Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Detect Virus in 60 Seconds to Find a Cure
Virus detection can't get simpler than this. A powerful technique invented by University of Georgia scientists detects the disease caused by a virus within 60 seconds.
We have found a cure for a lot of diseases. Yet panic strikes when a viral outbreak occurs. People panic because time plays a major role in curing a disease. Traditional testing takes time. One has to wait for atleast a day or two before the report arrives. Within that time the damage would have been done.
The new rapid detection system takes care of it in a superfast manner. It uses surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to measure the frequency of near-infrared laser light as it scatters off viral DNA and RNA. After a swab of a person's nasal passage, the technique can detect individual virus particles quickly and identify many types.
Each virus has a unique molecular fingerprint. The fingerprint is determined based on the nucleic acid sequence. The laser light highlights this unique fingerprint which clearly identifies the virus and the disease. Once the disease is identified, treatment can begin.
Nothing can escape the eye of the laser beam. Even a single virus can be detected. This technique is sure to be helpful in a terror-struck world. When love diminishes in the earth all kinds of terrorism would spread. Bioterrorism would be one of the methods employed by hate filled people to wreck the peace of others.
When that happens, this laser technique would save the day in an Incredibly Supermanish kind of way.
Source - Aip.org
We have found a cure for a lot of diseases. Yet panic strikes when a viral outbreak occurs. People panic because time plays a major role in curing a disease. Traditional testing takes time. One has to wait for atleast a day or two before the report arrives. Within that time the damage would have been done.
The new rapid detection system takes care of it in a superfast manner. It uses surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to measure the frequency of near-infrared laser light as it scatters off viral DNA and RNA. After a swab of a person's nasal passage, the technique can detect individual virus particles quickly and identify many types.
Each virus has a unique molecular fingerprint. The fingerprint is determined based on the nucleic acid sequence. The laser light highlights this unique fingerprint which clearly identifies the virus and the disease. Once the disease is identified, treatment can begin.
Nothing can escape the eye of the laser beam. Even a single virus can be detected. This technique is sure to be helpful in a terror-struck world. When love diminishes in the earth all kinds of terrorism would spread. Bioterrorism would be one of the methods employed by hate filled people to wreck the peace of others.
When that happens, this laser technique would save the day in an Incredibly Supermanish kind of way.
Source - Aip.org
Labels: Bio-engineering
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sythetically Designed 'Wimpy' Polio Virus Protects Against Disease
Scientists' creation of the weak virus signals the beginning of a new era in vaccination.
A team of molecular biologists and computer scientists at Stony Brook University have designed and synthesized a new class of weakened polioviruses. They have used a synthesizing method with computer software to systematically re-code the poliovirus genome.
In order to artificially synthesize a virus the genome has to be decoded first. But decoding a polio virus that had almost (10442) possibilities isn't a simple task. Therefore, using a powerful computer algorithm, the team found particular re-codings of the genome predicted to weaken the virus.
"The researchers made hundreds of small mutations in the genome that perfectly preserved the viral proteins but changed the way those proteins were encoded by RNA (ribonucleic acid), so that pairs of amino acids were added by transfer RNAs (tRNAs) that rarely work together in normal proteins. They call the process “Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering,” or “SAVE.” The resulting virus contains completely authentic, wild-type poliovirus proteins."
The most highly decoded virus will be weakened, so it will no longer infect cells anymore. Thus a virus modified using ‘SAVE’ technology might act as a vaccine by providing immunity against the normal virus. The innumerable alterations in the code ensures that the virus would never regain its wild nature.
Positive results have emerged from testing done on mice. Currently researchers are keen on using it in animal vaccination, after further exploration it can be used in human vaccines too.
Synthesis of an artificial virus throws open the possibilities of mutating other virus strains too. That surely looks like a giant leap for Molecular Genetics and vaccination.
Source - Commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu
A team of molecular biologists and computer scientists at Stony Brook University have designed and synthesized a new class of weakened polioviruses. They have used a synthesizing method with computer software to systematically re-code the poliovirus genome.
In order to artificially synthesize a virus the genome has to be decoded first. But decoding a polio virus that had almost (10442) possibilities isn't a simple task. Therefore, using a powerful computer algorithm, the team found particular re-codings of the genome predicted to weaken the virus."The researchers made hundreds of small mutations in the genome that perfectly preserved the viral proteins but changed the way those proteins were encoded by RNA (ribonucleic acid), so that pairs of amino acids were added by transfer RNAs (tRNAs) that rarely work together in normal proteins. They call the process “Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering,” or “SAVE.” The resulting virus contains completely authentic, wild-type poliovirus proteins."
The most highly decoded virus will be weakened, so it will no longer infect cells anymore. Thus a virus modified using ‘SAVE’ technology might act as a vaccine by providing immunity against the normal virus. The innumerable alterations in the code ensures that the virus would never regain its wild nature.Positive results have emerged from testing done on mice. Currently researchers are keen on using it in animal vaccination, after further exploration it can be used in human vaccines too.
Synthesis of an artificial virus throws open the possibilities of mutating other virus strains too. That surely looks like a giant leap for Molecular Genetics and vaccination.
Source - Commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu
Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Sythetically Designed 'Wimpy' Polio Virus Protects Against Disease posted by Vanessa : 4:06 AM
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Saturday, June 28, 2008
Novel Device halts a Migraine Right In Its Tracks
According to the American Headache Society:
* Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine.
* More than $1 billion is spent on over-the-counter medications to treat headaches and Migraines.
* The lost work due to migraine disease costs more than $13 billion every year in the U.S.
These mind boggling statistics are enough to trigger a headache. But don't lose hope. Technology has stepped in to meet the needs of the headache prone society. Scientists at The Ohio State University Medical Center have invented a novel electronic portable device that stops it right in its tracks.
"The noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulator (TMS) device sends a strong electric current through a metal coil, which creates an intense magnetic field for about one millisecond. This magnetic pulse, when held against a person's head, creates an electric current in the neurons of the brain, interrupting the aura before it results in a throbbing headache."
Side effects and other complications are common in most drugs used for headaches. Whereas the TMS device offers a safe and painless solution. Since clinical trials do not indicate any adverse complications arising from the use of the device, one can look forward to the portable headache arrester to make its way into our homes soon.
Source - OSU Medical Center
Related Links
Crying as a precipitating factor for migraine and tension-type headache.
Aspartame consumption strongly associated with migraines and seizures.
* Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine.
* More than $1 billion is spent on over-the-counter medications to treat headaches and Migraines.
* The lost work due to migraine disease costs more than $13 billion every year in the U.S.
These mind boggling statistics are enough to trigger a headache. But don't lose hope. Technology has stepped in to meet the needs of the headache prone society. Scientists at The Ohio State University Medical Center have invented a novel electronic portable device that stops it right in its tracks."The noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulator (TMS) device sends a strong electric current through a metal coil, which creates an intense magnetic field for about one millisecond. This magnetic pulse, when held against a person's head, creates an electric current in the neurons of the brain, interrupting the aura before it results in a throbbing headache."
Side effects and other complications are common in most drugs used for headaches. Whereas the TMS device offers a safe and painless solution. Since clinical trials do not indicate any adverse complications arising from the use of the device, one can look forward to the portable headache arrester to make its way into our homes soon.
Source - OSU Medical Center
Related Links
Crying as a precipitating factor for migraine and tension-type headache.
Aspartame consumption strongly associated with migraines and seizures.
Labels: Bio-engineering, innovation
PermaLink - Novel Device halts a Migraine Right In Its Tracks posted by Vanessa : 3:12 AM
0 Comments
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
No Pain, No Blood - Chip Monitors Diabetes Easily
Traditional methods to monitor the blood sugar level are usually painful. Patients have to prick their skin to squeeze out a blood sample on to a test strip. When this strip is inserted into a blood meter it reveals the level of blood sugar in their body. Most patients do this twice a day, but some have to do it several times per day. It is sure to test anybody's patience and endurance level.This will be a thing of the past if one starts using the B-FIT a tiny prototype chip (Bio-Flips Integrable Transdermal MicroSystem) invented by the researchers at Georgetown University. B-FIT is a small biosenser device that can be worn anywhere in the body.
It painlessly removes a patient's outer-dermis, by using a 'micro-hotplate' (or micro-heater), which measures about 50 microns square. For 30 milliseconds, the hotplate is turned on to a temperature of 130oC. Then it makes a tiny pore in the skin, through which interstitial fluid can rise. The biosensor then reads the glucose levels in the sample fluid through tiny electrodes coated with a substance that reacts specifically to the glucose.
Sounds hot and painful. In reality the patient doesn't feel a thing. Being funded by the DARPA this was initially designed for military purposes and now it is being designed for normal use too.
Hope to see you soon little chip. For you are sure to win the hearts of diabetics all around the world.
Source - Georgetown University
Labels: Bio-engineering, Instrumentation-Engineering
PermaLink - No Pain, No Blood - Chip Monitors Diabetes Easily posted by Vanessa : 4:31 AM
2 Comments
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Anti-infection Keyboards Warns When Dirty;Helps Hospitals
"The keyboards incorporate a flashing light to remind users to regularly clean the surface and sensors to measure the effectiveness of cleaning them."
99,000 people die each year because of infections acquired in the hospital. That's a scary scenario. One steps into a hospital to get cured not acquire new diseases. In recent times we have come across startling reports about a Superbug infection that shows hospitals in poor light.
Toilet seats vs Keyboards
Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona has found that office toilet seats had an average of 49 germs per square inch. Germ counts on computer keyboards were more than 60 times higher, averaging 3,295 bacteria per square inch. Even worse were the tops of desks (21,000) and telephones (25,000).
Makes sense to invest in a Medigenic medical keyboard isn't it?
Features of Medigenic Medical Keyboard
1) Uniquely helps monitor its own cleaning status to safeguard both patient and staff; 2) Features a flat design to enable quick wipe downs with hospital-grade disinfectants; 3) Provides standard conventional keyboard tactile feedback for high-speed data entry capability. It comes in two models - Essential and Compliance.
Testing Results
Testing of the product has revealed a significant log reduction in bacterial contamination in the range of 0.5 log - 1.4 log (71% - 96%) at cleaning alert settings ranging from 1.5 to 12 hours. Hospitals hope to bring down the levels of MRSA and hospital acquired infections with this product.
P.S - A Reminder
While cleaning one just hopes that hospitals stick to ‘one wipe – one application – per surface’. For A recent study has revealed that current protocols utilised by hospital staff have the potential to spread pathogens after only the first use of a wipe, particularly due to the ineffectiveness of wipes to actually kill bacteria.
Source - Esterline Advanced Input Systems
Related Links
In Hospitals, Simple Reminders Reduce Deadly Infections
Don't let a hospital kill you CNN (May 1, 2008)
Gut superbug causing more illnesses, deaths
Hospital mortality rates continue to drop across New York, but infections are increasing
99,000 people die each year because of infections acquired in the hospital. That's a scary scenario. One steps into a hospital to get cured not acquire new diseases. In recent times we have come across startling reports about a Superbug infection that shows hospitals in poor light.Toilet seats vs Keyboards
Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona has found that office toilet seats had an average of 49 germs per square inch. Germ counts on computer keyboards were more than 60 times higher, averaging 3,295 bacteria per square inch. Even worse were the tops of desks (21,000) and telephones (25,000).
Makes sense to invest in a Medigenic medical keyboard isn't it?
Features of Medigenic Medical Keyboard
1) Uniquely helps monitor its own cleaning status to safeguard both patient and staff; 2) Features a flat design to enable quick wipe downs with hospital-grade disinfectants; 3) Provides standard conventional keyboard tactile feedback for high-speed data entry capability. It comes in two models - Essential and Compliance. Testing Results
Testing of the product has revealed a significant log reduction in bacterial contamination in the range of 0.5 log - 1.4 log (71% - 96%) at cleaning alert settings ranging from 1.5 to 12 hours. Hospitals hope to bring down the levels of MRSA and hospital acquired infections with this product.
P.S - A Reminder
While cleaning one just hopes that hospitals stick to ‘one wipe – one application – per surface’. For A recent study has revealed that current protocols utilised by hospital staff have the potential to spread pathogens after only the first use of a wipe, particularly due to the ineffectiveness of wipes to actually kill bacteria.
Source - Esterline Advanced Input Systems
Related Links
In Hospitals, Simple Reminders Reduce Deadly Infections
Don't let a hospital kill you CNN (May 1, 2008)
Gut superbug causing more illnesses, deaths
Hospital mortality rates continue to drop across New York, but infections are increasing
Labels: Bio-engineering, Safety
PermaLink - Anti-infection Keyboards Warns When Dirty;Helps Hospitals posted by Vanessa : 2:12 AM
1 Comments
Monday, May 26, 2008
Use Your Cellphones To Get X-Ray & MRI Scans
If you are residing in a metro, having an X-Ray or an MRI scan done is a cinch. But what if you reside in a remote location or in a village which does not the sophisticated imaging systems?
A team from the Hebrew University in Israel seems to have an answer.
MRI Scanner - not to worry anymore that your village doesn't have these!
Pic credit: Blanchard Valley Health System
Using a process developed by the Jerusalem-based University, cellphones can be used to get your X-Ray, Ultrasound imaging etc., processed from a centralised location and these can be transmitted back to your remote location using the same cellular phones.
The new technology is expected to be a boon for patients in developed counties, those in rural areas with reduced access to medical services, and to millions of patients in the Third World. This idea has the potential to replace current systems that are based on conventional, stand-alone medical imaging devices.
Prof. Boris Rubinsky's new medical imaging system consists of two independent components connected through cellular phone technology, with a relatively simple data collection device on-site connected via cell phone to an off-site computer that processes the data and produces an image.
Under this new technology developed by Rubinsky, a simple and independent data acquisition device (DAD) at a remote patient site could be connected via cellular phone technology with an advanced image reconstruction and hardware control multiserver unit at a central site, which could even be thousands of miles away from the remote site. The cellular phone technology transmits unprocessed, raw data from the patient site DAD to the central facility. This data is then returned from the central facility to the cellular phone at the remote site in the form of an image.
Using commercially available parts, the research team built a simple data acquisition device for the experiment. The device had 32 stainless steel electrodes - half to inject the electrical current and the other half to measure the voltage - connected to a gel-filled container that simulated breast tissue with a tumor.
Over 200 voltage measurements were taken and uploaded to a cell phone, which was hooked up to the device with a USB cable. The cell phone was then used to dial into a powerful central computer that contained software to process the packet of raw data that was transmitted. An image - that was verified to be precise - was then reconstructed and sent back to the cell phone for viewing.
This is one idea that is as useful as it is cool!
Source: Jerusalem Post
A team from the Hebrew University in Israel seems to have an answer.
MRI Scanner - not to worry anymore that your village doesn't have these!
Pic credit: Blanchard Valley Health System
Using a process developed by the Jerusalem-based University, cellphones can be used to get your X-Ray, Ultrasound imaging etc., processed from a centralised location and these can be transmitted back to your remote location using the same cellular phones.
The new technology is expected to be a boon for patients in developed counties, those in rural areas with reduced access to medical services, and to millions of patients in the Third World. This idea has the potential to replace current systems that are based on conventional, stand-alone medical imaging devices.
Prof. Boris Rubinsky's new medical imaging system consists of two independent components connected through cellular phone technology, with a relatively simple data collection device on-site connected via cell phone to an off-site computer that processes the data and produces an image.
Under this new technology developed by Rubinsky, a simple and independent data acquisition device (DAD) at a remote patient site could be connected via cellular phone technology with an advanced image reconstruction and hardware control multiserver unit at a central site, which could even be thousands of miles away from the remote site. The cellular phone technology transmits unprocessed, raw data from the patient site DAD to the central facility. This data is then returned from the central facility to the cellular phone at the remote site in the form of an image.
Using commercially available parts, the research team built a simple data acquisition device for the experiment. The device had 32 stainless steel electrodes - half to inject the electrical current and the other half to measure the voltage - connected to a gel-filled container that simulated breast tissue with a tumor.
Over 200 voltage measurements were taken and uploaded to a cell phone, which was hooked up to the device with a USB cable. The cell phone was then used to dial into a powerful central computer that contained software to process the packet of raw data that was transmitted. An image - that was verified to be precise - was then reconstructed and sent back to the cell phone for viewing.
This is one idea that is as useful as it is cool!
Source: Jerusalem Post
Labels: Bio-engineering, Electronics-Communications-Engineering
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Nanoworms Find, Treat Cancer Tumors Much Better
(image credit: Science Daily)
Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized “nanoworms” that can travel through the bloodstream and — like tiny anti-cancer missiles — zero in on tumors. These can circulate in the body for hours since they do not trigger the immune system.
These nanoworms, composed of magnetic iron oxide and coated with a polymer, are able to find and attach to tumors. The nanoworms are superparamagnetic and show up very well on MRIs.
Using these nanoworms, doctors could eventually be able to target and reveal the location of developing tumors that are too small to detect by conventional methods.
With the use of this nanoworms concept, researchers are developing chemical attachments that will help to reach specific targets in the body, and are adding drugs that would be released when these targets are reached.
The scientists constructed their nanoworms from spherical iron oxide nanoparticles that join together, like segments of an earthworm, to produce tiny gummy worm-like structures.
The nanoworms concept was inspired by the discovery of a scientist when he found by accident that the gummy worm aggregates of nanoparticles stayed for hours in the bloodstream despite their relatively large size.
Sources: Science Daily, Next Big Future
Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Nanoworms Find, Treat Cancer Tumors Much Better posted by Ecacofonix : 6:50 AM
1 Comments
Saturday, May 3, 2008
NeuroThera Laser Beams Save Brains - from PhotoThera
Brain injuries are an illusive and increasingly common ailment for which effective treatments are in demand. Ischemic stroke is a common cause of brain injury affecting more than 600,000 people in the United States each year. Another leading cause of brain injury today is combat. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1,800 U.S. troops are currently suffering from traumatic brain injuries.
A device called NeuroThera is being tested in clinical trials to treat stroke patients and other patients with brain injuries. The handheld device, about the size of a telephone receiver, delivers high-intensity infrared energy to a patient's head when it's held to the scalp. The idea is that the infrared energy delivered via laser will stimulate inactive mitochondria in brain cells -- the small bits of protein that serve as power suppliers to cells. Once the energy-starved brain cells start receiving power again from the mitochondria, they should be able to resume function.
The device is currently being tested at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University Medical Center and three other North Carolina hospitals as part of a national clinical trail sponsored by PhotoThera, the manufacturer of NeuroThera.
More from here
A device called NeuroThera is being tested in clinical trials to treat stroke patients and other patients with brain injuries. The handheld device, about the size of a telephone receiver, delivers high-intensity infrared energy to a patient's head when it's held to the scalp. The idea is that the infrared energy delivered via laser will stimulate inactive mitochondria in brain cells -- the small bits of protein that serve as power suppliers to cells. Once the energy-starved brain cells start receiving power again from the mitochondria, they should be able to resume function.
The device is currently being tested at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University Medical Center and three other North Carolina hospitals as part of a national clinical trail sponsored by PhotoThera, the manufacturer of NeuroThera.
More from here
Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - NeuroThera Laser Beams Save Brains - from PhotoThera posted by Ecacofonix : 11:18 PM
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Friday, April 18, 2008
Buckyballs Toxicity No Harm To Microbes That Clean The Environment
Even large amounts of manufactured nanoparticles, also known as Buckyballs, don't faze microscopic organisms that are charged with cleaning up the environment, according to Purdue University researchers.
In the first published study to examine Buckyball toxicity on microbes that break down organic substances in wastewater, the scientists used an amount of the nanoparticles on the microbes that was equivalent to pouring 10 pounds of talcum powder on a person. Because high amounts of even normally safe compounds, such as talcum powder, can be toxic, the microbes' resiliency to high Buckyball levels was an important finding, the Purdue investigators said.
The experiment on Buckyballs, which are carbon molecules C60, also led the scientists to develop a better method to determine the impact of nanoparticles on the microbial community.
Keywords: nanoparticles, Buckyballs, Purdue, microscopic organisms, toxicity
C60, microbial community
Labels: Bio-engineering, Material-Sciences
PermaLink - Buckyballs Toxicity No Harm To Microbes That Clean The Environment posted by Ecacofonix : 3:24 AM
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Monday, April 14, 2008
Biomimetics in Engineering, Materials Science, Solar Panels
A research fellow at the Natural History Museum in London and at the University of Sydney, Parker is a leading proponent of biomimetics—applying designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields. He has investigated iridescence in butterflies and beetles and antireflective coatings in moth eyes—studies that have led to brighter screens for cellular phones and an anticounterfeiting technique so secret he can't say which company is behind it. He is working with Procter & Gamble and Yves Saint Laurent to make cosmetics that mimic the natural sheen of diatoms, and with the British Ministry of Defense to emulate their water-repellent properties. He even draws inspiration from nature's past: On the eye of a 45-million-year-old fly trapped in amber he saw in a museum in Warsaw, Poland, he noticed microscopic corrugations that reduced light reflection. They are now being built into solar panels. Parker's work is only a small part of an increasingly vigorous, global biomimetics movement. Engineers in Bath, England, and West Chester, Pennsylvania, are pondering the bumps on the leading edges of humpback whale flukes to learn how to make airplane wings for more agile flight. In Berlin, Germany, the fingerlike primary feathers of raptors are inspiring engineers to develop wings that change shape aloft to reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. Architects in Zimbabwe are studying how termites regulate temperature, humidity, and airflow in their mounds in order to build more comfortable buildings, while Japanese medical researchers are reducing the pain of an injection by using hypodermic needles edged with tiny serrations, like those on a mosquito's proboscis, minimizing nerve stimulation.
More from here
Keywords: Natural History Museum, University of Sydney, Parker, National Geographic on Biomimetics, antireflective coatings, Iridescence, water-repellent properties, amber, Polandmicroscopic corrugations, light reflection, solar panels, mosquito's proboscis, hypodermic needles
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Keywords: Natural History Museum, University of Sydney, Parker, National Geographic on Biomimetics, antireflective coatings, Iridescence, water-repellent properties, amber, Polandmicroscopic corrugations, light reflection, solar panels, mosquito's proboscis, hypodermic needles
Labels: Bio-engineering, Design-Engineering
PermaLink - Biomimetics in Engineering, Materials Science, Solar Panels posted by Ecacofonix : 8:49 PM
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - Treatment for Depression?
Steve Zatuchni, who suffered from depression, says the magnetic pulse treatment he got saved his life. He no longer takes any medicine. Sixteen years ago, Steve Zatuchni was a computer sales manager, making a six-figure income. Then all hell broke loose in his brain. in 2004, he enrolled in a study of an experimental therapy called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS -- a noninvasive treatment that sends magnetic pulses into the brain. It worked. "Within a week, the depression was lifting," he says. "Within two months, it was gone. TMS saved my life." Zatuchni, 59, who lives in the Philadelphia area, no longer takes any medicine
Proponents -- including scientists at Harvard, Yale and UCLA -- say TMS could transform treatment for depression as well as a range of other ailments, including schizophrenia, migraines, insomnia, epilepsy, chronic pain and Parkinson's
More from here
Proponents -- including scientists at Harvard, Yale and UCLA -- say TMS could transform treatment for depression as well as a range of other ailments, including schizophrenia, migraines, insomnia, epilepsy, chronic pain and Parkinson's
More from here
Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - Treatment for Depression? posted by Ecacofonix : 5:41 AM
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John Kanzius' ( K3TUP ) Ham Radio Waves Kill Cancer Cells
Now comes word of a ham operator using his radio skills and radio waves to kill cancer! Furthermore, this invention seems to kill only cancer cells, sparing surrounding normal tissues. John Kanzius (known as K3TUP to his ham buddies the world over) retired from his job as a radio engineer and moved to Florida. His life of leisure was soon jeopardized by a leukemia diagnosis.
One night John, whose special interest in ham radio is the design of directional antennas to highly focus his radio signals in the direction of parts of the world with which he wishes to communicate, awakened thinking that radio waves could be directed into the body to heat and possibly destroy tumor cells. He began to refine his idea immediately. Eventually he was placed in contact with a medical researcher. Subsequent experimental models have shown that the radio waves heat the nanoparticles which cook and destroy the tumor cells while surrounding tissues are spared.
More from here
Keywords: Ham radio waves, cancer cells, Dan Gold, radio spectrum, John Kanzius, K3TUP, leukemia, American Radio Relay League, Dr. Steven Curley
One night John, whose special interest in ham radio is the design of directional antennas to highly focus his radio signals in the direction of parts of the world with which he wishes to communicate, awakened thinking that radio waves could be directed into the body to heat and possibly destroy tumor cells. He began to refine his idea immediately. Eventually he was placed in contact with a medical researcher. Subsequent experimental models have shown that the radio waves heat the nanoparticles which cook and destroy the tumor cells while surrounding tissues are spared.
More from here
Keywords: Ham radio waves, cancer cells, Dan Gold, radio spectrum, John Kanzius, K3TUP, leukemia, American Radio Relay League, Dr. Steven Curley
Labels: Bio-engineering, Physics
PermaLink - John Kanzius' ( K3TUP ) Ham Radio Waves Kill Cancer Cells posted by Ecacofonix : 5:41 AM
1 Comments
Anti-ecstasy Antibodies that Remove Methamphetamines (Meth) from Bloodstream
In recent years, crystal meth (methamphetamine) and ecstasy (MDMA) have become some of America's top problem drugs. Meth can cause severe problems in the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. Furthermore, because there is no way to remove the drug from the body, therapies tend to focus on treating its side-effects.
But antibodies that bind to methamphetamines and methamphetamine-like compounds to effectively remove them from the bloodstream could change that. Michael Owens, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the University of Arkansas, US, and colleagues claim to have developed a way to generate them.
More from here
Keywords: Anti-ecstasy antibodies, methamphetamine, MDMA, Michael Owens, Arkansas, cardiovascular, central nervous systems
But antibodies that bind to methamphetamines and methamphetamine-like compounds to effectively remove them from the bloodstream could change that. Michael Owens, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the University of Arkansas, US, and colleagues claim to have developed a way to generate them.
More from here
Keywords: Anti-ecstasy antibodies, methamphetamine, MDMA, Michael Owens, Arkansas, cardiovascular, central nervous systems
Labels: Bio-engineering, Chemical-Engineering
PermaLink - Anti-ecstasy Antibodies that Remove Methamphetamines (Meth) from Bloodstream posted by Ecacofonix : 5:31 AM
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Lunar Rover-Like Vehicle for People with Reduced Mobility
Tokyo's Waseda University is developing some really weird-looking vehicles and mechanical aids for people with reduced mobility. There is one that looks like a cross betwen a Segway and a lunar rover, but unlike Dean Kamen's invention, it requires the user to actually walk on top of it, although with limited motion. This achieves three effects: first, it keeps people doing a little bit of exercise; second, the movement gets translated into a faster motion; and third, thanks to its structure, the user will be able to terrorize people out of walkways with complete safety.
More from here
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Mechanical-Engineering
PermaLink - Lunar Rover-Like Vehicle for People with Reduced Mobility posted by Ecacofonix : 5:18 AM
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Duroquinone-based Neuron-Like Molecular Transistor Incredibly Powerful
The most powerful computer known is the brain, and now scientists have designed a machine just a few molecules large that mimics how the brain works.
So far the device can simultaneously carry out 16 times more operations than a normal computer transistor.
Researchers suggest the invention might eventually prove able to perform roughly 1,000 times more operations than a transistor.
This machine could not only serve as the foundation of a powerful computer, but also serve as the controlling element of complex gadgets such as microscopic doctors or factories, scientists added.
The device is made of a compound known as duroquinone.
More from here
So far the device can simultaneously carry out 16 times more operations than a normal computer transistor.
Researchers suggest the invention might eventually prove able to perform roughly 1,000 times more operations than a transistor.
This machine could not only serve as the foundation of a powerful computer, but also serve as the controlling element of complex gadgets such as microscopic doctors or factories, scientists added.
The device is made of a compound known as duroquinone.
More from here
Labels: Bio-engineering, Chemical-Engineering
PermaLink - Duroquinone-based Neuron-Like Molecular Transistor Incredibly Powerful posted by Ecacofonix : 9:18 AM
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Magnetic Levitation Gives Haptic Computer Users New Sense of Touch
Computers, long used as tools to design and manipulate three-dimensional objects, may soon provide people with a way to sense the texture of those objects or feel how they fit together, thanks to a haptic, or touch-based, interface developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Unlike most other haptic interfaces that rely on motors and mechanical linkages to provide some sense of touch or force feedback, the device developed by Ralph Hollis, research professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, uses magnetic levitation and a single moving part to give users a highly realistic experience. Users can perceive textures, feel hard contacts and notice even slight changes in position while using an interface that responds rapidly to movements.
The system eliminates the bulky links, cables and general mechanical complexity of other haptic devices on the market today in favor of a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields.
A user moves the handle much like a computer mouse, but in three dimensions with six degrees of freedom — up/down, side to side, back/forth, yaw, pitch and roll. Optical sensors measure the position and orientation of the flotor, and this information is used to control the position and orientation of a virtual object on the computer display
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The system eliminates the bulky links, cables and general mechanical complexity of other haptic devices on the market today in favor of a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields.
A user moves the handle much like a computer mouse, but in three dimensions with six degrees of freedom — up/down, side to side, back/forth, yaw, pitch and roll. Optical sensors measure the position and orientation of the flotor, and this information is used to control the position and orientation of a virtual object on the computer display
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Computer-Science, Design-Engineering
PermaLink - Magnetic Levitation Gives Haptic Computer Users New Sense of Touch posted by Ecacofonix : 4:33 AM
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Research on Multiple Sclerosis, Protecting Skin in Cold Temperatures Highlights of Cotnell BioExpo 2008
Testing the durability of throat cartilage in horses, which could advance a common surgical procedure for racehorses; an analysis of using a microbead spray to warm up skin in frigid temperatures: These were just two of the student projects showcased at the student-run 2008 Annual Bioengineering Expo at Cornell recently
Among undergraduates, biology and philosophy major Ben Solomon '09 won the $400 first-place prize for his presentation on his work in developing a mouse model for examining a receptor involved in the immune response of people with multiple sclerosis.
Biomedical engineering graduate student Georgette Tzatzalos won the $200 first-place prize for master of engineering students with her biomaterials project that focuses on marking tumor cells.
Among other posters, civil and environmental engineering student Samantha Passman '10 explained how she ran mechanical tests to study the durability and flexibility of laryngeal cartilage in horses. Collapse of arytenoid cartilage near a horse's trachea blocks air and creates turbulence through a horse's airway, which not only reduces oxygen intake but also is the most common cause of poor performance in racehorses. The surgical fix for this condition, which involves placing sutures over the arytenoid cartilage and the nearby cricoid cartilage, fails 40 percent of the time. Passman hopes her research will be a step toward improving the procedure.
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Among undergraduates, biology and philosophy major Ben Solomon '09 won the $400 first-place prize for his presentation on his work in developing a mouse model for examining a receptor involved in the immune response of people with multiple sclerosis.
Biomedical engineering graduate student Georgette Tzatzalos won the $200 first-place prize for master of engineering students with her biomaterials project that focuses on marking tumor cells.
Among other posters, civil and environmental engineering student Samantha Passman '10 explained how she ran mechanical tests to study the durability and flexibility of laryngeal cartilage in horses. Collapse of arytenoid cartilage near a horse's trachea blocks air and creates turbulence through a horse's airway, which not only reduces oxygen intake but also is the most common cause of poor performance in racehorses. The surgical fix for this condition, which involves placing sutures over the arytenoid cartilage and the nearby cricoid cartilage, fails 40 percent of the time. Passman hopes her research will be a step toward improving the procedure.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Research on Multiple Sclerosis, Protecting Skin in Cold Temperatures Highlights of Cotnell BioExpo 2008 posted by Ecacofonix : 4:33 AM
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Spiros, Click Lock, Clave & Genie Prevent Miscarriages to Cancer Ward Nurses
ICU Medical in San Clemente has a new mission – to put an end to miscarriages that affect many nurses who become pregnant while working in cancer wards. The cause of those heart-wrenching events is the harsh chemicals used to treat cancer patients. Nurses come into contact with that chemotherapy medication if it splashes out of a storage vial or leaks while a nurse is setting up an intravenous line
Spiros lets nurses remove a drug from a vial without sucking it through a needle into a syringe and then lets them inject the liquid into a properly equipped IV tube. The Spiros connector shuts off the flow of liquid whenever it is disconnected, so drips and spills are a thing of the past, ICU says. It is the latest in a series of Lopez inventions that include the Click Lock, a secure connection he devised after a patient died when an IV was accidentally detached, and the Clave, a needle-free connection between syringes and IV lines.Design engineer Tom Fangrow came up with the idea for Genie, a specialized attachment that eliminates the need for nurses to puncture a vial lid with a needle, which risks a spill or a splash of chemicals
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Spiros lets nurses remove a drug from a vial without sucking it through a needle into a syringe and then lets them inject the liquid into a properly equipped IV tube. The Spiros connector shuts off the flow of liquid whenever it is disconnected, so drips and spills are a thing of the past, ICU says. It is the latest in a series of Lopez inventions that include the Click Lock, a secure connection he devised after a patient died when an IV was accidentally detached, and the Clave, a needle-free connection between syringes and IV lines.Design engineer Tom Fangrow came up with the idea for Genie, a specialized attachment that eliminates the need for nurses to puncture a vial lid with a needle, which risks a spill or a splash of chemicals
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Safety
PermaLink - Spiros, Click Lock, Clave & Genie Prevent Miscarriages to Cancer Ward Nurses posted by Ecacofonix : 4:33 AM
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Sonicu Neonatal Sound Monitoring System Monitors NICU Sound Levels
Preemies need quiet so they can learn their mother's voice and their brains can figure out how to process sound, things that normally happen in the last trimester before birth."It's definitely a great idea," Dr. Bob White, a neonatologist at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind., said of the monitoring system in Riley's neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.
Neonatal Sound Monitoring system inventor Chris Smith hopes doctors nationwide agree with White. He has sold his Sonicu system to several Indiana hospitals and wants to expand nationally.
Babies born too soon lose the muffling effect of the womb before their ears can filter sound, White said. NICUs are rife with noise from employees, equipment and excited relatives.Smith, a former car mechanic who tinkered in radio and TV electronics in high school, filled hours of spare time researching sound standards and building a system. He hired an acoustical engineer to help. They created a ceiling-mounted system of microphones that pick up sound and funnel data to a large control panel.
The latest version of Sonicu can feed sound and light data to a computer. It turns on the warning lights and can quickly dim the lighting in a room that gets too noisy.It can also make lighting mimic the sun by brightening it toward noon and then fading it, which also helps babies sleep well. White said he knows of no other NICU monitoring system that sophisticated.
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Neonatal Sound Monitoring system inventor Chris Smith hopes doctors nationwide agree with White. He has sold his Sonicu system to several Indiana hospitals and wants to expand nationally.
Babies born too soon lose the muffling effect of the womb before their ears can filter sound, White said. NICUs are rife with noise from employees, equipment and excited relatives.Smith, a former car mechanic who tinkered in radio and TV electronics in high school, filled hours of spare time researching sound standards and building a system. He hired an acoustical engineer to help. They created a ceiling-mounted system of microphones that pick up sound and funnel data to a large control panel.
The latest version of Sonicu can feed sound and light data to a computer. It turns on the warning lights and can quickly dim the lighting in a room that gets too noisy.It can also make lighting mimic the sun by brightening it toward noon and then fading it, which also helps babies sleep well. White said he knows of no other NICU monitoring system that sophisticated.
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Sciences
PermaLink - Sonicu Neonatal Sound Monitoring System Monitors NICU Sound Levels posted by Ecacofonix : 4:33 AM
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Clinicon Lavage Tray - A Simple Idea to Reduce Infections
It’s an invention capable of withstanding the toughest scrutiny by Dragon’s Den and which neatly tackles one of the most urgent issues facing UK private hospitals today, the risk of superbug contamination among patients and staff. The brainchild of Spire Bristol Hospital’s Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, John Hardy, and the Clinicon Lavage Tray is a wonderfully simple way of reducing the risk of infection from pathogens, such as MRSA, and blood-borne Hepatitis B, C and HIV, by retaining any spilt blood or body fluids during patient transit and surgery in an inflatable and disposable plastic tray. The tray, which costs just £12 and comes in pre-sterilised packs of 10 units, not only protects patients and staff from cross-infection but will mean quicker turnaround times between patients in busy operating theatres and will even cut the cost of laundry bills! Prototypes are already being used as far afield as Melbourne, Australia
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Keywords: Spire Healthcare, MRSA, Laminar Air Flow filter systems, Spire Bristol Hospital, Dr Jean-Jacques de Gorter
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Keywords: Spire Healthcare, MRSA, Laminar Air Flow filter systems, Spire Bristol Hospital, Dr Jean-Jacques de Gorter
Labels: Bio-engineering, Society
PermaLink - Clinicon Lavage Tray - A Simple Idea to Reduce Infections posted by Ecacofonix : 5:48 AM
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Sole Orthotic Solutions - Custom Insoles, Orthotics in 30 Minutes
Brigham Young University undergraduate engineers demonstrated a portable workstation that creates custom insoles for shoes in less than 30 minutes on Tuesday. The team, sponsored by a Utah entrepreneur, was assigned to take a process that currently requires days and reduce it to minutes, with the potential for their invention to be an option for podiatrists' offices, athletic footwear stores or even ski outfitters.
The entrepreneur, who has a master's in engineering from MIT, was inspired to develop a better way of developing "orthotics," as such custom insoles are known, after dealing with delays and problems in getting them for his son, who has cerebral palsy.
The "Sole Orthotic Solutions" team conceived, designed and built an integrated system the size of a desk that begins by acquiring a computerized image of a customer's foot from a pressure pad.
Millions of Americans wear orthotics some for extra arch support, some to compensate for injury or disability, and others for simply a better fit with their shoes.
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Keywords: Brigham Young University, Sole Orthotic Solutions, vacuum system, pin mold, podiatrists, UTAH, MIT
The entrepreneur, who has a master's in engineering from MIT, was inspired to develop a better way of developing "orthotics," as such custom insoles are known, after dealing with delays and problems in getting them for his son, who has cerebral palsy.
The "Sole Orthotic Solutions" team conceived, designed and built an integrated system the size of a desk that begins by acquiring a computerized image of a customer's foot from a pressure pad.
Millions of Americans wear orthotics some for extra arch support, some to compensate for injury or disability, and others for simply a better fit with their shoes.
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Keywords: Brigham Young University, Sole Orthotic Solutions, vacuum system, pin mold, podiatrists, UTAH, MIT
Labels: Bio-engineering, Design-Engineering
PermaLink - Sole Orthotic Solutions - Custom Insoles, Orthotics in 30 Minutes posted by Ecacofonix : 5:32 AM
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Magnetic Levitation Gives Computer an Haptic Interface
Computers may soon provide people with a way to sense the texture of objects or feel how they fit together, thanks to a haptic, or touch-based, interface developed at Carnegie Mellon University. The device developed by Ralph Hollis, research professor in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, uses magnetic levitation and a single moving part to give users a highly realistic experience. Users can perceive textures, feel hard contacts and notice even slight changes in position while using an interface that responds rapidly to movements.
The field of haptic research and development is expanding rapidly. Carnegie Mellon's research opens new possibilities by joining the world of haptic feedback with a comfortable magnetic levitation interface.
The system eliminates the bulky links, cables and general mechanical complexity of other haptic devices on the market today in favor of a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields.
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Keywords: Magnetic Levitation, Sense of Touch, orientation, flotor's electrical coils, haptic feedback, bowl-shaped device, Carnegie Mellon University, Hong Tan, Ralph Hollis.
The field of haptic research and development is expanding rapidly. Carnegie Mellon's research opens new possibilities by joining the world of haptic feedback with a comfortable magnetic levitation interface.
The system eliminates the bulky links, cables and general mechanical complexity of other haptic devices on the market today in favor of a single lightweight moving part that floats on magnetic fields.
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Keywords: Magnetic Levitation, Sense of Touch, orientation, flotor's electrical coils, haptic feedback, bowl-shaped device, Carnegie Mellon University, Hong Tan, Ralph Hollis.
Labels: Bio-engineering, Computer-Science
PermaLink - Magnetic Levitation Gives Computer an Haptic Interface posted by Ecacofonix : 5:31 AM
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Bioengineered ACL Helps Injured Knees - Cato Laurencin
A new bioengineered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) replacement could provide a new treatment option for the more than 200,000 Americans who rupture their ACLs annually, U.S. researchers report this week. Lead researcher Dr. Cato Laurencin, professor and chairman of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and his team used three-dimensional, braided polyester "scaffolds," that were sometimes seeded with cells taken from the animal's ACL as a replacement for ligaments surgically removed from the animal's knee. Both the cell-seeded and unseeded scaffolds worked well, Laurencin said, though the seeded scaffolds performed better. "Without cells, it takes longer [for the tissue to regenerate]," he said.
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Keywords: Bioengineered, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), Cato Laurencin, orthopaedic, Charlottesville, Virginia, braided polyester "scaffolds, ligaments, tibia
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Keywords: Bioengineered, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), Cato Laurencin, orthopaedic, Charlottesville, Virginia, braided polyester "scaffolds, ligaments, tibia
Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Bioengineered ACL Helps Injured Knees - Cato Laurencin posted by Ecacofonix : 5:29 AM
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Brain Scan from Siemens' Artis Zeego & BMW Assembly Lines
If you're a fan of german engineering in your car, chances are you'll love it that hospitals are trying to cross-pollinate health care with technologies that have roots in the automotive and aerospace industries. The hope is that, with a medical twist, high-tech navigation systems, pattern recognition software and top-of-the-line robots can revolutionize the treatment of everything from irregular heartbeats to lung cancer. St. Luke's episcopal hospital says it is the first in the world to treat stroke patients with the help of a robotic arm that has its origins in systems created by munich-based siemens ag for precision welding on the assembly lines of BMW and Mercedes-benz.
The medical robot, dubbed Artis Zeego and manufactured by Siemens Medical Solutions, is coupled with a CT Scanner and X-ray. It can tilt, turn and spin at virtually infinite angles, capturing detailed images that track blood flow.
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Keywords: Aneurysms, Triangulation, Atrial Fibrillation, Heart Arrhythmia, Artis Zeego, Brain Scanner, BMW Assembly Line
The medical robot, dubbed Artis Zeego and manufactured by Siemens Medical Solutions, is coupled with a CT Scanner and X-ray. It can tilt, turn and spin at virtually infinite angles, capturing detailed images that track blood flow.
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Keywords: Aneurysms, Triangulation, Atrial Fibrillation, Heart Arrhythmia, Artis Zeego, Brain Scanner, BMW Assembly Line
Labels: Automation, Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Brain Scan from Siemens' Artis Zeego & BMW Assembly Lines posted by Ecacofonix : 5:16 AM
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Monday, April 7, 2008
Prosthesis from U of Southampton, Advanced Arm Dynamics - Artificial Hands Now Have Amazing Features
The functionality of Artificial hands is being expanded rapidly by some new developments that are changing things for people who use artificial hands. In 2005 a University of Southampton research team developed a prototype prosthesis that uses six sets of motors and gears to that each of the five fingers can move independently. Plus, the new hand has an opposing thumb that can rotate as well as “pinch”. The next stage will be to integrate the latest load cell technology to create a ‘clever’ hand which can sense how strongly it is gripping an object, or whether an object is slipping.
Another super prosthesis is being built by Advanced Arm Dynamics. It is faster than other myoelectric artificial hands, and has autograsp which allows the wearer to simply hold an object without wasting energy on monitoring whether the item is slipping or not.
Another super prosthesis is being built by Advanced Arm Dynamics. It is faster than other myoelectric artificial hands, and has autograsp which allows the wearer to simply hold an object without wasting energy on monitoring whether the item is slipping or not.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Prosthesis from U of Southampton, Advanced Arm Dynamics - Artificial Hands Now Have Amazing Features posted by Ecacofonix : 12:13 AM
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Sunday, April 6, 2008
Bioengineering Future - Cell, Tissue Engineering, Molecular Cell Biology
Over the next 25 years, the development of more sophisticated biomedical devices will revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to Alzheimer's disease, according to MIT professors in an article in the February 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The MIT article was also one of three from the issue to be featured at a February 6 media briefing on "Opportunities for Medical Research in the 21st Century." It was selected from among 24 in the special theme issue.
In the article, Associate Professor Linda G. Griffith and Professor Alan J. Grodzinsky explored the recent history of biomedical engineering and made projections for the future of field.
"Cell and tissue engineering also has emerged as a clinical reality," the authors wrote. "Products for skin replacement are in clinical use and progress has been made in developing technologies for repair of cartilage, bone, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, blood vessels, the nervous system and urological disorders."
At the same time, biomedical engineering is undergoing a major ideological change. "The fusion of engineering with molecular cell biology is pushing the evolution of a new engineering discipline termed 'bioengineering' to tackle the challenges of molecular and genomic medicine," the authors wrote".
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The MIT article was also one of three from the issue to be featured at a February 6 media briefing on "Opportunities for Medical Research in the 21st Century." It was selected from among 24 in the special theme issue.
In the article, Associate Professor Linda G. Griffith and Professor Alan J. Grodzinsky explored the recent history of biomedical engineering and made projections for the future of field.
"Cell and tissue engineering also has emerged as a clinical reality," the authors wrote. "Products for skin replacement are in clinical use and progress has been made in developing technologies for repair of cartilage, bone, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, blood vessels, the nervous system and urological disorders."
At the same time, biomedical engineering is undergoing a major ideological change. "The fusion of engineering with molecular cell biology is pushing the evolution of a new engineering discipline termed 'bioengineering' to tackle the challenges of molecular and genomic medicine," the authors wrote".
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Bioengineering Future - Cell, Tissue Engineering, Molecular Cell Biology posted by Ecacofonix : 10:42 PM
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Stem Cells From Hair Follicles May Help 'Grow' New Blood
For a rich source of stem cells to be engineered into new blood vessels or skin tissue, clinicians may one day look no further than the hair on their patients' heads, according to new research published earlier this month by University at Buffalo engineers.
"Engineering blood vessels for bypass surgery, promoting the formation of new blood vessels or regenerating new skin tissue using stem cells obtained from the most accessible source -- hair follicles -- is a real possibility," said Stelios T. Andreadis, Ph.D., co-author of the paper in Cardiovascular Research and associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Researchers from other institutions previously had shown that hair follicles contain stem cells.
In the current paper, the UB researchers demonstrate that stem cells isolated from sheep hair follicles contain the smooth muscle cells that grow new vasculature. The group recently produced data showing that stem cells from human hair follicles also differentiate into contractile smooth muscle cells
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"Engineering blood vessels for bypass surgery, promoting the formation of new blood vessels or regenerating new skin tissue using stem cells obtained from the most accessible source -- hair follicles -- is a real possibility," said Stelios T. Andreadis, Ph.D., co-author of the paper in Cardiovascular Research and associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Researchers from other institutions previously had shown that hair follicles contain stem cells.
In the current paper, the UB researchers demonstrate that stem cells isolated from sheep hair follicles contain the smooth muscle cells that grow new vasculature. The group recently produced data showing that stem cells from human hair follicles also differentiate into contractile smooth muscle cells
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Stem Cells From Hair Follicles May Help 'Grow' New Blood posted by Ecacofonix : 10:37 PM
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Peter Zandstra - From Stem Cells to Organs: The Bioengineering Challenge
For more than a decade, Peter Zandstra has been working at the University of Toronto to rev up the production of stem cells and their descendants. The raw materials are adult blood stem cells and embryonic stem cells. The end products are blood and heart cells – lots of them. Enough mouse heart cells that they form beating tissue.
To do this, he has been applying engineering principles to stem cell research – work that has just earned him recognition by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The society will induct him as a Fellow during its Annual Conference, being held in Boston from February 14 to 18.
Starting with computer models of stem cell growth and differentiation (the process by which a stem cell matures into its final form), Zandstra has moved on to develop more sophisticated culture methods that fine-tune the microenvironments to guide the generation of the different cells types that make up the mature cells in our tissues: heart cells for the heart or blood cells for blood.
Dr. Zandstra, the Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering, also held a prestigious NSERC Steacie Fellowship. The Steacie prize - which goes to six select Canadian professors annually – allowed Zandstra to extend his work from mouse to man.
“There's only so much we can do with mouse cells,” notes Dr. Zandstra. “Now if we can also figure out how to get human embryonic stem cells to differentiate on command to generate functional adult-like cells, you can begin to think about the kinds of medical conditions you could treat with them.”
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To do this, he has been applying engineering principles to stem cell research – work that has just earned him recognition by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The society will induct him as a Fellow during its Annual Conference, being held in Boston from February 14 to 18.
Starting with computer models of stem cell growth and differentiation (the process by which a stem cell matures into its final form), Zandstra has moved on to develop more sophisticated culture methods that fine-tune the microenvironments to guide the generation of the different cells types that make up the mature cells in our tissues: heart cells for the heart or blood cells for blood.
Dr. Zandstra, the Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering, also held a prestigious NSERC Steacie Fellowship. The Steacie prize - which goes to six select Canadian professors annually – allowed Zandstra to extend his work from mouse to man.
“There's only so much we can do with mouse cells,” notes Dr. Zandstra. “Now if we can also figure out how to get human embryonic stem cells to differentiate on command to generate functional adult-like cells, you can begin to think about the kinds of medical conditions you could treat with them.”
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Peter Zandstra - From Stem Cells to Organs: The Bioengineering Challenge posted by Ecacofonix : 10:36 PM
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Squid Beaks Made of Chitin Could Make Better Artificial Limbs
The razor-sharp beaks that giant squids use to attack whales — and maybe even Captain Nemo's submarine — might one day lead to improved artificial limbs for people.
That deadly beak may be a surprise to many people, and has long posed a puzzle for scientists. They wonder how a creature without any bones can operate it without hurting itself.
Now, researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, report in the journal Science that they have an explanation,
Now, researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, report in the journal Science that they have an explanation,
The beak, made of chitin and other materials, changes density gradually from the hard tip to a softer, more flexible base where it attaches to the muscle around the squid's mouth, the researchers found.
That means the tough beak can chomp away at fish for dinner, but the hard material doesn't press or rub directly against the squid's softer tissues.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Squid Beaks Made of Chitin Could Make Better Artificial Limbs posted by Ecacofonix : 10:08 PM
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Sugar Beet Pectin - Many Future Uses Including in Plastics
At Agricultural Research Service's (ARS) Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, researchers in the Crop Conversion Science and Engineering Research Unit are at work on pectin, a polysaccharide component in the cell walls of fruits and vegetables. Polysaccharides are polymers made up of many simple carbohydrates (sugars) linked together into long, continuous molecules. Pectin is currently valued for use as a gelling and thickening agent, beverage stabilizer, and fat substitute.
Most commercial pectin is obtained by extraction from citrus peels, but sugar beet pulp is also rich in pectin. About 1.5 million tons of dry beet pulp—an enormous untapped source of a valuable polysaccharide—are generated annually by U.S. processors.
At present, most pulp is dried and sold as animal feed at little profit because of the costly energy required to dry it for storage and shipment.
But sugar beet pectin has different chemical features than citrus pectin, so it could find new uses, especially in industrial products. Beet pulp is also rich in other highly functional cell wall polysaccharides that could be isolated and put to use. To increase profits for sugar beet growers and processors, the Wyndmoor researchers are working on new processes to efficiently isolate beet pectin and associated polysaccharides and find higher value uses for them.
Most commercial pectin is obtained by extraction from citrus peels, but sugar beet pulp is also rich in pectin. About 1.5 million tons of dry beet pulp—an enormous untapped source of a valuable polysaccharide—are generated annually by U.S. processors.
At present, most pulp is dried and sold as animal feed at little profit because of the costly energy required to dry it for storage and shipment.
But sugar beet pectin has different chemical features than citrus pectin, so it could find new uses, especially in industrial products. Beet pulp is also rich in other highly functional cell wall polysaccharides that could be isolated and put to use. To increase profits for sugar beet growers and processors, the Wyndmoor researchers are working on new processes to efficiently isolate beet pectin and associated polysaccharides and find higher value uses for them.
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Chemical-Engineering
PermaLink - Sugar Beet Pectin - Many Future Uses Including in Plastics posted by Ecacofonix : 9:59 PM
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Using Computers and Software to Help the Brain - Future of HMI
In January, Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, M.D., Ph.D., announced that his team completed the first steps toward a brain machine interface that might make it possible for paralyzed people to walk by directing devices with their thoughts. The team's monkey, in North Carolina, demonstrated the power of the technology when she used her brain signals to make a robot in Japan walk.
Just as it is possible to go to work out one's body in the gym, it is also possible to buy computer software to work out one's brain. Software programs now on the market include Nintendo's "Brain Age" and Posit Science's Brain Fitness Programs. Indeed, consulting firm Sharpbrains reports that the market for these products more than doubled between 2005 and 2007 to US$225 million, and health insurers like Humana are offering brain fitness programs to Medicare members at a discounted price.
Such programs won't cure Alzheimer's, of course, but other members of the tech community are working on projects that might help scientists beat the disease.
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Just as it is possible to go to work out one's body in the gym, it is also possible to buy computer software to work out one's brain. Software programs now on the market include Nintendo's "Brain Age" and Posit Science's Brain Fitness Programs. Indeed, consulting firm Sharpbrains reports that the market for these products more than doubled between 2005 and 2007 to US$225 million, and health insurers like Humana are offering brain fitness programs to Medicare members at a discounted price.
Such programs won't cure Alzheimer's, of course, but other members of the tech community are working on projects that might help scientists beat the disease.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Using Computers and Software to Help the Brain - Future of HMI posted by Ecacofonix : 9:59 PM
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Closed-loop Feedback Control Scheme Can Rapidly ID Optimal Drug Cocktails
UCLA researchers have developed a feedback control scheme that can search for the most effective drug combinations to treat a variety of conditions, including cancers and infections. The discovery could play a significant role in facilitating new clinical drug-cocktail trials.
The best known use of drug cocktails has been in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Drug cocktails also have been used to combat several types of cancer. Often, drugs that might not be effective in combating diseases individually do much better in combination.
With the use of the new closed-loop feedback control scheme, an approach guided by a stochastic search algorithm, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have devised an invaluable means of identifying potent drug combinations fast and efficiently
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The best known use of drug cocktails has been in the fight against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Drug cocktails also have been used to combat several types of cancer. Often, drugs that might not be effective in combating diseases individually do much better in combination.
With the use of the new closed-loop feedback control scheme, an approach guided by a stochastic search algorithm, researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have devised an invaluable means of identifying potent drug combinations fast and efficiently
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Closed-loop Feedback Control Scheme Can Rapidly ID Optimal Drug Cocktails posted by Ecacofonix : 9:58 PM
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Prosthetic Implants, Deep Brain Stimulation to Help Chronic Disabilities
An article in Scientific American titled ”Scientists Set Sights on an Implantable Prosthetic for the Blind” tells about a Boston neuroscientist who is “developing a device that may someday help the blind by sending images directly to the brain.”
That’s an extraordinary advance, and seems certain to be just the first step toward near-miraculous prosthetic implants that someday soon not only will allow the blind to see, but could restore healthy function to all manner of disabled people.
For example, implantable deep brain stimulation (DBS) approaches already are being used successfully to treat chronic debilitating depression, as well as Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
According to this article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: It [DBS] is being studied as a treatment of last resort for disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome, obesity, anorexia, stroke recovery, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, cluster headaches, chronic pain and addiction.
Of course, the next level of such devices might be those that would correct not only disabilities, but also things that might be called ‘defects’. The problem there, however, is who gets to decide what is a defect and what is not. This, obviously, raises concerns about the possibility of having large segments of society that end up zoned out all the time, as with ’soma‘ in Brave New World.
That’s an extraordinary advance, and seems certain to be just the first step toward near-miraculous prosthetic implants that someday soon not only will allow the blind to see, but could restore healthy function to all manner of disabled people.
For example, implantable deep brain stimulation (DBS) approaches already are being used successfully to treat chronic debilitating depression, as well as Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
According to this article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: It [DBS] is being studied as a treatment of last resort for disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome, obesity, anorexia, stroke recovery, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, cluster headaches, chronic pain and addiction.
Of course, the next level of such devices might be those that would correct not only disabilities, but also things that might be called ‘defects’. The problem there, however, is who gets to decide what is a defect and what is not. This, obviously, raises concerns about the possibility of having large segments of society that end up zoned out all the time, as with ’soma‘ in Brave New World.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Prosthetic Implants, Deep Brain Stimulation to Help Chronic Disabilities posted by Ecacofonix : 9:24 PM
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Self-assembled Materials Form Mini Stem Cell
Imagine having one polymer and one small molecule that instantly assemble into a flexible but strong sac in which you can grow human stem cells, creating a sort of miniature laboratory. And that sac, if used for cell therapy, could cloak the stem cells from the human body’s immune system and biodegrade upon arriving at its destination, releasing the stem cells to do their work
Futuristic? Only in part. A research team from Northwestern University’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine has created such sacs and demonstrated that human stem cells will grow in them. The researchers also report that the sacs can survive for weeks in culture and that their membranes are permeable to proteins.
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Futuristic? Only in part. A research team from Northwestern University’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine has created such sacs and demonstrated that human stem cells will grow in them. The researchers also report that the sacs can survive for weeks in culture and that their membranes are permeable to proteins.
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Material-Sciences
DoCoMo Working on Molecular Delivery of Communication with Mobile Phones
Japan’s DoCoMo is working on a molecular delivery of communication with mobile phones. This could not only mean download speeds increasing enormously, but could also potentially send medical data to emergency services, such as 911. According to InformationWeek:
Included in a mobile phone, the biochip could generate data and send it to medical specialists using standard wireless transmission techniques. In addition to health and environmental applications, DoCoMo suggested it also could have entertainment purposes: it could be used for long distance fortune telling.
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Via: Frog Blog
Included in a mobile phone, the biochip could generate data and send it to medical specialists using standard wireless transmission techniques. In addition to health and environmental applications, DoCoMo suggested it also could have entertainment purposes: it could be used for long distance fortune telling.
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Via: Frog Blog
Labels: Bio-engineering, Electronics-Communications-Engineering
PermaLink - DoCoMo Working on Molecular Delivery of Communication with Mobile Phones posted by Ecacofonix : 9:23 PM
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Quencher-free Molecular Beacons Mean Better Fluorescent Techniques for DNA Analysis
B. H. Kim, Y. J. Seo and N. Venkatesan at Pohang University of Science and Technology in Korea explain why quencher-free molecular beacons mean a brighter outlook for medicine.
Genetic analysis underpins DNA diagnostics. Swapping just a couple of letters in an individual's genome can cause an incurable genetic disorder, so identifying genetic differences is very important to diagnose and possibly cure certain diseases.
"When the target DNA is added, the hairpin opens out to bind to the DNA and the fluorophore is no longer quenched. So the target DNA is detected by an increase in fluorescence. "Unravelling the 'secret of life' by completing sequencing of the human genome, has led to our better understanding of genetic differences, be it between individuals, between parents and their offspring or normal and abnormal genes in genetic disorders. Such differences are expressed in terms of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, a single base change in a DNA sequence) or copy number variations (CNVs, when the number of copies of a gene varies).
Initially, DNA analysis relied mainly on radiolabelled nucleotides. Now fluorescent techniques are being used increasingly. Analytical methods that use fluorescent probes to bind to particular DNA regions are now well-known. So-called molecular beacons (MBs), these probes are now being used during DNA amplification by polymerase chain reactions (PCR), to qualitatively as well as quantitatively estimate single or multiple gene sequences simultaneously. Similarly, different types of MBs are used in related applications such as protein analysis and to study protein-DNA interactions. In addition, MBs' suitability for probing the levels and kinetics of DNA photodamage, and as vehicles for photoinduced drug release has also been explored.
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Genetic analysis underpins DNA diagnostics. Swapping just a couple of letters in an individual's genome can cause an incurable genetic disorder, so identifying genetic differences is very important to diagnose and possibly cure certain diseases.
"When the target DNA is added, the hairpin opens out to bind to the DNA and the fluorophore is no longer quenched. So the target DNA is detected by an increase in fluorescence. "Unravelling the 'secret of life' by completing sequencing of the human genome, has led to our better understanding of genetic differences, be it between individuals, between parents and their offspring or normal and abnormal genes in genetic disorders. Such differences are expressed in terms of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, a single base change in a DNA sequence) or copy number variations (CNVs, when the number of copies of a gene varies).
Initially, DNA analysis relied mainly on radiolabelled nucleotides. Now fluorescent techniques are being used increasingly. Analytical methods that use fluorescent probes to bind to particular DNA regions are now well-known. So-called molecular beacons (MBs), these probes are now being used during DNA amplification by polymerase chain reactions (PCR), to qualitatively as well as quantitatively estimate single or multiple gene sequences simultaneously. Similarly, different types of MBs are used in related applications such as protein analysis and to study protein-DNA interactions. In addition, MBs' suitability for probing the levels and kinetics of DNA photodamage, and as vehicles for photoinduced drug release has also been explored.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Quencher-free Molecular Beacons Mean Better Fluorescent Techniques for DNA Analysis posted by Ecacofonix : 9:23 PM
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Systems Biology is Moving Towards Clinical Applications
While it now remains a research tool, systems biology is moving toward clinical applications, including personalized
Imagine going to a doctor's office. your complete genome sequence, which provides a probabilistic prediction of your future health, is part of your medical file. To see how that genetic component is playing out and to obtain a snapshot of your current health status, your doctor orders a standard test of more than 2,000 proteins and metabolites. According to the results of those tests, your doctor recommends ways for you to maintain or improve your health through either medication or behavior modification.
This network illustrates a cause-and-effect model of the mechanisms involved in the transition of prostate cancer from androgen dependence to androgen independence. The colors indicate whether a component increases or decreases (green is observed increase, red is observed decrease, yellow is predicted increase, and blue is predicted decrease). The labels H1 to H5 represent five major hypotheses of mechanisms responsible for the progression of prostate cancer. Sounds futuristic? Perhaps, but it's not as far off as it seems, and systems biology will help make it a reality. Such a personalized approach to medicine is only one of the clinical applications of systems biology on the horizon.
"We've struggled for eons to figure out how to handle biological complexity," says H. Steven Wiley, director of the biomolecular systems initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Biological research has traditionally taken a one-at-a-time approach to studying genes and proteins, the so-called reductionist approach. Now, tools such as DNA and protein microarrays and mass spectrometry have made it possible to study many components and clarify how they work together to regulate and carry out biological processes. The goal of systems biology is to combine molecular information of various types in models that describe and predict function at the cellular, tissue, organ, and even whole-organism levels.
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Imagine going to a doctor's office. your complete genome sequence, which provides a probabilistic prediction of your future health, is part of your medical file. To see how that genetic component is playing out and to obtain a snapshot of your current health status, your doctor orders a standard test of more than 2,000 proteins and metabolites. According to the results of those tests, your doctor recommends ways for you to maintain or improve your health through either medication or behavior modification.
This network illustrates a cause-and-effect model of the mechanisms involved in the transition of prostate cancer from androgen dependence to androgen independence. The colors indicate whether a component increases or decreases (green is observed increase, red is observed decrease, yellow is predicted increase, and blue is predicted decrease). The labels H1 to H5 represent five major hypotheses of mechanisms responsible for the progression of prostate cancer. Sounds futuristic? Perhaps, but it's not as far off as it seems, and systems biology will help make it a reality. Such a personalized approach to medicine is only one of the clinical applications of systems biology on the horizon.
"We've struggled for eons to figure out how to handle biological complexity," says H. Steven Wiley, director of the biomolecular systems initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Biological research has traditionally taken a one-at-a-time approach to studying genes and proteins, the so-called reductionist approach. Now, tools such as DNA and protein microarrays and mass spectrometry have made it possible to study many components and clarify how they work together to regulate and carry out biological processes. The goal of systems biology is to combine molecular information of various types in models that describe and predict function at the cellular, tissue, organ, and even whole-organism levels.
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Labels: Bio-engineering
PermaLink - Systems Biology is Moving Towards Clinical Applications posted by Ecacofonix : 7:24 AM
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Using DNA Shuffling, E.coli Gives Hydrogen from Sugar
Texas A&M Professor Thomas Wood and his research team have successfully genetically manipulated Escherichia coli to produce hydrogen fuel from common sugar.
E. coli is commonly associated with food poisoning from uncooked meat, but the bacteria is also found naturally in the human body. Wood said that the average person has eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of bacteria in their body at any given time. This bacteria naturally produces hydrogen to increase the pH of its surroundings for survival.
Wood has spent the previous 17 years manipulating the bacteria to do different things. Wood said that his research group initially started out with the wrong assumptions, but once the research settled its focus on E. coli, progress began moving along rapidly.
"We have used a process called DNA shuffling, in which we separate and re-splice E. coli genes in random sequences. We eventually found a combination which produced more hydrogen," Wood said
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E. coli is commonly associated with food poisoning from uncooked meat, but the bacteria is also found naturally in the human body. Wood said that the average person has eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of bacteria in their body at any given time. This bacteria naturally produces hydrogen to increase the pH of its surroundings for survival.
Wood has spent the previous 17 years manipulating the bacteria to do different things. Wood said that his research group initially started out with the wrong assumptions, but once the research settled its focus on E. coli, progress began moving along rapidly.
"We have used a process called DNA shuffling, in which we separate and re-splice E. coli genes in random sequences. We eventually found a combination which produced more hydrogen," Wood said
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Labels: Bio-engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Using DNA Shuffling, E.coli Gives Hydrogen from Sugar posted by Ecacofonix : 7:22 AM
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Biochips, Computers Could Lead to Personalized Medicine, Better Drugs
Recently scientists have provided a sneak preview of the future of biomedicine with a range of projects seeking to assemble virtual humans — or parts of them — on computers and “labs on a chip.” Someday, the descendants of these sophisticated new programs and devices could serve as our stand-ins for clinical tests on drugs, cosmetics and toxic compounds.
The increasing ability of computers and biochips to mimic brain chemistry, internal organs, and the interactions between drugs and viruses such as HIV could help reduce the reliance on animal testing to understand the potency and side effects of pharmaceuticals. A more informed leap between experiments on dish-grown cells and lab animals, in turn, could lead to a better drug development process. And eventually, the technology could usher in a new era of personalized medicine in which rapid tests tell doctors which treatments have the best chances of success for individual patients.
Full story here
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The future of biomedicine: virtual humans
The increasing ability of computers and biochips to mimic brain chemistry, internal organs, and the interactions between drugs and viruses such as HIV could help reduce the reliance on animal testing to understand the potency and side effects of pharmaceuticals. A more informed leap between experiments on dish-grown cells and lab animals, in turn, could lead to a better drug development process. And eventually, the technology could usher in a new era of personalized medicine in which rapid tests tell doctors which treatments have the best chances of success for individual patients.
Full story here
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The future of biomedicine: virtual humans
Labels: Bio-engineering, Computer-Science
PermaLink - Biochips, Computers Could Lead to Personalized Medicine, Better Drugs posted by Ecacofonix : 1:35 AM
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Chemical Brain for Controlling Nanobots, Nano-machines
The researchers have already built larger 'brains'
A tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been invented.
The molecular device - just two billionths of a metre across - was able to control eight of the microscopic machines simultaneously in a test. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists say it could also be used to boost the processing power of future computers. The machine is made from 17 molecules of the chemical duroquinone. Each one is known as a "logic device".
Many experts have high hopes for nano-machines in treating disease.
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Nanobots Controlled By Chemical Brain
A tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been invented.
The molecular device - just two billionths of a metre across - was able to control eight of the microscopic machines simultaneously in a test. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists say it could also be used to boost the processing power of future computers. The machine is made from 17 molecules of the chemical duroquinone. Each one is known as a "logic device".
Many experts have high hopes for nano-machines in treating disease.
More from here
Related blogposts
Nanobots Controlled By Chemical Brain
Labels: Bio-engineering, Chemical-Engineering