20 most recent innovations in biotechnology

Anti-Microbial Unisuit Gives US Rowers An Extra Layer Of Protection In Rio

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 00:00:00 Z

Come this year's Olympic Games, competitors will be fighting more than just the world's finest sportspeople for glory. Holding the games in Rio has created another set of adversaries for athletes: bugs and bacteria in the air and water. The US Olympic rowing team will be going into battle with a new anti-microbial suit, designed to help keep them safe from whatever lurks within the contaminated waters in Lagoa Stadium.

The seamless unisuit has been developed by Mark Sunderland and Robert J. Rechlin, both of whom hold positions at Philadelphia University. New fiber blending technology allows the lightweight suit to go without seams, and the material is resistant to external moisture without sacrificing the wicking quality athletes crave from their clothes.

Perhaps more important than the suit's seamless design is the anti-microbial material knitted into it. Designers say it will provide an extra layer of protection against the murky waters at Lagoa Stadium, where reports have suggested athletes may be competing in water contaminated with anything from rubbish to untreated sewage.

"The seamless construction and other innovations in the unisuit take it to another level of technology in performance wear," says Sunderland. "We are setting a new standard of excellence in rowing apparel."

Although the suit sounds good in theory, the fact a rower's arms, chest, back and head are still exposed means it's not exactly a failsafe way of protecting them. It also doesn't do anything to prevent the bane of any rower's existence: blisters. That said, it'll be interesting to see if the unisuit and tights have an impact come the games.

As well as supplying US Rowers with the unisuit, the team has fitted Nigeria's first Olympic rower with one of the suits in the green and white of her nation's flag.

World's First "Porous Liquid"

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

The Italians have a colorful expression – to make a hole in water – to describe an effort with no hope of succeeding. Researchers at Queen's University Belfast (QUB), however, have seemingly managed the impossible, creating a class of liquids that feature permanent holes at the molecular level. The properties of the new materials are still largely unknown, but what has been gleaned so far suggests they could be used for more convenient carbon capturing or as a molecular sieve to quickly separate different gases.

Porous materials are a jack-of-all-trades of the engineering world. Their larger surface area, lighter weight and filtering abilities are used to create high-performance batteries and supercapacitors, build lighweight supermaterials, or filter out CO2 before it leaves factory smokestacks.

When it comes to carbon sequestration in particular, scientists have already come up with plenty of readily available materials – including clay and coffee grounds – to do the job. But while effective and inexpensive, such solid-state materials are not easily retrofitted to existing plants.

Researchers Stuart James and team have now demonstrated a class of liquids that is permanently hollow at the molecular level and could be employed for more convenient carbon capturing or to manipulate gases in new and more effective ways.

To create a porous liquid, the scientists simply designed hollow cage molecules to place in a solvent. The solvent is chosen so its molecules are too big to enter the cages, leaving those spaces available for an external gas to fill. The resulting concentration of empty cages is about 500 times greater than in similar solutions.

The solvent picked for the study was the crown ether 15-crown-5, and the cages were designed to fit the molecules of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen and xenon. After testing, the scientists reported that their porous liquid was able to store eight times the amount of methane gas as bare crown ether.

Such a figure is remarkably high for a liquid, and opens the possibility to employ these materials for carbon sequestration. Porous solids are often more effective at collecting carbon in absolute terms, but a system based on liquids would likely be easier to retrofit.

Porous liquids could also be used as an effective gas separator. Even when gas molecules saturate the liquid, they can be quickly displaced by other organic molecules whose size is a better fit for the cages. For instance, even as xenon gas is saturating the solution, a small amount of chloroform will suddenly cause the gas to be released.

James and team are now at work to further study these liquids and find how their properties can be used for practical applications. A paper describing the advance was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

Electronic Band-Aid As Alternative To Antibiotics

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

Bandages are important for stopping germs from entering a wound and making things worse, but could they play a more active role in making things better? New research has brought the idea of wound-healing dressings closer to reality by establishing a method of electrical stimulation that kills off the majority of multi-drug resistant bacterium commonly found in difficult-to-treat infections.

Electrical stimulation has long been explored as a means of speeding up the healing process, but exactly how it works hasn't always been so clear. However, a study earlier this year suggested it does so by triggering a process called angiogenesis, which causes new blood vessels to form and boosts blood flow to the affected area.

In the view of Washington State University researchers, at least part of the answer lies in the results of the electrochemical reaction that takes place as the current is applied. The team found that during this process hydrogen peroxide forms at the electrode surface, which as it turns out, works effectively as a disinfectant.

The team applied the electric current to a film of bacteria (multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strain) where it killed almost the entire population within 24 hours, reducing it to 1/10,000th of its original size. The approach was also observed on pig tissue, where it killed the majority of the bacteria without affecting the surrounding healthy tissue.

Equipped with these promising results, the researchers used a conductive carbon fabric to build an e-scaffold, which they liken to an electronic Band-Aid. They found that running an electrical current through the fabric resulted in the ongoing production of the hydrogen peroxide needed to kill off the bacteria.

"Many people tried this simple method," says Haluk Beyenal, co-author of the paper. "Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. We controlled the electrochemical reactions. That’s the reason it works."

The researchers are particularly enthusiastic about their approach as they say it can provide an alternative to antibiotics. The widespread use of antibiotics has given rise to strains of drug-resistant bacteria that are difficult to treat, but the team says that such bacteria cannot build up resistance to its electrical stimulation treatment.

The scientists have applied for a patent, and are now working to boost the effectiveness of the e-scaffold and plan to test it on other bacterial species.

Shirt Reacts To Body Temperature

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 00:00:00 Z

MIT researchers have created a bacteria-powered shirt that will open to form vents in response to heat and moisture.

Part of the BioLogic project, the bio-hybrid “Second Skin” was created by incorporating Bacillus subtilis bacterium into to material using a micron-resolution bio-printing system. This bacteria will react to heat and sweat, triggering flaps in the heat zones to open and allowing sweat to evaporate.

The team plans to take the material out the lab, and has already partnered with New Balance to bring the technology to the market.

Edible Coating

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 00:00:00 Z

The Edible Active Coating protective food coating is able to extend the shelf life of strawberries without altering the taste.

Developed by a team from University San Nicolás de los Garza in Mexico, the Edible Active Coating (EAC) is made up of a combination of pectin (found in the cell walls of many fruits and vegetables), chitosan (an antifungal component of crustacean shells), and pullulan (for extracelluar support). When the EAC was mixed with sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate and then used to coat the strawberries, the compound was shown to extend the shelf life of the fruits from six to fifteen days.

Bionic Lens

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 00:00:00 Z

A new bionic lens implant could give patients the unique ability to see three times better than standard 20/20 vision for the rest of their lives.

Dr. Garth Webb, founder and CEO of Ocumetics Technology Corp, a company committed to eliminating glasses and contact lenses for patients, invented the Ocumetics Bionic Lens, which resembles a small button.

The lens inside the patient’s eye is removed and replaced with an artificial lens, much like cataract surgery. The process then involves flushing the eye with a saline solution. Just 10 seconds after the implant is in place, the folded lens opens up, moves itself over the eye’s natural lens and vision is improved, the company says.

The lens was created after eight years of research and $3 million in funding for research, international patents and trials. The patent is expected to be available as soon as 2017, as long as clinical trials go as planned.

Human Cruise Control

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 Z

A device able to remotely guide people through electrical stimulation could have applications in gaming, search and rescue, and stroke rehabilitation.

Created by a team of grad students at the University of Hanover, the "human cruise control" system consists of an array of electrodes attached to the person's Sartorius muscles. The electrodes were in turn connected to a waist-worn electrical stimulation device and a Bluetooth-enabled control panel. During the study, the team was able to steer the human participants by stimulating the muscle (the volunteers report a tingling feeling) and causing the leg to twitch outward enough to initiate a swerve or turn.

The team is now working to hone the technology and bring it to a level that could be more commercially acceptable.

Night Vision Eye Drops

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:00:00 Z

It sounds like something from a science-fiction movie, but a biohacking group in California has managed to develop eye drops that temporarily give a human being excellent night vision. The chemicals used are still very much at the experimental stage – this isn't something you'd want to try at home just yet – but the first trial has been a successful one.

The main ingredient in the eye drop solution is Chlorin e6. It's found in certain deep sea fish, enabling them to find their way around underwater, and it's also been used to treat humans with poor night vision. Essentially, it creates a microscopic chemical reaction that amplifies low light sources as they pass through.

By combining Ce6 with insulin in a saline solution, the Science for the Masses group was able to create a mixture that gave excellent night vision for several hours. The solution was dropped into the the conjunctival sac between the eyeball and eyelid, where it could be absorbed into the retina. The initial black color disappeared after a few seconds according to the researchers.

The members of Science for the Masses ran through several tests using different distances and backgrounds, though the main volunteer Gabriel Licina was forced to wear sunglasses indoors to counter the effects of the interior lighting. Licina was able to recognize people up to 50 m (164 ft) away in a wooded area, even in total darkness.

"The Ce6 subject consistently recognized symbols that did not seem to be visible to the controls," the team explains in the full report. "The Ce6 subject identified the distant figures 100 percent of the time, with the controls showing a 33 percent identification rate."

That's quite a difference, though the organization says it's fully aware this is a one-off experiment and plenty more research will be required to ascertain the safety and suitability of this particular biohack. By the morning, the Ce6 subject's eyes had returned to normal, and no ill effects have been reported 20 days later.

The team says the next stage is to use a Ganzfeld stimulator and an electroretinograph, devices which can be combined to accurately measure the level of electrical stimulation and activity in the eye. This will give Science for the Masses more data to play with and more evidence that their Ce6 solution is working as it should (and working safely).

Science for the Masses is made up of professionals in the research, technical design, and healthcare industries, and like the members of several other biohacking groups they devote their spare time to testing the limits of the human body. The idea of using science to extend the capabilities of human beings doesn't sit well with everyone, but the rise of these types of projects and high-tech wearables means it's an issue we're going to have to deal with in the near future.

Boil Water Three Times Faster

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 00:00:00 Z

Scientists have found a way to boil water faster, although they admit the discovery is unlikely to revolutionise tea-making.

The technology works by coating a heating element with a virus found on tobacco plants. The coating dramatically reduces the size and number of bubbles that form around the element as it gets warmer. Air pockets caused by bubbles temporarily insulate heating elements from the surrounding water, slowing down the transfer of heat.

A coating made from the tobacco virus tripled the efficiency of boiling water, scientists said, which could save vast quantities of energy in industrial power plants or large-scale electronic cooling systems.

“Even slight improvements to technologies that are used so widely can be quite impactful,” said Matthew McCarthy, an engineer at Drexel University in Pennsylvania.

Controlling the formation of bubbles would also help guard against a scenario called “critical heat flux” that is undesirable – sometimes disastrous – in industrial boilers. This happens when so many bubbles are forming that they merge into a blanket surrounding the element, meaning that it can no longer transfer heat to the water.

“What happens then is the dry surface gets hotter and hotter, like a pan on the stove without water in it,” said McCarthy. “This failure can lead to the simple destruction of electronic components, or in power plant cooling applications, the catastrophic meltdown of a nuclear reactor.”

To counteract this effect, scientists have been attempting to develop surfaces that repel bubbles and keep the boiling surface wet. McCarthy’s team has identified tobacco mosaic virus, which is roughly pencil-shaped, as the perfect structure for wicking moisture downwards towards a surface.

The team has developed a genetically modified strain of the virus, with “molecular hooks” allowing it to adhere to nearly any surface. The researchers grow tobacco plants in the lab and infect them with the modified tobacco mosaic virus. “When the plants are really sick, we put them in the blender and you get a sort of green soup,” said McCarthy.

After several rounds of centrifuging and chemical separation, which takes two days, the scientists are left with a perfectly clear solution of concentrated virus. When poured over a surface, the virus self-assembles into a layer of nano-tendrils, each pointing upward like a blade of grass.

The surface is then covered with a microscopically thin layer of nickel, rendering the virus inert. The remaining “metallic grass” wicks liquids across the surface, allowing the water and element to remain in contact.

In tests, the coating has been shown to more than triple the heat transfer rate, depending on the surface to which it is applied.

The “metallic grass” coating resulted in the boiling process occurring three times more efficiently. So if two pots of water – one with the tobacco coating, one without – were heated to the same temperature, the coated pot would produce twice as much water vapour.

In a system designed to cool down a silicon electronic part, the coating almost tripled the temperature that the silicon could reach before critical heat flux occurred.

“In the future this could be used in nuclear power stations, really kick-ass computers or for the liquid cooling of high-powered electronic devices like radar systems,” said McCarthy.

Eye-Inspired Solar Cells

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 00:00:00 Z

Solar cells don't at first glance have any relation to a tiny structure in the eye that makes our central vision sharp, but that tiny structure – called the fovea centralis – may be the key to a huge boost in solar cell efficiency. A team of scientists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light took the underlying mechanisms that guide the fovea and adapted them to silicon as a surface for collecting light in solar cells.

The fovea centralis – so called because it is a pit in the center of the macula of the retina – contains a number of closely-packed funnel-like inverted cones that connect directly to nerve cells and provide the visual detail that allows us to read or watch TV.

The researchers noted how the cones trap large amounts of light in well-lit environments and thought to try the same approach in collecting and conducting light for photovoltaics. The experiment worked: their silicon version of the fovea increased light absorption by around 65 percent in a thin-film solar cell, compared with a conventional silicon film. Power conversion efficiencies saw a similar improvement, at 60 percent higher than in optimized nanowire arrays of the same thickness.

The extent of this boost came as a surprise to the team, who determined that the new method is also superior to the emerging technique of deploying a carpet of nanowires because the nanowires lose efficiency as they get closer together whereas the funnels' absorption improves when packed tightly.

Better yet, the funnels require no special engineering to produce. The researchers developed their micron-sized funnels by conventional semiconductor processes, packing them shoulder-to-shoulder in a silicon substrate – each around 800 nanometers wide at the top and 100 nanometers wide at the bottom.

Lead researcher Silke Christiansen says her team is working to further improve thin-film solar cells and in particular to find a way to scale their design economically to work with large-area solar cells. Fellow team member Sebastian Schmitt is also looking to adapt the funnel design for use in LEDs and sensor components, the early pilot studies of which Christiansen says are yielding promising results.

Self-propelled Nanoparticle Delivering Nanobots

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 00:00:00 Z

Researchers working at the University of California, San Diego have claimed a world first in proving that artificial, microscopic machines can travel inside a living creature and deliver their medicinal load without any detrimental effects. Using micro-motor powered nanobots propelled by gas bubbles made from a reaction with the contents of the stomach in which they were deposited, these miniature machines have been successfully deployed in the body of a live mouse.

The picayune robots used in the research were tubular, about 20 micrometers long, 5 micrometers in diameter, and coated in zinc. Once the mouse ingested these tiny tubes and they reached the stomach, the zinc reacted with the hydrochloric acid in the digestive juices to produce bubbles of hydrogen which then propelled the nanobots along like miniature rockets.

Reaching speeds of up to 60 micrometers per second, the nanobots headed outwards toward the stomach lining where they then embedded themselves, dissolved, and delivered a nanoparticle compound directly into the gut tissue.

According to the researchers, of all the nanobots deployed in the stomach of the mouse, those that reached the stomach walls remained attached to the lining for a full 12 hours after ingestion, thereby proving their effectiveness and robust nature.

Further, after the mouse was eventually euthanized and the stomach was dissected and examined, the presence of the nanobots also showed no signs of raised toxicity levels or tissue damage. According to the researchers this was in line with their expectations, particularly given that zinc is effectively also a multipurpose nutrient.

While nanobots have been used before on organic tissue – such as in the destruction of the Hepatitis C virus – and still others have been designed to be propelled using external forces within a living creature, the University of California micromachines are the very first self-propelled, nanoparticle delivering nanobots ever. And it is this fact that makes the research team believe that its success so far merits further research and cites the fact that this is now the beginning of a proven method to deliver targeted drug administration.

For everyone else, this is exciting technology that may well help to medically treat human beings in the not-too-distant future. Of course, this is early days in this research and a plethora of continuously successful tests will need to be run before it can even be considered by the likes of the US Food and Drug Administration to approve its use in people. But these first steps are vital in what may one day be a commonplace, targeted, and safe alternative to traditional high-dose medications.

No announcement has been made regarding further tests or the possibility of human-based trials.

The research was published in the journal ACS Nano.

Bio-Organic Battery That Recharges In 30 Seconds

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 Z

As we all know only too well, recharging our portable electronics can take a painfully long time. This is because reversing the chemical reactions that caused the battery to deplete is a process that can hardly be rushed, for considerations of both safety and energy efficiency.

But now, a radically new battery design advanced by StoreDot could bring charge times down to the order of a few seconds. The company produces so-called nanodots, chemically synthesized bio-organic peptide molecules that, thanks to their small size, improve electrode capacitance and electrolyte performance. The end result is batteries that can be fully charged in seconds rather than hours.

'In essence, we have developed a new generation of electrodes with new materials – we call it MFE – Multi Function Electrode," StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf told Gizmag. "On one side it acts like a supercapacitor (with very fast charging), and on the other is like a lithium electrode (with slow discharge). The electrolyte is modified with our nanodots in order to make the multifunction electrode more effective."

The company says that unlike other nanodot and quantum-dot technologies that are heavy metal based, making them toxic, its nanodots are made from a vast range of bio-organic raw materials that are environmentally-friendly. These materials are also naturally abundant, and the nanodots employ a basic biological mechanism of self-assembly, making them cheap to manufacture.

Self-discharge characteristics are similar to those of lithium-ion cells and, for its first prototype, the company targeted the approximate capacity of a smartphone battery (around 2,000 mAh).

But Myersdorf told us that the technology could also be adapted to electric cars, by modifying the electrode so it could sustain higher currents (and, of course, configuring a large number of cells in parallel).

Remote-Controlled Spermbots Could Fertilize Eggs

Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:00:00 Z

Hijacking sperm cells to create little robots might seem far out, but that's exactly what researchers from the Dresden Institute for Integrative Nanosciences have done. Their "spermbots" consist of live sperm cells in little tubes, that can be magnetically controlled to move in a desired direction until they reach their destination and do their job – they're currently robust enough to even guide a specific sperm cell to an egg cell. The scientists hope that further development will allow the technology to offer a viable alternative to parents trying to have a child through in-vitro fertilization. When perfected, the spermbots could also be used as a safe means for drug delivery and gene manipulation.

One of the major challenges in creating micro robots that can potentially travel within the human body is the issue of a safe fuel source. Nanobots with engines efficient enough to propel themselves through bodily fluids need to carry fuel that's often toxic to the human body, and sometimes these machines can pass through into the cells and affect their functioning. To overcome these problems, the Dresden team began looking at safer alternatives to artificial nano engines.

The team plans to try assisted fertilization with animals before starting experiments and clinical trials with human sperm. Since it's possible to control the path of these spermbots to the tune of a few micrometers, the spermbots could ultimately also be utilized to ferry drugs and payloads anywhere within the body.

Airopack

Tue, 08 Oct 2013 00:00:00 Z

The revolutionary Airopack technology offers a safe and clean alternative for traditional Aerosol dispensing systems. Airopack is an all-plastic pressurized dispenser that’s environmentally friendly. Airopack replaces the chemical propellant gas of a metal can with ordinary pressurised air. It does this at a constant pressure from start to finish. Airopack works identically to standard aerosols, yet uses 42% less energy and emits 74% less CO2

Flexible Transparent Speaker

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 00:00:00 Z

A working transparent speaker has been produced by a research team at Harvard, that uses ions, rather than electrons, to carry the electrical charge.

The transparent speaker, created at Harvard University, is made from two layers of polyacrylamide gel swollen with salt water, which act as electrolytes, sandwiching a thin rubber membrane that vibrates as a high-voltage signal is run across its surface. However, this is not any ordinary electronic device, as the electrical charge is carried by ions, not electrons.

This bendable, transparent speaker could be a step in the direction of wearable tech that blends seamlessly with our bodies. What do ionic conductors have that other electronic systems don’t? They can be stretched to many times their normal area without an increase in resistivity, for one. This resistivity is a problem common in stretchable electronic devices. In addition, they can be transparent, which makes them well-suited for optical applications. Thirdly, the gels used as electrolytes are biocompatible, so it would be relatively easy to create ionic devices such as artificial muscles or skin.

Mushrooms As Packing Material

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 00:00:00 Z

Fungus is, almost universally, not a good thing to have in your walls or personal belongings. And normally, selling certain strains could lead to federal charges. But a company called Ecovative is violating both of those rules, creating packaging and building materials from fungus—and they’re being lauded as visionaries for it.

Ecovative was founded by Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, who started experimenting with fungus as part of a school project. Today, they employ 60 people and maintain a massive facility in upstate New York, where they farm mycelium, the root-like threads that form the basis for fungus. Mycelium is like a glue: it latches onto whatever it finds around it—usually, low-value organic matter like plant stalks or cotton hulls—to create a super-dense network of threads. Ecovative grows it in dark cartons for three to five days, after which they use extreme heat to stop it from blossoming spores.

Ecovative's process is transformative in two ways. First, there's the unique biological properties of Mycelium, which can grow miles of thread-like roots in days. It's an incredibly speedy organism, which makes it ideal for manufacturing. Then there's the fact that it grows to fit any mold, almost like a dense foam. Ecovative grows everything from finely detailed packaging for laptops, to wide panels of insulation for homes. They're also able to control the density of each product, simply by stopping the growth process sooner or later. Their latest experiment? Growing Mycelium architecture. This month, they unveiled what they call Mushroom Tiny House, a small gabled cabin whose interior walls are packed with Mycelium insulation. “We see a future where Mushroom Materials are found in the bumper of your car, the walls of your home, and inside your desk,” says Harrington.

New coating turns ordinary glass into super-slippery glass

Thu, 08 Aug 2013 00:00:00 Z

The new coating could be used to create durable, scratch-resistant lenses for eyeglasses, self-cleaning windows, improved solar panels and new medical diagnostic devices, said principal investigator Joanna Aizenberg, who is the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

The new coating builds on an award-winning technology that Aizenberg and her team pioneered called Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS)—the slipperiest synthetic surface known. The new coating is equally slippery, but more durable and fully transparent. Together these advances solve longstanding challenges in creating commercially useful materials that repel almost everything.SLIPS was inspired by the slick strategy of the carnivorous pitcher plant, which lures insects onto the ultraslippery surface of its leaves, where they slide to their doom. Unlike earlier water-repelling materials, SLIPS repels oil and sticky liquids like honey, and it resists ice formation and bacterial biofilms as well. While SLIPS was an important advance, it was also “a proof of principle”—the first step toward a commercially valuable technology, said lead author Nicolas Vogel, a postdoctoral fellow in applied physics at SEAS.

‘Soft Robotic’ Devices Using Water-Based Gels

Tue, 06 Aug 2013 00:00:00 Z

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating devices out of a water-based hydrogel material that can be patterned, folded and used to manipulate objects. The technique holds promise for use in “soft robotics” and biomedical applications.

The technique they’ve developed uses hydrogels, which are water-based gels composed of water and a small fraction of polymer molecules. Hydrogels are elastic, translucent and – in theory – biocompatible. The researchers found a way to modify and pattern sections of hydrogel electrically by using a copper electrode to inject positively charged copper ions into the material. Those ions bond with negatively charged sites on the polymer network in the hydrogel, essentially linking the polymer molecules to each other and making the material stiffer and more resilient. The researchers can target specific areas with the electrodes to create a framework of stiffened material within the hydrogel. The resulting patterns of ions are stable for months in water.

The researchers were able to take advantage of the increased stiffness and bending behavior in patterned sections to make the hydrogel manipulate objects. For example, the researchers created a V-shaped segment of hydrogel. When copper ions were injected into the bottom of the V, the hydrogel flexed – closing on an object as if the hydrogel were a pair of soft tweezers. By injecting ions into the back side of the hydrogel, the tweezers opened – releasing the object.

New Approach to Regenerate Back Discs

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:00:00 Z

Cell therapies may stop or reverse the pain and disability of degenerative disc disease and the loss of material between vertebrae, according to Duke University scientists.

The health conditions affect thousands of Americans. To use cell therapies, however, scientists have to keep the cells alive, synthesize the appropriate replacement material and get it to the right place in a patient's spine. With newly made biomaterials from Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, that goal could be closer.

In a proof-of-concept study published online in the journal Biomaterials, graduate student Aubrey Francisco and biomedical engineering professor Lori Setton describe a new biomaterial designed to deliver a booster shot of reparative cells to the nucleus pulposus, or NP -- the jelly-like cushion naturally found between spinal discs. The NP tissue distributes pressure and provides spine mobility, helping to relieve back pain.

"Our primary goal was to create a material that would be liquid at the start, gel after injection in the disc space and keep the cells in the location where they're needed," Setton said. "Our second goal was to create a material that would provide the delivered cells with the environmental cues to promote their persistence and biosynthesis."

Disc degeneration is a common problem as people age. Over time, the soft, compressible discs that work as the spine’s shock absorbers break down. Although this intervertebral disc degeneration can occur anywhere along the spine, it mainly happens near the neck and lower back, causing intense pain. Individuals with this condition can also develop herniated discs, osteoarthritis or spinal narrowing, known as spinal stenosis.

Nanoscavengers for water purification

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 Z

WHO and UNICEF have set a 2030 target for everyone to have access to a safe drinking-water supply and new water-purifying “nanoscavengers” developed by researchers at Stanford University could help achieve this goal. There are various nanoparticles that boast different water-purifying properties. Silver nanoparticles act as an antibiotic, titanium dioxide nanoparticles trap heavy metals and pollutants, while others capture salt. Engineers call these kinds of particles nanoscavengers.

The main problem has been reclaiming the nanoscavengers from the water once they have performed their clean up duties. Some approaches that are already in use commercially involve giving the nanoscavengers a core of iron oxide to make them magnetic, meaning they can then be removed using magnets. The downside of this method is that it isn’t possible to remove all the nanoscavengers because iron oxide isn’t absolutely responsive to magnetism.

To overcome this problem, the Stanford team developed a new type of nanoscavenger that sees the iron oxide core replaced with a synthetic core. This new core is a disk made up of magnetic outer layers sandwiched either side of a titanium center. This composition makes the new nanoscavengers non-magnetic in their natural state, so they aren’t attracted to each other or other magnetic materials.

However, when the synthetic core is exposed to a strong magnetic field, the magnetism of the two opposing fields align so they not only become magnetic, but the magnetic effect is compounded to make them ultraresponsive to magnetism.

In a side-by-side test against the aforementioned iron oxide core nanoscavengers, the synthetic core nanoscavengers killed 99.9 percent of the E. coli bacteria in 20 minutes and allowed virtually all of the nanoscavengers to be removed from the water after a five minute exposure to a permanent magnet.