Biomaterials
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May 16 | News
The world's rubber supplies are in peril, and automobile tire producers are scrambling to seek alternative solutions. Tom Sharkey, chairperson of the Michigan State University Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, believes isoprene could be a viable option.
May 1 | News
Development
of new therapies for a range of medical conditions, including sports
injuries and heart attacks, could depend on a new production-scale
microthread extruder developed by a team of graduate students and
biomedical engineering faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The
microthreads would support tissue regeneration, wound healing, and cell
therapy.
Apr 19 | News
More
than a million Americans receive an artificial hip or knee prosthesis
each year, but tens of thousands of people need early replacements
because of loosening joints. To help minimize these operations, a team
of chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has
developed a thin, layered coating for implants that helps promote bone
growth.
Apr 13 | News
The
light that a luminescent particle emits is usually less energetic than
the light that it absorbs. Some applications require the emitted light
to be more energetic, but this so-called upconversion process has been
observed in only a small handful of materials. Researchers in Singapore
have recently succeeded in expanding this list of upconversion materials
by using different lanthanides at different stages of conversion.
Apr 4 | News
According
to recent first-of-its-kind research results, a dose of carbon
nanotubes can more than double the growth rate of plant cell cultures.
Previous work at the University of Arkansas showed that multi-walled
carbon nanotubes can penetrate the thick coatings of seeds. It turns out
they can also stimulate germination and growth in plant cell cultures.
Mar 26 | News
Taking
inspiration from the brittlestar, a sea creature that “sees” using
crystalline lenses made of calcium carbonate, a team of scientists have
discovered that they can grow tiny uniform hemispheric calcium carbonate
thin films on a solution. Compatible with biological systems, the
microlenses are defect free.
Mar 7 | News
While
most researchers in nanomanufacturing are working to demonstrate what’s
possible, researchers NIST are trying to determine what’s realistic.
Results of their measurements of a promising self-assembly technique
known as DNA origami show that current methods are too slow and
inaccurate for use in certain industries, such semiconductor
lithography.
Mar 7 | News
Bioengineers
at the University of California, San Diego have invented a self-healing
hydrogel that binds quickly, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond
strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. Computer simulations of
the gel network helped them discover the key to its properties: the
length of side chain molecules, or fingers.
Mar 5 | News
Xinwei Wang, an Iowa State University associate professor of mechanical engineering, is leading a study that found spider silk is very good at transferring heat. Spider silk, in fact, conducts heat as well or better than most metals.
Feb 27 | News
For
the past decade, scientists have been developing cancer treatments
based on RNA interference, which shuts off malfunctioning genes with
short snippets of DNA. Delivering the RNA, however, has been a problem.
The solution at Paula Hammond’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology
laboratory is to pack the RNA into microspheres so dense they reach
their destination intact.
