Lifeboat Foundation

Jalila Essaïdi is a Dutch artist and entrepreneur focused on biotech applications of spider silk, which she makes using the milk of genetically engineered goats.

Spider silk is one of the strongest materials in nature. Jalila Essaïdi had her curiosity piqued when she read about the work of Randolph Lewis, a Professor at Utah State University, who had developed a method to create synthetic spider silk from goat milk.

“We genetically engineered the goats so that they produced a spider protein in their milk. We then purify that protein from the milk and spin it into fibers,” Lewis told CNN in an interview.

Continue reading “This Bulletproof Skin is Made of Goat Milk Spider Silk” »

Abstract: This report focuses on the effect of the surface topography of the substrate on the behavior of human mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow (MSCs) before and after co-differentiation into adipocytes and osteoblasts. Picosecond pulsed laser ablation technology was applied to generate different microstructures (microgrooves and microcavities) on poly (L-lactide) (PLLA), where orientation, cell shape and MSCs co-differentiation were investigated. On flat PLLA, the undifferentiated MSCs showed rounded or elongated shapes, the latter being randomly oriented. On PLLA microgrooves however, MSCs adapted their shape to the groove size and direction and occasionally anchored to groove edges. It was found that adipocytes, contrary to osteoblasts, are highly sensitive to topological cues. Adipocytes responded to changes in substrate height and depth, by adapting the intracellular distribution of their lipid vacuoles to these physical constraints. In addition, the modification of PLLA by laser ablation enhanced the adherence of differentiated cells to the substrate. These findings show that picosecond pulsed laser micromachining can be applied to directly manufacture 3D microstructures that guide cell proliferation, control adipocyte morphology and improve the adhesion of bone and fat tissue.

From: Jose L. Toca-Herrera [view email]

[v1] Thu, 25 Jan 2018 23:56:53 UTC (1,069 KB)

Volume 32 Issue 1 — Sangmo Koo, Samantha M. Santoni, Bruce Z. Gao, Costas P. Grigoropoulos, Zhen Ma.

Continue reading “Laser-assisted biofabrication in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine” »

An international team of scientists has created tiny droplets of the ultra-hot matter that once filled the early universe, forming three distinct shapes and sizes: circles, ellipses and triangles.

The study, published December 10, 2018 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Physics, focuses on a liquid-like state of matter called a quark gluon plasma. Physicists believe that this matter filled the entire universe during the first few microseconds after the Big Bang when the universe was still too hot for particles to come together to make atoms.

The researchers used a massive collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, to recreate that plasma. In a series of tests, the researchers smashed packets of protons and neutrons in different combinations into much bigger atomic nuclei. They discovered that by carefully controlling conditions, they could generate droplets of quark gluon plasma that expanded to form three different geometric patterns.

Continue reading “Tiny droplets of early universe matter created” »

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is nothing if not a master innovator. After every single battle he’s had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character has used his book smarts and technical wherewithal to better his suit so that it can defend against any threat the Avengers may run into. That includes the introduction of yet another suit in Avengers: Endgame after his first nano-tech based armor was destroyed in the Battle of Titan that took place in Avengers: Infinity War.

Weta Digital was the team behind crafting Stark’s layered nano-tech armor in addition to the third-act Endgame battle where we saw the majority of its capabilities. Recently, we had the chance to speak with Weta’s visual effects supervisor Matt Aitken, who helped detail what all went into making the latest iteration of Iron Man armor.

“Here in Infinity War, and then subsequently in Endgame, he’s got the Bleeding Edge nano-tech that he’s developed,” Aitken recounts.” And that’s about this idea that the suit is actually made up of these nanoparticles that can kind of form a fluid and move around on the surface of the suit, and reform different weapons, and then kind of solidify and crystallize into a rigid, metal suit. We developed that tech for Infinity War, and then really extended it for Endgame for two particular sequences.”

Continue reading “Breaking Down Iron Man’s New Avengers: Endgame Suit” »

The European research institution Jülich just released new information on “zero-point energy” and its effect on the stability of nanomagnets. If scientists can determine how to magnetically store data, information can be stored in extremely small spaces.

Quantum mechanics becomes important when we’re talking about small spaces, such as nanometers. Magnetic moments are difficult to stabilize, or point in designated directions. A specific direction corresponds to effectively storing data.

In order to save data, the magnetic moments of atoms in constant motion must be counteracted by energy barriers, which is dependent on the material used. Otherwise, the magnetic moments change and any information saved is then lost.

Continue reading “Zero-Point Energy Nanomagnet Stores Data In Small Spaces” »

The new method uses magnetic nanoparticles to separate 99 percent of oil droplets from water that oil wells produce. See how it works.

If plants are injured, cells adjacent to the wound fill the gaps with their daughter cells. However, which cells divide to do the healing and how they manage to produce cells that match the cell type of the missing tissue has been unclear. Scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) have now shown that to correctly replace dead cells, neighbors to the inside of the wound re-activate their stem cell programs.

All plant organs—from the leaves to the root—regularly endure injuries to their tissue, whether due to mechanical forces, grazing animals, or other factors. While animals rely on specialized migrating cells for wound healing, plants, whose cells are immobile, had to evolve other mechanisms.

It has been known for almost a century that in plants, cells adjacent to the wound replace harmed tissue with new daughter cells. Yet, a completely new aspect of plant wound healing in the sensitive root tip has only recently been discovered: The research team including first authors Petra Marhava, former Ph.D. student at IST Austria, current Ph.D. student Lukas Hörmayer, and former IST postdoc Saiko Yoshida reports that injured or destroyed root cells are not simply replaced by a proliferation of healthy cells from the same cell type above and below to the wound. Instead, the cells adjacent to the inner side of the injury reactivate their stem cell programs to produce de novo cells of the correct type to replace missing neighbors. The researchers termed this newly discovered restorative cell division process “restorative patterning.”

Continue reading “Specialized plant cells regain stem-cell features to heal wounds” »

Food sticker labels could soon be a thing of the past. Brands, dates, origins, and even images could soon be laser-printed directly onto pieces of produce.