In experiments that pave the way for tiny mobile surgical tools activated by heat or chemicals, Johns Hopkins University researchers have invented dust-particle-size devices that can be used to grab and remove living cells from hard-to-reach places without the need for electrical wires, tubes or batteries. Instead, the devices are actuated by thermal or biochemical signals. The mass-producible microgrippers each measure approximately one-tenth of a millimeter in diameter. In lab tests, they have been used to perform a biopsy-like procedure on animal tissue placed at the end of a narrow tube. Experiments using the devices were reported last week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Although the devices will require further refinement before they can be used in humans, David H. Gracias, who supervised the project, said these micro-tools represent a major engineering advance. “We’ve demonstrated tiny inexpensive tools that can be triggered en masse by nontoxic biochemicals,” said Gracias. “This is an important first step toward creating a new set of biochemically responsive and perhaps even autonomous micro- and nanoscale surgical tools that could help doctors diagnose illnesses and administer treatment in a more efficient, less invasive way.”

Today, doctors who wish to collect cells or manipulate a bit of tissue inside a patient’s body often use tethered microgrippers connected to thin wires or tubes. But these tethers can make it difficult navigate the tool through tortuous or hard-to-reach locations. To eliminate this problem, the untethered grippers devised by Gracias’ team contain gold-plated nickel, allowing them to be steered by magnets outside the body. The microgrippers are triggered to close and extricate cells from tissue when exposed to certain biochemicals or biologically relevant temperatures.” That grasping ability is rooted in the chemical composition of the joints embedded in the tiny crab-shaped device’s finger-like digits. These joints contain thin layers of chromium and copper with stress characteristics that would normally cause the digits to curl themselves closed like fingers clasping a baseball. But the researchers added a polymer resin, giving the joints rigidity to keep the fingers from closing. When the microgrippers arrive at their destination, however, the researchers raise the temperature to 40 degrees C, which softens the polymer and causes the fingers to flex shut. The Hopkins TTO has obtained a provisional U.S. patent covering the technology and is seeking international patent protection.

Go to: NanoTechWire

Posted January 21st, 2009 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Researchers at Baylor University have developed a simple and inexpensive process to manufacture automotive parts from coconut husks — an abundant, renewable resource in many developing countries located at or near the Equator. The technology uses coconut fiber to replace synthetic polyester fibers in compression-molded composites, which can be fabricated into trunk liners, floorboards, and interior door covers. The mechanical properties of coconut fibers are equal to or better than those of synthetic and polyester fibers when used in automotive parts, according to Walter Bradley, PhD, distinguished professor of engineering at Baylor, and coconuts don’t burn easily or emit toxic fumes — characteristics that are crucial for commercial automotive parts. Automotive parts using the coconut fiber are undergoing tests to ensure the fiber meets safety performance specifications, and Bradley hopes to have the coconut car parts in use by this summer.

While the Baylor team awaits approval of its patent application, the group has partnered with Waco, TX-based Hobbs Bonded Fibers, which supplies unwoven fiber mats to four major automotive companies, to begin developing commercial automotive applications. Along with the royalty revenue it hopes to generate, Baylor hopes to triple the annual income of the world’s 11 million coconut farmers by increasing the market price for each coconut to 30 cents. That price would still make the composites cheaper than petroleum-based fibers currently used by automotive suppliers, which cost about 60 cents per pound. Bradley sees a potential market for 300 million pounds of coconut castoffs every year, noting that Mercedes-Benz already uses natural fibers, including coconut fibers, in the interiors of some models.

Go to: Waco Tribune-Herald

Posted January 14th, 2009 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have developed an ultrasound device that can travel from the eardrum through the middle ear before resting against the inner ear to provide images of the basilier membrane as at it vibrates. The device then sends messages to the brain as it interprets sound. “We’ve been taking what’s called a ‘bench-top to bedside’ approach,” says Jeremy Brown, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, who collaborated with ear surgeon Manohar Bance on the invention. “I’d have no idea if this was possible unless I was paired with a surgeon,” adds Brown, whose research is designed to improve hearing reconstruction methods and develop new prostheses. The device measures only two millimeters in diameter but contains 150 elements — tiny transducers that vibrate when electric signals are applied. Once planted deep within the ear through a minor surgical procedure, the probe could detect scarring from implants in the middle ear or inner ear disorders such as Meniere’s disease, which causes episodes of vertigo. The next step is to build on prototypes that have been tested successfully in mice. Funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s Leaders Opportunity Fund and a matching grant from the Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust will allow the researchers to acquire equipment developed by the semi-conductor industry to build and further refine the miniature devices. Brown and Bance are collaborating on a second project to develop tiny, surgically implanted hearing aids.

Go to: Science Centric

Posted December 17th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Researchers at WMG (formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group) at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK, have developed a method to produce synthetic bone by borrowing techniques normally used to make catalytic converters for automobiles. Using state-of-the-art extrusion of the implant material through a mold, the scientists produced a three-dimensional honeycomb texture that contains uniform pores. Surgeons can sculpt this material to match a bone defect precisely. Following implantation, bone cells migrate into the implant and begin to form new bone. “We worked with a Japanese company which manufactures catalytic converters and used their facility to produce samples which we could test in the laboratory,” explains WMG researcher Kajal Mallick. “We found that we were able to use calcium phosphates — a family of bioceramics that are routinely used in bone implant operations — but by using this technique we were able to improve significantly both the strength and porosity of the implant.” The material’s increased strength could enable it to replace non-degradable materials such as titanium or steel in spinal surgery and in hip and knee revisions. The technique creates “nearly an ideal scaffold structure for efficient blood flow and formation of new bone cells,” Mallick adds. The researchers are working with Warwick Ventures, the university’s TTO, to seek a commercialization partner. Go to: ScienceDaily

Posted December 10th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology has licensed a patented nanotechnology designed to create self-cleaning paints, which will get rid of accumulated dirt on their own. The process created by the Institute, part of the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), produces a photo-catalytic self-cleaning coating using titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Exposure of the coating to UV light from a fluorescence source or the sun causes selective oxidation at its surface, causing the self-cleaning effect. Exploit Technologies — A*STAR’s commercialization arm — will execute a license for the technology with Singapore-based paint and chemical producer Haruna Pte Ltd. tomorrow during Exploit’s TechLicensing Fair 2008. In a release announcing completion of the deal, Exploit officials say the cost saving potential of self-cleaning coatings is immense, given that a typical commercial building has its surface washed at least once a year. Other commercial structures such as shopping malls may pay for cleanings as often as once a quarter, with each wash costing between S$10,000 to S$50,000 (about $6,600 to $33,000 US), depending on the size of the building. Go to: Exploit Technologies

Posted November 19th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

University of Utah scientists have created a sensitive prototype device that could test for dozens or even hundreds of diseases simultaneously by acting like a credit card-swipe machine to scan a card loaded with microscopic blood, saliva or urine samples. The prototype works on the same principle — giant magnetoresistance or GMR — that is used to read data on computer hard drives or listen to tunes on portable digital music players. “Think how fast your PC reads data on a hard drive, and imagine using the same technology to monitor your health,” says Marc Porter, a Utah Science, Technology and Research (USTAR) professor of chemistry, chemical engineering and bioengineering who is leading the research on the system. Two studies of the device by Porter and his team were published in the November 1 issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry. “You can envision this as a wellness check in which a patient sample — blood, urine, saliva — is spotted on a sample stick or card, scanned, and then the readout indicates your state of well-being,” says co-author Michael Granger. “We have a great sensor able to look for many disease markers.” And unlike lab tests today, results could be available in minutes, not hours or weeks. In addition to obvious applications in human and veterinary medicine, “we also think it has homeland security applications,” Porter says. A card swipe device could be taken into the field, where a sample card or stick “could be dipped in groundwater, dried off and read in our device to look for E. coli, plague, smallpox or other suspects on the homeland security list,” he says. Cards with GMR sensors also could be used for environmental monitoring of various toxins or toxic chemicals in water or air, Granger adds. The new research shows the technology’s high sensitivity, detecting as few as 800 microscopic particles that mimicked disease-related substances. Card-swipe testing devices would be inexpensive because they use existing, inexpensive hard-drive technology, Granger says. “The price would be such that small diagnostic labs could buy them, and eventually your local pharmacist could have one,” Porter envisions. Go to: EurekAlert

Posted November 5th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Researchers at Frostburg (MD) State University are working with Instant Access Networks, LLC, to perfect a system that would use renewable energy to power electromagnetic pulse-protected microgrids. The microgrids are designed to provide electricity for critical infrastructure facilities in case of a disaster, such as nuclear explosion or massive solar storm, that wipes out conventional electrical systems. IAN has developed a patent-pending shielding technology that encloses a room or similar structure and protects it from electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events. The shielding, using electrically isolated layers of steel and aluminum, is up to 70% lighter than materials traditionally used by the military and other sources for EMP protection, enabling EMP-safe rooms to be portable, the company says. These shielded rooms can protect fiber optic network nodes and data or communication centers and house generators. When several are connected, they can create microgrids that could provide power to entire communities. “The idea is to create islands of power to reduce the cascading effects of a wide-scale failure,” says IAN president Charles Manto. Though it may be unthinkable, he points out, such an event is far from impossible. “A rogue state or terrorist organization could easily acquire nuclear material for a smaller weapon for $20 million,” Manto says. “That weapon could be fitted onto a Scud missile for as little as $100,000, fired and detonated 80 miles into the air and affect the entire U.S. east coast, causing up to $10 trillion in damage before you spend a nickel to fix anything.” A natural disaster in the form of a devastating solar storm is not unprecedented, he added. An event like the 1859 solar storm that shorted out telegraph wires in the U.S. and Europe could wreak havoc on today’s electrical systems.

The challenge FSU researchers will be tackling is finding a long-term energy source for microgrids, since it could take years to rebuild power infrastructure after a strong EMP event. A research team at the school will evaluating wind and solar solutions, calculate the energy consumption profile of mission-critical facilities and infrastructures, and develop an optimal design for the sustainable energy supply units and microgrid. “Long-term, renewable energy is critical for powering back-up electrical systems,” says Manto. “What’s more, in EMP scenarios the cost model for renewable energy changes because you have to eliminate the cheap, non-renewable fuels and the availability of the present electric grid. Renewable energy, even at a higher price, becomes cost-justified.” FSU is acquiring a residential-scale wind turbine for the project, which will be used to develop models for powering the microgrid. University researchers and IAN staff will also create designs to protect a wind turbine from an EMP attack. In addition, the university and IAN are planning to build the nation’s first EMP-protected business continuity park. The park will give urban area businesses and government agencies a remote place to backup their data and an alternative place to work in the wake of a disaster, in keeping with a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) all federal agencies are required to have. Go to: MarketWatch

Posted October 15th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

As the cost of fuel continues to spiral, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency, by as much as 20%. According to Rongjia Tao, chair of Temple’s physics department, the small device consists of an electrically charged tube that can be attached to the fuel line of a car’s engine near the fuel injector. With the use of a power supply from the vehicle’s battery, the device creates an electric field that thins fuel, or reduces its viscosity, so that smaller droplets are injected into the engine. That leads to more efficient and cleaner combustion than a standard fuel injector, he says. Six months of road testing in a diesel-powered automobile showed that the device increased highway fuel efficiency by 20% and gained 12-15% higher efficiency in city driving — translating into significantly better gas mileage. “We expect the device will have wide applications on all types of internal combustion engines, present ones and future ones,” Tao wrote in the study published in Energy & Fuels. Temple has applied for a patent on the technology, which has been licensed to California-based Save The World Air, Inc., an environmentally friendly enterprise focused on the design, development, and commercialization of revolutionary technologies targeted at reducing emissions from internal combustion engines. According to VP of Marketing Joe Dell, the company is currently working with a trucking business near Reading, PA, to test the device on diesel-powered trucks, where he estimates it could increase fuel efficiency as much as 6-12%. Dell predicts this type of increased fuel efficiency could save tens of billions of dollars in the trucking industry and have a major impact on the economy by lowering of cost of delivering goods and services. Go to: ScienceDaily

Posted October 1st, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Scientists at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) are developing and commercializing a promising new therapy for prostate cancer that may offer patients a faster and more precise treatment than existing clinical alternatives, with fewer side effects. The new treatment — magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided transurethral ultrasound — uses heat from focused ultrasound to destroy cancer in the prostate gland precisely while sparing the delicate noncancerous tissues, thus preserving healthy urinary, bowel, and sexual function. Sunnybrook researchers Dr. Michael Bronskill and Dr. Rajiv Chopra have licensed their innovation from SRI, affiliated with the University of Toronto, to spin out Profound Medical Inc., which will develop the technology for clinical use. Unlike surgical removal of the prostate, the treatment is minimally invasive and could be performed without a lengthy hospital stay. In preclinical studies, treatment takes less than 30 minutes. The therapy could help limit the number of men living with the common, debilitating and often permanent side effects of currently used surgical and radiation treatments — most notably incontinence and impotence. The innovation involves two different and previously incompatible technologies, ultrasound and MRI, which Bronskill and Chopra spent 10 years making compatible. “You have to make an ultrasound heating applicator work inside a magnetic resonance imager, without the two technologies interfering with each other,” says Bronskill. “The prostate cancer site is a natural for this technology because it’s surrounded by structures you want to spare.” Go to: Health News Blog

Posted September 24th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

In Abraham Stroock’s lab at Cornell University, the world’s first synthetic tree sits in a palm-sized piece of clear, flexible hydrogel — the type found in soft contact lenses. Stroock and graduate student Tobias Wheeler have created a “tree” that simulates transpiration, the process that allows trees to wick moisture upward to their highest branches. Their work, reported in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Nature, supports the long-standing theory that transpiration in trees and plants is a purely physical process, requiring no biological energy. It may lead to new passive heat transfer technologies for cars or buildings, better methods for remediating soil, and more effective ways to draw water out of partially dry ground.

Stroock’s synthetic tree doesn’t look much like a tree at all. It consists of two circles side by side in the gel, with evenly spaced microfluidic channels to mimic a tree’s vasculature. In nature, trees use water in tubular tissues, called xylem, like ropes that pull water from the ground and delivering it to leaves. They manipulate the water in the xylem under negative pressure — what’s called a metastable liquid state — on the verge of becoming a vapor. Xylem-like capillaries are relatively easy to create by microfabrication, but the researchers’ innovation was in the material used to simulate membranes in the leaf and root. They used pHEMA hydrogel, or polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate, to form the plant membranes. The hydrogel is a solid embedded with water and has nanometer-scale pores. It acts as a wick by holding liquid in the pores, through which capillary action creates tension in the water. By mimicking a real tree’s xylem capillaries within the gels, the scientists were able to create negative pressures of the magnitude observed in nature and pump water against large resistances and out of partially dry sources. Heat-transfer technology commonly used for cooling laptops could be scaled up using the technology developed for the synthetic tree, Stroock said — for example, in a building’s heating system. He also envisions the synthetic tree helping to build better soil remediation systems. Instead of having to soak contaminated soil to pump contaminants out, transpiration could help pull the contaminated fluid out of the soil without the use of more liquid. Similarly, the technology could be used to draw water out of relatively dry soil without having to dig a well down to the water table. Go to: ScienceDaily

Posted September 17th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

Hadasit, the technology transfer company of Jerusalem-based Hadassah Medical Organization, announced the successful pre-clinical testing of a prototype of its Double Lumen PCI Guiding Catheter for use in the treatment of coronary artery disease. Unlike conventional catheters, the device has two lumens rather than one, allowing for continuous medication infusion to the coronary artery during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). “There are currently only two options by which to give necessary medications, such as antiplatelets or anticoagulants, to a patient during a coronary artery procedure. The first is by IV; the second is by interrupting the procedure and giving injections through a conventional one lumen catheter,” said David Rott, MD, a cardiologist at Hadassah Hospital. With the new double-lumen device, he noted, “medications can now be delivered directly to the coronary artery without interrupting the procedure and without needing to wait for it to arrive through the blood stream from the IV. This may improve the results of and decrease the dose of medications administered, as necessary drugs may now be dispensed straight to the target area.” According the Hadasit president and CEO Dr. Rafi Hofstein, the innovation has “far reaching” potential to improve outcomes for millions of patients who undergo coronary angioplasty procedures each year. The TTO is now seeking partners to help finance further commercialization efforts. Go to: BusinessWire

Posted September 10th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

A new recycling plant will soon recover uranium from the ashes of radioactive garbage to be recycled back into nuclear fuel using an efficient, environmentally friendly technology inspired by decaffeinated coffee. The technique may eventually lead to recycling the most dangerous forms of radioactive waste. Developed at the University of Idaho by chemistry professor Chien Wai, the process uses supercritical fluids to dissolve toxic metals. When coupled with a purifying process developed in partnership with Sydney Koegler, a university alum and engineer with nuclear power company AREVA, enriched uranium can be recovered from the ashes of contaminated materials. The school signed an agreement with AREVA last week under which the company will use several of Wai’s discoveries to extract the metals from contaminated ash. AREVA provided research funding and will now gain rights to the university’s share of a joint patent that further separates the enriched uranium from the extracted metals.

A supercritical fluid — in this case carbon dioxide — is any substance raised to a temperature and pressure at which it exhibits properties of both a gas and a liquid. When supercritical, the substance can move directly into a solid like a gas and yet dissolve compounds like a liquid. Supercritical carbon dioxide has directly dissolved and removed caffeine from whole coffee beans for decades, Wai noted. When the carbon dioxide’s pressure is returned to normal, it becomes a gas and evaporates, leaving behind only the extracted metals. No solvents are required, no acids are applied, and no organic waste is left behind. “That’s why decaffeinated coffee tastes so good,” said Wai. Because the technology is so simple, cost-effective and environmentally friendly, AREVA is eager to test its first full-scale use on 32 tons of incinerator ash at a nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Richland, WA. During normal operation at the plant, common items including filters, rags, paper wipes, and gloves become contaminated with uranium. The waste is burned to reduce its volume and increase its uranium content, making it easier to recover the uranium. Nearly 10% of the ash’s weight is usable enriched uranium, worth about $900 dollars per pound on today’s market. That means about $5 million dollars is currently sitting in the garbage waiting to be recovered, Wai said. “This process has been extremely collaborative — it’s one of those [deals] that you just love,” said Gene Merrell, the university’s chief technology transfer officer and assistant vice president for research. “It’s going to be a great deal that will benefit the University of Idaho, AREVA and the entire world.” Go to: 123 Idaho

Posted August 27th, 2008 under Innovation of the Week, Tech Transfer. [ Comments: none ]

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