A new soft electronic material for human-machine-interfacing
Researchers at DTU Health Tech have developed a new material that can facilitate a near-perfect merger between machines and the human body for diagnostics and treatment
2021-06-01
(Press-News.org) A DTU research team consisting of Malgorzata Gosia Pierchala, Firoz Babu Kadumundi, and Mehdi Mehrali from #TeamBioEngine headed by Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz, have developed a new material - CareGum - that among other things has potential for monitoring motor impairment associated with neurological disorders such as Parkinson's.
A green material with many properties
The CareGum property portfolio is incredibly broad with feats such as skin-like softness, it is stretchable up to 30,000 % and has self-healing capacities reminiscent of that of natural tissues. It is printable, moldable, and electrically conductive. Notably, the electrical conductivity enables the material to respond to external stimuli and deliver information to an electronic circuit, while the printing capacity opens up avenues for the custom manufacture of personalized bioelectronics.
It is generated via a scalable route devoid of complicated and time-consuming chemical procedures. In brief, it consists of a biodegradable polymeric matrix, clay nanotubes extracted from the underground, and a super reactive green cross-linker (tannic acid) that undoubtedly has stimulated the taste buds of many wine drinkers, since it gives it its bitter and fruity taste. Therefore, CareGum is essentially a green, recyclable, and low-cost sensor (140 USD/Kg).
Diagnostics and treatment perspectives
Associate Professor Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz explains: "CareGums are essentially Bio-Adaptable Cyborg Sensors. They can link or merge synthetic materials and machinery with the human body in a seamless and comfortable manner for both diagnosis and treatment. We envision that our new material could be used to decipher the complex motion patterns that come into play in various movements or motions such as real-time monitoring of those, who are immobilized because of disease. We have for example shown that CareGum can be 3D printed to a sleeve of stretchable fabric to monitor movements of the hand."
The research team is currently working with the next version of the material, which will be able to monitor pH and temperature changes as well as important disease biomarkers, allowing for even further human-machine interaction.
"The body is highly combinatorial from a material point-of-view. Take for instance skin. It is one material, but yet, it can do so much with a broad range of properties including flexibility, self-healing capacity as well as temperature, mechanical strain, and perception sensing capacity. CareGum is exactly like that. It's soft, flexible, adaptable, healable, and almost animated. CareGum is not dead material. It is alive. It lives..." Associate Professor Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz enthuses.
INFORMATION:
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-06-01
Oncotarget published "STAT3 induces the expression of GLI1 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells" which reported that what induces GLI1 expression in GLI1-unmutated CLL cells is unknown.
Because signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 is constitutively activated in CLL cells and sequence analysis detected putative STAT3-binding sites in the GLI1 gene promoter, the authors hypothesized that STAT3 induces the expression of GLI1.
Western immunoblotting detected GLI1 in CLL cells from 7 of 7 patients, flow cytometry analysis confirmed that CD19 /CD5 CLL cells co-express GLI1 and confocal microscopy showed co-localization of GLI1 and phosphorylated STAT3. Chromatin immunoprecipitation showed ...
2021-06-01
A series of autopsies performed in an infectious disease hospital in the Brazilian Amazon reveals that infections by the Histoplasma fungus are a major cause of death in people with HIV. The study, led by Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by "la Caixa" Foundation, in collaboration with a team in Manaus, highlights the need of implementing sensitive methods to detect these infections in Histoplasma-endemic regions.
Histoplasmosis is a lung infection caused by inhalation of spores from a fungus (Histoplasma), and is frequent in some areas of the US, Africa, and Latin America.
In the majority of individuals with a functional immune system, the infection causes mild symptoms. However, in people who are immuno-compromised, such ...
2021-06-01
Scientists at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) in Japan have developed a technology that produces high-resolution simulations of one of the basic units of our genomes, called the nucleosome. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Protocols and should help improve understanding of how changes in nucleosome folding influence the inner workings of genes.
Nucleosomes are the basic structural units of DNA packaging inside the nucleus. They are formed of DNA wrapped around a small number of histone proteins. Nucleosomes move around inside the nucleus, folding and unfolding, changing their orientations, and moving closer together or further apart. These movements affect the accessibility of various molecules to DNA, determining ...
2021-06-01
A new discovery in Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive and often fatal childhood cancer, has uncovered the potential to prevent cancer cells from spreading beyond their primary tumour site.
The breakthrough provides new insight into what triggers the process that allows cancer cells to survive while traveling through the body in the bloodstream.
Researchers with the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer have learned that Ewing sarcoma cells--and likely other types of cancer cells--are able to develop a shield that protects them from the harsh environment of the bloodstream and other locations as they search for a new place to settle, or metastasize. The study has just been published in Cancer Discovery.
"You ...
2021-06-01
TROY, N.Y. -- As more dissolved organic matter enters lakes across the northeast United States, darkening the lakes in a phenomena called "browning," new research shows that these waters may be growing less productive and able to sustain less life. In a study published today in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, scientists found that, rather than enriching lakes with nutrients as had previously been assumed, water more heavily laden with dissolved organic matter blocks sunlight and limits plant growth.
"A key question regarding lake browning is what impact it will have on aquatic food webs, including algal growth and fisheries," said Kevin Rose, co-author ...
2021-06-01
The brain is often likened to a computer: its hardware - neurons organized in complex circuits, its software - a plethora of codes that govern the neurons' behavior. But sometimes the brain performs exceptionally well even when its hardware seems inadequate for the task. For example, it's been puzzling how we and other mammals manage to navigate large-scale environments even though the brain's spatial perception circuits are seemingly suited to representing much smaller areas. A team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky of the Neurobiology Department, tackled this riddle by thinking outside the experimental box. By combining an unusual research model - fruit bats - with an unusual setting - a 200 meters-long bat-tunnel - they were ...
2021-06-01
The genetic material of most organisms is carried by DNA, a complex organic molecule. DNA is very long -- for humans, the molecule is estimated to be about 2 m in length. In cells, DNA occurs in a densely packed form, with strands of the molecule coiled up in a complicated but efficient space-filling way. A key role in DNA's compactification is played by histones, structural-support proteins around which a part of a DNA molecule can wrap. The DNA-histone wrapping process is reversible -- the two molecules can unwrap and rewrap -- but little is known about the mechanisms at play. Now, by applying high-speed atomic-force microscopy (HS-AFM), Richard ...
2021-06-01
By ensuring ethnic diversity in a largescale genetic study, an international team of researchers, including a University of Massachusetts Amherst genetic epidemiologist, has identified more regions of the genome linked to type 2 diabetes-related traits.
The findings, published May 31 in Nature Genetics, broaden the understanding of the biological basis of type 2 diabetes and demonstrate that expanding research into different ancestries yields better results. Ultimately the goal is to improve patient care worldwide by identifying genetic targets to treat the chronic metabolic disorder. Type 2 diabetes affects and sometimes debilitates more than 460 million adults worldwide, according to the International Diabetes Federation. About 1.5 million deaths were directly ...
2021-06-01
The quality of a sewn garment is dependent on the quality of its seams that are the basic structural element. The factors affecting seam quality in garments include sewing thread type and stitch density. Making the right choice of these helps in getting quality seams in garments. However, the choice of suitable sewing threads and stitch densities for particular fabrics can only be determined through testing.
Dr. Patience Danquah Monnie, from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, with fellow researchers, conducted research aimed to determine sewing thread brand and stitch density suitable for seams for a selected fabric (79% polyester and 21% cotton) for public basic school uniforms in Ghana. For the research, a 2×3 factorial ...
2021-06-01
Nitrates are critical for the growth of plants, so plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to ensure sufficient nitrate uptake from their environments. In a new study published in Nature Plants, researchers at Nagoya University, Japan, have identified a plant enzyme that is key to activating a nitrate uptake mechanism in response to nitrogen starvation. This finding explains how plants meet their needs in challenging environments, opening doors to improving agriculture in such environments.
When nitrate levels are plentiful in a plant's environment, a plant can achieve adequate nitrate uptake levels by relying ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] A new soft electronic material for human-machine-interfacing
Researchers at DTU Health Tech have developed a new material that can facilitate a near-perfect merger between machines and the human body for diagnostics and treatment
