a well-defined crystalline structure like graphite or diamond. The carbon is hit with a single laser pulse lasting around 200 nanoseconds, raising its temperature to about 4,000 Kelvin. After cooling rapidly, a thin film of Q-carbon is left. Films can be made to thicknesses between 20 and 500 nanometres.
The researchers have also developed a patented method to create diamond-like structures from Q-carbon at room temperature and ambient atmospheric pressure. This is done by tweaking the rate of cooling through using different substrates and varying the length of laser bursts. Narayan believes the process could lead to inexpensive Q-carbon materials replacing diamond in a range of industrial, medical and electronic applications.
“We can make Q-carbon films, and we’re learning its properties, but we are still in the early stages of understanding how to manipulate it,” he said. “We know a lot about diamond, so we can make diamond nanodots. We don’t yet know how to make Q-carbon nanodots or microneedles. That’s something we’re working on.”
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New photonic sintering method promises big gains
Engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) say they have made a breakthrough in photonic sintering that has implications for technologies such as embedded electronics, solar cells and biomedical sensors.
Photonic sintering is used to fuse nanoparticles together to form a thin functional film. In the new research, published in Scientific Reports, the OSU team claim they have dramatically improved on previous methods, creating high quality products at much lower temperatures, at least twice as fast and with 10 times more energy efficiency.
“Photonic sintering is one way to deposit nanoparticles in a controlled way and then join them together, and it’s been of significant interest,” said Rajiv Malhotra, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the OSU College of Engineering.
“Until now, however, we didn’t really understand the underlying physics of what was going on. It was thought, for instance, that temperature change and the degree of fusion weren’t related - but in fact that matters a lot.”
According to the researchers, the new process only requires the light from a xenon lamp, which can be used over comparatively large areas, and is much faster than conventional thermal methods. Operating at lower temperatures means that the process can be used on materials such as paper that would otherwise burn. This, in turn, opens up the possibility of incorporating nanotechnology into a range of cheaper substrates, as well as improved efficiency for higher-end electronics such as biomedical sensors and photovoltaic cells.
“Lower temperature is a real key,” said Malhotra. “To lower costs, we want to print these nanotech products on things like paper and plastic, which would burn or melt at higher temperatures. We now know that is possible, and how to do it. We should be able to create production processes that are both fast and cheap, without a loss of quality.”
Other potential uses include gas sensors, radiofrequency identification tags and flexible electronics. As part of the path to commercial production, the OSU team is working with two private sector manufacturers to create a proof-of-concept facility in the laboratory.
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Graphene hybrid interacts with electromagnetic radiation
New research led by Exeter University has shown how the unique properties of graphene can be used to create artificial structures that can control and manipulate electromagnetic radiation over different wavelengths.
A team of international scientists, led by Exeter’s Prof Geoff Nash have engineered a new hybrid structure - or metamaterial - that is claimed to possess specific characteristics that are not found in natural materials.
According to the university, the team combined nano-ribbons of graphene, in which electrons are able to oscillate backwards and forwards, together with a split ring resonator, which is a type of antenna.
Careful design of these two elements leads to a system that interacts strongly with electromagnetic radiation. In these experiments the team used light with very long wavelengths to show that these new structure can be used as a type of optical switch to interrupt, and turn on and off, a beam of this light very quickly.
The collaborative international research included Dr Sergey Mikhailov at the University of Augsburg, Germany, and Prof Jérôme Faist at ETH Zurich.
In a statement, Prof Geoff Nash, from Exeter University’s Department of Engineering said: “In these novel results we demonstrate a new type of structure which can be used not only as an exciting test bed to explore the underlying new science, but that could form the basis of a range of technologically important components.”
The research was carried out as part of the EU FET Open Project GOSFEL , which aims to develop an entirely new laser source for applications such as gas sensing.
Prof Nash said: “One of the key characteristics of our structure is that it has the effect of focussing the electromagnetic radiation into an area much smaller than its wavelength.”
“This could potentially lead to new ways of undertaking ultra-high resolution spectroscopy of, for example, bio molecules. Working with colleagues in Biosciences we are already starting to explore some of these effects, with undergraduates from our innovative interdisciplinary Natural Sciences programme, and postgraduates from the Exeter EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials.”
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Internal Bone Lengthening Device Developed at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso
At the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso orthopedist Dr. Amr Abdelgawad, with help from Noe Hernandez of Carnegie Mellon University, has invented a bone lengthening implant which can be used to lengthen the bones of young children. Conventional bone lengthening Ilizarov apparatuses are external structures attached to a bisected bone by large pins inserted through the skin and tissue. The Ilizarov device slowly separates the bisected bone, allowing for new bone growth. Though this is the current standard concerning bone lengthening, it cannot be used on young children due to the potential danger to their growth plates, the area in the bone that contains growing tissue.
Dr. Abdelgawad’s device is a thin metal plate that can be implanted alongside the bone with screws anchored directly to the bone elected to be lengthened. Through the use of an external remote control, physicians have the ability to lengthen the metal plate, and in turn the patient’s bone over time. Dr. Abdelgawad’s device has several advantages over devices on the market right now, including decreased risk of infection, decreased pain, and the accessibility to young children who may require the procedure. Though the device is still in its developmental phase it is a promising advancement from the modern methods.
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Gravitational space lab LISA Pathfinder launches successfully
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) LISA Pathfinder has successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana, beginning its mission to observe gravitational waves from space.
Artist’s impression of Pathfinder in space
Led by scientists and engineers in the UK, the project will see Pathfinder travel 1.5 million kilometres towards the sun, where it will enter into orbit around a virtual point called L1. From here, it will attempt to detect gravitational waves - ripples in space time that arise from some of the most spectacular and important events in the universe, such as supernovas and double black holes.
To do so, Pathfinder is equipped with a unique onboard laboratory. This consists of two identical 46mm gold-platinum cubes, separated by 38cm. The cubes will be isolated from all forces other than gravity, and their relative positions will be measured to within a billionth of a millimetre by a complex system of lasers.
“LISA Pathfinder is one of the most unique European space missions to date, requiring engineering that has never been done before,’ said Dr Chris Castelli, director of programmes at the UK Space Agency. “We’re immensely proud that this challenging mission to discover the unseen part of our universe was built here in the UK.”
Engineers at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage assembled the spacecraft, with SciSys UK developing the onboard software. Meanwhile, scientists from the University of Birmingham, the University of Glasgow and Imperial College London were involved in the design and build of the LISA Technology Package (LTP) that will take the measurements. It marks the first time an ESA mission has been led from the UK since the Giotto spacecraft that observed Halley’s Comet in the 1980s.
Pathfinder is expected to take around 10 weeks to reach its operational orbit, and scheduled to begin its six-month scientific mission on 1 March. If successful, it will not only provide further confirmation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, it will also pave the way for a much bigger mission, involving three cube-equipped spacecraft separated by 5 million kilometres.
Personalmente sono molto entusiasta per la risoluzione pratica dei problemi che affliggono l'umanità. Mi auguro che uste importanti innovazioni siano rese disponibili per tutti nel più breve tempo possibile. Spero che anch'io personalmente se ne avrò bisogno nel futuro ne potrò usufruire.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Siemens Simultaneous Multi-Slice MRI Technology for Fast Brain Scans
Siemens is introducing a new technology called Simultaneous Multi-Slice that promises to reduce MRI 2D scan times of the brain by up to eight times. In addition to more efficient utilization of the MRI scanner, the technique should help with imaging people who are claustrophobic or can’t lay still for very long, especially children. The company expects that many scans that were only used in more challenging cases will be made available as routine for expanded applications. Perhaps Simultaneous Multi-Slice can even help improve how intra-operative MRI is used in the OR.
As the name of the technology implies, Simultaneous Multi-Slice captures multiple slices at the same time as opposed to slice-by-slice as has been standard on all MRI scanners in the past.
More info according to Siemens:
A new application called GOBrain enables clinically validated brain examinations in just five minutes, and was developed in collaboration with the Department of Radiology and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in the U.S. Facilitated in part by Siemens’ high-channel density coils and the unique MRI scanning software, DotGO, the clinically essential image orientations and contrasts are acquired at the push of a button. Patient throughput is improved, and costs per scan can potentially be reduced. Shorter scan times are better tolerated by patients, and can help reduce rescans and/or sedation, which can be time-consuming and costly.
In addition to speed and quality, standardization across systems is also an important element for hospitals when it comes to meeting healthcare efficiency demands. With its syngo MR E11 software platform, Siemens introduces a uniform application platform for the Magnetom family. The first available scanners will be the Magnetom Aera 1.5T and Magnetom Skyra 3T systems, then expanding to the portfolio. The focus, in addition to expanding the application offering, is achieving consistency across the entire fleet of scanners and managing these effectively. One consistent user interface, as well as intuitive protocol optimization allowed by the DotGO scanning software further aid in providing standardization and reproducibility. The syngo MR E11 software platform and applications are also designed for the MR-PET scanner Biograph mMR, which has now scanned over 50,000 patients. A new technology called BodyCOMPASS is designed to enable motion-free PET images with MR-based motion compensation beyond gating, which could be particularly beneficial in delineating abdominal and lung lesions which are prone to motion. This and other planned improvements with the new software show the synergistic potential of the Biograph mMR, as it utilizes the MR information to improve PET beyond its current capabilities. An advanced and unique whole-body PET Attenuation Correction with a 5-compartment is planned to be available to also include bones, and is designed to result in an even better comparability to PET/CT.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Euston Tube trial for Wayfindr blind navigation system
Wayfindr, a new digital navigation system for visually impaired people, is being trialled at Euston underground station.
The project is a non-profit collaboration between the youth forum of the Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB) and digital studio ustwo. It uses a network of Bluetooth beacons that deliver audio instructions via a smartphone app, guiding people to their desired platform or exit.
“Bluetooth has a few constraints, but the latest devices, from the iPhone5 and up, I think the experience is pretty good,” Wayfindr product designer Georgios Maninis told The Engineer.
Source: Wayfindr
“The question is how you configure the beacons. It’s not as straightforward as putting them up, having a navigation algorithm, and you just go. It has to do with the timings you give, the instructions. It has to do with how far (in advance) you get the instructions. So there is a lot of effort going on in configuring the beacons so that we get these things right.”
Wayfindr has been backed from early in its development by London Underground, and has already undergone a successful trial at Pimlico station. According to Maninis, however, the Euston trial presents a much bigger challenge for a number of reasons.
“Pimlico is a quiet station where we wanted to prove that the system works,” he said. “Now, the challenge is how the system will perform in a really busy station.”
“Also the scope that we have been asked to deliver by TfL is bigger, because it’s a full scale trial, whereas at Pimlico it was just a couple of routes going down to one platform and coming up.”
Earlier in the year, the project was awarded a grant of $1m by Google.org, a charitable branch of the tech giant. It’s hoped this grant will help accelerate the project, with international expansion and integration with digital navigation services such as Citymapper and Google Maps via the Wayfindr Standard. This will be the first open standard developed for such systems.
“The vision is, how can we help these guys adopt the standard and integrate it into their services,” said Maninis. “We believe these services are doing a really great job, and instead of designing just another digital navigational service, how can we embrace all of them and provide the best outcome for visually impaired people.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Rapid ID of Squishiness of Cells to Help Improve Cancer Diagnostics
It has been established a long time ago that cancer cells can have a drastically different pliability than healthy cells, typically being considerably squishier. Researchers at UCLA have been building on this fact by creating a device that can rapidly screen large numbers of cells for their “mechanotype”. The team believes that cells’ mechanical properties, particularly their pliability, is an under utilized label-free biomarker that holds clues to the exact nature of each cell.
Through a technique called parallel microfiltration method (PMF), which involves trying to push a liquid and cell mixture through narrow channels, their device can quickly classify passing cells as to their squishiness. The harder cells have a more difficult time going through the channels than softer, more pliable cells.
What they discovered when they were actually able to break large numbers of ovarian cancer cells into groups by their squishiness is that the malignant and drug resistant cells were considerably softer than their benign and drug sensitive counterparts.
By further investigating cancer cells’ mechanotypes it is hoped that cancer diagnostics can be improved and the search for new therapies can be aided with the new tool.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Liquid Metal Helps Spot and Kill Tumor Cells
Liquid metal is best known for its role in Terminator movies, but the material may serve an important role in targeted drug delivery for fighting cancer. Researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are using gallium indium alloy, a liquid metal, to both identify tumors and to ferry doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic, directly to cancer cells.
So far the technology has only been tested in animals, but it’s showing considerable promise due to its seemingly low toxicity, the ability to spot and target tumors, and the ease with which large quantities of the stuff can be manufactured.
The gallium indium is mixed with two polymeric ligands in a liquid solution following which ultrasound is used to create tiny liquid metal droplets. The ligands attach to the nanodroplets as they separate from the rest of the liquid metal and oxidization on the surface of the droplets prevents them from fusing with the remaining liquid metal.
One of the ligands sticks to doxorubicin when it’s added to the mixture, and when the droplets are pulled out they come with the drug already attached. The other ligand sticks to cancer cells, automatically bringing doxorubicin precisely to the cancerous target.
While the technique uses doxorubicin to attack tumors, it can be used in the same way to seek out and identify the locations of tumors. That’s because metal is easily seen on imaging scans, so as long as large quantities of it end up in the same area that means that’s where the tumor is.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Smart dressing monitors patients’ wounds
Researchers from Ireland and the Netherlands have developed a new smart dressing called DermaTrax, which is capable of monitoring chronic wounds and transmitting data wirelessly to a nurses’ station.
DermaTrax is the result of a collaboration between Irish organisations the Tyndall National Institute and Fleming Medical, alongside Dutch R&D outfit Holst Centre/TNO. Using a range of sensors, the dressing measures the temperature, moisture and pH of wounds, without the need to remove the bandaging and disturb the patient.
Artist’s impression of the DermaTrax smart dressing
“Our research focuses on integrating sensors and electronics into flexible materials, without compromising the characteristics of these materials,” said Dr Jeroen van den Brand, programme manager at Holst Centre/TNO.
“One of our activities is the development of health patches that measure vital signs varying from skin temperature to ECG. Applying this knowledge to the development of smart dressing fits perfectly with the scope of our research.”
According to the researchers, chronic wounds can be costly to treat. They are also a health issue that is on the rise, particularly in countries with ageing populations. The ability to monitor the condition of these wounds remotely will potentially make care easier, more comfortable for the patient, and more cost–effective for healthcare organisations.
“The cost of chronic wound-care can be very high,” said Dr Conor O’Mahony, project leader at the Tyndall National Institute.
“For instance, in the UK alone, around 200,000 patients are treated for chronic wounds yearly at an estimated annual cost of £4bn. Because of this cost, it is vital for patients and the taxpayer alike that these wounds are managed effectively.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
ESA uses robot arm to practise Asteroid Impact Mission
The European Space Agency (ESA) has run through the final approach of its planned Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), which will see it attempt to land on one of the Didymos double asteroids.
AIM will be the first mission to explore a double asteroid, and has a launch window that opens in October 2020. It is part of the joint ESA/NASA Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project, which will see the US space agency launch its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission component in July 2021. AIM’s landing attempt will take place in 2022.
Using a robotic arm to simulate the spacecraft’s approach, the ESA team tested the navigation camera that will hopefully enable AIM to land on the smaller of the two asteroids. The mission will attempt to replicate some aspects of the ESA’s groundbreaking Rosetta mission that saw a probe successfully land on a comet for the first time in history.
Source: ESA
“One of AIM’s objectives is to put down a lander on the smaller of the Didymos asteroids using onboard autonomy and very limited resources,” said Ian Carnelli, ESA’s AIM project manager.
The project will use dedicated visual navigation software and forego more costly proximity sensors. The camera itself has a detector that acquires the images, a ‘frame store’ for their intermediate storage and an image-processing chip to perform the feature tracking, before providing the information to AIM’s guidance and navigation computer. According to the ESA, the vehicle’s laser communication package could also be reused to measure height above the asteroid.
“The ultimate goal for AIM is to demonstrate new ways to explore small Solar System bodies in the future, so we are testing this approach as fully as possible,” said Carnelli.
“In effect, the test bench is a fully fledged optical and robotic laboratory, testing AIM’s approach and the lander descent right down to deployment altitude.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
UK team working on yeast alternative to palm oil
Researchers from the Universities of Bath and York are working on a yeast-based alternative to palm oil, which they hope to be able to produce on an industrial scale.
Palm oil has a wide range of uses including biofuel, cosmetics and as an ingredient in foods such as cakes and biscuits. However, farming of palm is associated with widespread deforestation, particularly in parts of South East Asia. The environmental impact includes loss of habitat for wildlife, water pollution, and carbon emissions resulting from fires used to clear the land.
The yeast can be grown under non-sterile conditions on a variety of agricultural and food wastes.
Previous work at Bath involved the production of a thick oil nearly identical in properties to palm oil, using the yeast Metschnikowia pulcherrima. The yeast can be grown under non-sterile conditions on a variety of agricultural and food wastes, and the researchers believe it could provide an alternative to palm and the destructive farming methods that often accompany it.
“This project is an exciting opportunity for us to develop a renewable alternative to palm oil, while developing further sustainable technologies that could have a significant impact on many other UK sectors,” said lead researcher Dr Chris Chuck, from Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering.
Dr Chris Chuck
“The yeast is naturally oleaginous, which means that certain strains can accumulate triglyceride oils within the cell. If you culture the yeast under the right conditions we can get up to 50 per cent of the cell weight to be oil. Certain conditions, different strains and growing methods will change the composition of the oil, but it is possible to match the composition exactly to palm oil.”
The team has just been awarded a £4.4m grant via BBSRC, EPSRC and Innovate UK to further develop the technology and techniques. To commercialise the process, production must be scaled-up to industrial levels. According to Chuck, this will involve some engineering challenges, but also opportunities to harvest by-products to help mitigate the costs.
“Oleaginous yeasts are grown aerobically so it is important to provide enough oxygen, (but) on a larger scale this is tricky to do cost effectively,” he told The Engineer.
“We are also aiming to continually extract co-products to reduce the overall costs of the oil. Development of an effective system to continually strip these is also part of the grant. Finally, for the yeast, extracting the oil by low energy means is another key challenge that we are applying novel technology to.”
Chuck says that one of the biggest challenges is developing cost-effective methods to depolymerise the feedstock. This needs to be done to release mono and oligo saccharides that the yeast can be grown on, but requires microwave heating. Scaling this up is a part of the grant project that the University of York is handling.
The project is a collaboration between scientists and engineers from Bath and York Universities.
“The grant is for developing the separate technologies together and demonstrating on the lab scale,” Chuck explained.
“The aim is to have brought these technologies together and scale up to a pilot scale demonstration by the end of the four years. If all goes to plan we will then be aiming to commercialise through our industrial stakeholders after this point.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Solar-powered purification system provides safe drinking water
A portable, solar-powered purification system that could provide people in the developing world with access to clean drinking water is under development in the UK.
Around 20 per cent of the world’s population, 1.2 billion people, live under constant threat of not having enough drinking water to survive, according to the United Nations.
The Desolenator device, which is being developed by a UK-based company of the same name, purifies and desalinates all forms of water, including seawater.
The Desolenator - a portable, solar-powered purification system that could provide people in the developing world with access to clean drinking water - is under development in the UK
The system recently won two prizes at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Innovation Awards, winning the sustainability and start-up categories.
The device, which is the size of a large flat-screen television, is equipped with all-terrain wheels for moving around in rugged areas, and can produce around 15 litres of drinking water per day. That is enough for both drinking and cooking, according to Desolenator’s CEO William Janssen.
The device is based on a solar panel that directly converts sunlight into electricity, while any excess heat generated by the process is captured and stored thanks to double-glazing covering the panels. This allows the device to harness both the electrical and heat energy produced by sunlight, said Janssen.
A thin layer of contaminated or salt water flows over the photovoltaic surface so that it absorbs the heat from the panels, reaching close to boiling point. In the process, the water cools the panels and so improves their efficiency.
“We then take the water off the collector and put it into a separate boiler, where we use the electrical output of the solar panels to accelerate the boiling of the water using a simple spiral heater,” he said.
The vapour is then fed back into the solar collector where it is distilled. “We are able to regain the latent energy in the vapour by heat exchanging it against the water that is warming up in the solar collector, so we have effectively created a circular system,” said Janssen.
A small “brine line” then filters out any salt to avoid build-up and keep the devic
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Quantum dot sensor simultaneously identifies multiple explosives
Scientists at University College London have developed a quantum dot sensor that can detect multiple explosives simultaneously.
The university says the proof-of-concept sensor is designed to quickly identify and quantify five commonly used explosives in solution to help track toxic contamination in waste water and improve the safety of public spaces.
Lead researcher, Dr William Peveler, UCL Chemistry, said: “This is the first time multiple explosives have been detected using a single sensor before, demonstrating proof-of-concept for this approach. Our sensor changes colour within 10 seconds to give information about how much and what explosives are present in a sample. Following further development, we hope it will be used to quickly analyse the nature of threats and inform tailored responses.”
The study, published in ACS Nano and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, used a fluorescent sensor to detect and differentiate between DNT, TNT, tetryl, RDX and PETN by reading unique colour change ‘fingerprints’ for each compound.
“We analysed explosives which are commonly used for industrial and military purposes to create a useful tool for environmental and security monitoring,” said Peveler. “For example, DNT is a breakdown product from landmines, and RDX and PETN have been used in terror plots in recent years as they can be hard to detect using sniffer dogs. Our test can quickly identify these compounds so we see it having a variety of applications from monitoring the waste water of munitions factories and military ranges to finding evidence of illicit activities.”
The sensor is made of quantum dots, which are tiny light-emitting particles or nanomaterials, to which explosive targeting receptors are attached. As each explosive binds to the quantum dot, it quenches the light being emitted to a different degree. The distinct changes in colour are analysed computationally in a variety of conditions to give a unique fingerprint for each compound, allowing multiple explosives to be detected with a single test.
Senior author, Prof Ivan Parkin, UCL Chemistry, said: “Our sensor is a significant step forward for multiple explosives detection. Current methods can be laborious and require expensive equipment but our test is designed to be inexpensive, fast and use a much smaller volume of sample than previously possible. Although all of these factors are important, speed and accuracy are crucial when identifying explosive compounds.”
The team plan to take it from the laboratory into the field by blind testing it with contaminated wastewater samples. They also hope to improve the sensitivity of the test by tailoring the surfaces of the quantum dots. Currently, its limit is less than one part per million which the team hope to increase into the part per billion range.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Salute: cura tumori, i progressi di TOP-IMPLART
L’acceleratore sperimentale per la cura dei tumori sviluppato dall’ENEA ha raggiunto i primi traguardi di progetto. Un passo avanti verso la realizzazione di un polo radioterapico di eccellenza nel Centro Italia. L’Agenzia sta sperimentando, inoltre, un nuovo dosimetro per la protonterapia che consentirà cure sempre più efficaci e meno invasive. Intervista al ricercatore dell’ENEA Massimo Piccinini.
L’ENEA sta sperimentando una nuova tecnologia che consentirà di migliorare la diagnostica nell’adroterapia, la tecnica radioterapica più avanzata per la cura dei tumori. Grazie infatti ai nuovi rivelatori di radiazioni a stato solido luminescenti, sarà possibile vedere e determinare con più precisione la forma e l’energia dei fasci di protoni, per colpire selettivamente e con la giusta intensità le cellule malate evitando così di danneggiare i tessuti sani circostanti.
Massimo Piccinini (ENEA) “I protoni hanno la caratteristica che nel loro percorso all’interno del corpo, rilasciano la maggior parte della loro energia proprio alla fine del loro tragitto. Questo fa si che scegliendo opportunamente l’energia del fascio di protoni, noi andremo a danneggiare maggiormente le cellule tumorali che si trovano a una certa profondità, ma danneggeremo di meno le cellule sane che si trovano prima.”
Questa tecnica innovativa è stata presentata al Convegno LIMS 2015 che si è tenuto nel Centro Ricerche ENEA di Frascati nell’ambito dell’anno internazionale della luce.
Massimo Piccinini (ENEA)“Attraverso questo detector basato sulla fotoluminescenza dei centri di colore nel fluoruro di litio, è possibile, acquisendo un’immagine che viene immagazzinata nel fluoruro di litio, vedere quale è la dimensione trasversale del fascio, quindi la sua larghezza. Capire se noi abbiamo bisogno di un fascio più piccolo perché dobbiamo irraggiare in modo più preciso una massa tumorale di piccole dimensioni. Questo detector ci permette anche di dosare la quantità di protoni che noi andremo a irraggiare sulla massa tumorale.”
I promettenti risultati dei test di laboratorio sono stati recentemente pubblicati sulla rivista americana "Applied Physics Letters". La ricerca continuerà a svilupparsi nell'ambito del progetto "TOP-IMPLART", finanziato dalla Regione Lazio, che punta a realizzare, presso l’Istituto Regina Elena di Roma, un innovativo acceleratore lineare di protoni per radioterapie oncologiche. Nei primi test questo acceleratore brevettato dall’ENEA ha raggiunto i 27 megaelettronvolt di energia. Nei prossimi anni arriverà ad accelerare fasci di protoni a 65 e successivamente 150 megaelettronvolt per poter trattare tumori oculari, pediatrici e del cranio a fino a 15 cm di profondità.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Wendelstein 7-X fusion reactor comes online
The Wendelstein 7-X fusion reactor has been powered up for plasma operation for the first time, briefly heating helium to around 1 million degrees Celsius.
The first plasma in Wendelstein 7-X.
Built by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald, Germany, W7-X is the largest and most advanced stellarator ever built. In development for well over a decade, its construction took nine years and involved over a million hours of assembly. It is hoped the reactor will act as a proof of concept, demonstrating that stellarators could be used in power stations of the future.
The next steps for the project will be to extend the duration of the plasma discharges and to investigate the best method of producing and heating helium plasmas using microwaves. In the new year, the team will make preparation for the first hydrogen plasma. To achieve nuclear fusion, W7-X will need to reach a temperature of around 100 million °C.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Metal powders have potential as recyclable fuels for transport and energy
Researchers in Canada and Europe believe metal powders could be used as a viable long-term replacement for fossil fuels.
The findings from a team at McGill University and a European Space Agency scientist in the Netherlands are detailed in the journal Applied Energy.
“Technologies to generate clean electricity – primarily solar and wind power – are being developed rapidly; but we can’t use that electricity for many of the things that oil and gas are used for today, such as transportation and global energy trade,” said McGill University professor Jeffrey Bergthorson, lead author of the study.
Flames from metal powders appear quite similar to those produced by burning hydrocarbon fuels
“Biofuels can be part of the solution, but won’t be able to satisfy all the demand; hydrogen requires big, heavy fuel tanks and is explosive, and batteries are too bulky and don’t store enough energy for many applications,” says Bergthorson, a mechanical engineering professor and Associate Director of the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design at McGill. “Using metal powders as recyclable fuels that store clean primary energy for later use is a very promising alternative solution.”
The Applied Energy paper lays out a concept for using fine metal particles to power external-combustion engines.
Unlike the internal-combustion engines used in petrol-powered cars, external-combustion engines use heat from an outside source to drive an engine. External-combustion engines, modern versions of the coal-fired steam locomotives that drove the industrial era, are widely used to generate power from nuclear, coal or biomass fuels in power stations.
The idea of burning metal powders is nothing new but relatively little research has been done in recent decades on the properties of metal flames, and the potential for metal powders to be used as a recyclable fuel in a range of applications has been largely overlooked by scientists.
The idea put forward by the McGill team takes advantage of an important property of metal powders: when burned, they react with air to form stable, nontoxic solid-oxide products that can be collected relatively easily for recycling.
Using a custom-built burner, the McGill researchers are said to have demonstrated that a flame can be stabilised in a flow of tiny metal particles suspended in air.
Flames from metal powders appear quite similar to those produced by burning hydrocarbon fuels, the researchers said. “The energy and power densities of the proposed metal-fuelled heat engines are predicted to be close to current fossil-fuelled internal combustion engines, making them an attractive technology for a future low-carbon society.”
Iron could be the primary candidate for this purpose, according to the study. Millions of tons of iron powders are already produced annually for the metallurgy, chemical and electronic industries. And iron is readily recyclable with well-established technologies, and some novel techniques can avoid the carbon dioxide emissions associated with traditional iron production using coal.
While laboratory work at McGill and elsewhere has shown that the use of metal fuels with heat engines is technically feasible, no one has yet demonstrated the idea in practice.
The next step toward turning the lab findings into usable technology, therefore, will be “to build a prototype burner and couple it to a heat engine,” Bergthorson said. “Developing metal recycling processes that don’t involve CO2 emissions is also critical.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Solid State Integrated Circuit Powered by ATP
Researchers at Columbia University have engineered an in vitro system that uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the biological cellular energy carrier, to power an integrated circuit. In the native setting, Na+/K+ ATPases hydrolyze ATP to generate energy and to maintain the cellular resting membrane potential. Researchers used these ion pumps to power a CMOS integrated circuit.
The “biocell” is composed of two lipid bilayers, embedded with ATPases from porcine cerebral cortex, stacked in series. The lipid bilayers reside in a 250-μm pore between two chambers (cis and trans) filled with a buffer solution. The biological system is connected to the integrated circuit via a thin film of Ag/AgCl, which functions as the working electrode converting ions to electrons. An Ag/AgCl pellet in the buffer solution of the cis chamber (ground) serves as the counter electrode.
Altogether, the biocell powered a voltage converter and ring oscillators in the integrated circuit and had an average chemical to electrical energy conversion efficiency of 14.9%. In the future, electronics in ATP-rich environments, like within the cell, could be powered through biological energy.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Graphene nanoribbons show metallic properties
Researchers from Aalto University in Finland have developed graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) that exhibit metallic properties and could be used in future electronic devices.
GNRs have been suggested as ideal materials for nanoelectronics, where wiring is reduced to the atomic scale. The GNRs created by the team at Aalto, described in the journal Nature Communications Science, are five carbon atoms wide and one atom thick. Unlike other GNRs, they are not semiconducting, which means they could potentially be used as metallic interconnects in future microprocessors.
The GNRs are fabricated through a chemical reaction that takes place on a substrate. According to Dr Pekka Joensuu, who oversaw the synthesis of the precursor molecules for the ribbons, different surface molecules can dictate the width of the graphene.
“The cool thing about the fabrication procedure is that the precursor molecule exactly determines the width of the ribbon,” he said. “If you want one-carbon-atom-wide ribbons, you simply have to pick a different molecule.”
Once the ribbons were created, the team used scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) to view the material’s structure and properties with atomic resolution.
“With this technique, we measured the properties of individual ribbons and showed that ribbons longer than 5 nanometers exhibit metallic behaviour,” said Dr Amina Kimouche, lead author of the study.
The ultra-narrow ribbons have major potential in the field of nanoelectronics, where it is suggested they could replace copper as the interconnect material. Future studies carried out at Aalto University will focus on all-graphene devices that combine both metallic and semiconducting graphene nanostructures. However, commercial applications are still some way off yet according to Prof Peter Liljeroth, who headed up the research.
“While we are far from real applications, it is an extremely exciting concept to build useful devices from these tiny structures and to achieve graphene circuits with controlled junctions between GNRs,” he said.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Hybrid solar-hydrogen energy tech promises around the clock power
US researchers have proposed a hybrid energy concept that they claim will be able to produce power around the clock by combining solar generation with hydrogen production and storage.
The so-called “Hydricity” concept, devised by a team from Purdue University, Illinois, uses solar concentrators to focus sunlight and superheat water to operate a series of electricity-generating steam turbines and reactors for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
“In the round-the-clock process we produce hydrogen and electricity during daylight, store hydrogen and oxygen, and then when solar energy is not available we use hydrogen to produce electricity using a turbine-based hydrogen-power cycle,” explained Purdue’s Professor Mohit Tawarmalani.
The system – which is detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - has so far just been simulated using models, but according to the team it could be far more efficient than many other energy storage systems.
“The overall sun-to-electricity efficiency of the hydricity process, averaged over a 24-hour cycle, is shown to approach 35 percent, which is nearly the efficiency attained by using the best photovoltaic cells along with batteries,” said Purdue researcher Emre Gençer. “Our proposed process stores energy thermo-chemically more efficiently than conventional energy-storage systems,” he added, “the coproduced hydrogen has alternate uses in the transportation-chemical-petrochemical industries, and unlike batteries, the stored energy does not discharge over time and the storage medium does not degrade with repeated uses.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Computer Simulation Predicts Targets for Epilepsy Surgery
Severe cases of epilepsy are treated sometimes by surgically removing brain tissue thought to be responsible for generating seizures. This is accomplished by using EEG and then relying on knowledge to excise areas previously known to generate aberrant electrical activity. The lack of precise personalized treatment results in a high failure rate for the procedure, but researchers at Newcastle University in England have developed a simulator that may help overcome that.
The software uses patient MRI scans to create a model that it can manipulate. The model consists of the neural network represented by nodes and connections between them. The simulator mimics the removal of different nodes to see how they affect the activity in the rest of the network. The researchers compared the response of targeting of commonly removed areas to those selected uniquely for each patient, showing a marked improvement in ability to fight seizures. But since this is still entirely a computer-based simulation, the researchers will have to compare the software against real patient cases to see whether it actually works.
From the study abstract in PLOS Computational Biology:
We find that, first, patients tend to transit from non-epileptic to epileptic states more often than controls in the model. Second, regions in the left hemisphere (particularly within temporal and subcortical regions) that are known to be involved in TLE are the most frequent starting points for seizures in patients in the model. In addition, our analysis also implicates regions in the contralateral and frontal locations which may play a role in seizure spreading or surgery resistance. Finally, the model predicts that patient-specific surgery (resection areas chosen on an individual, model-prompted, basis and not following a predefined procedure) may lead to better outcomes than the currently used routine clinical procedure. Taken together this work provides a first step towards patient specific computational modelling of epilepsy surgery in order to inform treatment strategies in individuals.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Tiny LED Implants for Controlling and Studying Activity of Individual Neurons
Optogenetics allows researchers to control the activation of neurons in the brain using light. Initially, fiber optic cables have been used to deliver light, but these illuminate too large an area and require the animal to be attached to a tether. Now scientists at University of Michigan have developed LED lights so small that each one can activate only one neuron at a time. These were placed along electrodes that sense the nearby electrical activity into a matrix that covers an area of the brain .
Each such matrix has 12 LEDs and 32 electrodes and have been tested already on brains of freely moving mice. Because the implant has a substantial coverage area while producing very localized single neuron activation, it can be used to study the brain’s pathways at unprecedented detail, effectively helping to realize a lot of the expected capabilities of optogenetics.
From the study abstract in journal Neuron:
Spikes were robustly induced by 60 nW light power, and fast population oscillations were induced at the microwatt range. To demonstrate the spatiotemporal precision of parallel stimulation and recording, we achieved independent control of distinct cells ∼50 μm apart and of differential somato-dendritic compartments of single neurons. The scalability and spatiotemporal resolution of this monolithic optogenetic tool provides versatility and precision for cellular-level circuit analysis in deep structures of intact, freely moving animals.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Noctura 400 Sleep Mask Helps Diabetic Patients Keep Their Eyesight
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness for adults between the ages of 20 and 64 in the United States. As a patient’s diabetes progresses, the blood circulation worsens and the supply of oxygen to the retina is compromised. The retina is especially oxygen-starved at night since the rods, which are used primarily when the eyes dark-adjust, demand more oxygen than the light-activated cones. In response to this ischemia, the body signals for additional blood vessels to be formed in this region, but these new blood vessels are very weak and susceptible to microaneurysms and leaking. This leaking leads to retinal edema and eventually macular edema, which destroys a patient’s eyesight.
PolyPhotonix has developed a solution that intervenes in this process by preventing a patient’s eyes from dark-adapting while the patient is asleep. The Noctura 400 Sleep Mask continuously shines light at the user’s closed eyelids. The color and brightness of this light was selected such that it successfully prevents the rods from dark-adapting but does not stimulate the patient’s cones or other photoreceptive cells. This prevents the therapy from adversely affecting the patient’s quality of sleep.
The Noctura 400 is programmed to deliver a nightly dose of the therapy to the patient for 12 weeks. Data about its usage is also collected in the mask so that a clinician can better assess the therapy’s effectiveness on a particular patient. The device is CE-approved and is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Hand-worn Robot to Help Blind People Navigate and Intelligently Grasp Objects
A team of collaborators from the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Arkansas, Little Rock are starting work on a robotic device worn on the hand that will work to extend the abilities of blind people to move around and to find and grasp nearby things. It will work using cameras and other kinds of sensors to identify objects, while some sort of force feedback will be used to help the wearer know when the hand is getting close to the object of interest.
The final goal will be to maybe allow the user to catch a thrown ball. An array of actuators can help describe the shape of the object and another its size, some other mechanism can help point the hand in the right direction.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
University of Glasgow Electronic Imaging Pill for Spotting Cancer Inside Gut
Fluorescence imaging is commonly used for the detection and resection of tumors. It relies on machines with precisely tuned light sources and camera detectors. These end up being no smaller than hand-held devices. Researchers at the University of Glasgow, Scotland managed to cram LED illumination, a detector called a “complementary metal oxide semiconductor single photon avalanche detector imaging array,” and wireless communication inside a pill that can be swallowed.
The idea is to be able spot cancer within the GI tract in a more efficient and dignified way. The capsule may end up spending more time and covering more area within the gun than endoscopy. But so far it’s too soon to tell as this is just a prototype device that has only been trialed on image fluorescence phantoms.
Professor David Cumming, the University of Glasgow’s Chair of Electronic Systems, said: “We’ve played an important role in developing the technology behind video-pill systems, and this is an exciting new development, which offers a valuable new resource for gastrointestinal imaging.
“There’s still some way to go before it will be ready for commercial production and clinical use, but we’re in early talks with industry to bring a product to market. We’re also interested in expanding the imaging capabilities of video-pill systems to new areas such as ultrasound in the near future.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Virus Shell Nanoparticles Vaccinate Cancers in Mice
The magazine Science hailed cancer immunotherapy as the breakthrough of the year two years ago, and the field has been gaining traction since. The idea is to activate the body’s own immune cells to recognize cancer cells as disease-causing, and to train them to attack the cancer. Effectively, instead of delivering toxic chemotherapeutics to the whole body, cancer immunotherapy would allow strategic targeting using the body’s immune cells only. It’s kind of like a vaccine, but for cancer. Many approaches are now in clinical trials to explore this avenue, and are showing much potential.
A new study from the Fiering Lab at Dartmouth’s School of Medicine used an empty cowpea mosaic virus as an adjuvant for stimulating the immune system. (That sore arm you get after a flu shot? That’s your immune system jumping into action.) These viruses lack their core DNA like many vaccines, so are non-infectious, but have surfaces that can be recognized by the immune system.
The researchers discovered that inhaling these 30 nm particles reduced metastatic lung tumors of melanoma and breast cancer in mice. The particles also treated colon metastatic growths in the skin, and a fluid-producing ovarian cancer. The authors acknowledge that the exact mechanism of cancer cell death is unknown, but given the dependency on specific proteins, involves the immune system.
The system is promising overall, and largely avoids the delivery issues that most nanotherapeutics run into by administering the doses straight to the diseased organs. The study is interesting given that neutrophils, innate immune cell, are the responders to this viral infection. Also, it’s unclear why normal tissues were spared and tumors were targeted in this innate immune response, which is typically nonspecific. More studies to understand the mechanisms of the cowpea mosaic virus could lead to improved treatment outcomes and translatability to humans.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New Infrared Dye to Improve Imaging of Interior of Body
Near-infrared light emitting dyes have the potential for imaging vasculature, tumors, and other objects fairly deep within the body. Indocyanine green is already used for ophthalmic angiographies, liver and cardiac studies, and other applications, but the quality of the image it helps to create can be quite limited. Dyes based on carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, and other techniques already exist but they stay inside the body for way too long. They’re either toxic or can’t be used repeatedly since previous administrations continue to linger, confusing the imaging.
Researchers at Stanford University have now created a new set of dyes that outperform indocyanine green while being rapidly washed away by the body. They produce light within the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) which involves somewhat longer wavelengths that penetrate through tissue with less scatter. This results in sharper images from deeper within the body.
The dye is expelled through the urine within 24 hours, allowing new injections to happen whenever updates on a diseases’s progress need to be performed.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Atlas, an Implantable Shock Absorber for Your Knee
Moximed, a firm with offices in Hayward, California and Zurich, Switzerland, recently won the European CE Mark to introduce its Atlas Knee System. We just got hold of photos of the Atlas and more information on how it works. The device is a knee joint unloader designed to reduce the pressure applied to the joint and to push off the eventual need for a knee replacement. The device works like the shock absorbers in your car, but instead for the knee. It results in less damage to the cartilage within the knee, letting it last longer than it would naturally without the support of the Atlas.
The company hopes the device will allow patients to maintain an active lifestyle they’re used to while improving satisfaction, reducing repeat surgeries, and lowering pain.
From the announcement:
The Atlas System design was evaluated in a 40 patient, prospective, multi-center clinical study. One of the study investigators, Konrad Slynarski, MD, of Lekmed Szpital in Warsaw, Poland commented, “My practice treats many young, active patients with mild osteoarthritis. I was amazed at the overwhelming patient interest in receiving joint unloading therapy, and I was very happy with my patients’ consistently rapid recovery and return to daily activities. I have already shifted my practice patterns to offer the Atlas System to patients.”
Another of the investigators in the study was Willem van der Merwe, MD, FCS (SA) of the Sports Science Orthopaedic Clinic in Cape Town, South Africa, who noted, “I enrolled my full allotment into the study and could have enrolled additional subjects. I believe the Atlas System could be a pre-arthroplasty treatment solution for people who are too young or not ready for joint replacement, and I look forward to adding the service as a regular part of my practice.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
UVA Artificial Pancreas to be Tested in Two Clinical Trials
A new artificial pancreas system will soon be trialed for type 1 diabetics. Developed at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the artificial pancreas consists of a continuous glucose monitor, an insulin pump, and a controller that links the two and decides when and how much insulin to administer. The controller is a smartphone that displays glucose readings and what the pump is doing. It also connects to a remote server to upload data for others to be able to monitor the patient and provide clinical advice.
More about the upcoming trials according to the UVA announcement:
Two trials are planned as part of the NIH-funded study. In the first study, 240 patients with type 1 diabetes will test the safety and effectiveness of the artificial pancreas for six months while going about their regular daily routines. The artificial pancreas will be compared with a standard insulin pump on two key measures: how well blood-sugar levels are controlled and whether the risk of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, is reduced.
A second trial will follow 180 patients who completed the first study for an additional six months to test the Harvard University-developed algorithm and determine whether it further enhances blood sugar control.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Optical Coherence Tomography Spots Bacterial Biofilms Within Endotracheal Tubes
Bacterial biofilms forming within endotracheal tubes, which cause pneumonia, are a common killer for ICU patients on ventilators. Researchers from University of California Irvine and the Beckman Laser Institute are now pointing to the use of three-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT), the same technique used to assess blood vasculature from within, to spot signs of bacterial films within endo tubes.
The team gathered endotracheal tubes from actual ICU patients and used OCT to spot the bacterial formations. The team compared their findings against what a scanning electron microscope could see, showing great correlation and maybe one day leading to an easy to use device for spotting biofilm formations.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
MobiusHD Awarded EU CE Mark of Approval to Treat Hypertension
The MobiusHD implant, developed by Vascular Dynamics, was awarded a CE mark last week to allow its introduction in Europe. This device, which is implanted into the carotid sinus during a minimally-invasive procedure, is intended to help patients with drug-resistant hypertension by encouraging the body’s natural mechanisms to regulate blood pressure.
The carotid sinus is part of the carotid artery where baroreceptors, the sensory neurons that signal the brain about changes in blood pressure, are located. When the wall of the carotid sinus is stretched by hypertension the baroreceptors signal to the brain to bring the blood pressure back to its normal level by changing the heart rate and other sympathetic nerve activity. However, in a patient with chronic hypertension, what the brain considers “normal blood pressure” will be reset to a higher level, leaving the patient in a constant state of high blood pressure.
A study published in journal Hypertension demonstrated that when the baroreceptors are activated in a pulsated manner rather than by a static, constant signal, the increase in the blood pressure set point is lessened and sometimes even prevented. With this in mind, the MobiusHD device was designed to stretch the blood vessel during the diastolic phase but then remove any strain on the wall during the systolic phase. In this way, the MobiusHD activates the brain to fight against hypertension without decreasing its sensitivity to these higher blood pressure levels.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
LivaNova’s Perceval Sutureless Aortic Heart Valve FDA Approved
LivaNova, formed from the merger of Sorin and Cyberonics, won FDA approval to introduce its Perceval sutureless aortic heart valve to the U.S. market. The valve features a placement system that does not require suturing, which may substantially reduce procedure times over other valves.
Like many other replacement valves, the flapping leaflets of the Perceval are made of bovine pericardium. These are mounted over a flexible metal alloy frame that conforms to the heart’s natural motion.
Some features according to the product page:
Increased visualization:
The reduced collapsed profile prevents trauma to the aortic wall enabling a full and direct view.
Precise positioning:
The temporary guiding sutures the valve by guiding it along the annulus axis even in narrow spaces.
Ease of implant:
Traditional valves require from 15 to 18 permanent sutures. Perceval is a truly sutureless valve.
Optimal stress absorption
The elastic structure aims at reproducing the stress absorption properties of the native tissue at the valve commissures level
The Perceval valve passed a test 3 times harder than what is required by the I.S.O. and F.D.A. guidance (no failure after 600 million cycles)
This Perceval valve showed no failure after 2 Billion cycles, equivalent to 50-year heart cycles in-vivo.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
SOSTENIBILITA': DALL' UE UN PROGETTO PER SVILUPPO BIORAFFINERIA MICROALGHE
Sviluppare una bioraffineria di microalghe che utilizza acque saline non potabili per produrre prodotti nutrizionali e farmaceutici oltre a proteine e materie prime da fonti biologiche e rinnovabili. E' questo l' obiettivo degli scienziati dell' Unione Europea che con il progetto D-Factory (The micro algae biorefinery) stanno cercando di fissare un parametro di riferimento globale per una bioraffineria sostenibile che utilizzi biomassa dalla microalga Dunaliella salina, in grado di crescere in ambienti salini. La coltivazione di Dunaliella è la più estesa rispetto a qualsiasi altra microalga, e occupa centinaia di ettari. La Dunaliella è una microalga che cresce in tutto il mondo nelle acque saline non potabili, catturando il biossido di carbonio (CO2) e sfruttando l' energia solare. Produce inoltre in modo naturale carotenoidi e altri composti di valore commerciale come sostanze bioattive, emulsionanti, polimeri e glicerolo. La bioraffineria D-Factory perfezionerà l' alga affinché produca questi prodotti in diverse proporzioni prima della loro estrazione e preparazione per rispondere alle esigenze del mercato. Cellule di Dunaliella a densità elevata saranno coltivate in vasche comunicanti e fotobioreattori, e poi raccolte con la massima delicatezza utilizzando tecnologie a piastre a spirale e a membrana. Una gamma di tecnologie di lavorazione attentamente selezionate sarà integrata e ottimizzata utilizzando sofisticate tecniche di modellizzazione. I materiali ottenuti saranno vagliati e formulati per la produzione di una nuova serie di prodotti.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Sant' Orsola Malpighi: Anche per la Ginecologia in sala operatoria arriva il robot
Al via anche in Ginecologia gli interventi chirurgici con il robot. Al Sant’Orsola dopo un anno di sperimentazione in Urologia, la nuova metodica è stata estesa anche agli interventi realizzati dal dottor Pierandrea De Iaco e dal professor Renato Seracchioli.
Un’innovazione che garantisce una riduzione del sanguinamento, dei tempi di recupero e, soprattutto, delle possibili complicanze post operatorie.
I ‘bracci bionici’ di cui è dotato il robot posizionato nella piastra chirurgica del padiglione 5 hanno una capacità articolativa maggiore rispetto al polso umano e, insieme alla tridimensionalità e all’ingrandimento (fino a 12 volte), garantiscono una precisione altrimenti non raggiungibile. Da un mese agli interventi programmati per patologie urologiche si sono aggiunte le prime cinque operazioni ginecologiche.
“Il robot è particolarmente utile – spiega il dottor Pierandrea De Iaco, responsabile di Oncologia ginecologica – per pazienti con tumore dell’utero in sovrappeso, che difficilmente potrebbero essere operate in laparoscopia. L’uso del robot consente di ridurre i giorni di degenza a 3 rispetto ai 5 mediamente necessari per gli altri interventi mininvasivi e i 10 a cui si arriva a volte con la chirurgia tradizionale. Da gennaio potremo realizzare un intervento alla settimana”.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Procedure to connect prosthetic arm and residual limb leads to greater motion and comfort for amputee
An amputee has a greater range of motion and comfort following a surgical technique to attach a Modular Prosthetic Limb directly to his residual limb.
The MPL was developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the procedure represents a first for the field of prosthetics.
“This accomplishment has eliminated one of the biggest gaps in prosthetic development: the socket,” said Michael McLoughlin, chief engineer in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department.
A pioneering surgical technique has allowed an amputee to attach APL’s Modular Prosthetic Limb directly to his residual limb, enabling a greater range of motion and comfort than previously possible
The socket – the part of the prosthesis that attaches to the body – is the most critical component of prosthesis because if it does not fit correctly, the patient can experience pain, sores and blisters, and the prosthesis will feel heavy and cumbersome, said APL’s Courtney Moran, a clinical prosthetist.
“The sling does get a little uncomfortable after working with the MPL [Modular Prosthetic Limb] for a while,” said Johnny Matheny, one of several patients who have worked with the MPL over the years to help scientists, engineers and physicians fine tune its capabilities.
Matheny was the first patient at the Johns Hopkins Hospital to undergo targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), a surgical procedure that reassigns nerves that once controlled the arm or hand, which can make it possible for upper-extremity amputees to better use and control an advanced prosthetic device.
The procedure to mount the prosthetic arm directly to his residual limb is called osseointegration. The first stage of the process requires a threaded titanium implant – a fixture – to be inserted into the marrow space of the bone of the residual limb. Over time, the fixture becomes part of the bone. Several weeks after the first surgery, a titanium extension known – an abutment – is attached to the fixture and brought out through the soft tissues and skin. The prosthesis can then be directly attached to the abutment.
Richard McGough, chief of the Division of Musculoskeletal Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, performed the stage one surgery on Matheny in March 2015 and stage two in June 2015, making Matheny the first patient in the United States to receive the TMR and osseointegration. Four months later, Matheny travelled to APL and attached the MPL directly to his body for the first time.
“Before, the only way I could put the prosthetic on was by this harness with suction and straps; but now, with osseointegration, the implant does away with all that,” said Matheny. “It’s all natural now. Nothing is holding me down. Before, I had limited range; I couldn’t reach over my head and behind my back. Now…that limitation is gone.”
During tests at APL’s prosthetics laboratory Matheny was able to demonstrate individual finger control, simultaneous finger control, two degrees of freedom at the wrist, and multiple grasps, and he worked through simulated activities of daily living.
“The challenge for us next is to really figure out how to get this technology out of the laboratory and into the hands of people that need it,” said McLoughlin. “Unless that technology gets in the hands of the injured war fighter, the elderly person who’s having trouble living independently, unless that happens, we haven’t really fulfilled our mission.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
‘Breathalyser’ test to monitor glucose levels
Researchers are developing a new ‘breathalyser’ test for measuring glucose levels in the body, with the hope that it will replace the ‘prick test’ many diabetics currently rely on.
The technology is the result of a partnership between Enfield-based Applied Nanodetectors and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Using a low cost printed glucose sensor, the breathalyser-style device detects levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath.
The technology relies on low cost printed sensors (Source: CPI)
“The project evaluated the suitability of a range of gases for monitoring VOCs and benchmarked their performance against existing technology,” said James Johnstone, business manager at CPI.
“We were also able to optimise sensor performance. The incorporation of a low cost, printed glucose sensor offers great potential for the commercialisation of a multi-use and environmentally friendly breathalyser device for daily diabetic management. Regular self monitoring would lead to more effective patient treatment, a reduction in healthcare costs and a shift to more proactive point-of-care treatments.”
The prevalence of diabetes is increasing rapidly around the world, and glucose management is a vital component of treatment. But according to the researchers, the invasive nature of the prick test widely used today to gauge sugar levels means many patients don’t rigorously comply with monitoring. An accurate test that doesn’t require a blood sample could alter how the disease is treated in future.
The prick test relies on piercing the skin to get a blood sample (Source: CPI)
“This would provide diabetics with a non-invasive easy to use test compared to the established finger prick method,” said Dr Victor Higgs, managing director at Applied Nanodetectors.
“This new sensor platform offers both high sensitivity and industry leading reliability and can be modified for use in new clinical applications. Using the sensors in a portable handheld device will facilitate the creation of new point-of-care diagnostic tests, which will enable more efficient healthcare delivery leading to improved patient outcomes.”
The collaboration was part of a recent nine month Innovate UK project called Plasense which finished in December 2015 and developed a low cost and scalable printed sensor technology onto flexible plastic substrates. Further development work will look at upscaling the sensor and integration into a point of care diagnostic device.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Self-healing material has role as defect-tolerant structural component
Materials scientists have developed an adaptive material that combines self-healing and reversible self-stiffening properties.
Dubbed SAC (self-adaptive composite), the material from Rice University is made by mixing two polymers and a solvent that evaporates when heated, which leaves a porous mass of sticky spheres. When cracked, the matrix repeatedly heals and returns to its original form after compression.
The labs of Rice materials scientists Pulickel Ajayan and Jun Lou led the study that appears in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. They suggested SAC might be a useful biocompatible material for tissue engineering or a lightweight, defect-tolerant structural component.
Other self-healing materials encapsulate liquid in solid shells that leak their contents when cracked.
“Those are very cool, but we wanted to introduce more flexibility,” said Pei Dong, a postdoctoral researcher who co-led the study with Rice graduate student Alin Cristian Chipara. “We wanted a biomimetic material that could change itself, or its inner structure, to adapt to external stimulation and thought introducing more liquid would be a way. But we wanted the liquid to be stable instead of flowing everywhere.”
In SAC, spheres of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) encapsulate much of the liquid. The viscous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) further coats the entire surface. The spheres are extremely resilient, Lou said in a statement, as their thin shells deform easily. Their liquid contents enhance their viscoelasticity, a measure of their ability to absorb the strain and return to their original state, while the coatings keep the spheres together. The spheres can also slide past each other when compressed, but remain attached.
“The sample doesn’t give you the impression that it contains any liquid,” Lou said. “That’s very different from a gel. This is not really squishy; it’s more like a sugar cube that you can compress quite a lot. The nice thing is that it recovers.”
Ajayan said making SAC is simple, and the process can be tuned to regulate the product’s mechanical behaviour.
“Gels have lots of liquid encapsulated in solids, but they’re too much on the very soft side,” he said. “We wanted something that was mechanically robust as well. What we ended up with is probably an extreme gel in which the liquid phase is only 50% or so.”
The polymer components begin as powder and viscous liquid, said Dong. With the addition of a solvent and controlled heating, the PDMS stabilises into solid spheres that provide the reconfigurable internal structure. In tests, Rice scientists found a maximum of 683% increase in the material’s storage modulus. This is much larger than that reported for solid composites and other materials, they said.
Dong said sample sizes of the putty-like material are limited only by the container they’re made in. “Right now, we’re making it in a 150-milliliter beaker, but it can be scaled up. We have a design for that.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Rumors Are Flying That We Finally Found Gravitational Waves
A major experiment designed to hunt for gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein—has observed them directly for the very first time. If confirmed, this would be one of the most significant physics discoveries of the last century.
Move a large mass very suddenly—or have two massive objects suddenly collide, or a supernova explode—and you would create ripples in space-time, much like tossing a stone in a still pond. The more massive the object, the more it will churn the surrounding spacetime, and the stronger the gravitational waves it should produce. Einstein predicted their existence in his general theory of relativity back in 1915, but he thought it would never be possible to test that prediction.
LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) is one of several experiments designed to hunt for these elusive ripples, and with its latest upgrade to Advanced LIGO, completed last year, it has the best chance of doing so. In fact, it topped our list of physics stories to watch in 2016.
There have been excited rumors about a LIGO discovery before, most notably a mere week after the upgraded experiment began operations last fall. “The official response is that we’re analyzing the data,” LIGO spokesperson Gabriela González (Louisiana State University) told Nature at the time.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
NOAA using drone to collect hurricane data
The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to improve its understanding of hurricanes, collecting data from areas unsafe for manned flight.
Known as the Coyote UAS (Unmanned Aerial System), the drone is released mid-flight from a parent aircraft and provides real-time data on atmospheric air pressure, temperature, moisture, ocean surface temperature, as well as wind speed and direction. According to the NOAA, the UAV is capable of maneuvering in the most violent regions of hurricanes, flying in conditions that would be too dangerous for pilots to operate in.
“NOAA is investing in unmanned aircraft and other technologies to increase weather observations designed to improve the accuracy of our hurricane forecasts,” said Joe Cione, hurricane researcher at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory and chief scientist of the Coyote programme.
“This successful flight gives us additional confidence that we will be able to use this unique platform to collect critical continuous observations at altitudes in the lower part of a hurricane, an area that would otherwise be impossible to reach with manned aircraft.”
On January 7, the latest version of the Coyote was launched from a NOAA P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft in order to test a range of technological improvements. Until now, the drone has only been able to operate within five to seven miles of its mothership, but upgrades in transmission equipment have extended the range to 50 miles. Engineers from the NOAA and defence contractor Raytheon developed and installed a new antenna and radio, allowing the P-3 to continue on its flight path while the drone does its work.
Dr Joe Cione with the Coyote in front of the NOAA’s P-3 aircraft
The team is also working towards improving Coyote’s battery life to enable the UAV to extend its flight time. According to Chris Landsea, science operations officer at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC), the system’s capabilities could have a significant impact on storm predictions.
“Here at the National Hurricane Center, we are keenly interested in obtaining measurements from the Coyote of the strongest winds near the center of the storm,” he said. “Coyote could help us paint a better picture of current storm intensity for our storm updates.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Spectroscopic Hand-Held Device Can Detect Low-Grade Brain Tumors
Neurosurgeons have been performing fluorescence-guided brain tumor removal as part of FDA clinical trials testing the safety and efficacy of the drug 5-ALA since 2011. The drug, which is clinically approved for use in Europe, causes brain tumors to fluoresce. Glioma cells selectively uptake the drug, which contains the natural fluorophore protoporphyrin IX (PpIX). Once metabolized, PpIX fluorescence causes the tumor cells to glow red when viewed under a blue light operative microscope. This allows neurosurgeons to differentiate in real-time tumor cells from healthy cells during surgical resection of gliomas. However, current fluorescent imaging techniques can only identify high-grade gliomas.
Researchers at Emory University and Georgia Tech have developed a spectroscopic device that is extremely sensitive to PpIX fluorescence in vivo, thus enabling the identification of low-grade gliomas from healthy tissue. The hand-held spectroscopic device contains both the light source and detector, which are specifically tuned to the excitation and emission wavelengths of PpIX. Researchers tested the device on animal xenografts and human brain tumor specimens and found the device is “at least 3 orders of magnitude more sensitive than current surgical microscopes,” and enables the “detection of as few as 1000 tumor cells.” MRI and histological staining correlated with the fluorescent cells, indicating the device identified only tumor cells. The ultrasensitive device opens the possibility for surgeons to remove low-grade gliomas with the help of fluorescence-guided surgery.
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OsteoCool RF Spinal Tumor Ablation System FDA Cleared
Medtronic received FDA clearance to introduce the OsteoCool RF Ablation system to the U.S. market. The technology, originally developed by Baylis Medical, is designed to target tumors within the spine using two separate probes that provide a large coverage area and offer more access options for the surgeon. The system provides active cooling of the targeted region, causing destruction of the wanted tissue while saving the healthy stuff around. This is done by moving cold water through the probes during the ablation process.
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Self-Adaptive Composite: A New Material Holds Promise for Tissue Engineering
Researchers at Rice University have devised a novel, flexible, self-adaptive composite (SAC), biomimetic material that is capable of re-assuming its original form and healing itself. Published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, the study describes the production and characteristics of SAC, which is composed of a mixture of two polymers and a solvent.
Evaporation of the solvent in the presence of heat results in the formation of a flexible matrix of sticky, tiny rubber spheres. The spheres are made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and are coated by viscous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The result is a resilient material with high viscoelasticity that enables deformation and reformation following compression. Moreover, if the matrix is physically compromised, it has the ability to heal.
The authors describe the material as an “extreme gel”, with a liquid phase of approximately 50%, making it far more mechanically robust than a regular gel. According to the authors, SAC shows promise as a biocompatible material for tissue engineering based on its favorable mechanical characteristics and the ease with which it can be produced.
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Collirio con fattore di crescita NGF 'ripara' parzialmente i danni visivi da tumore
Ricercatori del Policlinico A. Gemelli e dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore nella sede di Roma hanno mostrato l’efficacia di un collirio nel riparare in parte i danni alla vista in pazienti affetti da gliomi delle vie ottiche, un tumore che può portare a cecità.
Il collirio è a base di un fattore di crescita, il Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), scoperto dal compianto Premio Nobel per la Medicina Rita Levi Montalcini.
Sono oggi pubblicati sulla prestigiosa rivista Brain gli incoraggianti risultati della sperimentazione clinica di fase II su questo trattamento, randomizzata, controllata e in doppio cieco, condotta dagli Istituti di Pediatria, di Oculistica, di Radiologia e di Neurochirurgia dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore presso il Policlinico A. Gemelli, in collaborazione con ricercatori del Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) di Roma.
Nello studio, condotto da Antonio Chiaretti (Professore aggregato di Pediatria), Benedetto Falsini (Professore associato di Oftalmologia) e Riccardo Riccardi (Professore ordinario di Oncologia Pediatrica della Cattolica), sono stati arruolati 18 pazienti con gliomi delle vie ottiche e gravi deficit visivi indotti dalla neoplasia, afferenti alla Unità Operativa Complessa di Oncologia pediatrica del Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli di Roma.
I gliomi delle vie ottiche sono dei tumori a lento accrescimento che colpiscono elettivamente le vie visive e il chiasma ottico, determinando a lungo termine la cecità dei pazienti per infiltrazione e compressione delle vie nervose da parte delle cellule tumorali. Allo stato attuale non esistono terapie efficaci in grado di contrastare questo devastante esito indotto dalla malattia.
Il Fattore di crescita nervoso (NGF) è stata la prima neurotrofina scoperta dalla Professoressa Rita Levi Montalcini. Originariamente conosciuto per il suo ruolo nello sviluppo e nella sopravvivenza dei neuroni simpatici e colinergici, il NGF si è dimostrato efficace nel promuovere il recupero neuronale e la sopravvivenza dopo lesioni infiammatorie, ischemiche, e traumatiche in un gran numero di modelli sperimentali e clinici. Il NGF esplica la sua azione legandosi a specifici recettori, proteggendo le cellule ganglionari retiniche dall’apoptosi e dalla morte neuronale. Il NGF stimola anche la sintesi di altri fattori neurotrofici, come il BDNF, e di altre proteine che contribuiscono a mantenere nel tempo l’azione neuroprotettiva svolta sulle cellule danneggiate dal tumore.
“Sulla base di tali dati sperimentali - afferma il professor Antonio Chiaretti - e su altri studi condotti dal nostro gruppo su bambini e adolescenti affetti da lesioni delle vie ottiche, con tale ricerca abbiamo voluto testare l’efficacia e la sicurezza del NGF, somministrato come collirio attraverso la via congiuntivale, in un gruppo di pazienti affetti da gravi deficit visivi indotti dai gliomi ottici”. La via di somministrazione congiuntivale ha permesso di by-passare la barriera emato-retinica facilitando la penetrazione del NGF direttamente all’interno delle vie ottiche, dove sono presenti i recettori specifici per tale neurotrofina, e dove il NGF può esplicare la sua azione senza determinare alcun effetto collaterale. Inoltre, la via di somministrazione congiuntivale rappresenta una via non invasiva, facile, sicura ed efficace, per la prima volta testata nel mondo in questo tipo di patologia.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Project Orion: the next giant leap
NASA’s next crewed spacecraft is now under development and represents a return to the design philosophy of the Apollo era. Stuart Nathan reports
Since the last flight of the Space Shuttle in 2011, there has only been one way to get humans into space: the Soyuz system, using the capsule design that has been in operation since 1968 with only minor changes; the most recent was in 2010 and that module was intended to go out of service the following year. It’s a highly reliable system, but a Soyuz is nobody’s idea of a comfortable place. As those who have visited the Cosmonauts exhibition at London’s Science Museum will know, it’s so cramped that its crew can’t even sit with their legs extended during launch and re-entry. And it can’t get beyond low-Earth orbit.
Orion crew and support modules with upper stage SLS
NASA’s next crewed spacecraft, Orion, is under development. It passed one major milestone in 2015 with the first flight of a functional model of its crew capsule into Earth orbit and its successful return, and has reached a second with the start of testing of structural test models of its major components, the crew module and service module.
As this implies, Orion represents a return to the design philosophy of the Apollo era. Rather than design another fully reusable system such as the Shuttle, NASA has opted to save money by going for the older, less complex design.
A Saturn V launches Apollo 11 in 1969
Like Apollo, Orion consists of a cylindrical service module that houses the craft’s propulsion system, along with air and water for up to four crew, who will sit in a command module in a frustum (truncated cone) shape whose base is a heat shield to protect the crew during re-entry. “This is a design and a shape that we can be completely confident will work,” said Mike Kirasich, NASA’s programme manager for Orion at the agency’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston at an event to welcome the structural model of the service module to NASA’s test site in Sandusky, Ohio.
Orion will take mankind beyond the nursery slopes of low earth orbit
The Service Module is being supplied by the European Space Agency; the first time NASA has collaborated with the outside agency on a crew-carrying spacecraft. The collaboration is part of the agreement covering the International Space Station, to which ESA contributes ‘in kind’ rather than by financial payments.
The European Service Module (ESM) is based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) or ‘Space Truck’, the unmanned craft developed by ESA to resupply the ISS, of which five were built; originally ESA hoped to develop this directly into a crewed craft – the agency’s first – but abandoned this plan when the opportunity arose to become part of the Orion project.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Hangout with Johnny Matheny: World’s First Osseointegrated, Neurally Controlled Prosthetic
The Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has been developing one of the most advanced prosthetic arms in the world. The neurally controlled APL arm has just recently been osseointegrated into the remaining humerus bone of Johnny Matheny, the first person in the world to have such capabilities.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Composite materials printed with ultrasonic additive manufacturing system
Engineers at Bristol University have developed an ultrasonic additive manufacturing system that prints composite materials in 3D.
According to the university, the technology will soon enable a much greater range of items to be 3D printed at home on a small budget.
A research team at Bristol University have developed the first demonstration of 3D printing of composite materials (image courtesy of Matt Sutton, Tom Llewellyn-Jones and Bruce Drinkwater © 2016)
The study published in Smart Materials and Structures creates and demonstrates a novel method in which ultrasonic waves are used to position reinforcement fibres as part of the 3D printing process. The fibres are formed into a microscopic reinforcement framework that gives the material strength. This microstructure is then set in place using a focused laser beam, which locally cures the epoxy resin and then prints the object.
To achieve this the research team mounted a switchable, focused laser module on the carriage of a standard three-axis 3D printing stage, above the new ultrasonic alignment apparatus.
Tom Llewellyn-Jones, a PhD student in advanced composites who developed the system, said: “We have demonstrated that our ultrasonic system can be added cheaply to an off-the-shelf 3D printer, which then turns it into a composite printer.”
In the study, a print speed of 20mm/s was achieved, which is similar to conventional additive layer techniques. The researchers are now said to have shown the ability to assemble a plane of fibres into a reinforcement framework. The precise orientation of the fibres can be controlled by switching the ultrasonic standing wave pattern mid-print.
This approach allows the realisation of complex fibrous architectures within a 3D printed object. The versatile nature of the ultrasonic manipulation technique also enables a range of particle materials, shapes and sizes to be assembled, leading to the creation of a new generation of fibrous reinforced composites that can be 3D printed.
Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: “Our work has shown the first example of 3D printing with real-time control over the distribution of an internal microstructure and it demonstrates the potential to produce rapid prototypes with complex microstructural arrangements. This orientation control gives us the ability to produce printed parts with tailored material properties, all without compromising the printing.”
Dr Richard Trask, Reader in Multifunctional Materials in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, added: “As well as offering reinforcement and improved strength, our method will be useful for a range of smart materials applications, such as printing resin-filled capsules for self-healing materials or piezoelectric particles for energy harvesting.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Nutrition: vegetable cheese from nuts to fight cholesterol
A team of researchers from ENEA, University of Tuscia and VegCoach Store succeeded in producing food with high nutritional value using pine nuts, almonds and hemp seeds. Their project PRODIGI was awarded the third prize at Start Cup 2015, the competition for the best business ideas in the Lazio Region (Italy).
This innovative vegetable cheese with high nutritional value and rich in phytosterols, vegetable molecules with a cholesterol-lowering effect is the first vegetable cheese made from fermented, probiotic-rich pine nuts, almonds and hemp seeds and it has been developed within the Project PRODIGI, born out of a collaboration among ENEA, University of Tuscia and the company VegCoach Store.
PRODIGI, ranked third in the Category “Life Sciences” of Start Cup Lazio 2015, held under the National Award for Innovation promoted by PNICube, the Italian Association of University incubators and business plan competition. The primary objective of Start Cup Lazio is promoting the economic development of the territory by providing support to the creation of innovative start ups in business incubators, fab-labs and coworking.
PRODIGI stands for “New Foods from digestive processes of micro-organisms on vegetables and nuts”, a project aiming to develop new low-environmental-impact and sustainable foods with high nutritional value and beneficial to the health, based on a rational and efficient use of raw materials and the reduction of CO2 emissions.
The development of new green foods is one of the core activities conducted at the laboratory PROBIO (Bio-PROcesses and BIO-products) of the ENEA Casaccia Research Center, which has a long-lasting experience in research on genetic diversity, in the nutraceutical composition of nuts and the promotion of agricultural raw materials, also through participation in national and international projects and the development of the project SAFENUT, to identify, conserve and use hazelnut and almond genetic resources.
The ENEA Casaccia Research Center has a technological hall and innovative scientific instruments for the study of the bioavailability of molecules (the fraction of nutrient capable of being absorbed by a living organism) and for the chemical and biochemical analysis of the main nutritional factors necessary to the knowledge of the processes of fermentation in genetics and microbial physiology.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New Circularly Polarizing Film to Help Detect Disease Biomarkers
Researchers at University of Michigan are investigating the use of circularly polarized light to help detect the presence of proteins and DNA strands that serve as biomarkers for cancer and other diseases. Their technique relies on tagging the target molecules with other molecules that are carrying a coating reflective of circularly polarized light. This kind of light being naturally rare is easily detected, but the equipment is large and expensive.
To overcome this problem The U of M team developed a special film that helps produce circularly polarized light, avoiding the use of traditional components and allowing for small devices that can be used at the patient bedside.
The team published results of their developments in Nature Materials. Here’s a snippet from the study abstract:
Nanostructures with chiral geometries exhibit strong polarization rotation. However, achieving reversible modulation of chirality and polarization rotation in device-friendly solid-state films is difficult for rigid materials. Here, we describe nanocomposites, made by conformally coating twisted elastic substrates with films assembled layer-by-layer from plasmonic nanocolloids, whose nanoscale geometry and rotatory optical activity can be reversibly reconfigured and cyclically modulated by macroscale stretching, with up to tenfold concomitant increases in ellipticity. We show that the chiroptical activity at 660 nm of gold nanoparticle composites is associated with circular extinction from linear effects. The polarization rotation at 550 nm originates from the chirality of nanoparticle chains with an S-like shape that exhibit a non-planar buckled geometry, with the handedness of the substrate’s macroscale twist determining the handedness of the S-like chains. Chiroptical effects at the nexus of mechanics, excitonics and plasmonics open new operational principles for optical and optoelectronic devices from nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and other nanoscale components.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
European Collaboration Building Novel Biopsy Robot
Researchers from the University of Twente in The Netherlands, Siemens, KUKA, and universities in Verona, Italy, and Vienna, Austria, are working on a robotic biopsy system to improve the accuracy of tissue sampling. The technology is aimed at harnessing the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging for localizing target tissues while using ultrasound and pressure sensing to help navigate the needle.
The researchers are currently working, among other things, on translating what is visible under MRI to correlate with what is being imaged by the robot in real time. Once the two are brought to match each other, the robotic needle should be able to precisly sample the tissue that is so clearly seen under MRI.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Batterie al litio ora capaci di funzionare anche sotto zero
Grazie a modifica della loro struttura interna.
Adesso possono funzionare anche nel freddo più intenso le batterie al litio comunemente usate negli smartphone, tablet o nelle auto elettriche. Con l' aggiunta di un ' foglio' di nichel e un minimo dispendio di energia, é possibile renderle capaci di auto-scaldarsi anche sottozero, come dimostra uno studio pubblicato sulla rivista Nature. Finora le batterie al litio non si potevano usare con il freddo estremo, anche se una soluzione di ' ripiego' c' era, e consisteva nell' aggiungere una sorta di ' calorifero' esterno e del materiale isolante intorno alla batteria, che però finivano per renderla più grande e pesante. Dettaglio non da poco, se le si vuole usare ad esempio sui droni che volano ad alta quota. I ricercatori guidati da Chao-Yang Wang, della Pennsylvania State University, hanno superato questo problema modificando la struttura della batteria al litio, aggiungendo una lamina di nickel al suo interno. In questo modo la corrente viene deviata dalla lamina, quando si é sottozero, producendo calore. Una volta che l' effetto di riscaldamento aumenta la temperatura interna della batteria, si attiva un interruttore e la batteria torna alle sue normali operazioni. Grazie a questo stratagemma, la batteria riesce a scaldarsi e passare da -30 a 0 gradi in appena mezzo minuto, consumando solo il 5,5% della sua capacità. Dato che viene usata solo una piccola quantità di energia in questo processo, questo nuovo tipo di batteria potrebbe aprire la strada a nuove utili applicazioni, come il collegamento dei veicoli elettrici, i robot e le esplorazioni spaziali.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Scientists solve chemical puzzle thwarting development of lithium air batteries
Battery scientists in the US believe they’ve overcome a major obstacle to the development of lithium-air batteries.
Amin Salehi-Khojin, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering (right), and postdoctoral research associate Mohammad Asadi with their specially modified differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) instrument. © UIC College of Engineering
Such batteries have the potential to store electricity at up to five times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries but inherent shortcomings have thwarted their development.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have helped prove that a new prototype is powered by a chemical reaction that may solve the new battery’s biggest drawback.
The findings are reported in the January 11, 2016 issue of Nature.
Current lithium-air batteries – in which the metallic lithium of the anode reacts with oxygen from the air – store energy in the form of chemical bonds of oxide compounds. Versions tested to date have stored and released energy from lithium peroxide, an insoluble substance that disrupts the battery’s electrode.
Battery scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory developed a prototype that they claimed had the ability to produce only lithium’s superoxide, not peroxide, as the battery discharges. Unlike lithium peroxide, lithium superoxide breaks down into lithium and oxygen, thereby offering the possibility of a battery with high efficiency and good cycle life.
The Argonne group has designed the battery to consume one electron rather than two and produce the superoxide, said UIC’s Amin Salehi-Khojin, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering. But it was difficult to prove the reaction took place.
“Ex-situ analysis is not accurate enough to prove such a big claim,” he said in a statement.
Salehi-Khojin and postdoctoral research associate Mohammad Asadi devised a mass spectroscopy apparatus to measure the electrochemical reaction products in situ during charging or discharge of the battery. The system operates in ultra-high vacuum and is very sensitive to the tiniest change in oxygen concentration, said Asadi, who is one of five first authors on the paper in Nature.
For the first time, the UIC researchers were able to show that one electron per oxygen atom was produced, indicating lithium superoxide, not peroxide, was forming in the battery. They were also able to show that no other lithium compounds were generated as side-products.
“This is going to be a valuable system for continuing the study of this battery and other types of metal-air batteries,” said Salehi-Khojin. “Not only can we analyze the products of the electrochemical reaction, we can elucidate the reaction pathway. If we know the reaction pathway, we’ll know how to design the next generation of that battery for energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
3D printed engine part undergoes hypersonic testing
US aerospace and defence firm Orbital ATK has announced that it has successfully tested a 3D-printed hypersonic engine combustor at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.
Produced through an additive manufacturing process known as powder bed fusion (PBF) the combustor was subjected to a variety of high-temperature hypersonic flight conditions over the course of 20 days, including one of the longest duration propulsion wind tunnel tests ever recorded for a unit of this kind.
One of the most challenging parts of a hypersonic propulsion system, a scramjet combustor houses and maintains stable combustion within an extremely volatile environment. The tests were, in part, to ensure that the PBF-produced part would be robust enough to meet mission objectives. According to ATK, analysis confirms the unit met or exceeded all of the test requirements.
The company said that the use of an additive process to build up the component one layer at a time, enable it to incorporate design features and integrated components that simply couldn’t be produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.
“This combustor is a great example of a component that was impossible to build just a few years ago,’ said Pat Nolan, Vice President and General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Missile Products division. “This successful test will encourage our engineers to continue to explore new designs and use these innovative tools to lower costs and decrease manufacturing time.”
Earlier in January, ATK was awarded a $47 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Systems Directorate for the development of a solid rocket propulsion system prototype to support the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program for national security space missions.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
UK consortium aims for composite anti-roll bars for trucks and trains
A UK consortium is developing lightweight anti-roll bars, which could cut fuel consumption and emissions from rail and heavy road vehicles while improving their reliability.
The project, funded by Innovate UK, will develop high performance metal composite hybrid anti-roll bars for trucks and trains.
The research team consists of Sheffield-based anti-roll bar specialist Tinsley Bridge, engineering company Performance Engineered Solutions, and Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).
By producing the bars from composite with metal end pieces, the project team hopes to reduce their weight by over 60 per cent, according to Matt Smith of the AMRC Composite Centre. “We’ve shown in a previous project that we can achieve weight savings of over 60 per cent,” he said. “We now hope to improve on that while also improving [the material’s] performance.”
As well as reducing a vehicle’s fuel consumption and emissions, the development could also cut maintenance costs as the composite metal hybrid bar should never need replacing, unlike its metal counterparts, he said.
The composite component should also be able to withstand larger dynamic loads than metal bars.
Composite anti-roll bars are already starting to be used in luxury cars, such as the Audi R8 e-tron electric vehicle, said Smith. “However, it’s a lot more challenging to manufacture a composite anti-roll bar for heavy commercial vehicles as the loads and forces involved are considerably higher,” he said.
One of the biggest challenges in the project will be finding the best way to bond the composite bar to the metal end pieces, and the team is planning to investigate a number of possible solutions to this.
Performance Engineered Solutions will lead the design and engineering of the bars. AMRC’s Composite Centre will then use Finite Element Analysis to ensure the bars are capable of resisting the type of loads anti-roll bars undergo.
Researchers at the AMRC will then produce the bar automatically, using a filament winding system. This is a technique in which filaments of glass or carbon are wound onto a rotating mandrel to form a desired shape, before being impregnated with resin.
Finally, the AMRC researchers will use a CT scanner to study the structural integrity of the bar, and verify the build quality.
If the project is successful, the technology could also have applications in the aerospace industry, according to the project team.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Dissolvable Brain Implant For Monitoring of ICP
Post brain surgery or cranial injury patients require close monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) and swelling in the brain. Conventional implants are used to monitor patients’ status, but carry their own risks. Permanent neuronal sensors can facilitate the growth of biofilms, trigger allergic reactions, and potentially exacerbate the existing swelling in the brain. However, a team headed by Dr. John Rogers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a new class of bioabsorbable neuronal implants that can measure temperature and pressure in the brain.
These microimplants use a classic biodegradable polymer, polylactic-co-glycolic acid, as the base for their device. This membrane is bonded to etched nanoporous foil that responds to pressure changes in the brain. The sensor’s structure maintains functionality for a few weeks, long enough to monitor the vital health parameters after a brain injury or surgery, harmlessly dissolving completely to be excreted by the body.
The Nature article published on January 18th, describes two versions of the device, one with soluble wires to transmit the data, and the second attached to a wireless transmitter the size of a postage stamp, implanted underneath the skin. Rogers and his team hope to adapt the technology to a wide range of uses and areas of application, modifying it to monitor vitals like fluid flow, motion, and pH in different organs. Hoping to move forward to human trials in the near future, Rogers and his team will continue refining the technology, increasing the duration of stability of the silicone based device, and creating new uses for this versatile technology.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
NeuSight PET/CT, a New Competitor in the U.S., E.U. Markets
Neusoft, a Chinese medical device manufacturer, is releasing its newly FDA approved and CE marked NeuSight PET/CT scanner to the U.S. and European markets. The scanner is a result of Neusoft acquiring Positron, a PET maker, and using the expertise of both companies to make the composite PET/CT system.
The company touts fast turnaround times thanks to quick patient imaging and visualization, a large bore and bed capable of handling heavy patients, and design features designed for easy patient prep and scanner operation.
Features according to the product page:
72cm gantry increases patient comfort while reducing patient anxiety for a better scanning experience.
Diagnosis of myocardial ischemia and coronary heart disease.
CT extended FOV:CT provides a 70cm transaxial view attenuation correction value for PET to get clearer images, which is not restricted by body size.
Our Patented Double Lifter designed patient Couch eliminates deflection between CT and PET during imaging thereby facilitating Precise Fusion of PET-CT Images.
21:9 Oversized curved display, creating a comfortable visual experience with crossover innovation,widescreen acquisition,free switching and one-key workflow for automatic quantitative analysis.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Magnetom Amira MRI, a 1.5T Scanner with Nifty Features, FDA Cleared
Siemens won FDA clearance to introduce its MAGNETOM Amira 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner in the U.S. The device is designed for fast patient turnarounds, a quieter experience, and even energy savings.
Some scans could be performed in under ten minutes and the sound difference on some of them compared to previous scanners is impressive.
The Eco-Power mode allows the device to save up to 30% of electricity while on standby by continuously monitoring the helium inside, cooling it just enough to liquify it and prevent boiling off. This should also help reduce the amount of maintenance the machine has to undergo.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Sysmex CS-5100 Coagulation Analyzer from Siemens FDA Cleared
The FDA has cleared the Sysmex CS-5100 hemostasis system from Siemens Healthcare. The device features simultaneous multi-wavelength preanalytical sample integrity (PSI) check technology that produces accurate results on the first test. The system reviews samples before each run for quantity and quality, preventing common errors that can impact results. Reducing the need for lab techs to review samples helps to speed up testing.
The CS-5100 has already been used for a few years in a number of facilities outside the U.S. The new offering should help a number of U.S. clinics make their operations more efficient.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Printed Sensors Evaluated for Glucose Measurement in Exhaled Breath
Just about any diabetic will tell you pinpricks are a painfully annoying but ever-present part of managing the disease. Applied Nanodetectors Ltd. (Middlesex, UK) and the Centre for Process Innovation in the UK are working on developing a breath testing device that may be able to accurately estimate the levels of glucose in the plasma.
The glucose “breathalyzer” would measure concentrations of volatile organic compounds exhaled into the device using printed sensors that can be made cheap enough for mass adoption.
James Johnstone, Business Manager at CPI said, “Applied Nanodetectors Ltd is a pioneering company and we are delighted to be working with them in this important step to take their innovative technology closer to market. The project evaluated the suitability of a range of gases for monitoring VOC’s and benchmarked their performance against existing technology. We were also able to optimise sensor performance. The incorporation of a low cost, printed glucose sensor offers great potential for the commercialisation of a multi-use and environmentally friendly breathalyser device for daily diabetic management. Regular self monitoring would lead to more effective patient treatment, a reduction in healthcare costs and a shift to more proactive point-of-care treatments.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Penumbra Releases POD Packing Coil for Peripheral Vasculature, Aneurysms
Penumbra has released a new embolization packing coil designed for work on peripheral vessels and aneurysms. The POD Packing Coil is intended for use along with the company’s Ruby and POD embolization coils, being packed behind them to help block vessels or aneurysms.
The POD Packing Coil twists into a dense mass when delivered to the treatment site.
From the announcement:
Penumbra’s embolization platform includes Ruby and POD and the new POD Packing Coil, which is uniquely designed to pack very densely behind Ruby and POD to occlude arteries and veins throughout the peripheral vasculature, including aneurysms.
Penumbra’s next-generation Indigo®System is a continuous aspiration thrombectomy device designed to remove fresh, soft emboli and thrombi from the peripheral arteries and veins. The Indigo System includes four catheter sizes (CAT 3, 5, 6 and 8). The aspiration lumen is paired with a proprietary continuous vacuum aspiration pump to evacuate clot effectively and efficiently.
“With the Indigo System and POD, Penumbra has recently introduced products that have had significant impact on the treatment of vascular disease. Indigo represents a significant advancement in the treatment of thrombotic and embolic disease, which until now has had limited treatment options,” said Corey Teigen, MD, at Sanford Health in Fargo, ND, who uses Penumbra’s peripheral vascular products. “With the Indigo System, physicians now have the ability to remove limb- and life-threatening clots quickly and efficiently. Likewise the POD, Ruby and now the POD Packing Coil optimize embolization procedures by decreasing procedure time while providing increased control.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
L’analisi dei Non Metalli con AAS a Sorgente Continua ad Alta Risoluzione è possibile!
La tecnologia legata alla Sorgente Continua ad Alta Risoluzione (HRCS AAS) permette di determinare Non Metalli utilizzando uno strumento semplice ed affidabile come l’AAS dell’Analytik Jena contrAA. Grazie alla lampada ad Arco di Xenon con sorgente continua tutte le lunghezze d’onda da 190 a 900 nm possono essere impiegate per determinazioni analitiche. In questo modo è possibile espandere la tecnica AA consentendo di effettuare anche l’analisi dei non-metalli oltre che dei metalli tradizionali. L’HR-CS MAS è un nuovo e robusto metodo per l’analisi selettiva di specifici non-metalli in varie tipologie di soluzioni sia acquose sia solventi organici oltre che in campioni solidi, in modo indipendente dal tipo di legame chimico in cui si trova l’elemento. L’analisi è possibile facendo reagire l’analita di interesse con specifiche soluzioni, dando così luogo a molecole con definite proprietà ottiche di assorbimento. Ciò rende possibile la determinazione con Spettrofotometria di Assorbimento Molecolare (MAS) per la misura dell’elemento stesso. La procedura non richiede una particolare preparazione del campione. La soluzione è semplicemente posta all’interno del forno di grafite dove gli elementi non-metalli sono quantitativamente convertiti in una specifica molecola. L’atomizzazione della soluzione consente poi di misurare l’assorbimento delle bande molecolari della molecola stessa, in modo proporzionale alla sua concentrazione nel campione. Tutto questo in maniera indipendente dallo stato ossidativo a cui si trovano gli elementi nonmetalli o da che siano in forma di anioni liberi, molecole organiche o molecole inorganiche. Tutte le specie sono convertite completamente dalla reazione, promuovendo la determinazione precisa e quantitativa dell’analita nella maggioranza delle matrici oltre che in un range di concentrazioni molto ampio. Ad esempio è possibile determinare la concentrazione del fluoro nell’acqua o nel dentifricio oppure determinare il fosforo in mangimi animali o acqua ad elevato contenuto salino. La spettroscopia molecolare associata al contrAA è una soluzione che garantisce risultati ottimali in modo semplice e affidabile. HR-CS MAS – Una soluzione Innovativa ad elevata Tecnologia!
DA DR. COTELLESSA
WIWE Multi-Sensor Device and App Estimate Risk of Stroke, MI
A Hungarian team has developed a device that they hope will let people assess chance of stroke or sudden cardiac arrest. The WIWE device features a 1-lead ECG, blood oxygen saturation sensor, and an activity monitor that are used to collect data on a person. These are then analyzed by a companion app that provides a score that may warn a person to take action to improve their condition.
We reviewed a similar device recently, the MOCAheart, and found that while the technology is interesting and impressive, the reality is that people who can afford to buy one would already know if they’re in poor cardiovascular health. Perhaps the WIWE will offer more useful analytics and applications.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Graphene ‘foam’ to unlock new applications in collaborative R&D venture
Manchester and Abu Dhabi Universities are to collaborate on a graphene-containing 3D foam which could enhance the matertial’s properties in sensors, electrical components and other devices
The use of graphene in batteries, composites, micro-sensors and ion-exchange membranes will all be investigated as part of a new collaborative research program.
The program, which will bring together researchers at Manchester University and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, will focus on three projects covering the use of graphene and two dimensional materials in a range of applications.
Dispersing graphene flakes like these in a polymer foam could improve its performance in batteries and supercapacitors
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms, which is 10 times stronger than steel while 1000 times lighter than a sheet of paper per unit area.
In one of the projects, researchers from both organisations will develop low-cost ink-jet printing techniques for building micro-sensors designed to operate in the challenging environments found in high temperature energy and military applications.
Meanwhile, a separate team will investigate the benefits of using graphene-based ion exchange membranes in water desalination.
Finally, researchers will attempt to develop low-density graphene nanocomposite foams for use in batteries and supercapacitors, and to stiffen composite materials.
The advantage of using a 2D material like graphene in battery electrodes, for example, is that it has a very high surface area, and yet is only one atom thick, according to Prof Brian Derby at Manchester University, who is a member of the research team.
“But in order for the material to be useful, the atom-thick layers have to be packaged in a 3D object,” he said.
So the researchers are attempting to build foams out of graphene, he said. “We’re trying to develop ways of packaging these materials so that they assemble in space, but hold their surface area as much as possible.”
The team also hopes to develop composites in which very fine flakes of graphene are dispersed within a polymer matrix. This should allow for the efficient transfer of stress from the polymer to the graphene flakes, creating a stronger, but still workable composite, said Derby.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Beetle inspired coating stops frost in its tracks.
A tiny beetle from one of the world’s hottest places has inspired the development of a coating that could be used to control the spread of frost on critical surfaces.
An advanced coating, inspired by a beetle’s shell, could be used to prevent frost forming on components including aircraft parts and windscreens a team of US researchers has claimed.
The Namib Desert Beetle uses bumps on its shell to gather water from the air
The technology, which has been developed at Virginia Tech, uses photolithography to create chemical micropatterns to control the growth of frost caused by condensation.
According to a paper in the online journal Scientific Reports, the technique takes its inspiration from the Namib Desert Beetle, which has a water repellent surface studded with bumps that attract water. These bumps enable it to collect airborne water, which then flows down water-repellant channels towards the insect’s mouth.
Jonathan Boreyko, an assistant professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering said that by mimicking this ability to control where dew-drops grow it’s is possible to create frost-proof surfaces.
The journey of frost across a surface begins with a single, frozen dewdrop, the researchers said.
“The twist is how ice bridges grow,” Boreyko said. “Ice harvests water from dew drops and this causes ice bridges to propagate frost across the droplets on the surface. Only a single droplet has to freeze to get this chain reaction started.”
By controlling spacing of the condensation, the researchers were able to control the speed frost grows across surfaces, or completely prevent frost.
“We made a single dry zone around a piece of ice,” Boreyko said. “Dew drops preferentially grow on the array of hydrophilic dots. When the dots are spaced far enough apart and one of the drops freezes into ice, the ice is no longer able to spread frost to the neighboring drops because they are too far away. Instead, the drops actually evaporate completely, creating a dry zone around the ice.”
Creating frost-free zones on larger surfaces could have a variety of applications – including on wind turbines or airplane wings, where a huge amount of energy I currently used up on frost reduction.
This isn’t the first time that engineers have been inspired by the beetle’s elegant water gathering technique. Back in 2012, US start-up NBD Nano announced that it had copied the insect’s ability to develop a self-filling water bottle.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Powerful Handheld Microscope to Spot Cancer Cells During Surgery
Biopsies and tumor removals typically require sending intra-operative tissue samples to the pathology lab for evaluation under a microscope. This takes time and is often detrimental to the patients, resulting in the removal of healthy tissues, longer time under anesthesia, and other concerns. Researchers at University of Washington, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the Barrow Neurological Institute have been working on a hand-held microscope that would be able to let surgeons assess tissues right inside the OR.
The device relies on dual-axis confocal microscopy to peer up to a half millimeter under the surface without taking a slice of the tissue. It does this process rapidly using mirrors that sweep a light beam across the area of the tissue being analyzed, capturing what it’s seeing to a nearby computer that further analyzes the data. The researchers believe they can get it to work fast enough to avoid smudging during handheld operation, a necessity if the microscope is to be used during actual surgeries.
From the study abstract in Biomedical Optics Express:
In this study, a miniature line-scanned (LS) dual-axis confocal (DAC) microscope, with a 12-mm diameter distal tip, has been developed for clinical point-of-care pathology. The dual-axis architecture has demonstrated an advantage over the conventional single-axis confocal configuration for reducing background noise from out-of-focus and multiply scattered light. The use of line scanning enables fast frame rates (16 frames/sec is demonstrated here, but faster rates are possible), which mitigates motion artifacts of a hand-held device during clinical use. We have developed a method to actively align the illumination and collection beams in a DAC microscope through the use of a pair of rotatable alignment mirrors. Incorporation of a custom objective lens, with a small form factor for in vivo clinical use, enables our device to achieve an optical-sectioning thickness and lateral resolution of 2.0 and 1.1 microns respectively. Validation measurements with reflective targets, as well as in vivo and ex vivo images of tissues, demonstrate the clinical potential of this high-speed optical-sectioning microscopy device.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Robotic Orthosis Helps Empower People with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
A team of Dutch researchers have been working on a orthotic robotic arm to help people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease that exhibits physical weakness throughout the body. People with the disease, which progresses over time, will often become too weak to do simple tasks with their arms. To help overcome this weakness, the researchers built a device that holds onto the person’s arm and gives it the strength that it’s missing.
The orthosis moves along with the arm and only provides assistive power when needed. It actively monitors the electrical activity of the muscles that it’s trying to help and activates its motors in response to the electromyography (EMG) signals.
The device has already been tested and shown to help people with Duchenne to manipulate objects that they otherwise would not have the strength to do. Additionally, the arm can be used to assess the level of a patient’s disability based on how much it ends up helping to perform a set of routine tasks.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Spread Spectrum Radar Monitors Heartbeats at a Distance
Japanese scientists at Kyoto University and Panasonic have developed a new technology that can measure a person’s heart rate from a distance, without any contact or inconvenience. The researchers hope that one day vital signs will be automatically captured as people walk by a sensor, letting clinics evaluate patients faster and allowing people themselves to keep an easier eye on their health.
The new device uses millimeter-wave spread-spectrum radar, the returning signal being a mess that has been previously impossible to get a sense of. The researchers wrote algorithms that are able to process and detangle this data, extracting the tell-tale signs of heartbeats from the signals and measuring their period.
The next step is to further perfect the algorithm to be effective with the entire population, from young to old, and in different and unusual environments.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Crystalline ‘antiferromagnet’ has potential for improved digital memory
Smaller, faster, and more robust and energy efficient electronic devices could be developed, thanks to research into an entirely new form of digital memory.
The new form of memory, known as antiferromagnetic spintronics, was recently unveiled in the journal Science, by an international team of researchers lead by Dr Peter Wadley at Nottingham University, and funded by EPSRC and the EU.
Antiferromagnets have a theoretical switching speed limit that is roughly 1000 times faster than the best existing memory devices, Wadley said.
What’s more, they do not produce stray magnetic fields, meaning they can be packed more closely together to produce a memory device with a higher storage density. This also prevents data stored on the devices from being stolen by magnetic scanners.
Finally, unlike ferromagnets or solid state memory, antiferromagnets are not sensitive to external magnetic fields or radiation, meaning they do not need to be shielded from certain equipment to prevent the data being erased. This makes them suitable for use in harsh environments such as on satellites and aircraft, or for some military applications.
As a result, they could one day act as a “universal memory”, replacing all other forms of memory in computing, said Wadley.
In ferromagnetic materials, microscopic magnets sitting on top of individual atoms, known as spins, have their north poles pointing in one direction.
In antiferromagnetic materials, in contrast, the north poles of half of the spins point in one direction, while the other half point in another.
This has previously made it difficult for researchers to use the material for data storage, as the spins cannot all be controlled with magnetic fields, unlike ferromagnets.
But by using an antiferromagnet with a very specific crystal structure, CuMnAs, the researchers have shown that they are able to control the alignment of these spins using electrical pulses.
“Running the electric current through the antiferromagnet generates a field, which varies in direction, much like the spins on the antiferromagnet itself,” said Wadley.
These fields then couple very strongly to the antiferromagnet, he said. “Using that you can then efficiently and easily rotate the direction that the spins are aligned along,” he said.
In this way, the researchers are able to use the technique to write and store data onto a microchip made of antiferromagnetic material, and to read it out again.
The researchers now plan to build prototype USB memory devices, to demonstrate the technology.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Ricerca: ENEA nella top ten degli studi di medicina rigenerativa
Riparare tessuti e organi danneggiati da malattie, traumi o semplicemente dall’invecchiamento attraverso l’autorigenerazione da parte del corpo stesso del paziente. È l’obiettivo del Progetto MERIT, del quale l’ENEA è responsabile scientifico, che apre nuovi orizzonti per la cura di gravi patologie come il cancro, la distrofia muscolare, il diabete ma anche per la realizzazione di nuovi farmaci. La ricerca sviluppata nell’ambito del Progetto MERIT ha ottenuto numerosi riconoscimenti ed è stata collocata nella top ten dei risultati degli ultimi 30 anni da “STEM CELLS”, un’autorevole rivista del settore. I progressi compiuti grazie alla ricerca sull’ingegneria tissutale hanno portato alla creazione di un nuovo campo di applicazione delle biotecnologie che, secondo stime Ue, sarà in grado di muovere un giro d’affari di oltre 300 miliardi di euro nei prossimi 15 anni.
L’ingegneria dei tessuti rappresenta la nuova frontiera della biomedicina, in alternativa al trapianto, con l’obiettivo la riparazione o la sostituzione di tessuti e organi come muscoli, ossa e cartilagini, danneggiati da malattie, traumi o anche dall’invecchiamento, restituendone l’integrità e la funzionalità. È quanto ci svela il Progetto MERIT sulle nuove frontiere della riabilitazione, che propone modelli e tecniche innovativi per la rigenerazione e la riparazione dei tessuti in patologie che causano una forte perdita muscolare. Una vera e propria “fabbrica dei tessuti” che ha raggiunto risultati scientifici di rilievo, come la riproduzione in vitro di parte di tessuti muscolo-scheletrici. La ricerca, di cui l’ENEA è responsabile scientifico, è stata collocata nella classifica dei “top 10 developments” degli ultimi 30 anni di “STEM CELLS”, un’autorevole rivista del settore di livello internazionale, sia per studi di ricerca di base e applicata che per gli aspetti clinico-applicativi.
SEGUE SECONDA PARTE
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II PARTE
Oltre all’ENEA, il Progetto MERIT (Modelli innovativi di riparazione e rigenerazione di tessuti in traumi ortopedici) ha potuto contare su una partnership di livello internazionale, che annovera la Fondazione San Raffaele, che scommette da anni sull’ingegneria dei tessuti, il CNR, a cui si deve il coordinamento del progetto, l’Università “La Sapienza” di Roma, l’Università di Pittsburgh, Sorbonne Université Marie & Pierre Curie, l’Università di Lipsia e l’Indian Institute of Technology.Questo contesto multidisciplinare di altissimo livello, che gli addetti ai lavori chiamano “complex network”, ha favorito la più ampia collaborazione fra esperti di discipline diverse e tecnologie di frontiera, un valore aggiunto che ha permesso a MERIT di essere pubblicato su riviste internazionali dall’elevato impact factor - l’indice che permette di valutare la portata di una ricerca scientifica - e più di recente anche sul sito dell’International Society for the Advancement of Cytometry.
“Grazie a tecnologie sempre più innovative e ai progressi della ricerca nel campo dei biomateriali e in altre scienze correlate, questo settore apre la strada a nuove possibilità di cura e si candida a rivoluzionare la medicina - afferma la ricercatrice Laura Teodori, responsabile scientifica del progetto per l’ENEA- Inoltre, riproducendo in laboratorio il sistema in vivo, potrebbe fornire un contributo fondamentale anche alla scoperta di nuovi farmaci”.
I progressi compiuti nella ricerca sull’ingegneria tissutale hanno già portato alla creazione di un nuovo settore commerciale delle biotecnologie in Europa: secondo stime dell’Unione europea nei prossimi 15 anni l’ingegneria dei tessuti e la medicina rigenerativa in generale muoveranno un giro d'affari di circa 300 miliardi di euro. Negli Stati Uniti, l’Agenzia governativa per la ricerca biomedica (National Institute of Health) ha previsto che nel giro di 15 anni il business «from Stem Cells to the Market Place» quadruplicherà ed è destinato a crescere in modo esponenziale, in particolare nei settori della neurologia, ortopedia, rigenerazione degli organi, chirurgia cardiovascolare e urologica e nella gestione delle lesioni cutanee.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Breakthrough for Diabetes: Material Protects Transplanted Pancreatic Islet Cells from Immune System
Glucose-stimulated insulin-producing cells, derived from stem cells, are protected inside capsules that are engineered to be invisible to the host immune system.
A stealth material surface, shown here, has been engineered to provide an “invisibility cloak” against the body’s immune system cells. In this electron microscopy image, you can see the material’s surface topography. Image courtesy of the researchers.
Diabetics who undergo pancreatic islet transplantations have to be on immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives, a huge drawback for the usefulness of the technique that would otherwise be revolutionary. Now researchers from MIT, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Joslin Diabetes Center have come up with a way of encapsulating the pancreatic islets within a special material, so that after transplantation they continue to work normally without being attacked by the immune system of the recipient. So far the technique has shown to be effective in laboratory mice for a period of six months, pointing to human trials in the not too distant future.
The researchers tinkered with alginate, a chemical component within brown algae that has been known to encapsulate cells but that also leads to scar formation. The researchers created hundreds of variations of alginate, testing them in mice and monkeys. Eventually they settled on triazole-thiomorpholine dioxide (TMTD) and tested its powers to encapsulate human pancreatic islets derived from stem cells into diabetic mice. The material worked remarkably well, with the islets producing more or less insulin with changes in blood sugar, keeping glucose under control for almost 200 days
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Complex Drug Releasing Nanostructures Build Themselves Near Tumors
Researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have come up with a nanotechnology approach to solving a long existing limitation of certain cancer drugs. While many meds attack tumor cells from within, others are designed to attack cellular membranes and nearby vasculature (angiogenesis). These latter drugs only work when they’re near but not absorbed by the tumor cells. This challenge of preventing the drugs from being swept away by the body yet not entering the interior of cells limits the drugs’ effectiveness.
The new approach by the North Carolina team takes two such drugs and encompasses them within tiny nanocapsules that are only 100 nm in diameter, each of which is peppered with the human serum albumin. These capsules themselves have even smaller capsules attached to them, all filled with the transglutaminase enzyme.
When injected into the blood, the smaller capsules are opened by the hyaluronidase enzyme, often present in large quantities around certain tumors. The transglutaminase enzyme is released and it works to connect the human serum albumin proteins together. This creates a web of sorts, keeping the drug inside. Because the whole structure is too big to be absorbed by cells, it stays put and can release its cargo as it breaks down.
The researchers tested the technology on animal models of breast cancer tumors, finding that the approach was a lot better at targeted delivery of the drugs used.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Acoustic Tweezers Manipulate Live Cells for 3D Bioprinting
Before we’re able to build entire organs or even entire beings (ala Fifth Element) we’ll have to develop tools that work with individual cells to compose larger structures. A big step has been taken toward that future by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Penn State have come up with a way to use sound waves as tweezers to carefully manipulate live cells in 3D. The method works for both individual cells and larger multi-cell constructs, allowing the acoustic tweezers to compose both flat 2D structures, as well as complicated 3D shapes. The method is gentle enough to maintain the health of the cells, while being precise and versatile for bioprinting applications.
It works inside a microfluidic device that can be finely tuned so that the sound waves meet in specific locations. By carefully moving these spots, the waves can be used to push cells in specific directions while leaving other cells understurbed..
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Wrist-Worn Sweat Sensor Measures Multiple Metabolites, Electrolytes in Skin Sweat
Wearable health trackers are all the rage these days, but in many ways they’re still glorified pedometers. Some measure the heart rate, or even blood pressure, but even at that they’re not great at. At the University of California, Berkeley researchers have developed an impressive new wearable sensor that can measure metabolites such as glucose and lactate, and electrolytes including sodium and potassium ions, within the sweat on the skin. The researchers report on the device in the latestNature, where they describe how the integration of various electronic components was done to achieve the ability to measure so many different molecule types.
The device self-calibrates against the temperature of the skin, an important step that is more difficult than it sounds. It then electrically measures the sweat it comes in contact with and uses Bluetooth to relay its data to a smartphone, tablet, or other device that can display the results.
The technology can be integrated into upcoming wearable devices and will certainly help people, especially athletes, keep better track of their body.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Scientists: Let’s Use Lasers Instead of Accelerators to Fire Protons at Tumors
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is famous for being central during the Manhattan Project that built the first nuclear bombs. It has maintained its focus on nuclear weapons and related technologies, and now it’s trying to apply its know-how toward helping to kill cancers. Specifically, the investigators at Oak Ridge want to make proton therapy a lot more affordable than it is now.
Proton therapy uses highly energized hydrogen ions to attack tumors. These are spun up inside particle accelerators to near speed-of-light velocities and then released toward a tumor. Because they only damage tissues just where they stop, they cause significantly less damage than X-rays that influence all tissues on the way to the target. But, while proton therapy should be considerably safer, the cost of such systems (about $100 million) is prohibitive for nearly all hospitals.
The Oak Ridge researchers are now working with a team from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) laboratory in Germany toward using much cheaper lasers to accelerate ions to the necessary energies required for therapy. They’re running simulations on the powerful Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge that recreate how lasers strip off electrons from hydrogen atoms, leaving positive ions that can be made to accelerate toward a negative charge.
A snippet from an Oak Ridge story about the research:
Because of its various collaborations and diligent work on Titan, the team was able to create some of the most realistic three-dimensional simulations of high power laser interactions with targets that are on the scale of the laser focus. With the calculation power available, the team could use targets at densities close to what is used in experiments.
One of the main advances dealt with the creation of plasma caused by laser energy deposited into the target well before the main part of the laser pulse hits the target. This so-called preplasma can be much larger than the initial target, meaning the team has to simulate a much larger volume. These effects are present in experiments as well as in large-scale simulations, so the team is able to offer a much more detailed comparison between simulation and experiment.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Super-Resolution Technique Radically Improves Digital Microscopy Images
Digital microscopy has been a major player in improving scientific research, and it is changing how clinical pathology labs are run. The technique, which relies on sensors full of pixels, has its downsides and in certain cases produces less than ideal pictures. Now researchers at California NanoSystems Institute at University of California, Los Angeles have developed a technique called “pixel super-resolution using wavelength scanning” that can result in much sharper images.
The technique scans the sample under the microscope repeatedly using different wavelengths of light. Using this information, a special algorithm combines the scans into one in which individual pixels are smaller than the original.
The researchers tested the microscopy technique on blood samples and pap smears, demonstrating high resolution imaging, both on stained and unstained samples.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Why a new physics theory could rewrite the textbooks
Dyson equation for the nucleon polarization (shaded bubble). For the longitudinal polarization the photon-nucleon vertex is given by the zeroth component of the current operator. Scientists are closer to changing everything we know about one of the basic building blocks of the universe, according to an international group of physics experts involving the University of Adelaide.
If the theory is correct, it would force years of experiments to be reinterpreted, and would see the textbooks on nuclear physics rewritten.
In a paper published online in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters, a team of three physicists from the United States, Japan and Australia have predicted that the structure of protons could be proven to change inside the nucleus of an atom under certain conditions.
"Atoms contain protons and electrons, but they also have their own internal structure comprised of quarks and gluons – these are what we consider to be the basic building blocks of matter," says co-author Professor Anthony Thomas, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Elder Professor of Physics at the University of Adelaide.
"For many scientists, the idea that the internal structure of protons might change under certain circumstances can seem absurd, even sacrilegious. To others like myself, evidence of this internal change is highly sought after and would help to explain some inconsistencies in theoretical physics."
While this theorised change in the internal structure of protons has not yet been discovered, it is currently being put to the test at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator facility in the US, in experiments designed by this research team.
"By firing a beam of electrons at an atomic nucleus you can measure the difference in energy of the outgoing electrons, representing the changed state. We are making some fairly strong predictions about what the outcomes of those tests will show, and we're hopeful of a definitive measurement," Professor Thomas says.
"While the principle of the experiment itself is relatively simple, making the measurements reliable and accurate is extremely demanding, requiring a state-of-the-art machine like that at Jefferson Lab, and skilled experimenters.
"The ramifications for the scientific world are significant. This is about as high stakes as it gets in science. It could represent a new paradigm for nuclear physics."
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Electrostatics help to get a grip on awkward and fragile objects
Electrostatic forces are the key to a new kind of gripper that can grasp and manoeuvre odd-shaped and fragile objects without damaging them.
Moving fragile objects is a major issue for many industries, notably food and drink. Natural objects like fruits and vegetables have unique and unpredictable shapes and sizes, and often must not be damaged as they are moved around. This makes packing and handling difficult to automate, and necessitates human involvement, which pushes up producer costs and therefore increases prices.
Soft robotics – making robotic manipulators out of plastics and gels – is a promising avenue for development of automated equipment which can handle this problem. Generally soft robots mimic some aspect of human physiology to gently grip and move items while conforming to their shape, exerting enough force to take the item’s weight without damaging it. At the Ecole Polytechnique Fedéral de Lausanne (EPFL), researchers have developed a soft robotic gripper that uses electrostatic forces to pick up objects of arbitrary shape and stiffness, such as eggs, water-filled balloons of pieces of paper.
The robot’s fingers are flaplike and consist of five layers: a pre-stretched elastomer sandwiched between two layers of a flexible electrode; this whole assembly is also sandwiched between two layers of silicone of differing thicknesses. With no current running through the electrode layers, the differing thicknesses of the silicone make the flaps bend outwards; when switched on, the electrodes first straighten and then bend inwards, mimicking the action of muscles. The tips of the electrodes have an interdigitated pattern, resembling interlaced fingers; this is designed to maximise electrostatic attraction; the effect that makes a balloon stick to a wall when it’s been rubbed on hair or clothing..
Other soft grippers have used pneumatics to exert a grasping force, which can be too strong for fragile items. Others need to be programmed for the specific shape of the object they are to hold; whereas the Lausanne team’s grippers conform to any shape with no need for customisation or adjustment, they can also handle deformable and flat items, both of which have been problematic for previous systems.
“This is the first time that electroadhesion and soft robotics have been combined together to grasp objects,” says Jun Shintake, doctoral student at EPFL and first author of the paper.
“The novelty of our soft gripper is the ideal combination of two technologies: artificial muscles and electroadhesion,” says PhD co-supervisor Dario Floreano of EPFL. “Our unique configuration of electrodes and silicone membranes is what allows us to control the bending of the flaps and the electrostatic grip,” added PhD co-supervisor Herbert Shea of EPFL.
As well as food, the team thinks the system could be used to grasp debris in space or used in prosthetic hands
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Ambiente, i droni nuovi alleati contro Xylella e punteruolo rosso
Nella battaglia contro la Xylella e il punteruolo rosso si schierano anche i droni. L'utilizzo di queste macchine volanti, dotate di sofisticati sensori infrarossi e multispettrali, potrà consentire di conoscere meglio la diffusione del batterio che ha infettato gli ulivi secolari in Puglia e anche del coleottero che sta distruggendo le palme in molte zone d'Italia. Le prime ricerche saranno presentate nell'ambito della conferenza "Droni per l'agricoltura", nuovo appuntamento del ciclo "Roma Drone Conference 2015-16", che si svolgerà il 17 febbraio prossimo presso l'Auditorium della Link Campus University di Roma. I droni stanno trovando applicazione in agricoltura anche nella lotta ad altre infestanti, come la peronospora della vite e la piralide del mais, oltre naturalmente che per il controllo dello stato di salute delle colture, per il monitoraggio del livello di irrigazione e per la stima dell'effetto dei fertilizzanti. Durante la conferenza saranno illustrate nuove soluzioni tecnologiche per il "precision farming" con l'utilizzo di Aeromobili a Pilotaggio Remoto (APR) e saranno presentate (anche con l'esposizione di droni ad ala fissa e rotante e di sensoristica) le attività di varie aziende specializzate, come Topcon Positioning Italia, MicroGeo, Salt & Lemon, FlyTop, Skyline, Nowlanding e Consorzio Easy-Pv. Interverranno anche i rappresentanti delle confederazioni agricole Coldiretti, CIA e Confagricoltura. Nel corso della giornata, saranno presentati i primi risultati di alcune campagne di volo con droni multirotori sugli ulivi colpiti dalla Xylella Fastidiosa nel Salento e sulle palme aggredite dal punteruolo rosso nell'area di Albenga (Savona), oltre a un focus sui droni gonfiabili, piccoli aerostati e dirigibili in alternativa ai droni multirotori. "Tutte le ricerche internazionali indicano l'agricoltura come uno dei settori di maggiore utilizzo in futuro dei droni, sia per il controllo dall'alto delle colture che per interventi di precisione anche su singole piante", spiega Luciano Castro, presidente di Roma Drone Conference. "Proprio le emergenze come la Xylella e il punteruolo rosso possono mostrare l'efficacia di questi mezzi per fornire dati aggiornati e per consentire decisioni adeguate agli agronomi, agli imprenditori agricoli e alle istituzioni. L'Italia si trova oggi in prima linea nello sviluppo di queste nuove soluzioni tecnologiche e potrà dire la sua in un mercato che sta per esplodere al livello mondiale. L'arrivo del 'drone-contadino' tra campi e filari è sempre più vicino". La conferenza "Droni per l'agricoltura. L'utilizzo degli APR per il monitoraggio e gli interventi di precisione nelle coltivazioni" ha ottenuto il patrocinio da parte di ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Enac Ansv, Cira, Enav, Aero Club d'Italia, degli Ordini nazionali dei Periti Agrari e degli Agrotecnici, della CIA e di tutte le associazioni del settore droni (UASIT, ASSORPAS, FIAPR, AIDRONI e EDPA).
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Microfluidic Device Mimics Placental Barrier to Study Microvilli
Epithelial cell membranes feature little protrusions called microvilli that increase surface area, and they are involved in absorption, secretion, and other exchange functions, and behave like little sensors that monitor nearby fluids. These microvilli remain mysterious in many ways because they’re so hard to study, but researchers at the University of Tokyo have now built a microfluidic device that replicates the functionality of the placental barrier that normally undergoes a great deal of stress from fluid motion.
From U of Tokyo:
The research group of Professor S. Takeuchi and (then) Dr. S. Miura at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science observed that application of fluid flow shear force to placental barrier cells results in the formation of characteristic microvilli on placental epithelial cells and additionally discovered that the glucose transport rate of the protein GLUT1 localized to the microvilli also increased. This has demonstrated that compared to conventional static culture methods in which forces such as that produced by fluid flow are not applied, the application of shear force due to fluid flow induces the formation of microvilli and controls cell function. Further, the group discovered that activation of the calcium ion channel TRPV6 by fluid shear force induces microvilli formation.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Sandcastle worm provides inspiration for new type of wet glue
The Sandcastle worm has provided inspiration to a group of researchers at UC Santa Barbara who’ve developed a wet glue for biomedical and non-biological applications.
Areas such as tissue repair, dental adhesives and other surface adhesion applications could benefit from this glue, which replicates the adhesion strategy of the segmented marine invertebrate that is found along the California coast.
Known for constructing hive-like shelters out of grains of sand glued together by a protein adhesive, sandcastle worms, along with mussels and other glue-secreting inhabitants of the intertidal zone, have inspired scientists and engineers looking to develop an adhesive that can perform in wet, submerged and otherwise inhospitable conditions.
“Sandcastle worms secrete a robust underwater adhesive to build a tube reef (sandcastle) in harsh intertidal environments, where wind and wave velocity often exceed 25 meters per second,” said Kollbe Ahn, a project scientist at UCSB’s Marine Science Institute and co-lead author of a paper on this research that appears in Nature Materials. “We successfully replicated the strong wet-contact adhesion of the bio-adhesion featuring nanoscopic chemical and miroscopic porous structures.”
While wet glues have been the subject of research and development for many years, they have yet to approach the performance of the natural substances in terms of stickiness and adhesion. Synthetic underwater adhesives have typically required complex processing and functionalization, adding further steps to what would ideally be a simple process.
“From practical perspectives, simple processing saves time and labour, and ultimately reduces costs,” said Qiang Zhao, UCSB materials scientist and lead author. The sandcastle worm-inspired glue is particularly noteworthy, he said, because through a phenomenon called solvent exchange, adhesion becomes a more streamlined.
“The processing of this wet glue does not need pre-immersive dry curing or applied compressing pressure that are normally required in conventional studies,” Zhao said. The synthetic glue also promotes adhesion between a variety of surfaces, including plastics, glasses, metals, wood and biological tissues.
Additionally, the resulting microarchitecture of the synthetic glue, which mimics the porous structure of sandcastle worm adhesive, is said to make it more resistant to cracking.
“Porous structures, or cellular structures, are ubiquitous in nature, such as in cork, bones and coral, and they are found to increase fracture energy of these materials,” Zhao said. “Here in the context of wet adhesion, we found that the porosity was reminiscent of the porous structures of sandcastle worm cement, and significantly improved wet adhesion.”
According to UCSB, this development is the latest effort at the university to formulate an adhesive that performs in wet and especially adverse conditions, and could lead to a variety of applications, such as dental adhesion and the repair of tissue, skin, bones and membranes that are surrounded by bodily fluids.
Additionally, industrial and commercial applications that require adhesion in wet environments could also benefit from this technology. Through studies of mussels and sandcastle worms, the researchers hope to create and optimise an adhesive that not only bonds quickly and performs well under a variety of conditions and with various surfaces, but also eliminates the need for organic solvents, which results in a more environmentally friendly adhesion process.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
International Space Station to host trial of NASA’s integrated-photonics modem.
Engineers at NASA are working on an integrated-photonics modem that could potentially transmit data at rates 10 to 100 times faster than today’s communications equipment.
NASA’s first integrated-photonics modem will be tested in 2020 on the International Space Station as part of the agency’s multi-year Laser Communications Relay Demonstration programme.
The mobile phone-sized device incorporates optics-based functions – including lasers, switches, and wires – onto a microchip.
Once aboard the space station, the so-called Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) User Modem and Amplifier (ILLUMA) will serve as a low-Earth orbit terminal for NASA’s LCRD, demonstrating further capabilities for high-speed, laser-based communications.
With missions demanding higher data rates, the need for LCRD has become more critical, said Don Cornwell, director of NASA’s Advanced Communication and Navigation Division within the space Communications and Navigation Program, which is funding the modem’s development.
According to NASA, LCRD promises to transform the way the agency sends and receives data, video and other information. It will use lasers to encode and transmit data at rates up to 100 times faster than today’s communications equipment whilst requiring significantly less mass and power.
The technology could also deliver video and high-resolution measurements from spacecraft over planets across the solar system, thereby permitting researchers to make detailed studies of conditions on other worlds.
The project is expected to begin operations in 2019 with LCRD designed to be operational after an initial two-year demonstration period. It involves a hosted payload and two specially equipped ground stations. The mission will dedicate the first two years to demonstrating a fully operational system, from geosynchronous orbit to ground stations. Once NASA demonstrates that capability, it plans to use ILLUMA to test communications between geosynchronous and low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, Cornwell said.
“We’ve pushed this for a long time,” said Mike Krainak, who is leading the modem’s development at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The technology will simplify optical system design. It will reduce the size and power consumption of optical devices, and improve reliability, all while enabling new functions from a lower-cost system. It is clear that our strategy to leverage integrated photonic circuitry will lead to a revolution in Earth and planetary-space communications as well as in science instruments.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
EasyJet and Cranfield University unveil fuel cell for flight ops
EasyJet and post-grads at Cranfield Uni have unveiled a concept that could save the airline 50,000 tonnes of fuel and associated CO2 emissions per year.
The zero emissions hydrogen fuel system is part of the airline’s environmental ambitions to slash fleet CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre by 7%. Set for implementation by 2020, the airline currently clocks up 81.05g of CO2 per passenger kilometre.
For the hybrid plane concept the airline looked to students at Cranfield University, who were asked to develop concepts that could come to fruition in 20 years time. Beating this timeframe by some margin, easyJet will now set to work with its industry partners and suppliers to apply the technology and test it later this year.
The hybrid plane concept uses a hydrogen fuel cell stowed in the aircraft’s hold. This system allows energy to be captured as the aircraft brakes on landing and is used to charge the system’s lightweight batteries when the aircraft is on the ground.
The energy can then be used by the aircraft without having to use its jet engines. This would be particularly beneficial during taxiing, given that the airline’s aircraft average 20 minutes of taxi time per flight, and the procedure itself accounts for 4% of the company’s annual fuel consumption.
Each aircraft would have motors in their main wheels and power electronics and system controllers would give pilots total control of the aircraft’s speed, direction and braking during taxi operations. The system would also reduce, if not remove altogether, the need for tugs to manoeuvre aircraft in and out of stands.
Wastewater from the fuel cells could then be used to refill the aircraft’s water system throughout the flight.
Ian Davies, easyJet’s engineering director said: “The hybrid plane concept we are announcing today is both a vision of the future and a challenge to our partners and suppliers to continue to push the boundaries towards reducing our carbon emissions.
“It’s also a great example of the benefits of our strategic relationship with Cranfield University.”
Dr Craig Lawson, lecturer, Centre for Aeronautics, Cranfield University, added: “Our students have showcased some exciting ideas for the 2035 vision of the airline industry through The Future of Flight competition, presenting environmental solutions, operational improvements and ideas to enhance the customer experience. We’re looking forward to developing this concept further.”
EasyJet and Cranfield University signed a three year strategic partnership agreement last year to share innovation and knowledge.
As part of easyJet’s 20th birthday activities, students at Cranfield University were asked to compete in four categories; cabin design, aircraft design, airport experience and in-flight experience.
Judges at easyJet and Cranfield received several advanced concepts, including dynamic wings which change shape in flight, a ‘shark skin’ coating to reduce surface drag and, in the cabin, ultra-light weight seats carbon fibre seats incorporating wireless phone and tablet charging panels.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New Photosensitizer Opens Doors for Optogenetic Research
We’re big fans of optogenetics, a technology that allows researchers to activate individual cells using flashes of light. Typically it is brain neurons of rodents that are activated in optogenetic experiments, but other cells can also be targeted. This is done by introducing genetic material into animals to make certain of their cells reactive to light, while the other challenging piece is being able to deliver light deep inside the body. Fiber optic cables and embedded LEDs have made many experiments possible, but they still significantly limit the true capabilities of optogenetics. A team led by folks at Carnegie Mellon University have now created a molecular photosensitizer that can activate cells without a man-made light source.
The technology relies on fluorogen-activating proteins (FAP) that have been used in the past to track protein activity inside of cells. FAPs are genetically introduced, and when they interact with a specific fluorescent dye the combination glows. In the new study the researchers engineered a fluorescent dye that also produces singlet oxygen, which destroys proteins, when it interacts with FAP and light. This lets researchers selectively inactivate proteins that are being targeted.
The fluorescent dye produces light in the far-red or near-infrared spectrum, wavelengths that are best for light to penetrate through tissue. Moreover, the FAP-dye complex binds well to the target proteins, allowing accurate studies to be conducted.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
W 7-X fusion experiment marks first hydrogen plasma.
The world’s largest stellarator, a type of fusion reactor, has begun operations with a hydrogen plasma – a major step towards nuclear fusion experiments
The first hydrogen plasma glows inside Wendelstein 7-X
The Wendelstein 7-X experimental nuclear fusion device has passed a major milestone in its development with the generation of its first hydrogen plasma. W 7-X, at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Griefswald, Northeastern Germany, is a stellarator: a reactor shaped like a twisted doughnut, which confines the plasma in which fusion takes place within magnetic fields with a complex geometry.
W 7-X was completed last year, as The Engineer reported in our December on-line issue. Since then, its operators have performed 300 pulses inside the reactor with a plasma made from helium. These served to clean the inside of the vacuum chamber, which allowed the plasma temperature to be increased; it eventually reached 6million degrees Celsius. During this phase, the IPP team also tested W 7-X’s instruments, including X-ray spectrometers, interferometers, laser scattering and video diagnostics. “This makes everything ready for the next step,” commented project head Prof Thomas Klinger, “We are changing from helium to hydrogen plasmas, our proper subject of investigation.”
The first hydrogen plasma pulse was activated in a ceremony by Chancellor Angela Merkel. This pulse, lasting a quarter of a second, used 2MW of microwave heating to send the plasma temperature up to 80million degrees Celsius. “With a temperature of 80 million degrees and a lifetime of a quarter of a second, the device’s first hydrogen plasma has completely lived up to our expectations”, states Dr. Hans-Stephan Bosch, whose division is responsible for operation of Wendelstein 7-X.
This phase of operation, with brief pulses, will last until mid-March, when the vessel will be opened to install carbon tiles on the plasma-facing inner wall and a diverter – a feature for removing the products of fusion. After this, the duration of plasma pulses and heating power will be gradually increased over the next four years, with the addition of further equipment inside the stellarator at intervals, until it can reach an eventual target of 20MW of heating in half-hour pulses. At this point, fusion experimentation with a plasma of two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, can begin.
Work was completed on the W 7-X stellarator late last year
Stellarators use a similar mechanism to a more common types of fusion reactor, the tokomak, with the charged plasma confined inside a toroidal vacuum chamber by powerful electromagnets. But while tokamaks are flat toroids – that is, the centerline is a planar circle – the centerline of a stellarator is twisted in a helical shape. While tokamaks need to induce a current in the plasma to help heat it, stellarators need no plasma current: this makes the plasma inherently more stable and theoretically allows them to operate continuously, whereas tokomaks can only operate in pulses. But the magnets in a stellator, and the fields they create, require very powerful supercomputers to calculate their geometry, so they were impossible to build at scale until relatively recently. W 7-X, like the tokamak experiment ITER being built in southern France, uses superconducting magnets and is intended to demonstrate whether it could be used to generate more energy than it takes to operate, and therefore whether it could be a future source of electricity.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Pressure Sensing Socks Pair with Smartphones to Prevent Diabetic Neuropathy
Diabetic neuropathy strikes a large percentage of the population living with diabetes. The main symptoms being loss of feeling and the development of ulcers on the feet, it’s often diagnosed and treated much later than the ideal. To help prevent the development of ulcers, a student team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s BioDesign course have created sensor-laden socks that can detect unusual forces applied to the feet, thus detecting a loss of feeling and helping the patient adjust the posture, try different shoes, or take other actions.
The socks have dozens of pressure sensors built in throughout the fabric. The data from these is gathered to create a pressure map of the feet, with the red regions showing high levels of force being applied to the feet. Because the socks have Bluetooth wireless capability, the data can be displayed on a paired smartphone where warnings to adjust one’s feet also appear.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Batteries provide fresh jolt to desalination technology
Engineers at the University of Illinois are developing a desalination device that uses materials in batteries to remove salt from water.
Illinois mechanical science and engineering professor Kyle Smith and graduate student Rylan Dmello published their work in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.
Smith said: “By publishing this paper, we’re introducing a new type of device to the battery community and to the desalination community.”
The most-used method, reverse osmosis, pushes water through a membrane that keeps out the salt, a costly and energy-intensive process. By contrast, the battery method uses electricity to draw charged salt ions out of the water.
The researchers were reportedly inspired by sodium ion batteries, which contain salt water. Batteries have two chambers, a positive electrode and a negative electrode, with a separator in between that the ions can flow across. When the battery discharges, the sodium and chloride ions – the two elements of salt – are drawn to one chamber, leaving desalinated water in the other.
In a normal battery, the ions diffuse back when the current flows the other direction. The Illinois researchers had to find a way to keep the salt out of the now-pure water.
“In a conventional battery, the separator allows salt to diffuse from the positive electrode into the negative electrode,” Smith said in a statement. “That limits how much salt depletion can occur. We put a membrane that blocks sodium between the two electrodes, so we could keep it out of the side that’s desalinated.”
The battery approach is said to hold several advantages over reverse osmosis. The battery device can be small or large, adapting to different applications, while reverse osmosis plants must be very large to be efficient and cost effective, Smith said. The pressure required to pump the water through is much less, since it’s flowing the water over the electrodes instead of forcing it through a membrane. This translates to much smaller energy needs, close to the very minimum required by nature, which in turn translates to lower costs. In addition, the rate of water flowing through it can be adjusted more easily than other types of desalination technologies that require more complex plumbing.
Smith and Dmello conducted a modelling study to see how their device might perform with salt concentrations as high as seawater, and found that it could recover an estimated 80% of desalinated water. Their simulations don’t account for other contaminants in the water, however, so they are working toward running experiments with real seawater.
“We believe there’s a lot of promise,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of work that’s gone on in developing new materials for sodium ion batteries. We hope our work could spur researchers in that area to investigate new materials for desalination. We’re excited to see what kind of doors this might open.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Monitor Gets Rid of Pinpricks, Now Approved for Kids in EU
Abbott landed CE Mark approval for its FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system to be offered to kids 4-17 years old in the European Union. The system consists of a patch that is stuck to the back of the upper arm that samples the blood and measures glucose. A device that looks kind of like a smartphone is then used to capture readings from the patch. The monitor makes finger pricks essentially unnecessary, even to calibrate the device, a major difference from existing continuous glucose monitors.
A single patch can be worn for up to two weeks, through showers, swimming, and other activities. A new one is then placed after the two weeks expire.
Parents will benefit from not having to do pin pricks, waking their kids up, and bribing them to put up with the painful regular sampling.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Nano Crystal Balls to Safely Ferry Drugs Through The Body
Crystal balls are finally proving useful for genuine medical applications. This is thanks to researchers at Drexel University where materials scientists are producing nano-scale crystal balls designed to distribute drugs within the body. The investigators hope that their hollow crystal structures may be better than the widely popular liposomes for encapsulating drugs because they’re considerably stronger.
Hollow sphere-like crystals are not easy to make since they tend to grow in straight lines and end up with sharp corners. Moreover, the centers of naturally produced crystals are rarely hollow.
Christopher Li, the leader of the research, used bubbles of oil to hold water molecules. Cooling these bubbles carefully let the water inside crystallize into tiny hollow spheres of ice. Different materials will be used in the future, but the promise of using crystals to hold onto fragile drugs while moving through the body’s turbulent pathways is already being foreshadowed.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Shells of Hepatitis E Virus to Deliver Drugs to Kill Cancer, Treat Other Diseases
At UC Davis scientists managed to use the hollow shells of Hepatitis E virus as transport vehicles to deliver drugs. The viral shell was selected because the Hepatitis E virus is able to travel through the digestive system without being destroyed, and so would be a good candidate for PO formulations.
The viral shells are made of Hep. E proteins and do not contain any DNA, denying any possibility of viral infection.
The research team tested the particles by applying cysteine amino acids that let molecules called LXY-30 be attached in turn to them. These LXY-30 molecules hone in on breast cancer cells and the researchers showed using a fluorescent marker that the virus-like shells were able to gather right on breast cancer tumors in lab mice.
Some details from the study abstract:
Five surface-exposed residues were mutated to cysteine to allow conjugation to maleimide-linked chemical groups via thiol-selective linkages. Engineered virus-like nanoparticles were then covalently conjugated to a breast cancer recognized ligand, LXY30 and an amine-coupled near-infrared fluorescence dye.
LXY30-HEV VLP was checked for its binding and entry to a breast cancer cell line and for tumor targeting in vivo to breast cancer tissue in mice. The engineered virus-like nanoparticle not only targeted cancer cells, but also appeared immune silent to native hepatitis E virus antibodies due to epitope disruption at the antibody-binding site.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
TU Delft’s capsule concept judged most innovative design in Hyperloop competition
A European capsule, designed to travel at speeds of more than 600mph per hour through reduced-pressure tubes, has taken second place in an international competition launched by SpaceX.
Hyperloop concept
The concept capsule, designed by a team of students at TU Delft in the Netherlands, was also awarded the prize for the most innovative design in the Hyperloop competition.
The competition was established by SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk in 2015, in a bid to stimulate the development of the new form of transportation, which they have dubbed Hyperloop.
The system consists of a number of passenger capsules, which are designed to travel through tubes in a partial vacuum, with the lack of pressure allowing them to reach very high speeds. This could allow a Hyperloop capsule to travel between the outskirts of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area in around 35 minutes, for example.
The Delft team were one of 124 who presented their designs to a jury of researchers and experts from Tesla Motors and SpaceX in the first stage of the competition. They will now join 20 other teams in progressing through to the next stage, in which they will build a half-scale version of their capsule and test it on a track in California in the summer.
Unlike the capsules designed by most other teams, the TU Delft design uses permanent magnets to allow the vehicle to hover approximately two centimetres above the track, as it moves over a conductive plate, according to team captain Tim Houter.
“In a full-scale, commercial system, the capsule would accelerate out of the station using a linear electric motor, with the stator windings inside the track,” he said. “Then because there is not much air inside the tube, it would just float along at very high speed, with only an extra boost needed on the way to stay at that speed, and then at the station you would decelerate your Hyperloop vehicle,” said Houter.
Energy would be recovered using regenerative braking, he said.
“This makes it a very energy efficient system,” he added.
Solar panels on top of the tubes themselves could generate additional energy to power the capsules.
In the next stage of the competition, the half-scale capsules will race around a 1.6km test reduced-pressure tube, which is to be constructed next to SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
“Bionic spinal cord” could give extra function and mobility to users of mobility assist devices
Scientists have tested a stentrode, the world’s first minimally invasive brain-machine interface designed to control an exoskeleton with thoughts.
The stentrode is implanted in to a blood vessel next to the brain and can read electrical signals from the motor cortex, the brain’s control centre (Credit: The University of Melbourne)
The stentrode is a stent-based electrode implanted within a blood vessel in the brain that records the type of neural activity that has been shown in pre-clinical trials to move limbs through an exoskeleton or to control bionic limbs.
The new device is the size of a paperclip and will be implanted in the first in-human trial at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2017. The participants will be selected from the Austin Health Victorian Spinal Cord Unit.
The results, published in Nature Biotechnology, show the device is capable of recording high-quality signals emitted from the brain’s motor cortex, without the need for open brain surgery.
Principal author and Neurologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Research Fellow at The Florey Institute of Neurosciences and the University of Melbourne, Dr Thomas Oxley, said the stentrode was revolutionary.
“We have been able to create the world’s only minimally invasive device that is implanted into a blood vessel in the brain via a simple day procedure, avoiding the need for high risk open brain surgery,” Dr Oxley said in a statement. “Our vision, through this device, is to return function and mobility to patients with complete paralysis by recording brain activity and converting the acquired signals into electrical commands, which in turn would lead to movement of the limbs through a mobility assist device like an exoskeleton. In essence this a bionic spinal cord.”
There are 20,000 Australians with spinal cord injuries, with the typical patient a 19-year old male, and about 150,000 Australians left severely disabled after stroke.
Dr Nicholas Opie, co-principal investigator and biomedical engineer at the University of Melbourne, said: “Utilising stent technology, our electrode array self-expands to stick to the inside wall of a vein, enabling us to record local brain activity.
“By extracting the recorded neural signals, we can use these as commands to control wheelchairs, exoskeletons, prosthetic limbs or computers.
“In our first-in-human trial, that we anticipate will begin within two years, we are hoping to achieve direct brain control of an exoskeleton for three people with paralysis.
“Currently, exoskeletons are controlled by manual manipulation of a joystick to switch between the various elements of walking — stand, start, stop, turn. The stentrode will be the first device that enables direct thought control of these devices”.
Prof Terry O’Brien, Head of Medicine at Departments of Medicine and Neurology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne said the development of the stentrode has been the “holy grail” for research in bionics.
“To be able to create a device that can record brainwave activity over long periods of time, without damaging the brain is an amazing development in modern medicine,” Prof O’Brien said. “It can also be potentially used in people with a range of diseases aside from spinal cord injury, including epilepsy, Parkinsons and other neurological disorders.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
A 'Touching' Story of Artificial Skin
What if someone with a prosthetic hand could feel the things they touch? Researchers have solved this essentially two-fold challenge by developing an artificial skin incorporating a sensing layer that measures applied pressure, together with a neural interface mimicking the mechanoreceptors that enable the sense of touch in humans. The latter converts the pressure-related sensor information into signals the brain can interpret. The team hopes to eventually implement sensors for other types of skin stimuli, such as stretch and temperature.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Biorenewable nylon from yeast and sugar
Engineers from Iowa State University have developed a technique to create biorenewable nylon from sugar using a genetically modified strain of yeast and a form of hybrid catalysis.
The conversion process is described in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. According to co-lead author Zengyi Shao, the process “opens the door to the production of a broad range of compounds not accessible from the petrochemical industry.”
Zengyi Shao and Jean-Philippe Tessonnier (Credit: Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University)
Shao, working in tandem with fellow Iowa State assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, led the group that created the genetically engineered yeast. This yeast was used to ferment glucose into muconic acid and helped to improve the acid’s yield.
Tessonier’s group then introduced lead as a metal catalyst and applied a small voltage, producing 3-hexenedioic acid. Following a simple separation and polymerisation of this substance, the researchers were left with biobased, unsaturated nylon-6,6. Unlike similar processes, this new technique is carried out at room temperature, and does not rely on precious elements such as palladium and platinum.
“The process does not need additional chemical supplement, and it works amazingly at ambient temperature and pressure, which is very rare for this type of process,” said Tessonnier.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centre for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC), which is based at Iowa State. According to Shao, the Foundation encourages the cross-pollination of ideas from different disciplines.
“CBiRC provides the nurturing environment to brainstorm what can be done with the expertise owned by two groups of experts who are trained through very different routes,” she said. “This vision of these fields working together is going to grow.”
Following the success of the project to date, the next step for the engineers will be to upscale the technology and develop a continuous conversion process.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Microfluidic Chip Mimics Smallest Capillaries to Study How Drugs Affect the Mechanics of Cells
It has been known for a while that some drugs seem to have physical rather than chemical modes of action or associated side effects. Glucocorticoid drugs that are used for asthma or rheumatoid arthritis, for example, increase the white blood cell count but biological explanations for how that happens have been unconvincing.
Researchers from Georgia Tech and Emory University have decided to investigate whether physical processes may be at play, and so they built a microfluidic model blood vessel system that can replicate the forces experienced by white blood cells in the smallest of capillaries within our bodies.
The device is a polymer chip that passes real human blood through a very narrow passage, allowing both the drugs tested and natural physical forces to impact the life of white blood cells swimming through. The investigators used an atomic force microscope to analyze the stiffness of the white blood cells before and after they go through the device.
What they discovered is that the drugs cause the white blood cells to soften, changing how they flow through vessels. In particular, the softening caused the cells to move away from the vessel walls and flow down the center, effectively increasing their count.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Stentrodes for Recording Electrical Activity Within the Brain
Being able to accurately record brain activity over long periods of time holds promise for paralyzed people to control prosthetic devices or even their own arms and legs again. That’s can be thought of as only a start of course, as the brain is central to many diseases and conditions, as well as being a player in the functionality of the rest of the body. Today accurate recordings can only be done by implanting electrode arrays via an open craniotomy, but there are serious limitations such as potential for infection and the degradation of the effectiveness of electrodes that are in contact with brain tissue for long periods of time.
Researchers at University of Melbourne in Australia have now developed a vascular stent-electrode, which they call a stentrode, that can be delivered up the vasculature into the brain to make high quality recordings of neural activity. The researchers tested the device in freely walking sheep that had the implant delivered into the superficial cortical vein that’s next to the motor cortex. They were able to accurately record the electrical activity of the motor cortex that the researchers were able to favorably compare to what was gathered using traditional epidural surface array electrodes.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Researchers Weld Neurons Together, Hope to One Day Repair Spinal Injuries
Broken neuronal connections are the cause of paralysis, organ failure, and other serious conditions. There have been attempts to bypass such injuries, with limited success, but now researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada have developed a technique that uses lasers to essentially weld neurons together. There’s still a ways to go in using the technology in clinical applications, but the breakthrough is certainly very promising for treating chronic disabilities and various debilitating conditions.
The laboratory work involved placing pairs of neurons in a solution that keeps them separated from each other. Then the neuronal axon and soma of the two neurons were pushed against each other as femtosecond laser pulses were fired at the site. The laser raised the temperature of the neurons to their melting point, which caused the neurons to fuse and form a common membrane.
Because the laser purses were so short, they did not heat up the interior of the neurons enough to cause visible damage. The researchers tried the technique on three different cell types, demonstrating the applicability of it in different applications. Because the new method can be used to precisely target the exact location where fusion is to take place, researchers now have a powerful tool for lab use, which we hope they will be able to soon transfer into clinical practice.
From the study introduction:
By physically connecting single axons and neurons right after injury, it will allow researchers to develop new methods of studying the effects of neuron connection on neuronal regeneration, progression of Wallerian degeneration, and the existence of cellular communication, to further our understandings of these phenomena. This effective neuronal connection method should allow the user to select single cells for isolation, connection, and cutting. The technique is shown to be universal and applicable to multiple cell types and their media.
We developed a novel neuron connection method using ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses. Precise tuning of the laser parameters allowed us to induce a process called hemifusion at the contact point of two phospholipid membranes. To achieve neuron connection, the laser intensity and aiming accuracy required are 1.7(±0.08)×1012 W/cm2, and ±0.5 μm, respectively, within the membranes hemifusion location. Exposure to near infrared femtosecond laser pulses induces molecular rearrangement of the phospholipid bilayers via multiphoton and avalanche ionization processes. The high electron and ion density at the laser beam focal point leads to an ultrafast reversible destabilization of the phospholipid molecules.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Solid-state hydrogen reservoir powers UAV flight
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) has carried out the first UAV test flight using a new solid-state hydrogen power system with the potential to outperform lithium-ion batteries.
Backed by a grant from Innovate UK, Oxfordshire-based Cella Energy and Hackney-based Arcola Energy have combined their expertise to develop the prototype. It marries Cella’s hydrogen-powered gas generator with a fuel cell supplied and integrated by Arcola.
“This flight used a small prototype system and we were pleased with the initial flight with another flight scheduled to take place in the near future,” said Stephen Bennington, Cella’s managing director. “The larger versions of this system that we are already designing will have three times the energy of a lithium-ion battery of the same weight. ”
Cella’s generator uses a proprietary solid-state material that releases large quantities of hydrogen when heated above 100°C, but which looks and feels like plastic and can be stored at room temperature and pressure. According to Cella, each gram of the material produces up to 1 litre of hydrogen gas. The technology is also emission free, and the material can be formed into a range of shapes for particular uses, making it ideal for mobile applications such as UAV flights.
“This is an exciting market for us,” said Alex Sorokin, Cella’s CEO. “It is growing rapidly and users are in desperate need of a power source that can outperform existing technologies in sectors ranging from emergency services to companies wanting to survey or map their infrastructure, be it a wind turbine or a gas pipeline.”
Outside of the UAV market, Cella also has plans to expand into the wider aerospace sector. Its solid-state material is stable in air and at temperatures below 500°C, overcoming many of the problems traditionally associated with transporting compressed hydrogen gas. In partnership with Airbus and Safran, Cella is currently exploring the feasibility of using its hydrogen storage material for alternative aerospace applications.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Thin Film Brain Implants Integrate Electronic Components in Flexible Package
There seems to be a race to develop practical neural interfaces that are implanted in a minimally invasive fashion and that don’t require wires sticking out of the scalp. We just reported on stentrodes that can be delivered into the brain through the vasculature and now we are learning of a new ability by researchers at Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan to create very thin films that have large-scale integrated chips. While there haven’t been any animal studies of the technology, the researchers believe that they will be able to implant devices into the brain that have on-board power, data processing capabilities, and an antenna to communicate with external devices.
The films are about 10 μm in thickness and are flexible, including the built-in antenna. These devices can conform to the shape of the brain and eventually integrate components specific to the application.
Here’s some details from the study abstract in journal Sensors:
The proposed co-design method optimizes the system architecture, and can help avoid the use of external matching components, resulting in the realization of a small-size system. In addition, the technique employed to assemble a silicon large-scale integration (LSI) chip on the very thin parylene film (5 μm) enables the integration of the rectifier circuits and the flexible antenna (rectenna). In the demonstration of wireless power transmission (WPT), the fabricated flexible rectenna achieved a maximum efficiency of 0.497% with a distance of 3 cm between antennas. In addition, WPT with radio waves allows a misalignment of 185% against antenna size, implying that the misalignment has a less effect on the WPT characteristics compared with electromagnetic induction.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Novel Calcium Nanoparticles Inhibit Tumor Growth
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new calcium nanoparticle to stop the growth and metastasis of tumors. In order for cancer cells to grow and spread, they often lower their pH to escape the surrounding extracellular matrix. Using this information, a research team led by Avik Som, an MD/PhD student, and Samuel Achilefu, PhD, utilized calcium carbonate to raise pH. When calcium carbonate is mixed into water, it can cause the pH to rise up to ~9 which is harmful to humans; however, when injected into the body, it only raises the pH to ~7.4. Calcium carbonate was also chosen due to the fact that both calcium and carbonate are native molecules to the human body as opposed to many other popular material choices such as gold or silver.
Developing a new nanoparticle has not been easy. The group overcame many challenges when trying to design these nanoparticles such as the overly large size of naturally found calcium carbonate crystals. Through some collaborations, the team was able to develop a method using polyethyleneglycol-based diffusion to generate 20- and 300-nanometer-sized calcium carbonate. Furthermore, the group was able to successfully inject these nanoparticles into a mouse model of fibrosarcoma on a daily basis, which resulted in halted tumor growth. Once the treatment was stopped, the tumor began to grow again. In the future, the team plans to optimize the dosage as well as improving ways of delivering the drug.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Percorso:ANSA > Scienza&Tecnica > Fisica & Matematica > Onde gravitazionali, concepibili i viaggi nel tempo
Onde gravitazionali, concepibili i viaggi nel tempo
Attraverso i buchi neri, come quello al centro della Via Lattea
Viaggiare nello spazio e nel tempo, tuffandosi nei buchi neri e sfrecciando all'interno di un cunicolo spaziotemporale, un wormhole come quelli immaginati nel film Interstellar: sembra fantascienza, ma molto probabilmente tutto questo "diventa concepibile" dopo la scoperta delle onde gravitazionali. "Si apre un mondo per la ricerca. Anzi, si potrebbero aprire più mondi", ha detto Salvatore Capozziello, dell'università Federico II di Napoli, ricercatore dell'Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Infn) e presidente delle Società Italiana di Relatività Generale e Fisica della Gravitazione (Sigrav).
"Le onde gravitazionali che adesso siamo in grado di intercettare sono direttamente connesse con la struttura degli oggetti che le emettono, vale a dire - ha spiegato l'esperto - posso desumere da un'onda gravitazionale le caratteristiche dell'oggetto che la emette". Diventa possibile costruire una nuova mappa del cielo: finora avevamo solo quella basata sulla luce visibile, o sui raggi X, o sull'infrarosso, e adesso si può costruire la mappa basata sulle onde gravitazionali.
"E' appena l'inizio di una lunga storia", ha rilevato Capozziello, perchè una mappa del genere potrebbe essere fatta di una miriade di oggetti che finora sono stati invisibili. Non solo: finora i buchi neri erano solo oggetti teorici previsti dalla teoria della relatività generale; adesso sono oggetti reali. Ne sono state appena visti due, distanti 1,3 miliardi di chilometri, fondersi in un nuovo buco nero. E' stato ascoltato il loro suono, ne sono state calcolate dimensioni e distanza. Che cosa significa tutto questo, a che cosa potrebbe servire? Sicuramente sono conoscenze senza precedenti e rivoluzionare, ma potrebbe esserci altro".
"Sappiamo - ha detto l'esperto - che i buchi neri sono così densi che non emettono luce e che qualsiasi cosa cada al loro interno non può più uscire". A questo punto bisogna fare i conti con il principio di conservazione dell'energia, per il quale "tutte le grandezze nel buco nero vengono preservate. Vale a dire che tutto ciò che viene ingoiato dal buco nero finisce da un'altra parte a formare un buco bianco".
All'interno del buco nero si forma un cunicolo spaziotemporale, un wormhole. Anche questi oggetti fantascientifici sono previsti dalle equazioni di Einstein, proprio come le onde gravitazionali. Queste ultime aiuteranno a trovarli, per esempio confermando o meno se il buco nero Sagittarius A che si trova al centro della Via Lattea è in realtà un wormhole, come alcuni calcoli indicano.
Viaggiare al loro interno, ha spiegato, potrebbe deformare l'ordine in cui siamo abituati a vivere passato, presente e futuro. "Tutto questo - ha aggiunto - è pura fisica teorica, ma se un domani si riuscisse a vedere un wormhole, significherebbe aver trovato il modo di viaggiare non solo nello spazio, ma nel tempo".
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Implantable chip has potential for Parkinson’s and prosthetic control
A low-power smart chip that reduces and compresses the amount of data it needs to send could lead to more compact neural implants, better prostheses, and more manageable factory automation.
NTU Asst Prof Arindam Basu is holding his low-powered smart chip. NTU Asst Prof Arindam Basu is holding his low-powered smart chip. Image courtesy of NTU Singapore
Parkinson’s disease sufferers and amputees could be among those to benefit from a low-power microchip that can be implanted in the brain and send signals wirelessly to implants and prosthetics. Developed at Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University (NTU), the chip is claimed to be 100 times more efficient than existing devices to process and decode the signals sent and received by the brain.
The interface between the brain and electronic neural implants is always complex. Parkinson’s patients sometimes have implants that send electrical signals to calm the debilitating tremors and stiffness associated with the disease; paraplegics and amputees can have implants which control the movement of artificial limbs or devices to help with movement. But these depend on intercepting the signals sent by the brain and translating them into binary signals that the implant or external device can understand.
The brain produces huge amounts of data; the translation devices have to receive and send through many channels, often numbering thousands. This can make the translation devices cumbersome, and they often need a battery. This reduces the size available for the electronics, which can compromise the functionality of the device; for example, it can make it impossible for the device to record the history of brain activity, and their accuracy is reduced.
For patients with prostheses, the implanted translation devices are often linked to an external processing computer by wires coming out of the head. This is inconvenient and, worse, can lead to life-threatening infection.
The NTU team has taken a different approach to the problem. Rather than increasing the number of channels their chip can work with, they reduced the amount of data it needed to send by analysing the patterns of the data it receives from the brain and spot abnormal or unusual patterns. The devices can process and analyse the data on site, before sending back important details wirelessly to a small external receiver in a compressed package, instead of sending the whole data stream. This will reduce data usage by over a thousand times.
“What we have developed is a very versatile smart chip that can process data, analyse patterns and spot the difference,” explained team leader, assistant professor Arindam Basu of NTU’s VIRTUS IC Design Centre of Excellence. Animal tests indicate that the chip can decode signals from the arm and hand with 95% accuracy.
The chip measures just 5mm square. “It is about a hundred times more efficient than current processing chips on the market,” Basu claimed. “It will lead to more compact medical wearable devices, such as portable ECG monitoring devices and neural implants, since we no longer need large batteries to power them.”
The device could also be useful for non-medical applications, such as Internet of Things-enabled devices. For example, in a remote video camera, the chip can be programmed to send a video back to the servers only when a specific type of car or something out of the ordinary is detected, such as an intruder. With an increasing number of devices, in factories, for example, sending and receiving large amounts of data, this will assist significantly in keeping network traffic down to manageable levels.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Tumori, le ultime due scoperte della scienza
Due buone notizie sul cancro. Entrambe legate a scienziati italiani. Le speranze di sconfiggere o almeno provare ad arginare la temibile malattie, sono nelle mani (o meglio nella scienza) di Alberto Mantovani, direttore scientifico dell’ospedale Humanitas di Rozzano(Milano) e la seconda da Antonio Iavarone docente di patologia e neurologia al Columbia Medical Center di New York. Il primo ha dimostrato, insieme alla sua équipe che il gene PTX3 individuato da Mantovani anni fa, agisce come un freno per le cellule maligne, tiene sotto controllo l’infiammazione che è terreno fertile per il cancro. Iavarone, invece, la scorsa estate ha scoperto che il glioblastoma (cancro al cervello) è causato dalla fusione di due geni e tale alterazione produce due proteine che rendono il tumore aggressivo. Iavarone – scrive Panorama – ha sperimentato su due pazienti una molecola che blocca l’attività di una delle due proteine con buoni risultati: il tumore si è ridotto.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Airbus looks to humanoid robots for manufacturing
Airbus Group has embarked on a four-year research project to explore the feasibility of using humanoid robots in aerospace manufacturing.
The technical intricacy and reduced economies of scale involved in aircraft assembly means the industry has yet to embrace the levels of automation we associate with the automotive sector. On top of this, much of the work takes place inside the fuselage where space is limited and robots struggle to operate.
According to Airbus, humanoids helping out on the assembly line will carry out the most laborious and dangerous tasks, freeing workers to perform more skilled operations. The robots will employ a new type of technology called multi-contact locomotion, whereby they will use their entire bodies to make contact with their environment rather than simply their feet. This will enable them to enter confined spaces and perform tasks such as climbing ladders, as well as tighten bolts and remove metallic dust.
The project is a collaboration between Airbus and the Joint Robotics Laboratory (JRL), a French/Japanese partnership that combines prominent scientific institutes from both countries (CNRS and AIST). According to the JRL researchers, the algorithms required to facilitate humanoid movement in confined spaces are extremely complex, as the robots need to bend and twist in a coordinated fashion while working fast enough to be efficient.
The first part of the project will involve developing these algorithms on current HRP-2 and HRP-43 robot models, and testing them in a series of scenarios drawn from the needs of the different branches of Airbus Group (Civil Aviation, Helicopters, and Space). As the project progresses, potential areas of improvement in robotic design will likely be identified, and these could potentially help inform the first generation of humanoids built specifically for large-scale manufacturing.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
3D Bioprinter for Making Life-Sized Constructs with Living Cells
3D printing is a groundbreaking technology, and seemingly every other week we hear about significant technological advancements using the technique. In a new first, researchers from Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have developed a 3D printing system that can print live cells into human-scale constructs representing bone, muscle, and ear tissue. These constructs are structurally stable, thanks to the use of a biocompatible synthetic polymer called polycaprolactone. Cells are suspended in a gel composed of several biodegradable materials (like gelatin, fibrinogen and hyaluronic acid that are naturally found in the body), which ensures that they are kept in place within the construct. The cells then secrete and help build a supporting matrix that integrates with the body as the construct degrades, and at the end of the process the cells have sufficiently integrated into the body and no longer need the supporting structures.
One of the big challenges so far with human-sized engineered constructs has been the lack of blood vessels that nourish the cells with oxygen and nutrients, which is severely detrimental to the potential survival of cells. In this study, the 3D printed constructs were implanted into mice, and after two months the researchers observed infiltration of the constructs with blood vessels, which is attributed to the presence of microchannels in the construct. While this technology is still a few steps away from clinical applicability, each advancement in the field brings us closer to personalized, readily available organs.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Artificial Kidney Made of Nanofilters and Living Cells to Replace Dialysis
At Vanderbilt University scientists are building an artificial kidney that they envision will one day will be a standard of care over dialysis. The device consists of a silicon nanotechnology filter chip and embedded living kidney cells that would work together to mimic the functionality of a healthy kidney. The end result is expected to be about the size of a natural kidney, small enough to be implantable and powered by the body’s own blood flow.
The filter component has tiny pores that can be individually shaped to perform a specific task. These filters would sit in a series, each one performing a different filtration step. Between the filter slices there would be living kidney cells that perform tasks that the man made components are not very good at, including reabsorption of nutrients and getting rid of accumulated waste.
Here’s video with Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Dr. William Fissell, the lead scientist on the research:
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Brain Implant Allows for Individual Finger Control of Prosthetic Arm
At Johns Hopkins researchers have managed to allow a person to control the individual fingers of a prosthetic arm via thought alone. The technology was trialed in a epileptic patient who was already about to undergo a brain mapping procedure to identify the source of his seizures. The Hopkins team offered the patient the opportunity to use the same electrocorticography array he would have implanted to try to control an advanced robotic arm that has individually controlled fingers.
The team initially mapped what the electrode array was capturing to the movement of each finger in the patient and then had him think of different finger movements as though they were real. The fingers of the robotic device moved as was hoped for, flexing one at a time as requested of the patient.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Diagnostic Device Keeps Astronauts Checked Up for Distant Space Trips
Scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the University of California, Davis, and Sandia National Laboratories have developed a small diagnostic instrument intended to be used by astronauts while on long space missions. It’s expected that long exposure to high energy particles in free space as well as zero gravity may lead to the development of diseases. Since astronauts on missions to Mars are expected to spend around six months on each of the one way journeys, monitoring the health of the crew is critically important.
The device tests saliva, breath, and blood for a set of biomarkers that point to the presence of disease and help assess the state of the patient. It does blood cell counts and can be expanded to work with other biomarkers not yet developed.
Importantly, it is light and portable, and works in a zero gravity environment. Sadly, it is still a work in progress and requires individually confirmed components to be integrated. Moreover, we’ll probably wait quite a few years before any humans take off for Mars.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Formula E and Kinetic to bring autonomous RoboRace to Formula E events
Designer revealed for autonomous vehicle race series
The chief executive of Formula E has revealed that vehicle designer Daniel Simon, whose portfolio includes lightcycles for the movie Tron: Legacy, is to work on the RoboRace series.
Speaking at an event at Oxford University this week, Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag said that Simon would contribute to the race series that will see fully autonomous electrically powered cars battle it out for track supremacy.
Simon has also worked for Bugatti and designed livery for Formula 1 teams and he will be bringing his know how to a competition brought about by Formula E and venture capital firm Kinetik.
RoboRace is planned to be staged as a support event to Formula E, starting at an unspecified point in the 2016-17 season and taking place on the same circuits before the main races. The plan is for ten teams to take part, each with two cars. As in last season’s Formula E event, all the teams will use the same car, so the competition will be in which team can develop the best real-time algorithms and AI technologies to pilot the cars.
One of the RoboRace teams will be a crowd-sourced community team, open to any software or technology enthusiast who wishes to take part.
The intention behind RoboRace is to use the cauldron of motorsport to accelerate the development of autonomous driving technologies. Denis Sverdlov, founder of Kinetik and RoboRace commented: “It’s a global platform to show that robotic technologies and AI can co-exist with us in real life. Thus, anyone who is at the edge of this transformation now has a platform to show the advantages of their driverless solutions and this shall push the development of the technology.”
Formula E races with no fuel. RoboRace will have no drivers
Kinetik spin-off Charge, a commercial vehicle powertrain specialist based in Oxfordshire, is to develop and provide electric trucks for the pre-race “drivers’” parade, tow-trucks for vehicle recovery and shuttle vehicles for the teams’ guests and visitors.
Agag commented: “RoboRace is an open challenge to the most innovative scientific and technology-focused companies in the world. It is very exciting to create a platform for them to showcase what they are capable of and I believe there is great potential for us to unearth the next big idea through the unique crowd-sourced contest.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New Robotic Hand Made to Replicate The Real Deal
Though most modern prosthetic hands try to look like the real things, their underlying mechanics are typically based in the world of man made machines rather than evolutionary biology. Two researchers at the University of Washington’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering have now created what they believe is the most biomimetic artificial hand ever made.
The new device was developed by initially studying the human hand from an engineering perspective, as though it’s just another mechanical gizmo. Scans were taken and copies of bone were 3D printed to make things as realistic as possible. The researchers identified many characteristics that give the human hand its unique abilities, and utilized traditional mechanical components to replicate those qualities. They used pulley mechanisms, artificial joint capsules, crocheted ligaments and tendons, and other devices for this task.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Optical Interferometry Going Nanoscale to Make New Types of Biosensors
Plasmonics, the study of how electrons behave in a metal under an electromagnetic field, requires the use of specialty coherent light sources as a basic tool. Optical interferometry can potentially become more important in biomedicine if only the technology could be made more compact, practical, and proven useful.
Toward that end researchers at Brown University have developed a way of using plasmonics techniques without using a coherent light source at all. This allows optical interferometry at the nanoscale and should lead to new types of biomedical sensors that can do rapid wide spectrum analysis for a variety of markers.
Here’s more details about the technology from Brown University:
Plasmonic interferometers make use of the interaction between light and surface plasmon polaritons, density waves created when light energy rattles free electrons in a metal. One type of interferometer looks like a bull’s-eye structure etched into a thin layer of metal. In the center is a hole poked through the metal layer with a diameter of about 300 nanometers—about 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The hole is encircled by a series of etched grooves, with diameters of a few micrometers. Thousands of these bulls-eyes can be placed on a chip the size of a fingernail.
When light from an external source is shown onto the surface of an interferometer, some of the photons go through the central hole, while others are scattered by the grooves. Those scattered photons generate surface plasmons that propagate through the metal inward toward the hole, where they interact with photons passing through the hole. That creates an interference pattern in the light emitted from the hole, which can be recorded by a detector beneath the metal surface.
When a liquid is deposited on top of an interferometer, the light and the surface plasmons propagate through that liquid before they interfere with each other. That alters the interference patterns picked up by the detector depending on the chemical makeup of the liquid or compounds present in it. By using different sizes of groove rings around the hole, the interferometers can be tuned to detect the signature of specific compounds or molecules. With the ability to put many differently tuned interferometers on one chip, engineers can hypothetically make a versatile detector.
Up to now, all plasmonic interferometers have required the use of highly specialized external light sources that can deliver coherent light—beams in which light waves are parallel, have the same wavelength, and travel in-phase (meaning the peaks and valleys of the waves are aligned). Without coherent light sources, the interferometers cannot produce usable interference patterns. Those kinds of light sources, however, tend to be bulky, expensive, and require careful alignment and periodic recalibration to obtain a reliable optical response.
But Pacifici and his group have come up with a way to eliminate the need for external coherent light. In the new method, fluorescent light-emitting atoms are integrated directly within the tiny hole in the center of the interferometer. An external light source is still necessary to excite the internal emitters, but it need not be a specialized coherent source.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Shpe-shifting Nanoparticles Turn Cellular Targeting On and Off
In 2006, Andre Nel proposed four generations of nanostructures: simple passive, simple active, multi-componented, and self-evolving. The present state of nanotechnology lies mostly within the second generation of active particles that can perform conceptually simple tasks such as releasing drugs in acidic environments (i.e. in a cancer microenvironment), walking along tracks of DNA, or detecting disease. Researchers at the University of Toronto now report in Science on a new shape-shifting nanostructure that can be toggled between two states to turn cell targeting on and off. This pushes the field towards the third generation of multi-componented systems that can be intentionally adjusted to do certain tasks.
The shape shifters are assembled from gold nanoparticles linked by DNA. DNA is often used in building nanoscale systems because of its inherent high-specificity in binding: two complementary strands bind each other only when their sequences align – you know, the whole A-T, G-C business you learned from high school biology. On top of that, the binding is reversible, allowing for release of a strand if another strand with the same sequence can outcompete it. In this new shape-shifting system, two gold nanoparticles (a large and a medium-sized sphere) were connected to each other, and a cloud of smaller particles surrounded either the large or medium particle. After adding in specific DNA strands, the cloud of small particles could be made to switch from being attached to the large particle, to being attached to the medium particle, and back, with yields of nearly 90%.
Now here’s the beauty. A targeting molecule, folic acid, was also attached to the big particle and initially hidden underneath the cloud of small particles. When the team added DNA to move the cloud off the big particle and onto the medium-sized particle, the folic became exposed and toggled the targeting function on. As such, more of these targeting-on particles were found inside cells that overexpressed the folate receptor. Inhibition studies with additional free folic acid in the cell culture reduced the uptake, suggesting that the receptor could be saturated.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Artificial Vessels Mimic Complexity of Human Vasculature
Staining on these slides shows that engineered human arteries produce contractile proteins (left) and calponin (right) just one week after being grown in culture. These two molecules allow the arteries to contract and dilate in response to environmental stimuli.
Just like pretty much everything else in our bodies, the blood vessels are more complicated than their physical characteristics. There’s a great deal of biochemical nuance that goes on within blood vessel walls between the endothelium, the inner cellular layer, and the tunica media, the next layer that’s composed of smooth muscle cells. In order to build artificial blood vessels for such things as drug research and eventually organ production, mimicking how blood vessels work at the biochemical level is key.
Researchers at Duke University have now created rudimentary artificial vessels that contain both an endothelium and the tunica media, and have shown that the two layers interact much like they do within our own bodies.
The tiny vessels are actually an order of magnitude smaller than the ones they were modeled on, but because of their size they can be produced much faster than has been done at other labs in the past. This has allowed the researchers to rapidly test whether the artificial vessels behave like real ones when put under various stimuli and whether the biochemistry within the vessel walls looked healthy.
The researchers hope that soon their vessels will be used to perform high volume drug testing prior to trialing compounds on humans, leading to safer drugs, quicker clinical trials, and more drugs moving through the development pipeline.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Optical ultrasound probes to provide detailed imaging and guide surgical tools.
Minimally invasive surgical procedures could be guided more precisely and efficiently, using a new real-time imaging technique known as optical ultrasound.
The optical ultrasound probes are being developed by Dr Adrien Desjardins at University College London, who was recently announced as one of the first nine recipients of the EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards.
The awards, designed to encourage research that will improve healthcare diagnosis and treatment, will allow the successful researchers to work with clinicians, companies and charities to help speed up the clinical adoption of their technologies.
The nine researchers, each of whom will receive a share of a £9m fund, are developing technologies ranging from smart wound dressings and new ways to examine sperm, to tools to improve diagnosis and cancer treatment.
The new optical ultrasound probes are designed to be integrated into devices such as needles and catheters, to provide detailed imaging from inside the body and help guide the surgical tools, according to Desjardins.
“Ultrasound imaging can provide exquisite visualization of tissue from within the body to guide minimally invasive medical procedures,” he said. “Currently, though, ultrasound imaging is performed with electronic transducers, which have costs that are often prohibitive for single-use medical devices, and they are too bulky for many procedures.”
The new imaging probes, in contrast, generate and receive ultrasound waves using light. To generate ultrasound, optical fibres are coated in a micron-scale thick layer of an optically-absorbing material, such as carbon-polymer nanocomposites.
Pulsed laser light is targeted at this coating, causing it to heat up and generate an ultrasound wave. This wave then propagates into the body, and is reflected from interfaces within tissue.
The reflected ultrasound waves are received by extremely sensitive optical elements such as Fabry-Pérot cavities, in which light is reflected between two opposing mirrored surfaces.
“By varying the location in the tissue in which the ultrasound wave is generated, signals can be acquired and processed to produce high-resolution pulse-echo ultrasound images in real-time from within the body,” said Desjardins.
Optical ultrasound could also have widespread applications outside medicine. The technology could be used in non-destructive imaging of materials, for example, particularly in environments with high levels of electromagnetic interference, which can present significant challenges to the use of conventional electronic ultrasound transducers, he said.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Measuring Distance with Light
Assessing the distance, size, or shape of an object is of great practical importance in everyday life. Stereoscopic vision is the main mechanism for humans and other organisms to nearly instantaneously obtain this information, whose accuracy depends on many variables. A few among them are the distance to the target; the target's intrinsic size, shape, or color; and the functionality of the light detectors – eyes. The eyes receive light from the surroundings, producing retinal images that the brain processes. This is a passive method. An example of an active method, though not optical, is echolocation by bats. A bat emits a short burst of sound; the sound reflects from a target (echo) and is later detected by the bat's ears. The time interval between the emission and reception gives clues about the distance. There are no examples of an active method using light echo in nature because the speed of light is close to one million times larger than the speed of sound, which means that for a given distance, the time of flight for a light pulse is about one millionth of that for sound. Nature has not developed clocks capable of measuring time intervals this short, but humans have.
An accurate and quantitative determination of distance using light has many practical applications in modern life. Point-by-point measurements give 3D imagery important in, for example, map making (distances on the order of kilometers), assembly line quality control (distances on the order of meters), or microscopy (distances on the order of micrometers). Numerous active and passive techniques have been developed to obtain 3D imagery, but a given method will belong to one of three main techniques: geometrical, time of flight (TOF), or interferometry. A geometrical technique such as triangulation relies on the spatial geometry between the source of light, target, and detector. The TOF method depends on the finiteness of the speed of light and our ability to measure the TOF either directly with clocks (direct TOF) or indirectly (indirect TOF) by, for example, comparing the phase of the intensity-modulated emitted and reflected light. Interferometry relies on the wave nature of light and the ability of waves to interfere. Critical to the last two techniques is an accurate value for the speed of light c and validation of the wave nature of light. Neither was obvious nor easy to determine experimentally. Centuries of theoretical and experimental effort have led us to understand that the speed of light is a fundamental constant of nature with its value fixed at c = 299 792 458 m/s and that light has a dual nature: it exhibits properties of a particle (photon), as in Compton scattering, and of a wave (electromagnetic wave), as in Young's double slit interference.
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Bat wing membranes inspire development of micro air vehicles
Bat wing-like membranes that change their shape in response to the prevailing wind conditions have been tested in-flight, taking them a step closer to use in Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs).
The membranes have no mechanical parts, and alter their shape in response to the forces acting upon them, making them more efficient and easier to maintain than traditional rigid wings.
The membrane wings are being developed in a combination of experimental research at Southampton University and computational modelling at Imperial College, with funding from EPSRC, and the United States Air Force European Office of Aerospace Research and Development.
The team have used the findings from the computer models to build a 0.5m-wide test vehicle, according to Prof Bharath Ganapathisubramani of Southampton University’s Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics Group, who led the overall project.
“Since the wing is a flexible, thin rubber membrane, it can change shape depending upon what the wind hitting it comprises of,” said Ganapathisubramani. “So if it is in a gusty environment then it would continuously change shape, but if it was in a steady wind it would form a single shape and then maintain it.”
The researchers are also working on a future version of the bat wing, which will incorporate electro-active polymers that allow the membrane to stiffen and relax in response to an applied voltage.
Bats use muscles to stiffen and relax their wings as needed, he said. “We can essentially sag the membrane a little bit, or stiffen it up a little bit, depending on the voltage we apply, which mimics the bat’s behaviour,” he said.
In this way the shape of the wing can be changed irrespective of the wind conditions, said Ganapathisubramani. “You can also use it as a sensor to sense the oncoming wind conditions, because when you apply a voltage and the membrane changes shape, it will also change the voltage that you have applied,” he said.
The researchers have developed a prototype version of the electro-active wing, which they have tested in the laboratory, but they have yet to attach it to a vehicle.
Powering the artificial muscle-inspired wing will require a high voltage and low current, so the team is working towards miniaturising the equipment needed to supply this.
They hope to be able to fit the electro-active wings to an MAV within the next five years.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Ammonia breath sensor could replace blood tests
A new breath sensor for testing ammonia could reduce the need for certain patients to take blood tests, including those with liver conditions such as cirrhosis and hepatitis.
The device, known as AmBeR, was developed by Prof Tony Killard from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). It came about while he was investigating new nanotechnology sensor materials. AmBeR uses polyaniline, an electricity-conducting polymer that Killard formed into nanoparticles. He discovered that this made the material extremely sensitive, and it could also be deposited in layers just thousandths of a millimetre thick using low-cost printing technology.
“That was kind of the eureka moment,” said Killard, head of biomedical sciences at UWE Bristol. “What we had was a cluster of new characteristics which allowed us to do new things we couldn’t do before. Before, this material [polyaniline] was just a laboratory curiosity to scientists and you would play around with this stuff.”
According to Killard, the device could have a significant impact for those who need to test regularly for ammonia levels. The technology will deliver pain-free testing with greater accuracy than many alternatives, while also allowing more frequent monitoring and ultimately even self-testing at home.
“No one has been able to do ammonia breath testing in a way which is accurate without using a large piece of equipment,” he said. “There are instruments in existence which can do it but they are not economically viable. The AmBeR device will be more like glucose testing strips where you use the sensor test strip once and throw it away when finished. We are trying to make this a game-changer commercially.”
A company called BreathDX has been set up in order to further develop the project and explore commercial opportunities. The device is currently in production and will undergo clinical studies in May. Killard claims the technology could eventually be used to measure trace breath gases for other diseases, including potentially diabetes.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Lasers and Multiphoton Imaging
Since the beginning of two-photon excited laser scanning florescence microscopy, it has been at the forefront multiphoton imaging within biomedical research and diagnostics. Lasers are used by top researchers in the field for groundbreaking imaging breakthroughs. Ultrashort light pulses with high peak power can be used in a variety of nonlinear optical processes, typically involving multiphoton absorption in molecules and florescence. Lasers could offer high peak power femtosecond pulses in the most popular wavelengths. All fiber-based design offers the advantages of compact size, ease of positioning and use, high uptime, low cost, and are air cooled.
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Salute: dalle piante una biofabbrica per futuri vaccini
Nuove prospettive in biomedicina: nei laboratori del Centro di ricerche ENEA della Casaccia dalla pianta del tabacco sono state prodotte molecole che potrebbero essere utili per sviluppare in tempi brevi vaccini sicuri ed economici e nuovi strumenti diagnostici per fronteggiare eventuali nuove emergenze sanitarie. Le applicazioni partono dalla SARS, la sindrome respiratoria acuta grave divenuta vera e propria emergenza mondiale nel 2003, che seppur contenuta all'epoca presenta ancora oggi un elevato rischio di nuovi episodi, in quanto non è ancora disponibile un vaccino, nonostante gli sforzi a livello globale.
Il percorso avviato da ENEA consiste in una vera e propria “fabbrica di molecole” dal grande potenziale: grazie allo studio, condotto in collaborazione con l'Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) e il Prince of Wales Hospital di Hong Kong, sono state prodotte in pianta alcune molecole del virus che causa la SARS. Questo approccio, tuttavia, può essere esteso ‘in generale’ anche ad altri agenti infettivi con possibile uso bioterroristico o con potenziale pandemico, come ad esempio l’epidemia da virus Zika, esplosa di recente in America Latina, che rappresenta una delle grandi emergenze sanitarie degli ultimi anni.
Utilizzando le piante come bioreattori – in questo caso una specie di tabacco considerata un modello per la molecular farming - lo studio ha permesso di produrre, in particolare, una molecola del virus che è stata riconosciuta dagli anticorpi di persone che avevano contratto la SARS nel 2003, aprendo quindi la strada allo sviluppo di test diagnostici rapidi ed economici, ma anche di strumenti innovativi per la protezione e la cura degli individui affetti da queste patologie. I vaccini ottenuti da piante, infatti, sono la nuova frontiera nel campo della prevenzione di epidemie e pandemie: veloci da ottenere (anche solo due settimane), sicuri e poco costosi.
Lo studio è il risultato della collaborazione di alto livello tra centri di ricerca di Italia e Cina dalle competenze multidisciplinari tra cui biologia molecolare, biotecnologie vegetali, virologia, medicina e immunologia, ed è stato pubblicato di recente su “Frontiers in Plant Science”, un’autorevole rivista internazionale “open access” del settore.
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SECONDA PARTE
ENEA è al lavoro da anni sulle biotecnologie e sull’impiego di vari sistemi vegetali per la produzione di biofarmaceutici: nei laboratori dell’ENEA Casaccia si studiano nuovi approcci di ingegneria genetica per ottenere, in modo semplice e a costi accessibili, anticorpi, enzimi e altri principi attivi destinati all’uomo e creare proteine per combattere virus e altre infezioni. Le piante offrono diversi vantaggi rispetto ai sistemi convenzionali impiegati per la produzione di molecole di interesse farmaceutico. Oltre al fatto che sono in grado di dare origine a molecole con elevata autenticità strutturale, hanno dalla loro la capacità di crescere velocemente in condizioni di non-sterilità e a bassi costi, e per questo rappresentano una piattaforma di produzione sicura per l‘uomo in quanto non contengono virus o altri patogeni umani.
Oltre alla SARS, negli ultimi due decenni alcuni virus, come ad esempio Ebola e di recente Zika, hanno causato malattie ad alto potenziale pandemico provocando vere e proprie emergenze sanitarie per il rischio di diffusione su scala globale.
“L’attenzione da parte degli Stati e delle industrie farmaceutiche rispetto a questi eventi contagiosi non è sempre costante - sottolinea la ricercatrice dell’ENEA Rosella Franconi - soprattutto in termini di attività di ricerca, prevenzione e investimenti. Avere competenze per produrre velocemente e a costi contenuti, strumenti diagnostici e vaccini, può dare un contributo importante alla gestione e alla risoluzione di queste emergenze ma è necessario mantenere elevata la sorveglianza sanitaria e la profilassi internazionale, come pure sostenere la ricerca pubblica finalizzata ad accelerare lo sviluppo di tecnologie preventive e di controllo contro le infezioni causate da virus emergenti e ri-emergenti’.
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As good as gold: new catalyst produces hydrogen peroxide for decentralised water purification
Researchers have developed catalysts that produce hydrogen peroxide on-demand in a one-step process; an advance that could bring water purification to poor, remote or disaster hit areas.
A team from Cardiff University’s Catalysis Institute, Lehigh University in Pennsylvaniaand the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed the new group of catalysts that have been published in Science.
“Using our new catalyst, we’ve created a method of efficiently producing H2O2 [hydrogen peroxide] on-demand in a quick, one-step process,” said co-author Dr Simon Freakley from the Cardiff Catalysis Institute.
“Being able to produce H2O2 directly opens up a whole host of possibilities, most notably in the field of water purification where it would be indispensable to be able to produce the chemical on-site where safe and clean drinking water is at a premium.”
In 2011 Global Industry Analysts, Inc. predicted the global market for hydrogen peroxide to reach 4.3 million metric tons by 2015. The chemical is usually manufactured via a large, multi-step process, which requires highly concentrated solutions of H2O2 to be transported before dilution at the point of use. Current uses of H2O2 include paper bleaching, disinfecting and water treatment and in the chemical synthesis industry.
Centralised systems supply clean water to billions of households globally, but many people still lack access to these large-scale water supplies, relying instead decentralised systems for a safe source of water.
The team, led by Prof Graham Hutchings, has previously developed a catalyst made from palladium and gold nanoparticles that helped to create H2O2 from hydrogen and oxygen.
Now the team have shown that gold can be replaced with five different readily available metals, including tin, zinc and cobalt, to form a much cheaper and more efficient group of catalysts for this specific reaction.
Co-author of the study Prof Graham Hutchings said: “Our new catalyst shows that it is possible to achieve equally high utilisation of hydrogen to form hydrogen peroxide by replacing the gold in the catalysts with cheap readily available metals, therefore significantly reducing costs.
“Rather than replace the current industrial process, we envisage this catalyst being used where low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide are required. For example, we could see our catalyst being used in decentralised water purification systems in which the speedy, on-demand production of hydrogen peroxide would be essential.
“We are already in discussions with industry to see how this catalyst can be developed further.”
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Mechanical properties of radiation-sensitive material tuned for biomedical use
Researchers have created a composite material with properties that make it suitable for use in biomedical imaging, drug delivery and therapeutic treatments.
Developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at North Carolina State University, the material emits light and heat when exposed to specific wavelengths of radiation. It can also be customised to have specific mechanical characteristics.
“The radiosensitivity is what makes the material useful for biomedical applications, and the ability to tune the mechanical properties makes it less likely to be rejected by the surrounding tissue in the body,” said Nora Berg, a Ph.D. student at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the work.
The material is a composite of a biological gel made of proteins and semiconductor material gallium oxyhydroxide (GaOOH). The GaOOH is dispersed in the biological gel in the form of crystals that are 200-300nm in diameter and approximately 1µm in length.
“When the composite is exposed to wavelengths of radiation that would be used in clinical settings, the GaOOH responds by heating up and emitting light,” Berg said in a statement.
“This response to radiation makes it attractive for use in some therapeutic applications,” said Albena Ivanisevic, corresponding author of the paper and a professor of materials science and engineering at NC State. “The radiosensitive response can help generate reactive oxygen species – like peroxide – that can be used to kill cells. So, this material may have value for targeting localised cancer sites.”
The mechanical properties of the composite can be tuned by adjusting the concentration of GaOOH; adjusting the amount of GaOOH changes the structure of the gel, which affects the gel’s stiffness. The mechanical properties were investigated in collaboration with Saad Khan’s research group in NC State’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
To determine how the composite may interact with cells, the researchers did a proof-of-concept study. First, the researchers grew mouse-derived connective tissue cells – fibroblasts – on the surface of composite samples. They then worked with researchers in NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine to expose the cell-covered samples to different amounts of clinically-relevant radiation.
The researchers found that higher doses of radiation increased cell death – but so did higher concentrations of GaOOH.
“This means that you can increase the concentration of GaOOH in the composite to cause cell death at targeted sites, while using less radiation,” Ivanisevic says.
The researchers now plan to evaluate how the composite works with other cell types, such as neuronal cells, that are more resistant to radiation.
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GKN demonstrates electric torque-vectoring system
Innovative drivetrain technology that uses electronically controlled clutches to vary torque across a vehicle’s axle could help make hybrid vehicles more efficient and dynamic, claim its developer at GKN.
Recently demonstrated to The Engineer at the firm’s Wintertest proving ground in Arjeplog, Northern Sweden, the so-called ‘e-Twinster’ system is a plug-in hybrid module claimed to make it simpler for vehicle platforms to offer electric all-wheel drive and torque vectoring.
The Engineer putting GKN’s eTwinster technology through its paces
The technology combines the firm’s existing eAxle technology – already used on plug-in hybrids including the Volvo XC90 T8, and BMW i8 – with the twin-clutch torque vectoring technology featured in both the Ford Focus RS and Range Rover Evoque.
The technology was demonstrated on a prototype version of the Volvo XC90 T8 chosen partly because GKN already supplies the vehicle’s electric motor module. In the vehicle, a 60kW, 240Nm electric motor drives an electric axle with a transmission ratio of 1:10. A dual-clutch Twinster system then vectors the resulting 2,400Nm of torque between the rear wheels.
Presented alongside a conventional version of the car, the prototype vehicle demonstrated significantly superior dynamic response and handling on the frozen lake at the heart of the firm’s winter test facility.
GKN Automotive’s technology chief Peter Moelgg said: “We believe…our system represents the next step forward for the industry: a production-ready way to create higher performance hybrids that are more rewarding to drive.”
The company predicts that by 2025 up to 50% of all vehicles will have some level of electrification, with a greater proportion of hybrids’ power delivered from the electric motor. While current mass-production vehicle platforms can only draw around 30% of their energy from a battery, GKN claims that small, powerful, torque-vectoring electric axles could deliver 60-70% of the power in future vehicles.
According to the company several major automakers have already expressed an interest in the system, and it could be integrated into a vehicle platform for production within the next three years.
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Graphene Proving Itself as Excellent Material for Brain Interfaces
Scientists out of Graphene Flagship, a European project to translate graphene science into useful applications, have shown that the material can interface with neuron cells, seemingly without causing them any damage. These days metal and silicon electrodes are used as neural interface devices, but the new research paves wave for more “natural” carbon-based brain implants.
Current electrodes end up being surrounded by tissues that attenuate the brain signals captured by them, often eventually becoming useless. Using carbon-based graphene electrode arrays may allow for high-sensitivity long term monitoring and even electrically stimulating the brain.
Prof. Laura Ballerini, the lead neuro-scientist on this research explained: “For the first time we interfaced graphene to neurons directly, without any peptide-coating used in the past to favour neuronal adhesion. We then tested the ability of neurons to generate electrical signals known to represent brain activities and found that the neurons retained unaltered their neuronal signalling properties… This is the first functional study of neuronal synaptic activity using uncoated graphene based materials.”
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Thinnest ever solar cells produced by MIT team
A group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a new process leading to the creation of the lightest and thinnest solar cells ever produced.
Described in the journal Organic Electronics, the technology involves manufacturing the solar cell, the substrate that supports it, and a protective overcoating all in one step. The substrate is made in place and never needs to be handled, cleaned, or removed from the vacuum in which production takes place. This minimises exposure to dust and other contaminants that could degrade the cell’s performance.
“The innovative step is the realisation that you can grow the substrate at the same time as you grow the device,” said Vladimir Bulović, MIT’s associate dean for innovation and one of the paper’s lead authors.
According to the researchers, the entire process takes place in a vacuum chamber at room temperature and without the use of any solvents. Both the substrate and the solar cell are “grown” using chemical vapour deposition, or CVD. This involves vapourising monomers and introducing them to the chamber where they link up to form a thin layer of polymer.
For the initial proof-of-concept experiment, the team used a common flexible polymer called parylene for both the substrate and the overcoating.The commercially available plastic is widely used to protect biomedical devices and printed circuit boards. An organic material called DBP (tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene) was used as the primary light-absorbing layer.
The result is a cell just two micrometres thick, about one-fiftieth of the thickness of a human hair. To demonstrate how lightweight the cells are, the researchers placed a working cell on top of a soap bubble without it bursting. The team also claims that different materials could be used for the substrate and encapsulation layers, as well as for the solar cell itself.
While the technology is a long way from commercial viability, future applications could include wearable electronics, as well as lightweight solar cells for the aerospace industry.
“It could be so light that you don’t even know it’s there, on your shirt or on your notebook,” said Bulović.
“These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Al MIT le celle solari diventano leggere come bolle di sapone. Creata, grazie ad un polimero trasparente e un processo one-step, la cella solare più sottile e leggera mai ottenuta fino ad ora
Sempre più sottili, sempre più flessibili. La ricerca energetica sul fotovoltaico ci ha regalato in questi anni thin film solari dalla prestazioni incredibili, fogli di pochi millimetri di spessore in grado di essere arrotolati su se stessi e istallati su qualsiasi superficie mantenendo un’efficienza di conversione utile. Ma al MIT i traguardi raggiunti in finora rappresentano solo una buona base di partenza. E così, armati di ambizione e lungimiranza Vladimir Bulovic, Annie Wang, e Joel Jean hanno tentato l’impossibile: realizzare una cella solare così leggera da poter rimanere sulla superficie di una bolla di sapone senza farla scoppiare.
Il primo proof-of-concept realizzato dai tre scienziati dimostra che in fondo avevano saputo veder lungo. Anche se probabilmente ci vorranno diversi anni prima di realizzare un prodotto commercialmente valido, Bulovic e colleghi hanno creato la cella solare più sottile e leggera mai ottenuta fino ad ora.
Il nuovo processo è descritto in maniera approfondita in un articolo di Organic Electronic. La chiave di tutto il lavoro è quello d’esser riusciti a produrre con un unico meccanismo materiale fotovoltaico, substrato e strato protettivo. Nel dettaglio, il team ha utilizzato un polimero flessibile e trasparente abbastanza comune, ilparylene. Il materiale è servito per realizzazione sia del substrato sia dello strato protettivo. L’intero processo avviene in una camera a vuoto a temperatura ambiente e senza l’uso di solventi – a differenza della fabbricazione delle celle solari convenzionali – sfruttando la tecnica della deposizione del vapore per far “crescere” la cella.
Mentre la cella solare risultante non è particolarmente efficiente, ma il rapporto potenza-peso è tra i più alti mai raggiunti. Considerando che un modulo solare a base di silicio, il cui peso è legato soprattutto alla copertura in vetro, può produrre circa 15 Watt di potenza per chilogrammo, le nuove celle hanno già dimostrato una potenza di 6000 Watt per chilogrammo, circa 400 volte di più.
“Potrebbe essere così leggero da non far avvertire neppure la sua presenza, se posizionato sulla camicia o sul notebook”, afferma Bulovic. “Queste celle potrebbero essere semplicemente aggiunte su strutture esistenti”.
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Salford University physicists to develop highly-efficient perovskite photovoltaics
Physicists at Salford University are developing perovskite photovoltaic cells that have the potential to be more economical and efficient than current PV devices.
Working with 12 international partners, the €5m CHEOPS (Cost and Highly Efficient phOtovoltaic Perovskite Solar cells) project aims to upscale initial trials of the technology to industrial and commercial levels.
According to Salford University, perovskite photovoltaics are a novel class of materials, commonly a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material, with a crystal structure that makes it possible to fabricate extremely efficient solar cells in a simple manner and at potentially low manufacturing costs.
Dr Heather Yates, principal investigator for the Salford CHEOPS project said: “As researchers, we may get excited when we achieve a new efficiency record with a small cell of about 1cm2 but to prove this technology we need modules of at least 15cm2 and we need them to be stable.
“At Salford we will be employing a technique called Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition to produce large-scale thin films which make up the perovskite cell. We will also consider how to produce films using tools, techniques and procedures that can readily be implemented in an industrial environment.”
In addition to upscaling the technology, researchers will also produce tandem cells – with a perovskite cell on top of a conventional silicon-based cell. Such tandem cells can harvest a broader spectrum of light than a single cell, which should lead to an increase in their efficiency further approaching the 30% range.
In the longer term, existing manufacturing methods used for silicon devices might require only minor modification before being used to produce tandem cells, as the perovskite layer would simply be added on top of the conventional cell to act as an “efficiency booster”.
“It is essential to continually improve the attractiveness of solar as a renewable energy source,” said Dr Yates. “Perovskite photovoltaic technology can be an important step in this direction and the team at Salford University are looking forward to sharing our findings with our academic and industrial partners.
In 2014, photovoltaic produced around 200 gigawatts of power, or 1 -2 % of global electricity demands.
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Salivary Diagnostics Detect Biomarkers for Cancer and More Using Electric Fields
Finger-prick blood testing has been facing a lot of criticism as of late due to variations in measurements and possible unethical business practices. However, thanks to technology developed by scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, we may someday be able to rely on another bodily fluid, saliva, to help us learn more about our health.
Back in 2008, the UCLA team developed a new diagnostic method called “electric field-induced release and measurement”, or EFIRM. EFIRM works by using an electrical field to disrupt exosomes to release their contents and then measure the RNA and proteins that were released. Since then, the team has managed to show that EFIRM can detect cancer mutations with near 100% sensitivity and specificity in saliva. While numerous other techniques for detecting cancer mutations exist, according to Professor David Wong, associate dean for research at the UCLA School of Dentistry, EFIRM outperforms them all by 30%.
Salivary diagnostics could potentially have far-reaching applications in the area of mobile health. As saliva is simple and non-invasive to collect, tests could be performed anywhere. Once sensor technology is miniaturized and becomes more affordable, salivary diagnostic devices could be one day found in homes and lead to more personalized medicine.
And testing doesn’t have to stop at cancer diagnosis. Vivek Shetty, also a professor at UCLA School of Dentistry, is investigating using salivary diagnostics for measuring stress-related conditions such as PTSD and depression.
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Monkeys manoeuvre wheelchairs with thoughts
Neuroscientists in the US have developed a brain-machine interface (BMI) that allows primates to navigate a robotic wheelchair using their thoughts.
The BMI is said to use signals from hundreds of neurons recorded simultaneously in two regions of the monkeys’ brains that are involved in movement and sensation. As the animals think about moving toward their goal — a bowl containing grapes — computers translate their brain activity into real-time operation of the wheelchair.
The interface, developed at Duke Health in North Carolina and described in Scientific Reports, demonstrates the future potential for people with disabilities who have lost most muscle control and mobility due to quadriplegia or ALS, said senior author Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., co-director for the Duke Center for Neuroengineering.
“In some severely disabled people, even blinking is not possible,” Nicolelis said. “For them, using a wheelchair or device controlled by non-invasive measures like an EEG [which monitors brain waves through electrodes on the scalp] may not be sufficient. We show clearly that if you have intracranial implants, you get better control of a wheelchair than with non-invasive devices.”
Scientists began the experiments in 2012, implanting hundreds of microfilaments in the premotor and somatosensory regions of the brains of two rhesus macaques. They trained the animals by passively navigating the chair toward their goal. During this training phase, the scientists recorded the primates’ large-scale electrical brain activity. The researchers then programmed a computer system to translate brain signals into digital motor commands that controlled the movements of the wheelchair.
As the monkeys learned to control the wheelchair just by thinking, they became more efficient at navigating toward the grapes and completed the trials faster, Nicolelis said.
In addition to observing brain signals that corresponded to translational and rotational movement, the Duke team also discovered that primates’ brain signals showed signs they were contemplating their distance to the bowl of grapes.
“This was not a signal that was present in the beginning of the training, but something that emerged as an effect of the monkeys becoming proficient in this task,” Nicolelis said. “This was a surprise. It demonstrates the brain’s enormous flexibility to assimilate a device, in this case a wheelchair, and that device’s spatial relationships to the surrounding world.”
The trials measured the activity of nearly 300 neurons in each of the two monkeys. The Nicolelis lab previously reported the ability to record up to 2,000 neurons using the same technique. The team now hopes to expand the experiment by recording more neuronal signals to continue to increase the accuracy and fidelity of the primate BMI before seeking trials for an implanted device in humans, he said.
The US National Institutes of Health funded this study. The Itau Bank of Brazil provided research support to the study as part of the Walk Again Project, an international non-profit consortium aimed at developing new assistive technologies for severely paralyzed patients.
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Ultra-Low Dose CT Scans Identify Joint Fractures with Little Radiation Exposure
Physicians at NYU Langone Medical Center have managed to use a CT scanner to image and identify joint fractures with a radiation dose 14 times lower than an average similar exam. Having a radiation dose closer to that of a chest X-ray (down from 0.43 msV to 0.03 msV) may help alleviate a lot of concern about exposure to ionizing radiation and allow doctors not to have to struggle over whether to prescribe the CT exam. This is a particular concern for children for whom early frequent exposure to radiation may lead to the development of cancers. The new study was presented today, March 2, at the 2016 American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
The new capability relies on a newly developed protocol called REDUCTION (Reduced Effective Dose Using Computed Tomography In Orthopedic Injury) that has been used to assess gases around the knee’s joint. Because of its previous success, the researchers decided to try to use it for joint fractures that are hard to analyze using traditional X-rays.
A number of patients were scanned using both standard CT scans and the new REDUCTION ultra-low dose imaging method that were suspect of having a joint fracture. Using the new system, physicians were able to identify suspect fractures with 98 percent sensitivity and 89 percent specificity.
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New proton imaging technology could improve cancer treatments
A new imaging technique being developed in the UK could improve the accuracy of cancer treatments.
Researchers at Lancaster and Manchester Universities, the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and CERN are developing the technique, known as proton imaging.
The technology is designed to improve the accuracy of images taken of adults being targeted with proton beam therapy, an emerging technique that can reduce the side effects of complex radiotherapy treatment.
Two new NHS proton treatment centres are already under construction in the UK, and the researchers hope the new technique will produce more accurate pre-treatment images of patients than existing x-ray scans.
Proton imaging can increase the accuracy of treatments down to under one millimetre, which is particularly important when the tumour is near a sensitive organ, according to Dr Graeme Burt of Lancaster University, the lead researcher on the project.
The technique works by firing a very small dose of imaging protons at the patient. These protons, which are more energetic than those used in therapy, travel right through the body, losing some energy as they go, according to Dr Hywel Owen, project member and lecturer at Manchester University.
“The protons slow down as they pass through the body, so if you measure how much energy they had before they went through the body, and how much energy they have afterwards, you can work out how much they have lost,” he said.
These measurements are used to produce a 3D picture of the tissue, he said. “If you add up lots of individual measurements from all of the protons travelling in different directions, then you can build up a tomograph, which gives you a 3D picture of what’s inside the patient.”
The researchers will develop a prototype device, which can be retrofitted onto existing proton beam therapy equipment. This will boost the energy of the protons from the 250 Mega-electron volts (MeV) needed for therapy to the 350MeV needed for full body imaging, said Burt.
“We generate the extra 100MeV needed for full body imaging, and in a space small enough to fit into the proton therapy centres at UCL and at Christie, which are already under construction,” he said.
The researchers will begin manufacturing their prototype booster this summer, and plan to test it at CERN within the next 12 months.
The project is being funded by the Cockcroft Institute for Accelerator Science and Technology, using an award from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
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SENSIMED Triggerfish Electronic Contact Lens for Measuring Eye Volume FDA Approved
The Food and Drug Administration issued de novo approval to SENSIMED, a Lausanne, Switzerland firm, to introduce its Triggerfish continuous eye volume monitoring system. The Triggerfish allows physicians to decide when is the best time to measure the intraocular pressure that changes throughout the day and single in-office tests may not be at all indicative of the actual changes going on inside the eye. The technology should allow for earlier detect of glaucoma before symptoms become apparent.
The system relies on an electronic contact lens that has a sensor built-in that detects fluctuations in the shape of the lens. A special antenna attached around the eye powers and communicates with the contact lens, grabbing readings that are then passed to a portable data recorder.
The system is worn for up to 24 hours and the gathered data is transferred wirelessly using Bluetooth to the physician’s PC for review.
Some details from FDA’s announcement:
The Triggerfish is indicated for use in adults age 22 and older under the direction and supervision of a health care professional. Clinical data supporting the marketing authorization of the Triggerfish included several studies of the safety and tolerability of the contact lenses and the effectiveness of the device measurement. The effectiveness of the device was demonstrated by showing an association between the Triggerfish device output and IOP fluctuation. The most common temporary side effects were pressure marks from the contact lens, ocular hyperemia (red eyes) and punctate keratitis (irritation of the cornea).
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Hitachi Aloka’s New ARIETTA V70 with Elastography Functions
Last week at the European Congress of Radiology, Hitachi Aloka showed off its new ARIETTA V70 ultrasound with advanced elastography capabilities. The system features Shear Wave Measurement (SWM) and Real-time Tissue Elastography (RTE) functions.
The first measures shear wave propagation velocity, and also displays how reliable the measurement is at the time. It does multiple measurements automatically with the aim of having more consistent results and successful examinations on the first try. The RTE function uses strain elastography to measure how stiff tissue is under the transducer.
The technologies are particularly useful for breast examinations and may find themselves used more often for liver exams as well.
Some of the other features on th ARIETTA V70 according to the product page:
Multi-Layered and Single Crystal technologies allow more efficient transmission and reception of the ultrasound pulse with minimal energy loss, increasing both the sensitivity and clarity of the images
New front-end technology: the Compound Pulsed Wave Generator (CPWG+) uses an efficient programmable transmission waveform to generate pulses with high sensitivity and resolution.
PIXEL Focusing for increased precision and clear delineation of the region of interest.
The ultrasound-specific high performance processor, Ultra Backend, performs powerful processing such as HI-REZ+.
With a high contrast ratio and wide viewing angle, the IPS-Pro monitor gives a rich representation of the displayed image.
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Wellcome Image Awards 2016 Winners Announced
Pathways of nerve fibres in the brain of a young healthy adult (viewed from behind). Different parts of the brain communicate with each other through these nerve fibres, which are colour-coded here. Fibres connecting the left and right hemispheres are red, fibres travelling up and down connecting the brain and spinal cord are blue, and fibres running front to back are green. The width of this brain is 16.5 cm.
A newborn baby receives light therapy in the Starlight Neonatal Unit at Barnet Hospital in London. This baby was born prematurely and has jaundice, a common condition where waste from the breakdown of red blood cells builds up in the blood, causing the skin and eyes to turn yellow. This waste, bilirubin, is normally removed by the liver, but in newborn babies the liver is not yet fully developed so cannot always do this efficiently. In a small number of cases jaundice may be a sign of an underlying health problem. This baby is being treated in a special incubator and lies under an ultraviolet light with their eyes covered.
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Virtual Incision’s Surgical Robot Used in Patients for First Time
Virtual Incision, a spin-out of the University of Nebraska that’s been developing a miniaturized robot for general surgery procedures, has announced that its device has been used in human patients for the first time. The successful colon resections were performed at a hospital in Asunción, Paraguay to demonstrate the safety and show applicability of the technology.
The Virtual Incision robot is actually positioned inside the abdomen via an umbilical incision. This is very different than the popular da Vinci system and a couple other robots that stay outside the body, but are used to deliver tools via laparoscopic ports. The Virtual Incision, therefore, is quite compact and doesn’t require a specialize operating room.
“Virtual Incision’s robotically assisted surgical device achieved proof-of-concept in highly complex abdominal procedures,” in a statement said head surgeon Dmitry Oleynikov, MD FACS, chief of minimally invasive surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and co-founder of Virtual Incision. “Additionally, we verified that our extensive regimen of bench, animal, cadaver, biocompatibility, sterilization, electrical safety, software, human factors and other testing enabled the safe use of this innovative technology.”
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Artificial Fingertip Allows Man to Regain Feeling In His Phantom Hand
A man missing an arm has been able to feel the sensation of touch in his phantom hand thanks to a newly developed artificial fingertip from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy. The device interfaces with electrodes implanted into the remaining arm, not far above the stump. The fingertip was actually held by a machine that swept it repeatedly over different textured surfaces. The volunteer amputee sat back in a chair as the electrodes transferred the signals from the fingertip to the arm. Amazingly, he was able to tell what kind of surfaces the artificial fingertip swept against and has reported that the sensation is quite similar to how he feels with fingers on his existing hand.
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CT scanning and the recovery of oil
Gas is, of course, only one of the hydrocarbons Shell extracts; it devotes just as much resource to technologies to recover oil. One of the tools it uses to help with that task is the world’s largest vertical computerised tomography (CT) scanner.
The main application for this piece of equipment, which occupies its own lofty space in the STCA and weighs 60 tonnes, is to investigate core samples taken from oil wells to see how well oil flows through the rock. According to Axel Makurat, team leader for rock and fluids, this is a particularly valuable technique when water or fluid mixtures are being injected into the oil well for enhanced oil recovery techniques.
The geology where oil tends to be found is either sandstone or chalk, both of which contain very different connected networks of pores or fissures that contain the hydrocarbon and through which it flows on its way to the surface. Originally, when Shell’s scientists first had the idea of using CT scanning to investigate the behaviour of oil in rocks, the company simply bought a medical CT scanner and used it to study oil flowing through a short (typically around 30cm long) section of core sample – of the similar geology to the region of interest, although not necessarily actually taken from the precise location – which was placed inside the scanner in the same way that a human patient might be.
Although this did provide some valuable information, Makurat said, there were two big problems: the sample was placed into the scanner horizontally and oil was pumped through it from one end to another. This is not what happens in real wells, where the oil is pushed upwards against gravity, either by its own pressure within the reservoir, or by the pressure of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) fluids. In the medical scanner tests, the oil tended to creep along the bottom edge of the sample in response to the gravity in its orientation. Moreover, the small size of the core sample inside the scanner made it rather difficulty to extrapolate the results to the size of an entire oil well, which can be many hundreds of metres or even kilometres deep inside the reservoir geology.
To get a more accurate and extrapolatable set of results, the company decided to invest in a vertical CT scanner. Although this works in exactly the same way as the medical system, scanning a series of slices through the core sample along its length to show how the front of the oil surge develops and progresses through the rock, the core sample can now be up to 3m long, placed vertically in the scanner, which moves up and down, and the slices are oriented horizontally rather than vertically. The scanner is six times larger than a medical system. The oil or oil/EOR fluid mixture rises up the column of the core sample, as it does in a real reservoir, and the longer length means the behaviour of the hydrocarbon is much closer to what happens in an oil reservoir.
The CT scanner system produces X-rays through an electrical process, rather than using a radioactive source material; this helps with safety, as the system only produces X-rays when it’s switched on, according to Makurat.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Breath Sensor May Help Bring About Early Diagnosis of Variety of Diseases
At the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology researchers are building breath sensors able to perform point-of-care diagnostics. The semiconductor metal oxide-based nanofiber sensor arrays measure concentrations of specific volatile organic compounds, such as acetone, ammonia, and toluene, that can be indicative of diabetes, kidney disease, and lung cancer.
From the study abstract:
A novel catalyst functionalization method is proposed by I.-D. Kim and co-workers using the self-assembly of protein-encapsulated catalytic nanoparticles on polystyrene colloid templates. On page 911, these templates are employed in electrospinning to achieve well-dispersed catalyst functionalization as well as to form open pores on WO3nanofibers (NFs) after subsequent heat-treatment. The improved analyte-sensing performance is investigated with catalyst-loaded porous WO3 NFs, demonstrating their potential for application in exhaled breath analysis to diagnose diseases.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
ThoraXS for Treating Collapsed Lungs in About a Minute
A pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung, is becoming all too common in Israel these days as a wave of terrorist knife attacks has swept over the country. Treatment requires a speedy approach and involves using a needle to decompress the thorax followed by a tube insertion, a pretty slow and demanding task considering the situation. Tube placement being so challenging often leads to paramedics choosing to take off for the hospital before performing this step.
Students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s BioDesign: Medical Innovation program have developed a device that makes the process much easier and quicker, dropping it from about fifteen minutes down to around one. The ThoraXS creates an opening for inserting the chest tube, and is operated with a single hand, letting the medic use the other hand to push the tube in. It’s inserted flat and then pushed open, creating enough space for the chest tube to come through.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
General Decellularizes, Rebuilds Donated Hearts with Recipients’ Own Cells
A partially recellularized human whole-heart cardiac scaffold, reseeded with human cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, being cultured in a bioreactor that delivers a nutrient solution and replicates some of the environmental conditions around a living heart. (Bernhard Jank, MD, Ott Lab, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital)
At Massachusetts General Hospital scientists managed to regenerate functional heart muscle within donated human hearts that were first decellularized to remove the immune response triggers of the original donor. The technology was recently demonstrated with rat hearts, but the new research extended it to much larger human hearts. In this study 73 hearts, some from brain-dead donors, while others from those that died of cardiac causes, were essentially used to make scaffolds for new heart tissue. Both types of hearts did well under the decellularization process and when seeded with cells generated by reprogramming skin cells into pluripotent stem cells and then into cardiomyocytes, the resulting tissue within the organ began to spontaneously contract after a few days in the incubator.
In all about 500 million induced pluripotent stem cells were seeded into the left ventricular wall of the hearts after which they spent two weeks in a bioreactor. The in-house built device perfused the hearts and created some physical simulations to stress the heart, such as applying pressure such as that which exists within the natural organ. The tissue that was created contracted when electrically stimulated and the cardiac cells looked like immature natural ones.
“Regenerating a whole heart is most certainly a long-term goal that is several years away, so we are currently working on engineering a functional myocardial patch that could replace cardiac tissue damaged due a heart attack or heart failure,” said Jacques Guyette, PhD, lead author of the study. “Among the next steps that we are pursuing are improving methods to generate even more cardiac cells – recellularizing a whole heart would take tens of billions – optimizing bioreactor-based culture techniques to improve the maturation and function of engineered cardiac tissue, and electronically integrating regenerated tissue to function within the recipient’s heart.”
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Non-invasive Structural Health Monitoring Using Vibration to Assess the Spine
Magnetic resonance imaging is all well and good for spine imaging, but it has its limitations and doesn’t reveal all problems that may be present. Researchers at University of Alberta, Canada and University of Southern Denmark have been testing whether vibration can be used to assess the spine and identify conditions that may be hidden from other imaging methods.
The study involved twins that had similar spines versus ones that have significantly different backs due to one having suffered from injury or disease. The technology used is being commercialized by VibeDx, a spinoff of the University of Alberta. A small probe is used to apply vibrations to the lower back while nearby sensors measured the returning vibrational signal.
The findings showed that twins that had similar spines, as verified using MRI, had similar readings coming from the sensors. Twins with substantially different spines showed dissimilar results.
While there’s hope that this new technology may replace MRI in certain cases, the real excitement is that it may turn out to be a completely novel and complementary method for spine analysis.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Dispositivi di potenza GaN: un mercato da 2,6 miliardi di dollari entro il 2022
2,6 miliardi di dollari entro il 2022 con un tasso di crescita su base annua del 24,5% dal 2016 al 2022: questo il dato saliente del nuovo report ““GaN Power Devices Market by Technology (Semiconductor Materials, Transistor Application Technologies), Wafer (Wafer Processes, Wafer Size, and Design Configuration), Device (Power Discrete, Power ICS), Products, Application & Geography – Global Forecast to 2022” di recente pubblicato da MarketsandMarkets.
I segmenti che saranno caratterizzati dai maggiori tassi di crescita nel periodo preso in considerazione saranno quelli delle comunicazioni satellitari, dei radar e delle applicazioni wireless che potranno beneficiare delle migliori caratteristiche di gestione della potenza e dell’incremento della frequenza dei nuovi semiconduttori di potenza in nitruro di gallio. Altri settori che beneficieranno della diffusione dei dispositivi GaN saranno quelli dell’ICT (Information and Communication technology) e consumer. Ques’ultimo segmento, in particolare, potrà beneficiare della disponibilità di un gran numero di dispositivi optoelettronici basati su GaN.
L’evoluzione della tecnologia GaN su silicio, dove il nitruro di gallio è depositato su substrati di silicio fortemente drogati ha contribuito a semplificare lo sviluppo di Led a elevata luminosità. L’introduzione di altre tecnologie ha favorito lo sviluppo di Led a fosforo e organici, che hanno consentito la produzione di Led blue, viletti, porpora, bianchi. La più recente evoluzione in questo settore è rappresentato dalla tecnologia QD (Quantum Dot).
Nel settore dei dispositive di Potenza GaN le aziende giapponesi – Renesas Electronics, ROHM, Nichia, Toshiba, Toyoda Gosei Limited – giocano un ruolo da protagoniste. Tra le aziende europee attive in questo segmento si possono annoverare Koninklijke Philips (Paesi Bassi), EPIGAN (Belgio), Aixtron SE e AZZURO Semiconductors (Germania).
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Vital role for UK comms in ExoMars mission
UK communications technology is set to play a key role in the European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission, which launched successfully today from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Farnborough-based Qinetiq is providing the UHF transceiver that will enable the project’s Schiaparelli lander to transmit data from the Martian surface to the ExoMars orbiter. According to the company, the device was put through extensive testing and evaluation in advance of the launch.
“We simulated landings on Mars in our vacuum chamber, by slowly leaking in gas to replicate the change in pressure when approaching the surface,” said Matthew Cosby, chief communications engineer at Qinetiq.
“We used our environmental chambers to test the equipment in extremes of hot and cold. Shock and vibration testing was carried out with Airbus Defence and Space in Portsmouth to make sure the system will survive launch and entry, descent and landing on Mars.”
Schiaparelli will separate from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) three days before arrival at the Red Planet in October 2016. If everything goes to plan, the lander will transmit data back to Earth via the mother ship for between two and four days. The TGO’s mission will continue, as it searches for traces of gases including methane that could indicate the presence of organic life.
“Historically, data was sent directly from Mars to Earth at speeds similar to the old dial-up internet – several kilobits per second,” said Cosby.
“The introduction of orbiters like the one being used in the ExoMars mission enable speeds of up to two megabits per second over the shorter distance from the surface to the orbiter. The data is stored on the orbiter and then transferred back when the spacecraft sees the dedicated ground station on the Earth.”
Qinetiq’s transceiver is just one of several British instruments involved in the ExoMars mission. Open University scientist Manish Patel is in charge of the TGO’s ozone-mapping ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer instrument, while the rover at the centre of a follow-up mission scheduled for 2018 will also be built in the UK by Airbus Defence and Space. The TGO will remain in orbit and act as the relay for the rover mission.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Prosthetic device connects bone, nerves and muscles
A biomedical engineer has developed a new type of prosthesis that connects directly to the bone and can be controlled by the user’s own nerves and muscles.
Dr Max Ortiz Catalan claims that the device is the first of its kind. One section combines a titanium implant surgically placed into the humerus, along with a control system that connects electrodes to the muscles and nerves in the arm. These internal components are linked to removable prosthesis, maintaining a mechanical connection with the bone and an electrical connection with the implanted electrodes.
According to Dr Ortiz Catalan, the electrodes give the user precise control, as well as providing tactile feedback to the nervous system from the prosthetic. This gives an enhanced level of interaction with the environment and allows handling of delicate objects such as eggs. As the only contact between prosthetic and arm is via the titanium implant, the chafing and inflammation problems associated with traditional prosthetics are avoided.
“By having a direct connection to the bone and not having any components that disturb the skin, the use increases considerably, as well as the quality of life,” said Ortiz Catalan.
“We aim to make technology that people can use in their daily activities, and we would like it to become a standard treatment for every amputation, thus prices would fall.”
Dr Ortiz Catalan’s research was conducted at Chalmers Technological University in Gothenburg, Sweden, in collaboration with the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, as well as bone anchoring implant specialist Integrum AB.
Osseointegration, or bone-anchored prosthesis, was developed in Sweden in the 1960s. Titanium is commonly used as it integrates with the surrounding bone tissue. Although around 400 people worldwide have such implants, just two have this new system of electrodes implanted in nerves and muscles. It is expected that more than ten patients will receive the neural control system this year.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
L’Europa alla conquista di Marte: cercherà tracce di vita nel metano. Tanta Italia nella missione
Exomars 2016 è partito in perfetto orario, 10.31, dalla base spaziale russa di Baikonour. Il potente razzo vettore Proton lo ha portato fuori dall’atmosfera terrestre prima, e poi, entro stanotte, nell’orbita corretta di trasferimento verso quella definitiva che porterà il satellite verso Marte, dove arriverà per ottobre. Lì proverà un qualcosa che noi europei non abbiamo ancora, la tecnologia per arrivare in modo sicuro sul Pianeta rosso, “ammartare” come dicono i tecnici con un pessimo neologismo, e per studiare, con attrezzatura in gran parte italiana, l’atmosfera marziana, ancora in gran parte un rebus da sciogliere. Un primo grande successo per la missione europeo-russa dunque cui l’Italia partecipa in prima persona, con il 35% della spesa, molti e qualificati responsabili delle ricerche scientifiche che si effettueranno e con tante nostre qualificate industrie, medie e piccole coordinate, assieme a quelle di mezza Europa, da Thales Alenia Space di Torino.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Hands free sonar for smart phones
US team demonstrates sonar-based gesture control technology for mobile devices.
Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a sonar-based gesture control system that they claim could enable users to interact with mobile devices by writing or gesturing on any nearby surface or even in mid-air.
The technology allows users to interact with mobile devices by writing or gesturing on any nearby surface
The so-called FingerIO system works by using a device’s own microphones and speakers to emit an inaudible sound wave. This signal bounces off the users finger, and these “echoes” are recorded by the device’s microphones and used to calculate the finger’s location in space.
The team claims that the system can accurately track two-dimensional finger movements to within 8mm, which is sufficiently accurate to interact with today’s mobile devices. What’s more, because sound waves travel through fabric and do not require a line of sight, users can even interact with a phone inside a front pocket or a smartwatch hidden under a sweater sleeve.
“You can’t type very easily onto a smartwatch display, so we wanted to transform a desk or any area around a device into an input surface,” explained lead author of a paper on the project Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering. “I don’t need to instrument my fingers with any other sensors – I just use my finger to write something on a desk or any other surface and the device can track it with high resolution.”
Using sound waves to track finger motion offers several advantages over cameras — which don’t work without line-of-sight said UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering Shyam Gollakota. “Acoustic signals are great — because sound waves travel much slower than the radio waves used in radar, you don’t need as much processing bandwidth so everything is simpler.”
He added that the fact that most devices already feature a speaker and microphone would mean that the cost of the technology would be relatively low.
The technology has already been trialed on a modified Samsung smartphone. The next step is to demonstrate how it could be used to track multiple fingers moving at the same time, and extending its tracking abilities into three dimensions by adding additional microphones to a device.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New Liposomes for Drug Delivery Swim Past Body’s Immune System
Liposomes have been studied extensively as vehicles for targeted delivery of drugs throughout the body because of their beneficial characteristics, but they’re still recognized by the immune system. That means that there could be a host of unexpected reactions to liposome-based treatments. Now researchers at the University of Basel and University of Fribourg in Switzerland have created artificial phospholipid vesicles that are seemingly ignored by the immune system.
The new vesicles were tested within the blood serum of both pigs and humans and have caused no immune response whatsoever. The researchers also injected three pigs with the new liposomes and monitored the pigs, including their ECG and blood pressure. The researchers delivered large quantities of the liposomes, attempting to force a reaction, but there seemed to not have been one of any importance.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
F1 engineers have a duty of care to drivers
The deployment of new safety features is being held back by the “ludicrous idea” that motor racing should be dangerous writes our anonymous blogger
As one of the many fans of Formula 1 I am intrigued by the suggestion of adopting an additional structure to protect the driver’s head. As a professional engineer I cannot help but question the decision process. The currently favoured option has a vertical “blade” in front of the driver and on the centre line of the car, the upper end of which has a horizontal element consisting of a half elliptical perimeter rail feeding back to the headrest. It has been widely, and sadly accurately, compared to the retaining thong of a flip-flop.
Motor racing has become a lot safer over the past 30 years or so but in the open wheel formulae the driver’s head is still exposed
Motor racing has become a lot safer over the past 30 years or so but in the open wheel formulae the driver’s head is still exposed. Massa nearly died a couple of years back when he was hit by a spring that fell out of a car he was following, Henry Surtees was less fortunate still when hit by a wheel. The severity of injury, even with the additional safety structure, may possibly have been the same in each case but clearly there would also have been a very good chance of the errant pieces of debris being deflected.
Despite motor racing becoming safer, drivers’ heads are still often very exposed
Looking at it from a purely engineering point of view I believe that as the structure sits in an area of relative turbulence it would add minimal drag. The mounting points are on the existing safety cell so little additional material is likely to be required in the tub and the structure itself will add little weight, albeit high above the roll centre. Finally, I have not seen any problems regarding obstructed vision being reported from the testing. I know that Formula 1 is all about chasing minute advantages wherever you can find them but I wonder if the change in the car would even be measurable across 10 laps in a race?
The novel solution, to preserve life where practical, is surely central to our professional values
The problem is that not all those involved are keen to take up the idea, in particular Lewis Hamilton has been vocal in his objections. The main arguments that I can find against it are centred on the aesthetics and the – to me ludicrous – idea that motor racing needs to have an element of danger. I wonder, where are the engineers’ voices in all this? I have been fortunate to work in fields where there are inherent risks and an implicit duty to design in safeguards beyond legislative requirements. Assuming that such a safety device is not currently precluded then why not design it in before it is mandatory? Going further, should the adoption of this type of device within the rules get stalled then I say the engineers should take the lead and force the issue. The novel solution, to preserve life where practical, is surely central to our professional values?
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Energia elettrica dai pomodori imperfetti
Pomodori imperfetti, ammaccati o guasti e per questo inadatti a finire sugli scaffali dei negozi, possono trovare nuova vita come fonte di energia. L' idea é di un team di ricercatori statunitensi, che al 251/mo meeting annuale dell' American Chemical Society ha presentato un progetto pilota in cui i pomodori danneggiati vengono impiegati in pile a combustibile biologiche. L' esperimento si é svolto in Florida, dove la materia prima non manca: ogni anno vengono scartate 396mila tonnellate di pomodori, che finiscono nelle discariche generando metano - un potente gas serra - o nei corpi idrici, creando un problema di trattamento delle acque. Gli studiosi hanno sviluppato una cella elettrochimica microbiologica in grado di sfruttare i rifiuti di pomodoro per generare corrente elettrica. Le celle elettrochimiche, spiegano, utilizzano i batteri per scomporre e ossidare il materiale organico nei pomodori difettosi. Il processo ossidativo, innescato dai batteri, rilascia elettroni che vengono catturati nella pila a combustibile e diventano una fonte di elettricità. Al momento la resa non é elevata: 10 milligrammi di pomodoro generano 0,3 watt di elettricità. I ricercatori si dicono tuttavia convinti che con ulteriori ricerche l' output energetico potrebbe aumentare di diversi ordini di grandezza. Ottimizzando le celle a combustibile, dicono, i pomodori scartati ogni anno in Florida basterebbero a soddisfare i consumi elettrici del parco giochi Disney World per 90 giorni.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Imaging on the Fly
The ability to directly tie the image acquisition of a linescan camera to the encoder output of a motion system is the most reliable and accurate way to get high resolution images for analysis. ATS Imaging utilizes this technique, along with Xenon strobe lighting, to perform imaging on the fly.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Cyborg Heart Patch Replaces Dead Cardiac Tissue with Combination of Healthy Cells, Electronics
Scientists at Tel Aviv University in Israel have developed a “cyborg heart patch” for replacing injured cardiac tissue. There has been considerable research on creating scaffolds seeded with cardiac cells, but simply delivering a bunch of cells in a neat package produces underwhelming results. The new patch developed at TAU integrates electronics alongside the cellular scaffold to both monitor and influence the activity of the cells.
The device can record intercellular electrical activity and deliver pulses to make the cardiomyocytes contract to a defined beat. Additionally, the researchers demonstrated that the electrodes within the patch can be covered with drugs to provide controlled release of medication right to the nearby heart cells.
This is certainly an impressive achievement that may herald a truly therapeutic approach for treating cardiac infarcts and other conditions of the heart.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Kardia ECG Band for Apple Watch Unveiled
AliveCor, makers of popular smartphone powered ECG devices, has unveiled an ECG band for the Apple Watch. The Kardia band still needs to be cleared by the FDA before going on sale, but the firm promises clinical grade results that may help patients identify arrhythmias with assistance from their physicians.
The single lead ECG lets users record readings anywhere, with the software on the Apple Watch doing some analysis and issuing alerts if arrhythmias are detected. The charts can be sent on to one’s physician for a more comprehensive review, potentially necessitating a visit to the office.
As you record the ECG by placing a finger over the electrode, the app lets you record a voice memo stating any symptoms you’re feeling and any exigent circumstances you’re in that may be causing issues. These are saved next to the ECG chart and can be replayed at any time.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
TandemLung Oxygenator for Extracorporeal Life Support FDA Cleared
For patients in need of extracorporeal life support in critical care units, CardiacAssist(Pittsburgh, PA) won FDA clearance to introduce its TandemLung oxygenator, a device that can perform blood oxygenation and efficient CO2 removal. It’s been designed to improve the simplicity and speed of using blood oxygenation technology and make it more accessible, allowing more hospitals to use it for treating acute cardiac and respiratory cases. The CardiacAssist company already makes available its TandemHeart blood pump for critically ill patients that can be paired with the new oxygenator.
The main advantages of the TandemLung are its low priming volume and patented radial flow technology, which allow the initiation of oxygenation faster than with similar system.
“After our original TandemHeart pump was cleared for use with an oxygenator in 2011, our team immediately began working with experts in the field to understand how to reduce the complexity of cardiopulmonary bypass technology so that more patients could receive this potentially life-saving procedure,” said John Marous, President and CEO of CardiacAssist. “The design of the TandemLung is a direct result of those efforts. This release represents our 6th new product clearance since September 2013, and we are proud to dedicate ourselves to improving the lives of patients by delivering innovative, easy-to-use devices for simplified life support.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Light Activated Bio-Bots Powered by Live Muscle Cells
Biologically powered robots may one day be used to perform surgical procedures, deliver drugs, and maybe to even make humanoid overlords for us mortals. A big step toward that was taken by researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who used light-activated muscle cells as the power source to make tiny bio-bots.
The optogenetic technique published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences relies on genetically engineered mouse muscle cells that were made to contract in response to blue light. Rings of these cells were placed around a 3D printed flexible rods of different lengths between two and seven millimeters. When light was illuminated over the mechanism, the biobots contracted and walked in a certain direction. Various lengths and configurations were tried to achieve the best walking results. Moreover, the researchers were able to change the direction of the walking bio-bot.
The devices also seemed to do well maintaining their health, absorbing nutrients from the solution they were in to help keep the muscle cells alive.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Cellular Implant Reduces Amyloid Beta Accumulation to Treat Alzheimer’s
The onset of Alzheimer’s disease is thought by many to be related to the deposition of high concentrations of amyloid beta protein within the brain. If true, and there’s considerable evidence that it probably is, preventing the accumulation of amyloid beta may slow down or reverse the onset of Alzheimer’s. In a brilliant move, researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland created an implantable device that contains live cells that produce anti amyloid beta antibodies.
The cells loaded within the implant are genetically engineered, and can be sourced from persons other than the patient since they will never leave the implant and so don’t have to interact with the immune system. Once implanted under the skin, the cells begin producing the antibodies and releasing them into the blood. These travel to the brain where they stick to the amyloid beta. The brain’s immune system is then alerted to the new compound that it destroys and flushes out.
Amazingly, this was already tested in laboratory mice with Alzheimer’s. In two models of the disease, the implants significantly reduced the accumulation of amyloid beta in the mice brains compared to controls.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Consortium developing photovoltaic windows
A consortium funded by Innovate UK is developing building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) devices that will generate their own solar power and allow for greater thermal control.
The project includes the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), alongside Cambridge-based BIPV firm Polysolar, and US chemical company Merck. According to the consortium, the transparent organic photovoltaic (OPV) panels will be lightweight and low-cost, and could be used as windows, skylights, facades and roofing.
“Modern architecture faces a dilemma of wishing to maximise natural light delivery and reduce building energy consumption,” said Hamish Watson of Polysolar.
“With our OPV glazing, we deal with these conflicts while also generating carbon-free renewable energy, thus enabling buildings of the future to be truly zero carbon.”
At the heart of the project is an upgraded version of Merck’s semi-transparent grey-coloured lisicon formulation, a ready-to-print organic semiconductor material for OPV. These polymer materials can be processed as liquid solutions, so a wide range of printing processes can be used when producing solar cells, including spin coating, ink-jet printing and roll-to-roll processes such as gravure and flexo printing.
“We are excited to be part of this important project,” said Brian Daniels, head of Merck’s Advanced Technologies unit. “This presents a unique opportunity to further develop the commercial use of grey OPV modules and to drive more widespread adoption of BIPV.”
The project will look to achieve similar costs, performance and lifetime to that of high performance glazing currently used in the construction industry, while at the same time delivering energy comparable to today’s conventional solar. However, the consortium said that work would be needed to progress the technology from prototype to the volumes and performance characteristics that industry requires.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Biggest ever space telescope steps closer to lift-off
Two scientific instruments that are expected to help advance our understanding of the universe have passed critical tests ahead of their installation on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
The JWST: destined to become the largest telescope in space
Jointly developed by NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) the JWST will, when its launched in 2018, become the largest telescope in space.
Boasting a 6.5 metre squared primary mirror and a payload of advanced astronomical systems, the infrared telescope will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
The Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) are two of the instruments that will be key to achieving this.
NIRSpec will be capable of measuring the spectra of up to one hundred objects simultaneously and will observe large samples of galaxies and stars at unprecedented depths across large swathes of the Universe and far back in time. Meanwhile, MIRI, a combined camera and spectrograph for mid-infrared wavelengths, will extend the telescope’s observation capabilities to longer wavelengths than those covered by its other instruments, which will be vital to study light from objects in the early universe and to peer inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today.
MIRI was the first of all four JWST’s instruments to be delivered and integrated into the telescopes scientific payload package in 2013. NIRSpec followed in 2014 for initial testing. After an upgrade to flight configuration, NIRSpec was re-integrated at the beginning of 2015. The environmental test program began with mechanical tests (vibration and acoustic testing), followed by electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing. The final cryogenic vacuum test was performed from October 2015 through February 2016. The 109-day non-stop test demonstrated that the complete payload package is now ready for the next higher level integration.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Nano-enhanced textiles cleaned by light
Scientists from RMIT University in Melbourne have developed a way to integrate textiles with nanostructures that degrade organic matter when exposed to light.
The research, published in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces, could open the door to clothes that are capable of cleaning themselves under lights or when exposed to the sun. There are also potential applications for catalysis-based industries such as agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, and the scientists claim the technology could easily be scaled up to industrial levels.
“The advantage of textiles is they already have a 3D structure so they are great at absorbing light, which in turn speeds up the process of degrading organic matter,” said Dr Rajesh Ramanathan, a biotechnology specialist from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and one of the paper’s authors.
“There’s more work to do to before we can start throwing out our washing machines, but this advance lays a strong foundation for the future development of fully self-cleaning textiles.”
Copper and silver-based nanostructures form the basis of the technology. When exposed to light, they receive an energy boost that creates so-called “hot electrons”. These electrons then provide a burst of energy that enables the nanostructures to break down organic matter.
The self-cleaning nanostructures were integrated with textiles by dipping them into a combination of different solutions, resulting in stable nanostructures forming within 30 minutes. According to the researchers, it took less than six minutes for some of the treated textiles to clean themselves once they were exposed to light.
“Our next step will be to test our nano-enhanced textiles with organic compounds that could be more relevant to consumers, to see how quickly they can handle common stains like tomato sauce or wine,” Ramanathan said.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Ottenuta la prima stoffa che si pulisce da sola
La sua struttura 3D elimina macchie in pochi minuti, con la luce. I vestiti che si puliscono da soli potrebbero diventare presto realtà, grazie alla prima stoffa autopulente: per farla tornare come nuova basta esporla al sole o anche alla luce di una lampada. Il segreto é nella sua struttura 3D, specializzata nell' assorbire la luce e utilizzarla per degradare la materia organica. Descritti sulla rivista Advanced Materials Interfaces, i tessuti che si lavano da soli sono stati messi a punto in Australia dai ricercatori del Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Rmit). Lo stesso principio per degradare la materia organica alla base di questa stoffa potrà essere applicato a diversi tipi di produzioni industriali, dai prodotti per l' agricoltura ai farmaci. '' C'é ancora un po' di lavoro da fare prima di poter iniziare a buttare via le lavatrici, ma questo risultato é una buona base per sviluppare vestiti autopulenti'' ha osservato il coordinatore della ricerca, Rajesh Ramanathan. Il segreto del tessuto é nelle minuscole strutture tridimensionali a base di rame e argento nascoste tra le fibre, che hanno la funzione di assorbire la luce. Quando queste strutture sono esposte alla luce, o del sole, o di una lampadina, ricevono un impulso di energia che genera un flusso di ' elettroni caldi'. Questo flusso, a sua volta, rilascia una scarica di energia che degrada la materia organica in circa sei minuti. '' Il prossimo passo - ha detto Ramanathan - sarà quello di testare i tessuti con i composti organici che potrebbero essere più rilevanti per i consumatori, per vedere per esempio in quanto tempo si riescono a eliminare le macchie più comuni, come quelle di vino o di pomodoro''. Successivamente, ha sottolineato, la sfida sarà portare questa tecnologia fuori dal laboratorio e fabbricare questi tessuti su scala industriale.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
EYE-SYNC Virtual Reality Eye Tracker to Assess Concussions Gets U.S. Clearance
SyncThink, a Boston, MA firm, landed FDA clearance for its EYE-SYNC eye movement analysis system. The device is intended to spot signs of concussion, particularly on the sidelines of contact sport fields. The device is essentially a virtual reality headset with eye tracking cameras built-in. The test that takes less than a minute to perform puts athletes through a virtual reality world in which they’re supposed to track objects with their eyes. The system provides fast results once the test is complete, and coupled with a more traditional assessment can help decide whether to pull the player from the game.
The hardware was designed for durability, as athletes can be quite emotionally pumped during concussion assessment. The headset connects to a tablet that’s used to initiate the exam and to review the results. The whole package weighs less than 5 pounds and we hope will be cheap enough to be common in high schools and colleges.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Imec to presents lens-free digital microscope at SPIE
Imec will demonstrate a lens-free microscope for large field-of-view live imaging at micrometer resolution. Imec’s on-chip lens-free microscope can be integrated into life-sciences and biotech tools, targeting multiple applications such as label-free cell monitoring, automated cell culturing, or automated high-throughput microscopy.
Compared with conventional optical microscopes, lens-free digital microscopy removes the need for expensive and bulky optical lens components to acquire and visualize microscopy images. In a lens-free digital microscope, images are captured on a CMOS image sensor and digitally reconstructed using software. Imec’s lens-free microscope features micrometer-scale accuracy comparable to that of traditional optical microscopes. While being much smaller and less expensive, Imec’s microscope captures a larger field-of-view in one shot, enabling shorter sample processing times. The lens-free microscope paves the way to new applications with living cells and tissues.
“This microscope will enable an abundance of applications, where traditional microscopes are just not applicable,” stated Andy Lambrechts, program manager of integrated vision solutions at imec. “Recently, we demonstrated its ability to be integrated into a bio-incubator in stem-cell research for cell culture monitoring, and for cardio-toxicity testing, where the microscope monitored contractions of cardiac tissue in response to drugs. With impressive results our team has branched out even further and is exploring its ability measure fabrication tolerances and stress in our in-house developed neural probe chips, and for defect inspection of thin-film displays.”
“Imec’s lens-free imaging solution is now available as a full, ready-to-use demo kit evaluation system including a light source, image sensor, control and read-out electronics, and a software interface,” stated Jerome Baron, business development manager of integrated vision systems at Imec. “Companies can use it to try out their own applications, supported by our engineers to fine-tune the hardware and software and customize the systems toward their exact application requirements.”
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Airbus Wants Humanoid Robots for Airliner Assembly
Engineering360 News Desk
Automating aircraft assembly is difficult because most robots aren’t nimble enough to perform the required tasks. Airbus group says it hopes to change that through humanoid robotic technology that adapts to assembly environments.
Humanoid robots will adapt to various postures demanded by aircraft assembly. The aircraft manufacturer is collaborating with the Joint Robotics Laboratory (JRL), which will use its HRP-2 and HRP-43 human-sized robot models to develop a technology called multi-contact locomotion. By using its entire body to make contact with its environment, an anthropomorphic robot can climb ladders and enter confined spaces common to aircraft assembly. Multiple points of contact also make it possible to increase a robot's stability, as well as the force it can apply when executing a task.
The cramped and inaccessible spaces necessitate the humanoid robot to conform to different postures. Researchers will establish algorithms to enable flexibility and dexterity while keeping calculations fast so that the robot’s movement remains efficient. New algorithms to plan and control precise movements will help the robots avoid collision with surrounding objects.
Humanoid robots eventually may complete tasks such as tightening bolts, cleaning metallic dust and inserting parts into the airplane’s structure. The units also might be able to verify that systems function properly once manufacturing is complete.
JRL will test the algorithms on a set of use-cases drawn from different Airbus divisions. Researchers believe their work could define specifications for the first generation of humanoid robots dedicated to large structure manufacturing in the next 10 to 15 years.
The Joint Robotics Laboratory is a research program between Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
DA DR. COTELLESSA
All-In-One Electronic Diabetes Patch Measures Glucose, Injects Insulin
Researchers at the Institute for Basic Science in Seoul, Korea have developed an electronic skin patch capable of performing accurate glucose measurements while delivering insulin. The glucose sensor is based on gold-doped graphene and a gold mesh, and it corrects itself by using on-board pH and skin temperature sensors. Microneedles that can be controlled by changing their temperature are used to release insulin. The whole unit wirelessly interfaces with a nearby device to power it and to collect readings.
According to Kim Dae-Hyeong, a lead on the research, “The patch is applied to the skin where sweat-based glucose monitoring begins on sweat generation. The humidity sensor monitors the increase in relative humidity (RH). It takes an average of 15 minutes for the sweat-uptake layer of the patch to collect sweat and reach a RH over 80% at which time glucose and pH measurements are initiated.”
From the research study in Nature Nanotechnology:
Owing to its high carrier mobility, conductivity, flexibility and optical transparency, graphene is a versatile material in micro- and macroelectronics. However, the low density of electrochemically active defects in graphene synthesized by chemical vapour deposition limits its application in biosensing. Here, we show that graphene doped with gold and combined with a gold mesh has improved electrochemical activity over bare graphene, sufficient to form a wearable patch for sweat-based diabetes monitoring and feedback therapy. The stretchable device features a serpentine bilayer of gold mesh and gold-doped graphene that forms an efficient electrochemical interface for the stable transfer of electrical signals. The patch consists of a heater, temperature, humidity, glucose and pH sensors and polymeric microneedles that can be thermally activated to deliver drugs transcutaneously. We show that the patch can be thermally actuated to deliver Metformin and reduce blood glucose levels in diabetic mice.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
New technique for converting biomass to liquid fuel
Scientists at Manchester University and East China University of Science and Technology have developed a new method of transforming biomass into liquid hydrocarbon fuel.
The woody material in plants used to produce biomass is made of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Lignin is difficult to break down, meaning the conversion of biomass to liquid fuel usually requires high amounts of energy or the use of heavy chemicals.
To overcome this problem, the researchers combined biomass (raw wood sawdust) with a catalyst made up of the metal complex niobium phosphate that had small particles of platinum dotted across the surface. The mixture was brewed at 190 degrees Celsius and 50 atmospheres for 20 hours, resulting in the lignin being broken down. According to the scientists, the discovery opens up the possibility of manufacturing liquid fuel from biomass using catalysts. The work is published in Nature Communications.
“The conversion of biomass into fuels typically requires separations and pre-treatments to the raw biomass, thus suffering high energy penalties,” said lead author Dr Sihai Yang from the Manchester University.
“This catalyst showed exceptionally high activity in splitting the carbon-oxygen bonds, the most challenging step in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. This new catalytic process can therefore directly convert raw biomass to liquid fuels without separations or chemical pre-treatments, leading to significant potential energy savings.”
In order to study the biomass and catalyst at the molecular level, Dr Yang used the Science & Technology Facilities Council’s ISIS Neutron and Muon source, which is often described as a ‘super-microscope’. Using an instrument called TOSCA (an indirect geometry spectrometer optimised for the study of molecular vibrations in the solid state), Dr Yang and ISIS scientist Dr Stewart Parker used neutrons to see how a model of lignocellulose interacted with the surface of the catalyst to produce useful fuel.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
AdrenaCard, an Epinephrine Autoinjector The Size of a Credit Card
EpiPens save lives in cases of anaphylactic shock by letting patients with severe allergies deliver epinephrine quickly and easily. Yet, a lot of people don’t carry them because they’re the size of highlighters and are easy to ignore or forget about. The AdrenaCard is a new easy to carry device from a startup company of the same name based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The new autoinjector is similar in size to a credit card and will fit neatly even in many wallets. Simply remove the protective cover, pull the safety tab, and push against a leg muscle to deliver the epinephrine injection. It’s essentially the same as an EpiPen in terms of functionality, but with a form factor that may help a lot more people keep the life saving medication wherever they go.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Microneedle Patch Releases Immunotherapy Directly Into Melanoma Tumors
At North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have created patches layered with microneedles to deliver cancer immunotherapy right into the skin where melanoma has been detected. The patches deliver anti-PD-1 antibodies that prevent the cancer from confusing T cells into ignoring the tumor. Previously, the antibodies have been tried through injections, but not enough reach the cancer cells while potentially causing side effects throughout the body. The antibodies are placed within nanoparticles which are then loaded within the microneedles along with glucose oxidase. When the patches are applied to cancer sites, the blood enters the needles, the glucose reacts with glucose oxidase producing acid that breaks up the nanoparticles. This allows anti-PD-1 to be released in a controlled manner right into the tumor.
The researchers have already tested the patches on mice with melanoma, showing that the patches worked better than injecting anti-PD-1 directly into the blood stream.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Microneedle Patch Releases Immunotherapy Directly Into Melanoma Tumors
At North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have created patches layered with microneedles to deliver cancer immunotherapy right into the skin where melanoma has been detected. The patches deliver anti-PD-1 antibodies that prevent the cancer from confusing T cells into ignoring the tumor. Previously, the antibodies have been tried through injections, but not enough reach the cancer cells while potentially causing side effects throughout the body. The antibodies are placed within nanoparticles which are then loaded within the microneedles along with glucose oxidase. When the patches are applied to cancer sites, the blood enters the needles, the glucose reacts with glucose oxidase producing acid that breaks up the nanoparticles. This allows anti-PD-1 to be released in a controlled manner right into the tumor.
The researchers have already tested the patches on mice with melanoma, showing that the patches worked better than injecting anti-PD-1 directly into the blood stream.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Varian’s New Smaller Beacon Transponder for Radiation Therapy Targeting
Varian Medical Systems received U.S. and European approvals and is now launching its new Calypso 17G soft tissue Beacon transponder. The device which allows for real time tracking of soft tissue tumors is now half the size of the previous model. This should help improve applicability of the technology for smaller tumors while increasing the accuracy of radiation treatments.
The beacon emits non-ionizing radio signals that are picked up by the Calypso system and triangulated accurately to the position of the tumor. Once located, the radiation beam can then be aimed at and around the beacon’s location, guaranteeing that the tumor tissue, even if moved after imaging, will be in the radiation beam’s sights.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
All-In-One Electronic Diabetes Patch Measures Glucose, Injects Insulin
Researchers at the Institute for Basic Science in Seoul, Korea have developed an electronic skin patch capable of performing accurate glucose measurements while delivering insulin. The glucose sensor is based on gold-doped graphene and a gold mesh, and it corrects itself by using on-board pH and skin temperature sensors. Microneedles that can be controlled by changing their temperature are used to release insulin. The whole unit wirelessly interfaces with a nearby device to power it and to collect readings.
According to Kim Dae-Hyeong, a lead on the research, “The patch is applied to the skin where sweat-based glucose monitoring begins on sweat generation. The humidity sensor monitors the increase in relative humidity (RH). It takes an average of 15 minutes for the sweat-uptake layer of the patch to collect sweat and reach a RH over 80% at which time glucose and pH measurements are initiated.”
From the research study in Nature Nanotechnology:
Owing to its high carrier mobility, conductivity, flexibility and optical transparency, graphene is a versatile material in micro- and macroelectronics. However, the low density of electrochemically active defects in graphene synthesized by chemical vapour deposition limits its application in biosensing. Here, we show that graphene doped with gold and combined with a gold mesh has improved electrochemical activity over bare graphene, sufficient to form a wearable patch for sweat-based diabetes monitoring and feedback therapy. The stretchable device features a serpentine bilayer of gold mesh and gold-doped graphene that forms an efficient electrochemical interface for the stable transfer of electrical signals. The patch consists of a heater, temperature, humidity, glucose and pH sensors and polymeric microneedles that can be thermally activated to deliver drugs transcutaneously. We show that the patch can be thermally actuated to deliver Metformin and reduce blood glucose levels in diabetic mice.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Microneedle Patch Releases Immunotherapy Directly Into Melanoma Tumors
At North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have created patches layered with microneedles to deliver cancer immunotherapy right into the skin where melanoma has been detected. The patches deliver anti-PD-1 antibodies that prevent the cancer from confusing T cells into ignoring the tumor. Previously, the antibodies have been tried through injections, but not enough reach the cancer cells while potentially causing side effects throughout the body. The antibodies are placed within nanoparticles which are then loaded within the microneedles along with glucose oxidase. When the patches are applied to cancer sites, the blood enters the needles, the glucose reacts with glucose oxidase producing acid that breaks up the nanoparticles. This allows anti-PD-1 to be released in a controlled manner right into the tumor.
The researchers have already tested the patches on mice with melanoma, showing that the patches worked better than injecting anti-PD-1 directly into the blood stream.
DA DR. COTELLESSA
Varian’s New Smaller Beacon Transponder for Radiation Therapy Targeting
Varian Medical Systems received U.S. and European approvals and is now launching its new Calypso 17G soft tissue Beacon transponder. The device which allows for real time tracking of soft tissue tumors is now half the size of the previous model. This should help improve applicability of the technology for smaller tumors while increasing the accuracy of radiation treatments.
The beacon emits non-ionizing radio signals that are picked up by the Calypso system and triangulated accurately to the position of the tumor. Once located, the radiation beam can then be aimed at and around the beacon’s location, guaranteeing that the tumor tissue, even if moved after imaging, will be in the radiation beam’s sights.
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