Lifeboat Foundation

Interesting — DNA Microchips to be released soon.

Researchers presented this incredible work at the national meeting and exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Diego, California, on Sunday.

Adam T Woolley, professor of chemistry at Brigham Young University (BYU) said that they are planning to use DNA’s small size and base-pairing capabilities and ability to self-assemble, and direct it to make nanoscale structures that could be used for electronics.

Continue reading “Get ready for DNA-based computer chips!” »

Could a cheap molecule used to disinfect swimming pools provide the key to creating a new form of DNA nanomaterials?

Cyanuric acid is commonly used to stabilize chlorine in backyard pools; it binds to free chlorine and releases it slowly in the water. But researchers at McGill University have now discovered that this same small, inexpensive molecule can also be used to coax DNA into forming a brand new structure: instead of forming the familiar double helix, DNA’s nucleobases — which normally form rungs in the DNA ladder — associate with cyanuric acid molecules to form a triple helix.

Read More ON Mcgill University

Continue reading “Researchers create new triple helix structure for DNA — Many potential uses in chemistry, tissue engineering, etc” »

Life’s chemistry, it appears, is quite kludgy. Such computer metaphors help explain Dr. Venter’s perspective on synthetic biology. Is a genomic version of Moore’s Law in the offing?

Digital CMOS camera with QE technology with improved photon detection capabilities — now this should interest to many medical departments, researchers, and even for security checkpoint screening.

Hamamatsu Corporation has again raised the bar in scientific CMOS camera performance with the 2016 version of the ORCA-Flash4.0 V2. The increased quantum efficiency (QE), now at a peak of 82%, increases the likelihood of detecting the faintest of signals, helping to answer the question “Is it there?” And, for brighter samples, higher QE translates into shorter exposure times without sacrificing image quality. The ORCA-Flash4.0 V2 opens up new possibilities for imaging in low conditions and improves signal to noise at all light levels.

Since its introduction and evolution, the ORCA-Flash4.0 series has become the favorite scientific CMOS camera of investigators everywhere, powering cutting-edge imaging research in every field from biology and chemistry to astrophysics and nanotechnology. The widespread appeal is due to the vast array of high-performance features: low read noise, large field of view, high dynamic range and fast frame rates. The newly enhanced QE of the “Flash V2” only serves to increase the power and versatility of this game-changing camera.

Continue reading “Digital CMOS Camera Series Boosts Quantum Efficiency (QE) For Breakthrough Photon Detection Capability” »

Noodle-like nanostructures emerge as a cheap alternative to graphene.

Constructing the 1st 42 titanium atoms fullerene style structure.

Titanium oxide nanocluster has been captured under electron microscope.

I am so glad to see this finally. Researchers aim to turn our electrical impulses into a mainstay of medical treatment through bioelectronics, or electroceuticals. I have study the neurological sensory patterns for over a decade as side research to help myself understand sensory patterns of the brain as well as how the brain repairs cells, injuries, and other conditions as well as it’s involvement with cancer, etc. I do love this.

We finally may see a day when chemical/ artificial meds are no longer needed to treat many conditions.

Until now the pharmaceutical industry has been based on chemistry and biology. Patients are treated with drugs that work through biochemical interactions with the body’s molecular pathways. Now GlaxoSmithKline, the UK pharmaceutical company, is.

Continue reading “Scientists aim to harness power of body’s electrical impulses to treat patients” »

Nanoparticles form in a 3-D-printed microfluidic channel. Each droplet shown here is about 250 micrometers in diameter, and contains billions of platinum nanoparticles. (credit: Richard Brutchey and Noah Malmstadt/USC)

USC researchers have created an automated method of manufacturing nanoparticles that may transform the process from an expensive, painstaking, batch-by-batch process by a technician in a chemistry lab, mixing up a batch of chemicals by hand in traditional lab flasks and beakers.

Continue reading “A practical solution to mass-producing low-cost nanoparticles” »

Ciliates can do amazing things: Being so tiny, the water in which they live is like thick honey to these microorganisms. In spite of this, however, they are able to self-propel through water by the synchronized movement of thousands of extremely thin filaments on their outer skin, called cilia. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart are now moving robots that are barely perceptible to the human eye in a similar manner through liquids. For these microswimmers, the scientists are neither employing complex driving elements nor external forces such as magnetic fields. The team of scientists headed by Peer Fischer have built a ciliate-inspired model using a material that combines the properties of liquid crystals and elastic rubbers, rendering the body capable of self-propelling upon exposure to green light. Mini submarines navigating the human body and detecting and curing diseases may still be the stuff of science fiction, but applications for the new development in Stuttgart could see the light-powered materials take the form of tiny medical assistants at the end of an endoscope.

Their tiny size makes life extremely difficult for swimming microorganisms. As their movement has virtually no momentum, the friction between the water and their outer skin slows them down considerably — much like trying to swim through thick honey. The viscosity of the medium also prevents the formation of turbulences, something that could transfer the force to the water and thereby drive the swimmer. For this reason, the filaments beat in a coordinated wave-like movement that runs along the entire body of the single-celled organism, similar to the legs of a centipede. These waves move the liquid along with them so that the ciliate — measuring roughly 100 micrometres, i.e. a tenth of a millimetre, as thick as a human hair — moves through the liquid.

“Our aim was to imitate this type of movement with a microrobot,” says Stefano Palagi, first author of the study at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, which also included collaborating scientists from the Universities of Cambridge, Stuttgart and Florence. Fischer, who is also a Professor for Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, states that it would be virtually impossible to build a mechanical machine at the length scale of the ciliate that also replicates its movement, as it would need to have hundreds of individual actuators, not to mention their control and energy supply.