biomedical devices

<h2 id="isPasted">What Dance Would You Like to Perform with Unitree G1?</h2>With the upgraded algorithm, G1 can learn any dance. Leave a comment to tell us what dance you'd like to see！

With the upgraded algorithm, G1 can learn any dance. Leave a comment to tell us what dance you'd like to see！

What Dance Would You Like to Perform with Unitree G1?

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer">Next Byte podcast</a>. <iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" src="https://player.simplecast.com/c9fa5746-f9fe-40aa-8c37-c9069bdb9cb9?dark=false" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr />When you think about cancer research, thoughts go quickly to biological tests, drug testing, and patient studies. But what if we could use engineering to discover how cancer cells manage to leave the tumor to wander through our bodies? If we know how they do that, we could stop them right then and there. The relatively new organ-on-a-chip technology allows researchers like Mohammad Jouybar to build a biomechanical model of specific cases out of the human body to closely study how cancer behaves.TU/e researcher <a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/mohammad-jouy-bar" target="_blank">Mohammad Jouybar</a> is an engineer who has been very motivated to make a difference in health care from the start of his career.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4ODg5MzgxMzc1LWNzbV9Cdk9GXzIwMjVfMDEyN18wNDM1IE1vaGFtbWFkIEpvdXkgQmFyX2JmNjI2MTg1ZGEuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />Mohammad Jouybar at work in the Microfab laboratory. Photo: Bart van OverbeekeJouybar says: “When I was looking for a PhD, the offer from Jaap den Toonder to build an organ-on-a-chip research model was exactly what I was looking for. Even though I never expected to find myself working in Mechanical Engineering as a bioengineer, it couldn’t have been a more perfect fit.”<h3>Organ-on-a-chip technology</h3>“The organ-on-a-chip technology is still relatively new in the field of disease modeling and therapeutic testing. I think it’s been around for about fifteen years,” says Jouybar. “It is mainly gaining importance as an alternative or supplementary option for animal models. It’s a more ethical and less expensive choice to gain the same insights.”Organ-on-a-chip offers a smarter, ethical, and cost-effective alternative to animal testing.Mohammad Jouybar<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4ODg5NDMwNDUzLWNzbV9Cdk9GXzIwMjVfMDEyN18wMjM5IE1vaGFtbWFkIEpvdXkgQmFyXzE0MWM4ZWJiZTguanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />Close-up of the chip used in the breast cancer study. Material containing the cancer cells was placed in the left boxes. In the long cannula in the middle, the blood vessels were grown. The fluid streams were connected to them. It was then possible to measure how many cancer cells migrated through the vessels in the tissue in the right boxes. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke“That’s what intrigued me when I learned to work with the technology during my MSc studies in Milan, and why I went actively looking for a PhD to work with this technology.”In an organ-on-a-chip, researchers typically grow human organ cells in a hydrogel and/or in tiny microchannels. Because they grow the cells, they can determine exactly what type of cells they grow next to each other and what specific biomechanical cues to apply, such as blood flow within channels or mechanical stretch affecting cell-cell interaction.Effectively zooming in on a single function of an organ or single mechanism they want to study.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LK7L6vgGNcI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" class="fr-draggable"> </iframe>“There are many startups who have jumped at the opportunity to make organ-on-a-chip, or even cancer-on-a-chip models for regular testing in clinical settings. However the industry does not have a standard organ-on-a-chip model among the available models yet. Which makes it difficult to assess and compare results.”“Also, in academia, we want to study new settings, which will always call for making innovative models. And that’s what I did during my PhD.”<h3>First model</h3>There are several models Jouybar designed, built, and grew for his PhD. Jouybar: “My PhD was not very defined or detailed at first. The team wanted to study the metastatic phase of cancers. And that’s not a single event that happens, but rather a cascade of consecutive processes.”The metastatic phase of cancer isn't a single event - it's a cascading process.Mohammad Jouybar<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4ODg5NDczMDg4LWNzbV9Cdk9GXzIwMjVfMDEyN18wMzM3IE1vaGFtbWFkIEpvdXkgQmFyXzlkMmZjZjc4M2EuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />Mohammad Jouybar places a sample in the incubator for measurements in the Mircrofab lab. Photo: Bart van OverbeekeIn metastasis, cancer cells break away from where they first formed (primary cancer), travel through the blood or lymph system, and form new tumors (metastatic tumors) in other parts of the body. The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor.“<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/jaap-den-toonder" target="_blank">Jaap den Toonder</a> asked me to design and build a model to study how breast cancer cells leave their tumor, invade the tissue, and enter the bloodstream. We wanted to study how these cells invade the bloodstream from the breast duct.”The team chose to study breast cancer - <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dcis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371889" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">ductal carcinoma in situ</a> -because it is very prevalent and is a good case for studying the metastatic process.“We know that the cancer cells invade the blood or lymphatic vessels, but how some of these steps occur, especially the initial invasion steps, are not well known. And once the cells enter the blood vessel, they can travel anywhere,” says Jouybar.“We could not mimic the entire process on our chip, of course. So, we focused on the initial step of metastasis because little was known about it.”<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4ODg5NDk2NzgzLWNzbV9VbnRpdGxlZF8wYzQ2NjZkNWM1LmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />The tiny size of the chips allows for higher throughput models including several chips. The multi-Lumina-Chip includes 9 single chips on a platform, compatible with multi-channel pipetting. Photo: Mohammad Jouybar<h3 id="isPasted">Building the cancer-on-a-chip</h3>The first step is to build, or rather grow, the elements of your cancer-on-a-chip. In this case, the cancer cells are in a microchannel within the chip, emulating the breast duct, the surrounding hydrogel mimicking the structural (stromal, ed.) tissue, and the neighboring microchannels mimicking the tiny blood vessels.Jouybar fabricated the circular cross-section channels on a chip, a similar geometry found in human blood vessels. Next, he could vary the flow through these channels to study the effect of various types of flows on blood- or lymphatic vessel cells.“In <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37914546/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">one of our studies</a>, I have shown that the flow rate has an effect on the orientation of cells lining the blood or lymphatic vessels we grow on the chip. The chip is 2-3 centimeters squared, but the vessels are only around 10-100’s micrometers in diameter. Just like the tiny vessels in the tissue we want to study.”Growing the model to mimic living tissue is a challenge all of its own. “We had different components in the model: the breast ducts, the surrounding tissue, and the blood vessels. The trick to building the model with all those components adjacent to each other was to compartmentalize building those elements,” says Jouybar.“We used the facilities in our labs, like a femtosecond laser and 3D sugar printing, to build the circular geometries of the blood vessels. Additionally, we had to make sure that fabricated reservoirs were fully working to connect the models to the pumps for the blood flow or just simply for exchanging culture media.”<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4ODg5NTM3NDkyLWNzbV9Cdk9GXzIwMjVfMDEyN18wMjIwIE1vaGFtbWFkIEpvdXkgQmFyXzMwOWY4Zjc0N2EuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width:100%px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" />Mohammad Jouybar with the chip for the femtolaser used to make the molds for the chips. The molds are made of glass, the chips themselves of plastic. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke<h3>Including lymphatic vessels</h3>In a collaboration with Amsterdam UMC, Jouybar included not only blood vessels but also built lymphatic vessels in the cancer-on-a-chip models.Jouybar: “This was a simpler model from a fabrication point of view because we fabricated a microchannel cast in hydrogel utilizing a thin acupuncture needle. We added lymphatic cancer cells (B cell lymphoma) and fibroblasts to a hydrogel matrix.”“And then, we grew the lymphatic microvessel, lined by lymphatic endothelial cells, inside the hydrogel. With this model, we studied how donor’s specific fibroblasts and lymphatic vessel cells influence the movements of cancer cells in and around lymphatic vessels.”Both models focus on the step where the cancer cells start to move from their original location, where they might still be very treatable, throughout the body. The models help to understand what is happening on a fundamental level and can also help to study which types of medicine might affect the key mechanisms of the cancer. This opens up whole new areas of drug development and treatments.<h3>The value of cancer-on-a-chip</h3>“Depending on the type of cancer you are studying, due to the broad area of oncology, you can build a model to answer questions for the specific type of cancer and tissue, or even specific patient you are studying, so-called personalized medicine,” says Jouybar. “The models help us to fill in the blanks of how cancer originates, develops, and moves.”The cancer-on-a-chip models help us to fill in the blanks of how cancer originates, develops, and moves.Mohammad Jouybar“I really enjoy this type of collaborative research, where medical research, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering are colliding. We cannot do one without the other, and I expect much from how engineering can assist and boost medical research,” concludes Jouybar.

Mohammad Jouybar shows the chip he used to do his research on breast cancer. Photo: Bart van Overbeeke

During his PhD research, biomedical engineer Mohammad Jouybar explored how to build specific organ-on-a-chip or even cancer-on-a-chip devices.

Cancer-on-a-chip technology advances our understanding of how cancer operates

In this episode, we explore how tiny wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication with groundbreaking precision.

Podcast: Tiny Antennas for Big Cellular Insights

Experiments from the Caltech lab of Chiara Daraio, G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, have yielded a fascinating new type of matter, neither granular nor crystalline, that responds to some stresses as a fluid would and to others like a solid. The new material, known as PAM (for polycatenated architected materials) could have uses in areas ranging from helmets and other protective gear to biomedical devices and robotics.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z-P7lfW-p-8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>PAMs in Action.&nbsp;Credit: Wenjie Zhou and Peter Holderness/CaltechPAMs are not found in nature, though their basic form is known to us through the millennia-old manufacture of chain mail: small metal rings linked together to form a mesh, most often used as a flexible form of armor. PAMs, however, are like chain mail on steroids. Following the basic principle of interlocking shapes, like those found in a chain, PAMs are made up of a variety of shapes linked together to form three-dimensional patterns whose configurations are almost unimaginably variable. The resulting materials, which Daraio and her colleagues have rendered using 3D printers, exhibit behaviors not found in other types of materials.Wenjie Zhou, postdoctoral scholar research associate in mechanical and civil engineering, has been working on these types of materials for two years in Daraio's lab. "I was a chemist, and I wanted to make these structures at a molecular scale, but that proved too challenging. In order to get answers to the questions I had about how these structures behave, I decided to join Chiara's group and study PAMs at a larger scale."The PAMs that Daraio's group created and studied were first modeled on a computer and were designed to replicate lattice structures found in crystalline substances but with the crystal's fixed particles replaced by entangled rings or cages with multiple sides.These lattices were then printed out three-dimensionally using a variety of materials, including acrylic polymers, nylon, and metals. Once the PAMs could be held in the palm of one's hand—most of the prototypes are 5-centimeter (2-inch) cubes or spheres with a 5-centimeter diameter—they were exposed to various types of physical stress. "We started with compression," Zhou explains, "compressing the objects a bit harder each time. Then we tried a simple shear, a lateral force, like what you would apply if you were trying to tear the material apart. Finally, we did rheology tests, seeing how the materials responded to twisting, first slowly and then more quickly and strongly."In some scenarios, these PAMs behaved like liquids. "Imagine applying a shear stress to water," Zhou says. "There would be zero resistance. Because PAMs have all these coordinated degrees of freedom, with the rings and cages they are composed of sliding against one another as the links of a chain would, many have very little shear resistance." But when these structures are compressed, they may become fully rigid, behaving like solids.This dynamism makes PAMs unique. "PAMs are really a new type of matter," Daraio says. "We all have a clear distinction in mind when we think of solid materials and granular matter. Solid materials are often described as crystalline lattices. This is what you see in the classic ball-and-stick models of atomic, chemical, or larger crystalline structures. It is these materials that have formed our conventional understanding of solid matter. The other class of materials is granular, as we see in substances like rice, flour, or ground coffee. These materials are made up of discrete particles, free to move and slide relative to one another."PAMs defy this binary classification. "With PAMs, the individual particles are linked as they are in crystalline structures, and yet, because these particles are free to move relative to one another, they flow, they slide on top of each other, and they change their relative positions, more like grains of sand," Daraio explains. "PAMs can be very different from one another. You can print them in squishy materials or hard ones. You can change the shape of each particle, and you can change the lattice that you use to connect these particles. Each of these parameters affects the behavior of the resulting material. But all of them show a characteristic transition between fluid and solid-like behavior. This transition may happen under different circumstances, but it always happens.""Architected materials have been a significant subfield in material science and engineering for the past 20 to 30 years," Daraio says. "But as hybrids between granular materials and elastic deformable materials, PAMs are exciting and new. We have theories to describe granular matter and theories to describe elastic deformable matter, but nothing that captures these in-between materials. It's a fascinating frontier that promises to redefine what materials are and how they behave."At this point, potential uses for PAMs are largely speculative but nevertheless intriguing, Daraio says: "These materials have unique energy-absorption properties. Because each element can slide and rotate and reorganize relative to each other, they can dissipate energy very efficiently," making them better candidates for use in helmets or other forms of protective gear than the currently used foams. This property makes them similarly attractive for use in packaging or in any environment where cushioning or stabilization is required.Experiments with microscale PAMs have shown that they will expand or contract in response to applied electrical charges as well as physical forces, suggesting possible uses in biomedical devices or soft robotics.Co-author Liuchi Li (PhD '20), now assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University, is enthusiastic about the future of PAMs: "We can envision incorporating advanced artificial intelligence techniques to accelerate the exploration of this vast design space. We are only scratching the surface of what is possible."This research is published in&nbsp;Science under the title&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr9713">"3D polycatenated architected materials."</a> Co-authors include Zhou, Daraio, Sujeeka Nadarajah, Hujie Yan (MS '24), Aashutosh K. Prachet, and Payal Patel of Caltech; Li of Princeton University; and Anna Guell Izard and Xiaoxing Xia (PhD '19) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Computational resources were provided by the High-Performance Computing Center at Caltech, and the research was funded by the Army Research Office, the Gary Clinard Innovation Fund, LLNL, and the US Department of Energy.

The new material, known as PAM (for polycatenated architected materials) could have uses in areas ranging from helmets and other protective gear to biomedical devices and robotics.

Reimagining Chain Mail: 3D Architected Materials That Adapt and Protect

Hello everyone, let me introduce myself again. I am Unitree H1 "Fuxi".&nbsp;I am now a comedian at the Spring Festival Gala, hoping to bring joy to everyone.&nbsp;Let’s push boundaries every day and shape the future together.A little surprise: the handkerchief can not only spin but can also be thrown out and automatically returned to its position.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM4MDc3NzEzOTI3LeW+ruS/oeWbvueJh18yMDI1MDEyODIzMDMzNy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">

Debut at the Spring Festival Gala

Unitree H1: Humanoid Robot Makes Its Debut at the Spring Festival Gala

Unitree H1&nbsp;Deep Reinforcement Learning&nbsp;In-place Flipping Parameters:&nbsp;Weight: about 50kg&nbsp;Height: about 1.8m&nbsp;Actuator: electric motor

Deep Reinforcement Learning

Unitree H1

Unitree G1 Bionic: Agile Upgrade

With the majority of spine surgeons experiencing bodily discomfort due to their work, the need for ergonomic improvements in the healthcare industry is clear. Orthopedic spine surgeon Philip Louie is on a mission to address this issue, leveraging&nbsp;<a href="https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xsens motion capture</a>&nbsp;technology and Scalefit software to identify pain points and create solutions that enhance surgeons’ physical well-being and long-term performance.Challenge:&nbsp;To effectively analyze surgeons’ occupational health and safety, healthcare professional Philip Louie needed an objective dataset to define specific problem areas.Solution:&nbsp;Using the Xsens inertial motion capture and <a href="https://www.movella.com/integrations/scalefit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Scalefit&nbsp;</a>software provided highly accurate data on the surgeons’ movements, all while maintaining privacy for themselves and their patients.Key takeaways:<ul><li id="isPasted" style="font-weight: bold;">Advanced data accuracy for ergonomic assessment: inertial motion capture records even the smallest movements, ensuring precise analysis</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">Ensuring privacy: Camera-less technology guarantees anonymity for both patients and surgeons</li><li>Authentic movement thanks to unobtrusive technology: comfortable wearables allow ergonomic professionals to track real, natural motion</li></ul>An overwhelming 80% of spine surgeons experience bodily discomfort. This high proportion shows a need for occupational health and safety to be prioritized within the healthcare industry. Such injuries can lead to unexpected time off, declining performance, or even early retirement. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-louie-1605807/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Orthopedic spine surgeon Philip Louie</a> is conducting a study to find out how to improve surgeons’ physical well-being to make their highly technical job that little bit easier.Stopping spine surgeon injuries“The majority of healthcare professionals experience some sort of bodily discomfort due to their job,” explains Philip. “So the first part of our study was to find the physical pain points of spine surgeons.” After completing a series of intense surgeries, Philip noticed the harmful impact and the role it had on his joints and muscles.However, Philip was not the only surgeon experiencing these issues. He started the study to show that physical well-being is a profession-wide issue, not just a personal one, and with this information, hopes to build more ergonomically friendly surgery rooms. To effectively demonstrate his point, he needed objective data that put a spotlight on the exact areas for improvement in the healthcare industry.Preparing for researchPhilip decided to perform ergonomic analyses on three surgeons, each performing the same procedure ten times. “Using replicable surgeries as the basis for the study was crucial,” he says. “It allowed us to compare and contrast each dataset to identify outlying issues.” Philip then researched the different techniques for assessing occupational health and safety.“For the first attempt, we used the REBA method,” explains Philip. REBA (rapid entire body analysis) requires an ergonomics analyst to manually assess the worker’s movements, using their knowledge of physical well-being to point out issues and suggest amendments. “We found that while this was useful, we didn’t have the quantitative, set-in-stone data needed for this project.”&nbsp;An extra person in the surgery room also led to privacy issues for both patient and surgeon. Most would be uncomfortable having their work, or personal procedures, observed by a third party. Filming would also create an anonymity issue, leading to faces having to be blurred and time taken away from the investigation. After extensive research, Philip found the answer to anonymity while further improving the quality of data.Using Xsens and Scalefit technology“When we found inertial motion capture, we knew that it was the only way to efficiently carry out our research without encroaching on the privacy of others,” says Philip. Using inertial technology, the Xsens motion capture system tracks velocity, acceleration, and rotation without requiring any cameras. Instead, the data is sent directly from the wearables to post-processing software.“I was able to perform a two-hour surgery while wearing the Xsens system,” Philip continues. “By the end, myself and the other surgeons forgot we were even wearing it.” The Awinda set contains 17 wireless sensors, all individually strapped to the body for bespoke comfort. The team could also maintain a sterile environment, with the sensors tucked underneath scrubs.Using the Xsens motion data and Scalefit software, Philip could effectively collate his results to show objective findings, pinpointing the need for ergonomic improvement in the surgery room. The research team quantified this data to highlight the specific areas of a surgeon’s body that were most affected by their job. Having this abundance of data instantly available for research was essential for rapidly progressing the project.Looking aheadErgonomic analysis is best carried out in a worker’s natural environment, doing the tasks they would do every day, and Xsens allows you to do just that. “I hope to roll out this technique to the rest of the healthcare industry,” says Philip. “Its usefulness was invaluable to us, and it can help many other professionals perform their jobs more safely.”Philip’s research project is drawing to a close, and the last rounds of motion capture data are being recorded. He hopes to create tangible solutions for spine surgeons, with his ability to identify exact pain points and put together a plan to prevent them from happening, such as full-body exercises to relieve tension from the back, shoulders, wrists, and other vulnerable joints.&nbsp;Just wearing the Xsens suit raised awareness for the toll surgery takes on medical professionals. Philip could see in real time how his body was reacting to holding it in a fixed position, encouraging him to relax and avoid experiencing unnecessary pain.“Inertial motion capture technology was the only solution for this project,” concludes Philip. “Having this quantitative data is invaluable to our occupational health and safety.

With Xsens MVN Analyze

Ergonomic analysis for spine surgeons: saving your back and neck

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/f1468a9e-3b5e-4bb2-a089-53a90f0a433c?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Monitoring electrical signals in biological systems helps scientists understand how cells communicate, which can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer’s.But devices that record electrical signals in cell cultures and other liquid environments often use wires to connect each electrode on the device to its respective amplifier. Because only so many wires can be connected to the device, this restricts the number of recording sites, limiting the information that can be collected from cells.MIT researchers have now developed a biosensing technique that eliminates the need for wires. Instead, tiny, wireless antennas use light to detect minute electrical signals.Small electrical changes in the surrounding liquid environment alter how the antennas scatter the light. Using an array of tiny antennas, each of which is one-hundredth the width of a human hair, the researchers could measure electrical signals exchanged between cells, with extreme spatial resolution.The devices, which are durable enough to continuously record signals for more than 10 hours, could help biologists understand how cells communicate in response to changes in their environment. In the long run, such scientific insights could pave the way for advancements in diagnosis, spur the development of targeted treatments, and enable more precision in the evaluation of new therapies.“Being able to record the electrical activity of cells with high throughput and high resolution remains a real problem. We need to try some innovative ideas and alternate approaches,” says Benoît Desbiolles, a former postdoc in the MIT Media Lab and lead author of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr8380" target="_blank">a paper on the devices</a>.He is joined on the paper by Jad Hanna, a visiting student in the Media Lab; former visiting student Raphael Ausilio; former postdoc Marta J. I. Airaghi Leccardi; Yang Yu, a scientist at Raith America, Inc.; and senior author Deblina Sarkar, the AT&amp;T Career Development Assistant Professor in the Media Lab and MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering and head of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek Lab. The research appears today in Science Advances.“Bioelectricity is fundamental to the functioning of cells and different life processes. However, recording such electrical signals precisely has been challenging,” says Sarkar. “The organic electro-scattering antennas (OCEANs) we developed enable recording of electrical signals wirelessly with micrometer spatial resolution from thousands of recording sites simultaneously. This can create unprecedented opportunities for understanding fundamental biology and altered signaling in diseased states as well as for screening the effect of different therapeutics to enable novel treatments.”<h2>Biosensing with light</h2>The researchers set out to design a biosensing device that didn’t need wires or amplifiers. Such a device would be easier to use for biologists who may not be familiar with electronic instruments.“We wondered if we could make a device that converts the electrical signals to light and then use an optical microscope, the kind that is available in every biology lab, to probe these signals,” Desbiolles says.Initially, they used a special polymer called PEDOT:PSS to design nanoscale transducers that incorporated tiny pieces of gold filament. Gold nanoparticles were supposed to scatter the light — a process that would be induced and modulated by the polymer. But the results weren’t matching up with their theoretical model.The researchers tried removing the gold and, surprisingly, the results matched the model much more closely.“It turns out we weren’t measuring signals from the gold, but from the polymer itself. This was a very surprising but exciting result. We built on that finding to develop organic electro-scattering antennas,” he says.The&nbsp;organic electro-scattering antennas,&nbsp;or OCEANs, are composed of&nbsp;PEDOT:PSS. This polymer attracts or repulses positive ions from the surrounding liquid environment when there is electrical activity nearby. This modifies its chemical configuration and electronic structure, altering an optical property known as its refractive index, which changes how it scatters light.When researchers shine light onto the antenna, the intensity of the light changes in proportion to the electrical signal present in the liquid.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1735259967015-ezgif-4-326702faf8.gif" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The brightness of light scattered by the tiny antennas the researchers developed, called OCEANs, changes in response to changing electrical signals in the liquid environment that surrounds them, as shown here. By capturing and measuring the light with an optical microscope, researchers could decode the intricate signals used for cellular communication. Credit: Courtesy of the researchersWith thousands or even millions of tiny antennas in an array, each only 1 micrometer wide, the researchers can capture the scattered light with an optical microscope and measure electrical signals from cells with high resolution. Because each antenna is an independent sensor, the researchers do not need to pool the contribution of multiple antennas to monitor electrical signals, which is why OCEANs can detect signals with micrometer resolution.Intended for in vitro&nbsp;studies, OCEAN arrays are designed to have cells cultured directly on top of them and put under an optical microscope for analysis.<h2>“Growing” antennas on a chip</h2>Key to the devices is the precision with which the researchers can fabricate arrays in the MIT.nano facilities.They start with a glass substrate and deposit layers of conductive then insulating material on top, each of which is optically transparent. Then they use a focused ion beam to cut hundreds of nanoscale holes into the top layers of the device. This special type of focused ion beam enables high-throughput nanofabrication.“This instrument is basically like a pen where you can etch anything with a 10-nanometer resolution,” he says.They submerge the chip in a solution that contains the precursor building blocks for the polymer. By applying an electric current to the solution, that precursor material is attracted into the tiny holes on the chip, and mushroom-shaped antennas “grow” from the bottom up.The entire fabrication process is relatively fast, and the researchers could use this technique to make a chip with millions of antennas.“This technique could be easily adapted so it is fully scalable. The limiting factor is how many antennas we can image at the same time,” he says.The researchers optimized the dimensions of the antennas and adjusted parameters, which enabled them to achieve high enough sensitivity to monitor signals with voltages as low as 2.5 millivolts in simulated experiments. Signals sent by neurons for communication are usually around 100 millivolts.“Because we took the time to really dig in and understand the theoretical model behind this process, we can maximize the sensitivity of the antennas,” he says.OCEANs also responded to changing signals in only a few milliseconds, enabling them to record electrical signals with fast kinetics. Moving forward, the researchers want to test the devices with real cell cultures. They also want to reshape the antennas so they can penetrate cell membranes, enabling more precise signal detection.In addition, they want to study how OCEANs could be integrated into nanophotonic devices, which manipulate light at the nanoscale for next-generation sensors and optical devices.This research is funded, in part, by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

To improve biosensing techniques that can aid in diagnosis and treatment, MIT researchers developed tiny, wireless antennas that use light to detect minute electrical signals in liquid environments, which are shown in this rendering. Credit: Marta Airaghi and Benoit Desbiolles

As part of a high-resolution biosensing device without wires, the antennas could help researchers decode intricate electrical signals sent by cells.

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

The healthcare sector is undergoing a transformation driven by artificial intelligence (AI). This transformation brings with it new standards of patient care, diagnosis, and treatment efficacy. Worldwide, healthcare systems face challenges ranging from improving patient outcomes to providing efficient patient care. These challenges require innovative solutions and engender technologies that will help achieve new medical practices.AI has incredible analytical capabilities and offers new opportunities to the healthcare industry, such as enhanced diagnostic precision by leveraging vast datasets and identifying patterns and anomalies. AI does not diminish the doctors’ roles but enhances their ability to make decisions with swift and accurate diagnoses. With AI-driven insights, doctors can validate findings with their expertise and understanding of patient care.But AI's impact goes beyond diagnostics into predictive analysis in patient care to personalized treatment plans. It could optimize healthcare delivery. These advancements could lead to a reduction in wait times, targeted therapies, and better health outcomes.Acknowledging AI's capacity requires a balanced conversation, considering the ethical, privacy, and data security concerns associated with integrating such technology into healthcare.The goal is to create a working relationship between AI and medical professionals, where the technology heightens human expertise instead of replacing it. Collaboration paves the way for a future where healthcare is more accessible, efficient, and effective.<h2>Transitioning to the Digital Age</h2>Historically, medical records were kept as handwritten or transcribed hardcopy notes for every patient visit, treatment, and progress. When computers became commonplace, medical data became stored electronically; but even then, it took many years for doctors to adjust to this new system. Early on, health professionals used non-networked, closed computer systems to store and retrieve patient information locally as needed.Internet connectivity allowed software companies to serve the medical community with data capture, report generation, relational database management, and, more importantly, medical billing and accounting. Insurance companies changed the operational aspects of medical practice, requiring medical practitioners to code records in very specific ways. Computerized data systems could help file insurance claims electronically via modems and faxes. There was hope that this would allow doctors to spend more quality time with their patients. While it indeed saved time, it encountered initial challenges.In 1996, the US Congress introduced the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/index.html" target="_blank" data-internal="false" rel="noopener">Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)</a> to centralize and protect patient health information. However, the act inadvertently imposed significant challenges on small medical practices. Transitioning years of hardcopy patient records into a HIPAA-compliant, searchable database proved costly and labor-intensive without the option to use simple scanning methods. Even filing insurance claims required some expertise and posed additional challenges.HIPAA tried to integrate all health information with the goal of preserving privacy and security, as well as reporting breaches. Using an electronic protected health information (ePHI) approach, all protected health information produced, saved, transferred, or received electronically needed to conform to HIPAA’s rules. Only authorized users could see the data.Centralizing these data streamlined how health professionals, agencies, insurers, and statistical data-gathering arms of the government (such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Network) shared information. This aimed to improve efficiency and the quality of care through digital innovation.<h2>Ambient Clinical Intelligence</h2>One such innovation is ambient clinical intelligence (ACI), which uses speech recognition and voice recording to capture interactions between patients and medical staff. Using auto-dictation for record-keeping reduces the number of practitioners who need to attend to a patient. For example, instead of requiring an assistant to take notes during an examination, a computer with ACI listens, records, and transcribes all interactions between the physician and the patient. The assistant can then perform other tasks as needed.When AI is combined with this data exchange, it can help eliminate or reduce transcription errors, and the physician can continue with the examination. While it is possible today to use standard hardware to implement some of these functions, pervasive AI technology is expected to play a more dominant role, especially with context and medical pattern recognition for diagnosis and prognosis assistance.For example, medical monitoring services could combine AI with sensors and video feeds to detect a patient's fall. Phones and medical alert pendants can do that now, but patients may remove their pendants or may not be near their phones. However, an AI-enabled video system can detect if the pendant is removed while still detecting a fall.As AI has evolved, staff can now create documents automatically and format data to comply with electronic health records standards. This simplifies clinical review and helps to ensure timely filing of data and claims. It can also reduce—possibly eliminate—burnout among medical professionals who have been overworked and not given as much time with patients as they would like.<h2>How ACI Works</h2>Initially, ACI will function like a digital butler designed for transcription, documentation, coding, formatting, storage, and transmission. But AI medical technology will continue to evolve, with increasingly larger data sets as health sensors are placed or implanted in patients. With continuous monitoring of patients' stats, AI that has access can be trained on anonymized, ultra-large, HIPAA-compliant datasets. AI will be not only making diagnoses but also discoveries that can further advance medical knowledge and treatment modalities.By accessing this (anonymized) information, the AI could discover new potentially hazardous drug interactions. For example, an AI may discover that a statistically significant number of patients taking medication A for a specific affliction and medication B for another affliction develop condition C.Implanted and worn sensors are not the only tools AI health and wellness monitoring technology can use. Computerized video processing can determine heart rate and blood pressure by monitoring blood vessels humans may not notice or even be able to see.The combined knowledge and experience of humans and AI can be used to diagnose patients more effectively than ever before. AI trained with large data sets and experience has already demonstrated its ability to read biopsy data and even catch cancers that experienced doctors have missed.<a href="https://resources.mouser.com/medical/creating-better-medical-practices-with-ai#_edn1" name="_ednref1" data-internal="self">[1]</a>What does this mean for medical facilities? In the short term, it will help unburden staff from mundane paperwork and filing. It will allow doctors to spend more time with their patients, possibly leading to more reliable diagnoses. It may also help reduce the number of practitioners and staff needed to operate a medical facility under normal conditions.<h2>Future Considerations</h2>As medical facilities continue to navigate regulations like HIPAA, insurance companies' requirements, and evolving patient-doctor relationships, the healthcare sector is looking for new solutions to enhance efficiency and reduce error. Medical malpractice is real, and the industry is prone to human error.Integrating AI and robotics into healthcare offers exciting opportunities to complement human expertise with the precision and recall of AI technologies. Of course, questions arise with new technologies, including cost, government support, data oversight, security, and the logistics of system updates. Cloud-based and corporate entities are emerging to assist medical practitioners with their filing and coding, signifying a trend toward digital transformation in the healthcare industry.With consistent advancements in dexterity, vision, and data processing, robotics will eventually emerge as an even more valuable tool in medical procedures (Figure 1). When we look to the future, the key will be a balanced approach and a collaboration between technology and humans to advance healthcare and maintain trust.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzM0OTQ5ODIzNDIzLXJvYm90IHN1cmdlcnkuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 832px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Figure 1: As medical robotic technology improves, robotic surgeons may increasingly perform tasks that humans previously performed. They have better vision, dexterity, and a deeper knowledge base. Image credit: Futek This AI revolution in healthcare means that medical training will have to change. Doctors may need to focus on more personalized medicine that leverages large datasets to predict, prevent, and cure diseases effectively and efficiently. Medical curricula may include data science, machine learning, and ethical considerations in AI technology. Transitioning into this AI-driven healthcare era means doctors must understand privacy concerns in digital healthcare.Centralizing personal and medical data raises security concerns, as data is always susceptible to breach. While data may be encrypted, it is not guaranteed to be safe; even the most prominent companies with the best IT departments have been breached. With continuous advancements in cybersecurity and data protection protocols, the healthcare industry is becoming increasingly adept at safeguarding this sensitive information, ensuring that the benefits of data centralization can be realized while minimizing risks.<h2>Conclusion</h2>As the medical field evolves to integrate AI, it must balance technological advancements and data security. While there will always be risks associated with digitizing aspects of our lives, the potential of AI to revolutionize healthcare by improving efficiency and patient outcomes is inspiring. As healthcare industries embrace AI while staying abreast of cybersecurity measures, a brighter future that changes how we treat patients and save lives awaits.<h2 id="isPasted">Sources</h2><a href="https://resources.mouser.com/medical/creating-better-medical-practices-with-ai#_ednref1" name="_edn1" data-internal="self"></a><a href="https://resources.mouser.com/medical/creating-better-medical-practices-with-ai#_ednref1">[1]</a> "More Breast Cancers Detected in First Evaluation of Breast Screening AI,” University of Aberdeen, March 21, 2024, https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/22964/.<h3> </h3>

AI is transforming healthcare by enhancing diagnostic accuracy, optimizing patient care, and improving treatment outcomes, while also necessitating careful consideration of ethics, privacy, and data security.

Creating Better Medical Practices With AI

Liquid crystal elastomers are a class of soft materials that can change shape in response to stimuli such as light or heat — making them promising for applications in soft robotics, wearable and biomedical devices, smart textiles and more. But designing compositionally uniform elastomers that can change into different shapes in response to just one stimulus has been challenging and has limited the application of these potentially powerful materials.&nbsp;Now, researchers from the&nbsp;<a href="https://seas.harvard.edu/">Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</a> (SEAS) have developed a way to program liquid crystal elastomers with the ability to deform in opposite directions just by heating — opening up a range of applications.&nbsp;The research was published in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq6434" target="_blank">Science</a>.&nbsp;“We have shown that by encoding multiple phase transitions within a single material, we can create scalable, easy to fabricate systems capable of achieving various deformations and shape changes without the need of complex designs or composite materials,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://seas.harvard.edu/person/joanna-aizenberg">Joanna Aizenberg</a>, the Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science and Professor of Chemistry &amp; Chemical Biology at SEAS and senior author of the paper.&nbsp;The team used an approach that combined theoretical modeling,&nbsp;chemical modifications, and mechanics of polymer-polymer interactions to design the system. They began by orienting liquid crystal monomers, which could be bonded together to form polymer chains, along one direction in a magnetic field. The monomers, which were designed with long molecular tails and long linkers, would dangle at the side of polymer chains — like the pendulum of a clock.When exposed to UV light, the oriented molecules tether together and form polymer chains. The process of polymerization contracts and puts strain on the material, squeezing those aligned monomers into a zig-zag, chevron-like pattern of polymers.&nbsp;The researchers found that when they increased the temperature, those chevron-shaped polymers flattened and stacked into flat layers. If they increased the temperature further, those layers transformed into a randomly coiled state — like a pile of spaghetti. When they lowered the temperature back down, the random polymers reformed into flat layers then back into chevrons.&nbsp;“With soft actuators, we need deformations to be reversible so we can cycle them many, many times,” said Milan Wilborn, a PhD candidate in Aizenberg’s lab and co-first author of the paper. &nbsp;“And we demonstrated that we can switch between these three phases at high frequency, moving quickly between each deformation state.”The researchers also demonstrated that by aligning the molecules in different directions before polymerization, they could encode different shape changes into the material, including flat sheets that move like the fins of stingrays and jellyfish by morphing into saddles and domes. &nbsp;“What is so powerful about this research is we have this single, soft material which can achieve opposite deformations. So at room temperature, the material is flat, then it forms a saddle when the polymers are stacked in flat layers and then transforms into a dome when the polymers become random,” said Wilborn. “We’re really excited about using these materials as soft actuators for bioinspired motions.”These transformations respond to not only temperature, but also light and solvent, making them useful for applications from smart textiles to temperature-regulating robotic skins.&nbsp;This research was co-authored by Yuxing Yao, Baptiste Lemaire, Foteini Trigka, Friedrich Stricker, Alan H. Weible, Shucong Li, Robert K. A. Bennett, Tung Chun Cheung, Alison Grinthal, Mikhail Zhernenkov, Guillaume Freychet, Patryk Wąsik, Boris Kozinsky, Michael M. Lerch and Xiaoguang Wang.It was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences and the Harvard University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Researchers encode multiple shapes into simple material

Shape-changing soft material for soft robotics, smart textiles and more

In the holiday movie The Grinch, makeup artists are reported to have spent several hours each day encasing Jim Carrey’s face with prosthetics to create the iconic grumpy, green-furred creature. Such elaborate prosthetics, often made possible by materials like silicone rubbers, may have now found an unexpected yet beneficial biomedical engineering application, according to a new study from Texas A&amp;M University.<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-76652-y" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Published in the journal Scientific Reports</a>,&nbsp;researchers have created realistic, skin-like replicas made of Ecoflex, a type of silicone rubber that can potentially serve as a platform to evaluate risks of bacterial infections from intravenous catheters and test wearable sensors, among other biomedical applications. The study found that EcoFlex-based skin replicas can be engineered to mimic actual skin textures, wettability, and elasticity, simulating the conditions where bacteria grow and adhere.“We think that the material holds tremendous promise for studying infections at the insertion site due to bacteria that are naturally occurring on the skin,” said Majed Othman Althumayri, a graduate student in the Texas A&amp;M Department of Biomedical Engineering and primary author of the paper. “Our goal was to create a skin-like material with ingredients that can be purchased off the shelf. Ecoflex is not just easy to use, it can be cured quickly with minimum additional steps, making it very convenient.”&nbsp;There are roughly a million bacteria per square centimeter of human skin. The most common of them is Staphylococcus, particularly the species Staphylococcus epidermidis, which is considered a typical resident of the skin microbiome. Infections often happen when there is a cut, break or wound on the skin, allowing the bacteria to enter the bloodstream. In fact, a relatively common infection in hospitals comes from surgically inserting tubes or catheters into veins. Each year, around 80,000 catheter-related bloodstream infections happen in intensive care units alone, underscoring its public health significance in the United States.“We have been slow in finding solutions for preventing infections from intravenous catheters,” said Althumayri. “A reason could be that we lack good platforms to test new catheter designs or &nbsp;wearable biosensor technologies and train staff so that the number of infections can be reduced.”&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1734481767784-News-BMEN-Hands3Long-16Dec2024.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Hand replica made of Ecoflex. | Image:&nbsp;<cite id="isPasted">Courtesy of Majed Othman Althumayri</cite>To address this gap, the researchers turned to Ecoflex 00-35, a fast-curing, biocompatible rubber used for various applications, including prosthetics for special effects. First, they created molds of common intravenous insertion sites, such as the elbows, hands and forearms. Then, by pouring Ecoflex into the molds that contained artificial bones and tubes acting as veins, the researchers created skin-like replicas.&nbsp;Next, the researchers tested if the Ecoflex skin replicas had properties that matched that of real skin. They measured the replicas’ wettability, bacterial adhesion and mechanical properties, such as elasticity and resilience. The researchers found that the Ecoflex models could replicate human skin roughness within a 7.5% error margin. Further, high-resolution imaging showed that bacteria could adhere to the skin replica and grow on it.&nbsp;Then, in a key experiment, the researchers simulated an intravenous catheter insertion into an Ecoflex hand replica that they created. This artificial hand effectively modeled phases of bacterial growth, showing promise that these replicas can be used for implementing infection control measures and improving the design of medical devices like catheters.However, the researchers noted that their current experiments do not entirely model real-world conditions.&nbsp;“Developing realistic skin models that can mimic the human skin is an important initial step,” said Dr. Hatice Ceylan Koydemir, corresponding author on the study and assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering with a research program housed within the Texas A&amp;M University Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems. “But we think that incorporating additional elements, like body fluids and other clinically relevant situations, in future experiments will bolster our findings and further validate Ecoflex’s potential for medical applications.”Other contributors to the research include Azra Yaprak Tarman, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.This study was partly sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (one of the National Institutes of Health), the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation-funded&nbsp;<a href="https://tees.tamu.edu/research/initiatives/paths-up.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Engineering Research Center PATHS-UP</a>. Researchers also received additional support from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems, the Texas A&amp;M Engineering Experiment Station, the AggieFab Nanofabrication Facility, and the Soft Matter Facility.

Graduate student Majed Othman Althumayri demonstrates an Ecoflex cast of his hand. | Image: Emily Oswald/Texas A&M Engineering

In a new study, Texas A&M researchers have used a skin-like material as a platform for investigating infections from intravenous catheters.

Prosthetic Material Could Help Reduce Infections from Intravenous Catheters

A tiny, four-fingered “hand” folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report. Dubbed the NanoGripper, the nanorobotic hand also could be programmed to interact with other viruses or to recognize cell surface markers for targeted drug delivery, such as for cancer treatment.&nbsp;Led by <a href="https://bioengineering.illinois.edu/people/xingw">Xing Wang</a>, a professor of <a href="https://bioengineering.illinois.edu/">bioengineering</a> and of <a href="https://chemistry.illinois.edu/">chemistry</a> at the U. of I., the researchers describe their advance in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adi2084">Science Robotics</a>.&nbsp;Inspired by the gripping power of the human hand and bird claws, the researchers designed the NanoGripper with four bendable fingers and a palm, all in one nanostructure folded from a single piece of DNA. Each finger has three joints, like a human finger, and the angle and degree of bending are determined by the design on the DNA scaffold.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1733792836250-232743.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Inspired by the human hand or bird claws, the NanoGripper has four fingers and a palm, all folded from one piece of DNA. Image courtesy of Xing Wang“We wanted to make a soft material, nanoscale robot with grabbing functions that never have been seen before, to interact with cells, viruses and other molecules for biomedical applications,” Wang said. “We are using DNA for its structural properties. It is strong, flexible and programmable. Yet even in the DNA origami field, this is novel in terms of the design principle. We fold one long strand of DNA back and forth to make all of the elements, both the static and moving pieces, in one step.”The fingers contain regions called DNA aptamers that are specially programmed to bind to molecular targets — the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19, for this first application ­— and trigger the fingers to bend to wrap around the target. On the opposite side, where the wrist would be, the NanoGripper can attach to a surface or other larger complex for biomedical applications such as sensing or drug delivery.&nbsp;To create a sensor to detect the COVID-19 virus, Wang’s team partnered with a group led by Illinois electrical and computer engineering professor <a href="https://ece.illinois.edu/about/directory/faculty/bcunning">Brian Cunningham</a>, who specializes in biosensing. They coupled the NanoGripper with a photonic crystal sensor platform to create a rapid, 30-minute COVID-19 test matching the sensitivity of the gold-standard qPCR molecular tests used by hospitals, which are more accurate than at-home tests but take much longer. &nbsp;&nbsp;“Our test is very fast and simple since we detect the intact virus directly,” Cunningham said. “When the virus is held in the NanoGripper’s hand, a fluorescent molecule is triggered to release light when illuminated by an LED or laser. When a large number of fluorescent molecules are concentrated upon a single virus, it becomes bright enough in our detection system to count each virus individually.”&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1733792872784-232744.jpg" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The NanoGripper can be designed to detect a number of viruses or other molecules, or even for targeted drug delivery for cancer treatment, the researchers say. Pictured, from left: researcher Wei Hong, graduate student Linh Le, postdoctoral researcher Mengxi Zheng, Professor Xing Wang, Professor Brian Cunningham, graduate student Skye Shepherd, research fellow Tingjie Song and postdoctoral researcher Saurabh Umrao.In addition to diagnostics, the NanoGripper could have applications in preventive medicine by blocking viruses from entering and infecting cells, Wang said. The researchers found that when NanoGrippers were added to cell cultures that were then exposed to COVID-19, multiple grippers would wrap around the outside of the viruses. This blocked the viral spike proteins from interacting with receptors on the cells’ surface, preventing infection.&nbsp;“It would be very difficult to apply it after a person is infected, but there’s a way we could use it as a preventive therapeutic,” Wang said. “We could make an anti-viral nasal spray compound. The nose is the hot spot for respiratory viruses, like COVID or influenza. A nasal spray with the NanoGripper could prevent inhaled viruses from interacting with the cells in the nose.”&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1733792895626-232746.png" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">An artistic rendering of the NanoGripper’s applications. Sites on the gripper’s fingers recognize the spike protein of a virus, inset, and trigger fluorescent tags to emit light. When coupled with a sensor, individual viruses can be detected for a rapid COVID test, foreground. Alternately, the NanoGrippers can block viruses from entering cells by wrapping around the spike proteins, top right.The NanoGripper could easily be engineered to target other viruses, such as influenza, HIV or hepatitis B, Wang said. In addition, Wang envisions using the NaoGripper for targeted drug delivery. For example, the fingers could be programmed to identify specific cancer markers, and grippers could carry cancer-fighting treatments directly to the target cells.“This approach has bigger potential than the few examples we demonstrated in this work,” Wang said. “There are some adjustments we would have to make with the 3D structure, the stability and the targeting aptamers or nanobodies, but we’ve developed several techniques to do this in the lab. Of course it would require a lot of testing, but the potential applications for cancer treatment and the sensitivity achieved for diagnostic applications showcase the power of soft nanorobotics.” &nbsp;<hr>The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation supported this work. Wang and Cunningham are affiliated with the <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> and the&nbsp;<a href="https://hmntl.illinois.edu/">Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Lab</a> at the U. of I.&nbsp;

Illinois researchers developed a nanorobotic hand made of DNA that can grab viruses for detection or inhibition. In this artist’s rendering, three “NanoGripper” hands wrap around a COVID-19 virus. Image courtesy of Xing Wang

A tiny, four-fingered “hand” folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral particles from entering cells to infect them, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report.

Nanorobot hand made of DNA grabs viruses for diagnostics and blocks cell entry

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Unitree B2 has evolved once again, is there an end?

<section id="isPasted">The combination of light-based and electronic components on a single computer chip would have many benefits for our computing needs. Chips would be faster and consume less energy when using light. However, the problem with current silicon-based technologies is that they cannot emit light. TU/e full professor Erik Bakkers has big plans to change that, though. Along with colleagues at TU Munich and the University of Twente, the research team has just been awarded a €14 million ERC Synergy grant. €5 million will be used to back groundbreaking research at TU/e, with Bakkers coordinating the international project.</section><section tabindex="-1">“Light-emitting chips is the holy grail of future computing technologies – the realization of these chips could revolutionize computing technologies.”That’s how&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/erik-bakkers" target="_blank">Erik Bakkers</a> – Full Professor at the Department of Applied Physics and Science Education – views the promise of light-emitting microchips.<h3>SiGe holds the key</h3>To get to the promised land, though, a fundamental property of the materials used to make our microchips needs to change.“We must change how atoms are arranged relative to each other. In technical terms, we need to move away from the natural cubic structure of many materials to one that is based on the hexagonal arrangement of atoms. If we achieve this, the materials will be able to emit light.”This is the central goal of the project ‘Bright Chips’, a collaboration between Bakkers, Professor Floris Zwanenburg from the University of Twente, and Professor Jonathan Finley from the Technical University of Munich. The project has just received significant funding to the tune of €14 million as part of the ERC Synergy grant initiative.The material of choice for the ‘Bright Chips’ project is silicon germanium (SiGe) – an alloy that has been shown in recent years to have the suitable properties to emit light.<h3>Three’s not a crowd</h3>“We want to understand how and why SiGe emits light, both from a classical and quantum physics perspectives,” says Bakkers. “Our project is a truly multidisciplinary project which combines the worlds of materials science, photonics, and electronics. And each member of the ‘Bright Chips’ project team will focus on one of these three topics.”At TU/e, the Bakkers’ team will fabricate a new material system based on hexagonal SiGe. Thereafter, the team at TU Munich led by Jonathan Finley will characterize the new SiGe material, and using the material, they plan to demonstrate single photon emitters and lasers.Finally, at the University of Twente, Floris Zwanenburg’s group will fabricate and measure the performance of electronic devices that incorporate the SiGe light-emitting components.“A major milestone or goal for Bright Chips is to study optically-connected SiGe-spin qubits. These can be quickly changed, upscaled, and they are expected to be long-lived due to the unique properties of the materials we will work with,” says Bakkers. “We’re excited to get started with the project!”<h3 id="isPasted">Making blood cells</h3>The second project with TU/e involvement to get an ERC Synergy grant is ‘MakingBlood’.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/research/researchers/cecilia-sahlgren" target="_blank">Cecilia Sahlgren</a>, a part-time Full Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and mainly based at Åbo Akademi University in Finland, is one of the four principal investigators on the project.“MakingBlood is seeking to make human blood stem cells (also known as hematopoietic stem cells) using human pluripotent stem cells,” says Sahlgren. “At present, blood stem cells are collected from donors.”“However, too often, a suitable stem cell donor cannot be found. We will explore the cellular, molecular, and physical features that are important for the generation of blood stem cells. Lessons learned here will be used to make blood cells in the lab using a dedicated&nbsp;in vitro setup.”TU/e will play two roles in the project. First, researchers will manufacture a high throughput approach to control flow with magnetic cilia, which will be used to build the embryonic niches that are important for the formation of blood stem cells in the human embryo.This will be done in collaboration with&nbsp;<a href="https://research.tue.nl/en/persons/ye-wang" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Ye Wang</a>, who is based in the group of Jaap den Toonder at the Department of Mechanical Engineering.Second, researchers will create&nbsp;in vitro models of the embryonic niches where blood stem cells are formed in the embryo. The ‘MakingBlood’ project is coordinated by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain, by Professor Anna Bigas.The other principal investigators are Gerald de Haan, Research Director of Sanquin, the Dutch Blood Bank, and Dr Cristina Pina, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Brunel University.<hr><h3 id="isPasted">About the ERC Synergy Grant</h3>A group of two to a maximum of four Principal Investigators (PIs) working together and bringing different skills and resources to tackle ambitious research problems. &nbsp;One will be designated as the corresponding PI (cPI).No specific eligibility criteria regarding the academic training&nbsp;are foreseen for ERC Synergy Grants.PI’s must present a competitive track record that is appropriate to their career stage. Proposals are evaluated on the sole criterion of scientific excellence , which takes on the additional meaning of outstanding intrinsic synergetic effect.</section>

Nemea computer chip with light coming out of it. Image: Created by Jason Jung using Midjourney v4

The first project is developing light-based chips to bridge the gap between photonics and electronics. The second project plans to make blood cells using blood stem cells. The two projects are the first ERC Synergy grants for TU/e.

ERC Synergy grants for cutting-edge light-based chips and for blood cells

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Machine in Laboratory

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