Carbon nanotubes as fluorescent detection devices

Researchers at Cambridge University have discovered a method of developing fluorescent carbon nanotubes, which may someday be applicable to medical imaging. The molecule anti-IgG-Cy5 is covalently attached to the nanotube (which is composed of a single layer of carbon atom s held by sp² bonds). These carbon nanotubes are stronger, more durable, and longer lasting than current protein fluorescent imaging molecules in use today. The attachment of a fluorescent molecule to carbon nanotubes, which have the ability to be mass produced, could revolutionize the medical imaging industry. Researchers are still developing methods to attach specific antibodies to the nanotubes so that they can bind to biomolecules and target them for detection. When this is accomplished, these fluorescent tubes could be specialized to detect anything from cancers to specific protein production. With a more durable detector of biological targets, new methods of diagnostics can be developed, one of the most exciting prospects being the ability of nanotubes to hold intense heat, which could be used to destroy adjacent cancer cells while acting as a fluorescent detector for easy location of the tube itself and the cancer cells it attaches to.

This article interested me because my device design group incorporated another aspect of carbon nanotubes into our design. The diverse applications of these recently discovered nanomaterials are promising in many fields of biomedicine, and this application of the nanotubes was a very interesting addition to the multiple uses I have already researched.

Sources: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THY-4PC3S7B-3&_user=952835&_coverDate=01/30/2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1562637672&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000049198&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=952835&md5=1c9d09218eafc76286c234099b01f0d6&searchtype=a,

http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=4235

New Therapy Kills Human Leukemia Cells in Mice

A new therapy is under development for the treatment of Leukemia involving the use of natural killer (NK) immune system cells from umbilical cord blood and has been shown effective in destroying human leukemia cells in mice, showing a 60 to 80 percent reduction in acute lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia cells in mice with aggressive human leukemia. NK cells have enhanced sensitivity to stimulation, decrease graft-versus-host disease, and can be procured from cord banks. The approach they've taken isn't a new one, but the abilities of obtaining the cells has changed promising a much greater likelyhood for future developments. Previous efforts expanded NK cells from the blood in a single cord, but this provided ineffective NK cells. New techniques increase the NK cells by 30-fold and retain the cells’ abilities. The therapy can also be used in patients without the need for prior chemotherapy and in those who may not be eligible for other treatments.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2008/05/16/new-therapy-kills-human-leukemia-cells-in-mice.html

High BMI in Childhood Linked to Greater Heart Disease Risk in Adolescence

Researchers have recently discovered that children with a high body mass index (BMI) between the ages of 9 to 12 lead to a higher risk of developing heart disease during adolescence. Having a high BMI when young causes the child to have high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood insulin levels between the ages of 15 and 16. These conclusions come from a study led by Professor Debbie Lawlor. In this study, 5,235 children between the ages of 9-12 had their BMI, waist circumference and fat mass measured. Then when the children reached adolescence, their cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin levels were tested. If the tests came out positive, then that person had a risk factor for heart disease. The study showed that if a person was overweight when tested between the ages of 9 – 12 but dropped to normal weight for the testing at ages 15-16, the child had a better heart disease profile a than child who wasn overweight.

This article interests me because there is a high prevalence of obesity and heart disease in the United States. With this information, if we can decrease obesity while children are still young then we can also decrease the prevalence of heart disease in the United States. If we can decrease obesity then we can kill two birds with one stone.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101125202018.htm

Photos of tiny blood vessels in the eye link air pollution to heart disease

Researchers have discovered a link between air pollution and heart disease by digitally photographing the small blood vessels in the back of the eyes. They discovered that people exposed to high mounts of air pollution had narrower arterioles. This indicates a relationship between a higher risk for heart disease and exposure to pollution. A really interesting part of this research is that they observed that people that were exposed to small amounts of pollution for a short period of time had the blood vessels of someone three years older than them that wasn't exposed to air pollution. Furthermore, they found that a person who was exposed to high amounts of air pollution for long periods of time had the blood vessels of someone seven years older than them. This article was interesting to me because I am curious about the effects that things like pollution can have on a person's health. I was especially interested in how they obtained the data for this research. By studying the vessels in the back of the eye, the researchers could gather information about the health of these vessels without the use of scalpels, anesthesia, and without it being invasive for the participants of the study.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/uom-pot112910.php

V-Hold Prosthetic Incorporates Vacuum Suction Technology

Hanger Prosthetics and Orthiotics in Overald Park have begun to fit patients with a new V-Hold prosthetic limb which uses a vacuum type suction. Previous prosthetic limbs use mechanical suction which can lead to great discomfort. The mechanical suction pulls air out of the space between the prosthetic cup and actual amputated limb and causes severe discomfort if a leak is present. The V-Hold is able to measure and monitor the patient’s daily activities and make adjustments to the socket suspension according to the activity being done. Bluetooth is used to relay information from the readings taken in the prosthetic to set parameters and various default settings for vacuum suction. For example, if the patient will be sitting for an extended period of time, he/she will be able to reach down and push a button which will alter the vacuum settings from its standard mode to a comfort mode for sitting, which will be far more suitable and comfortable for sitting. The V-Hold is a very personalized and custom-made for each patient. They can cost between $10,000 to $15,000, which is about $4000 more than customary prosthetics. The V-Hold became available in February and hundreds are currently using them nationwide. I believe the V-Hold is a great advancement towards personalizing each patients prosthetic thus easing the transition of limb loss.

http://wellcommons.com/groups/wellness/2010/nov/9/lawrence-firefighter-usin/

Designer Bacteria can heal cracks in concrete buildings

The cold definition for life is a complex, positive-feedback chemical reaction. While this perspective lends itself less to poetry, having self-replicating chemical factories can prove immensly useful from an engineering perspective. Things from pharmaceuticals to fibrous clothing materials are already being made by genetically modified life forms, but now, researchers have created a strain of bacteria that could build bridges and maintain structures.

Researchers at the University of Newcastle in the UK have designed a strain of Bacillus subtilis that produces a special glue-like compound that can fill in cracks in concrete structures. The genetically modified bacteria begin to proliferate when in contact with concrete, triggered by a very specific pH. The bacteria descend into the crack, sensing when they reach the bottom due to clumping, called quorum sensing.

Once they reach the bottom, the cells differentiate into three types; one that creates calcium carbonate, one that creates a binding glue, and one that becomes fibrous. Two chemical compounds bind the fibrous bacteria together, solidifying it into a structure as strong as the surrounding concrete.

I found this article to be interesting because it encourages a relatively new train of thought. While technology is often used to promote biological improvement, there is no reason the process cannot go both ways. With cells’ plastic and precise applications, it’s a wonder more technology doesn’t include a biological component for maintenance and operation. Hopefully this will accelerate the acceptance and development of the concept, where life is used to aid in repair, construction, and even computation and processing. Why should we assume that being a cyborg is any less a dream of the machines?

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40201539/ns/technology_and_science-green_innovation/

Cancer and Bombs Sensed by Artificial Nose

MIT researchers have recently achieved the ability of mass-producing the receptors humans use to detect odors. This could potentially render drug and bomb - sniffing dogs obsolete and even sniff out certain cancers (lung, bladder, skin) that produce odors in their early stages. The project has been named RealNose and, led by Shuguang Zhang, has been promised a large amount of funding. Zhang's research team has spent years isolating and purifying receptor proteins responsible for the sense of smell. These receptors can then be used to build sensor devices with quite a range of possibilities. There is much controversy surrounding the project, though, because no one is really sure how the receptors interact with and recognize specific odor molecules, and the reality of making an artificial nose will require much more work.

I found this article interesting because I've never heard of a smell-based biosensing device - there are so many possibilities that could be done with this. In particular, a device that is able to detect early stage cancer in a noninvasive fashion could save millions of lives in the future.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081006-artificial-nose.html

Aubrey Hildebrandt

Piezo Actuators: Driving Perfection in Microdosing Applications

Recently there has been a significant breakthrough in microdispensing technology for dosing and printing. Such devices are used for the precise and high unit number printing of arrays and assays. In molecular biology assays are a procedure that measures the activity of a specific drug or biochemical in an organic sample, by testing multiple samples at once. This technique is often used in order to measure enzyme activity, protein binding and gene identification. The actual breakthrough in this technique is in the scale of the process. Instead of using droplets in the milliliter and microliter range, scientists have constructed devices that can produce droplets as small as one nanoliter. The droplets are created by nano-sized actuators that drive pistons into pressure chambers which then deliver one tiny drop of liquid. This of course greatly increases the level of test that can be run at one time as well as making the measurements more accurate.

One idea that struck me while reading this article was how it related to my team’s device design project. Our nanorobots are delivered to the sight of the plaque obstruction inside a highly compact dissolvable bio-membrane. They need to be situated very precisely and in high density so to minimize the space taken up by the membrane inside the artery. What these new devices could do is allow these nanorobots to be printed onto the bio-membrane on an industrial level so that the nanobot filled bio-membranes could be sent to hospitals in bulk and cut down to the right size according to each patients needs.


Source:
http://www.emdt.co.uk/article/piezo-actuators-driving-perfection-microdosing-applications

Changeable Self-Assembling Nanodevices

Nanodevices have been created from self-assembling DNA which can be programmed to move and change shape. They are made up of a single stranded DNA molecule combined with many short complimentary DNA pieces. The DNA self-assembles to form a predetermined 3D structure which distributes tensile and compressive forces making the structure strong and stable. The nanodevices are good for medical purposes because they are composed of DNA which makes them biocompatible and biodegradable. The team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who created these nanodevices believe they could be used in nanoscale medical devices, in drug delivery systems, and even to reprogram human stem cells to regenerate injured organs.

I thought this article was interesting because it reminded me of my team’s device design project. I think it is amazing that it can self-assemble and is able to change based on demand. The nanodevices are also already prepared to enter the human body because it’s compatible. Nothing has to be worked out to have them brought into the system and then to tell the body not to reject them. This a great blend of engineering and biology which can have several applications in the medical world.

Source:
http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=9205

Puncture through the Skin with Microneedle can Foster Medical Tech Innovation

Microneedle is a type of delivery system which utilizes tiny needles that puncture through the skins or tissues of the patients. Currently, microneedles are found to cause less pain, tissue damage, and skin inflammation in patients. In addition with the recent concerns of potential infections when using microneedle, the surface of microneedle are now coated with antimicrobial. It is a substance that will prevent microbial growth, yet it does not hinder the skin regenerative ability. Alternatively, bio-degradable microneedle design holds potential usage, such as vaccine delivery system pose, and interest for further research.

I found thid article to be interesting because it dealt with potential medicine delivary system such as pain free treatment. Other usage for microneedle involves diabetes treatment insteading pricking from regular needle. Microneedle in patch form allows quick disburstment and does not require medically trained person to administer the shot. Thus, patch with microneedle can be self administer by patients.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100519112620.htm

Spin Entanglement in Supramolecular Structures

Molecular Spin Clusters might be the future of nanorobotics, as research on them gets more and more elucidating. Molecular spin clusters are molecules consisting of a magnetic core and an external non-magnetic shell. Typically, the inner part is made of transition metal (hydro-) oxides bridged and chelated by organic. Once synthesized, magnetic molecules are generally stable and they can be dissolved in solutions. From these, bulk crystals, comprising a macroscopic number of identical units aligned along specific crystallographic directions, can be obtained. In general, molecules do not interact with each other and the behavior of a bulk crystal turns out to be that of a collection of non-interacting, identical molecules. This allows us to use conventional solid state experimental techniques to investigate molecular features, which is certainly one of the keys for success of these molecular objects. Since the structure and the properties of these molecular arrangements can be altered in a lab, it is easy for scientists to develop models of these systems.Thus, they represent an ideal playground within solid state systems to test concepts in quantum mechanics with the hopes of controlling how these molecular structures get their characteristic shape.

I found this article interesting, as it delves with topics related to our final project. The relative easiness with which research on molecular spin clusters is done will allow to expand our knowledge of how systems at nanoscale behave and function. This will result in the development of more intricate nanomachines.

Reference:

http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/21/27/274009/pdf/0957-4484_21_27_274009.pdf

Image:

http://bit.ly/eisZVI

Esteem® Implantable Hearing System - P090018

The Esteem Implantable Hearing System, patented by Envoy Medical Corporation, was approved by the Food and Drug administration, is designed to replace the structures of the middle ear to effectively cure/moderate severe hearing loss. The device consists of three main components that are implanted into the subject (sound processor, sensor, and driver) and external testing/programming instruments. The device converts mechanical vibrations of the tympanic membrane (“ear drum”) into an electrical signal. This signal is sent to the sound processor, is filtered, amplified, and then sent to the driver. The driver converts the modified signals from the processor and converts them back to mechanical vibrations directed towards the inner ear. In order for the device to be implanted, a surgeon has to first remove part of the incus bone. Esteem is designed to help anyone over the age of eighteen that suffers from moderate to severe hearing loss. Moreover, esteem does not have any visible components. The draw backs are that the device must be replaced every 3-9 years (depending on use).

Nearly all of the men on my father’s side (with the exception of one) suffer from hearing loss from middle age and on. Devices such as this provide an alternative to going deaf. My father is partially deaf so I have a higher plausibility of suffering from hearing loss.

http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DeviceApprovalsandClearances/Recently-ApprovedDevices/ucm212633.htm

Researchers Use Patient's Own Blood To Treat Hamstring Injury

This article is about how researchers in London have found an effective treatment for micro-tears in the hamstring and has results from the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This is done by injecting the patient with his/her own blood and a steroid along with "dry-needling," in which repeated needle punctures cause controlled internal bleeding in the injured area. Injecting a patient with their own blood at the site of the injury helps to them heal ore quickly because blood contains many growth factors, and the injections have been shown to promote faster healing of certain injuries.

Hamstring tendinopathy is a common injury in sports may be caused by an improper warm-up or, in an elite athlete, as the result of repetitive strain. Unlike a torn or ruptured tendon that can be surgically repaired, the tiny micro-tears that characterize chronic tendinopathy are not easily diagnosed, are difficult to heal and often sideline athletes for long periods, if not permanently.

In the study, 42 patients with suspected hamstring micro tearing underwent ultrasound and MRI to confirm the tendinopathy and then each were randomly assigned to one of 3 treatment groups. Following their treatments, all patients in the study participated in a structured six-week physiotherapy program. The patients were then evaluated at various intervals over a one-year period to assess their levels of pain and functioning.

Patients treated just with the steroid and dry-needling reported improved functionality for only three to 12 weeks after treatment. A year later, the patients in this group reported being at pre-treatment levels of pain and functionality. However, patients who received their own blood plus dry-needling reported significant improvements in functionality, even one year after the treatment. Lastly, patients who received both their own blood and a steroid along with dry-needling at the site of tendon damage experienced the most significant reduction in pain levels and the most sustained functional improvement one year following treatment.

Source:
Radiological Society of North America
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/209598.php

Andrew Janicki VTPP 434 - 502

Gene Therapy Cures Canines of Inherited Form of Day Blindness

Gene Therapy Cures Canines of Inherited Form of Day Blindness

Veterinary ophthalmology researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have used gene therapy to restore retinal cone function and day vision in two canine models of congenital achromatopsia, also called rod monochromacy or total color blindness.

Achromatopsia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with an estimated prevalence in human beings of about 1 in 30,000 to 50,000. It primarily affects the function of the cone photoreceptors in the retina and serves as a representative model for other more common inherited retinal disorders affecting cones. Cone function is essential for color vision, central visual acuity and most daily visual activities, which underlines the importance of the newly developed treatment.

The treatment cured younger canines regardless of the mutation that caused their achromatopsia. It was effective for the 33 months of the study and most likely is permanent; however, researchers also observed a reproducible reduction in the cone therapy success rate in dogs treated at 54 weeks of age or older.

The successful therapy in dogs was documented by the restoration of the cone function using electroretinography and by objective measure of day vision behavior. The behavioral results suggest that inner retinal cells and central visual pathways were able to usefully process the input from the recovered cones.

The results represent the second successful cone-directed gene replacement therapy in achromatopsia animal models and the first outside of mouse models. The gene therapy targets mutations of the CNGB3 gene, the most common cause of achromatopsia in humans. Achromatopsia-affected dogs represent the only natural large animal model of CNGB3-achromatopsia.

The results hold promise for future clinical trials of cone-directed gene therapy in achromatopsia and other cone-specific disorders.

"The successful restoration of visual function with recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated gene replacement therapy has ushered in a new era of retinal therapeutics," said András M. Komáromy, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Penn School of Veterinary Medicine and lead author of the study.

Many vision-impairing disorders in humans result from genetic defects, and, to date, mutations have been identified in ~150 genes out of ~200 mapped retinal disease loci. This wealth of genetic information has provided fundamental understanding of the multiple and specialized roles played by photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium in the visual process and how mutations in these genes result in disease. Together with the development of gene-transfer technologies, it is now possible to realistically consider the use of gene therapy to treat these previously untreatable disorders.

The article, available online in advance of its publication in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, was conducted by Komáromy, Jessica S. Rowlan and Gustavo D. Aguirre of the Department of Clinical Studies at Penn Vet; Monique M. Garcia, Asli Kaya and Jacqueline C. Tanaka of Temple University; John J. Alexander of the University of Florida and the University of Alabama; Vince A. Chiodo and William W. Hauswirth of the University of Florida; and Gregory M. Acland of Cornell University.

Research was supported by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Macula Vision Research Foundation, the McCabe Fund, the ONCE International Prize, the Van Sloun Fund for Canine Genetic Research, Hope for Vision and Brittany Rockefeller and family.

Hauswirth and the University of Florida have a financial interest in the use of rAAV therapies and own equity in Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., a company that may commercialize some aspects of this work. The University of Pennsylvania, the University of Florida and Cornell University hold a patent on the described gene-therapy technology.

This article interested me because I am interested in pursuing a career in the field of genetics, possibly genetic research, if not clinical genetics in medical school, sometime in the future. The fact that genetic research has already come far enough today to provide enough data to come up with gene therapies like the one described above to cure colorblindness in dogs speaks volumes about possibilities for the future. At the rate technology and our wealth of knowledge are progressing today, I may be working on curing diseases we don’t even realize exist yet by the time I finally enter the workforce! Also, the fact that this gene therapy was performed on dogs, a step up from mice (and one step closer to humans), makes this research especially applicable to people affected by colorblindness today.