Science and Enterprise

Category: New products

  • Nanotech Process Devised for Graphene Semiconductors

    Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim developed a process to make semiconductors by growing nanoscale wires on a graphene substrate. Helge Weman (pictured left), a professor of electronics, led the research team that published its findings last month in the journal Nano Letters; paid subscription required. Weman also co-founded a…

  • Simulations Helping Design Cardiac Pump Improvements

    Engineers at University of California in San Diego are devising computer simulations of a widely used pediatric heart pump to reduce the risk of blood clots to patients using the device. Mechanical/aerospace engineer Alison Marsden (pictured left) and structural engineer Yuri Bazilevs are leading teams of colleagues from their respective disciplines to better understand a…

  • Nanotech Process Developed to Detect Heavy Metal Pollution

    Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois developed a nanoscale process to test for heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium in water and fish. Their findings appear onlne in the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). The process created by EPFL nanomaterials scientist Francesco Stellacci (pictured…

  • New Materials Developed with Vast Surface Areas

    Materials scientists and engineers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and University of Surrey in the U.K. created two new synthetic materials with the largest reported amounts of internal surface area. The researchers published their findings online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (paid subscription required). The two new materials, known as NU-109…

  • Blood Test Technology Devised with Lab Chip, Smartphone App

    Engineering faculty and students at University of Rhode Island in Kingston developed a hand-held blood testing technology that combines a lab-on-a-chip device with a smartphone app. The university says several patents for been filed for the system invented by mechanical engineering professor Mohammad Faghri (pictured right) and colleagues. The device captures a drop of blood…

  • Tough, Stretchable Hydrogel Cartilage Replacement Developed

    Biomedical engineers at Harvard University created a tough, stretchable, and biocompatible synthetic material with the capacity to replace damaged cartilage in human joints. The findings from Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences appears in this week’s issue of the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The hydrogel developed by lead author and postdoctoral researcher Jeong-Yun…

  • RNA Nanoparticles Advanced for Cancer Drug Delivery

    Medical researchers at University of Kentucky and University of Nebraska developed nanoscale particles using RNA to deliver cancer drugs that could bind to and regulate cells in mice without harming other tissue. The results of the research carried out in the the lab of Kentucky’s Peixuan Guo (pictured right) appear in the August issue of…

  • Electronic Enhanced Carpet Monitors Walking, Detects Falls

    Researchers at University of Manchester in the U.K. added electronic optical fibers on the underside of carpets to monitor and detect changes in walking patterns that can lead to falls. Patricia Scully, who led the the interdisciplinary team from Manchester’s Photon Science Institute, reports the team’s findings today at the Photon12 conference at Durham University…

  • Stem Cell Therapy Results Reported for Spinal Cord Injury

    Researchers for StemCells Inc. in Newark, California reported interim, largely positive, results from a clinical trial of stem cell therapy to treat spinal cord injury. The findings were reported yesterday at a meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society in London. The trial tests StemCells’ therapy to treat disorders of the central nervous system, called…

  • Feasibility Demonstrated of Tiny Wireless Cardiac Implants

    Engineers at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California showed that millimeter-sized implanted cardiac devices could be powered by radio waves transmitted from outside the body. The findings from the team led by electrical engineering professor Ada Poon (pictured right) appear online in the journal Applied Physics Letters; paid subscription required. Poon, with doctoral candidates Sanghoek…