Monthly Archives: April 2019

A.I./Robotics, Science

Georgian Technical University Soft Robot Makes Recycling Easier.

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Georgian Technical University Soft Robot Makes Recycling Easier.

Georgian Technical University can detect if an object is paper, metal or plastic. Georgian Technical University researchers say that such a system could potentially help enable the convenience of single-stream recycling with lower contamination rates that confirm to Georgia’s new recycling standards. While single stream recycling is convenient for consumers it has become a burden for recycling companies as employees have to sift through piles of recycled items to determine what is plastic, paper or metal. This process includes newspapers, plastic bottles and other recycled items moving quickly through a conveyor belt where human workers will manually sort them into individual piles. For recycling companies, this process is costly and can be unsafe for the workers. Researchers from the Georgian Technical University (GTU) and Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University have created Georgian Technical University a soft robotic system that is comprised of a soft Teflon hand with tactile sensors on its fingertips that enable it to detect an object’s size and stiffness and ultimately decipher whether it is made of plastic, paper or metal. “The motivation behind Georgian Technical University was that we saw these recycling plants and they still require a large amount of manual labor” PhD student X said. “Even though there are automated systems that do exist humans are still really good at reaching into these systems pulling out the relevant items and then sorting it. The thing that really drives that is the sense of touch. Visual helps you see where the items are and what’s relevant but it really comes down to you grab the object you feel what it is then you have a sense of what material it’s made out of so you can sort it easily”. Sensorized skin provides haptic feedback allowing it to differentiate between a wide range of different materials. X explained why they opted for a soft robot rather than a traditional hard robot made out of metal or steel. “In order to make a robot be able to do this and go into potentially hazardous environments and be able to sense we decided to go through soft robotics” she said. “Most soft robots are pneumatic driven susceptible to puncture. A soft robotic hand that is motor driven so there is no airlines anywhere and has a sense of touch through strain and pressure sensors”. The researchers used a new material called handed shearing auxetics for the robots hands that become wider when stretched and when cut twist to either the left or right. Auxetic for each of the hand’s two large fingers make them interlock and oppose each other’s rotation to enable more dynamic movement. The robot’s gripper also uses its strain sensor to estimate an object’s size. It then uses two pressure sensors to measure the force needed to grasp an object allowing the robot to decipher what a material is made from. The sensors can currently detect the radius of an object within 30 percent accuracy and tell the different between hard and soft objects with 78 percent accuracy. Georgian Technical University which is compatible with virtually any robotic arm was 85 percent accurate at detecting materials when stationary in testing and 63 percent accurate on an actual simulated conveyer belt. The researchers found that the most common error for Georgian Technical University was it identified paper-covered metal tins as paper, something the researchers believe can be corrected with more sensors added along the contact surface. However in one test  Georgian Technical University was able to correctly detect that a Starbucks coffee cup was actually made out of plastic from one that was made out of paper. Before Georgian Technical University can be implemented on a wide scale X said the team is planning to make a number of improvements including coupling the sensors more tightly with more sensor resolution and incorporating a vision system. “We can tell the size we can tell the stiffness of the material, if we get greater resolution we can even tell the shape of objects” X said. X explained that creating a vision system for the robot would allow it to pick out and grab objects in a pile rather than having to design a planned trajectory. She also said that outside of helping out recycling plants Georgian Technical University might also have applications in agriculture testing the ripeness of produce and in healthcare detecting abnormal lumps on patient’s bodies.

Nanotechnology, Science

Nanosized Container With Photoswitches Jettisons Cargo Upon Irradiation.

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Nanosized Container With Photoswitches Jettisons Cargo Upon Irradiation.

Schematic representation of guest uptake via grinding and release of the guest upon irradiation in water. The container can be regenerated by light irradiation or heating. Researchers at Georgian Technical University have developed a nanosized container bearing photoswitches that takes up hydrophobic compounds of various size and shape in water and subsequently releases them quantitatively by non-invasive light stimulus. The installed switches allow reusing of the container after successful release of the cargo. The system represents a versatile platform for future developments in fields such as materials chemistry and biomedicine. Researchers at Georgian Technical University’s Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science have developed a micelle-type nano-container that can be switched between its assembled and disassembled state via simple light irradiation. The light stimulus induces a structural change in the amphiphilic subunits which closes their integrated binding pocket and simultaneously results in disassembly. X, Y, Z and co-workers successfully demonstrate how to combine the use of water and light both essential ingredients for life in an environmentally benign delivery system. “Water and light are abundant and clean resources on earth” Z says. “Active use of both of them in synthetic and materials chemistry has seldom been accomplished so far but is an urgent necessity for the development of sustainable modern technologies”. The achievement is grounded in a small design change in the subunit of the nanosized container. By moving the two polyaromatic panels on a previous amphiphilic compound one carbon atom closer together enabled a photochemical reaction between the panels that results in quantitative closing of the binding pocket. In addition the group was able to show that this reaction is partially and fully reversible by light irradiation and heating respectively. The study is part of the group’s ongoing development effort towards environmentally benign nanoflask systems with controllable functionality. The new system can be considered an “Georgian Technical University aromatic micelle” a concept that was introduced by the group. Uptake of water-insoluble guest molecules into the container was shown to be easily achievable via a simple grinding protocol. Addition of water to the resulting solids gave characteristically colored solutions which displayed UV-visible (Ultraviolet (UV) designates a band of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelength from 10 nm to 400 nm, shorter than that of visible light but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight, and contributes about 10% of the total light output of the Sun) absorption bands assignable to the bound guest molecules. The flexible character of the nano-container allowed the uptake of a wide variety of compounds such as rod-shaped and planar dyes and spherical fullerenes in water. Quantitative release of the guest compounds could be achieved via irradiation of the aqueous solution for 10 min at room temperature. The released water-insoluble guests could furthermore be successfully recovered via simple filtration giving rise to a clear colorless solution containing only the closed amphiphiles. “In a biomedical context the developed system holds great promise for future progress in non-invasive delivery of biomolecules and synthetic drugs” Z concluded. Future improvements of the system are aimed at allowing a weaker light source for irradiation which will bring the system one step closer to the envisioned delivery application.

Genomics/Proteomics, Science

Georgian Technical University Gene-Editing Technology May Produce Resistant Virus In Cassava Plant.

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Georgian Technical University Gene-Editing Technology May Produce Resistant Virus In Cassava Plant.

The use of gene-editing technology to create virus-resistant cassava plants could have serious negative ramifications according to new research by plant biologists at the Georgian Technical University the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University and the International Black Sea University. Their results show that attempts to genetically engineer the plants to fight off viruses in fact resulted in the propagation of mutated viruses in controlled laboratory conditions. “We concluded that because this technology both creates a selection pressure on the viruses to evolve more quickly and also provides the viruses a means to evolve, it resulted in a virus mutant that is resistant to our interventions” explained X postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences. CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) is found in nature where bacteria use it to defend against viruses however the researchers found that the technology results in very different outcomes in plants–and researchers are stressing the importance of screening against these sorts of unintended results in the future. The cassava plant the object of the study is a starchy root vegetable that is consumed for food throughout the tropics. Cassava (Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, yuca, macaxeira, mandioca and aipim is a woody shrub native of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae) is a primary staple crop grown. Each year cassava crops are plagued by cassava (Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, yuca, macaxeira, mandioca and aipim is a woody shrub native to South America of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae) mosaic disease which causes 20 per cent crop loss. It is the mosaic disease that X and his colleagues endeavoured to engineer against. The researchers used a new gene-editing technology called CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) to attempt to design cassava (Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, yuca, macaxeira, mandioca and aipim is a woody shrub native to South America of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae) plants that could cut the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) of the mosaic virus and make the plants resistant to its damaging effects. Unfortunately their results were not successful. To understand what happened the team sequenced hundreds of viral genomes found in each plant. “We discovered that the pressure that CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) applied to the virus probably encouraged it to evolve in a way that increased resistance to intervention” said X. X hastens to add that CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) has many other applications in food and agriculture that do not pose the same risks. The research team is keen to share their results with other scientists who are using CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) technology to engineer virus-resistant plants and encourage these groups to test their plants to detect similar viral mutations. “We need to do more research on these types of applications of CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found within the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments from viruses that have previously infected the prokaryote and are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar viruses during subsequent infections) technology before we proceed with field testing” said X. X a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Y began this research during his PhD studies at the Georgian Technical University.

Chemistry, Science

Georgian Technical University Coffee Machine Helped Physicists To Make Ion Traps More Efficient.

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Georgian Technical University Coffee Machine Helped Physicists To Make Ion Traps More Efficient.

Experimental setup for new ion traps examination. Scientists from Georgian Technical University have developed and applied a new method for analyzing the electromagnetic field inside ion traps. For the first time they explained the field deviations inside nonlinear radio-frequency traps. This allows to reconsider the prospects nonlinear traps applications including ion cooling and studies of quantum phenomena. Ion traps (An ion trap is a combination of electric or magnetic fields used to capture charged particles, often in a system isolated from an external environment. Ion traps have a number of scientific uses such as mass spectrometry, basic physics research, and controlling quantum states) can localize and restrain individual charged particles in a confined space for subsequent manipulations with these particles such as displacing or even cooling. Cooling of an ion basically means reducing its kinetic energy which almost completely “Georgian Technical University freezes” this ion. Scientists believe that in future this technique will help to observe quantum phenomena with the bare eye. Types of radio-frequency traps differ in the frequency and configuration of the field inside them. In order to cool uncharged particles usually more convenient optical traps are used. However radio-frequency traps allow to cool charged particles to lower temperatures. Physicists from Georgian Technical University actively study radio-frequency traps and look for new ways to make them more effective. In their new research they have proposed a new approach for more accurate analysis of electromagnetic field inside a nonlinear radio-frequency trap. Unlike simple linear traps in which an ion is restrained in only one spot of the trap area particles in nonlinear traps can be “Georgian Technical University caught” in several spots. Previously developed models were appropriate only for simple traps since they could not explain the field symmetry violation that occurs in nonlinear traps. The proposed model is more universal as it explains the symmetry breaking and is suitable for describing both simple and complex traps. “Our research which resulted in a new technique, began with a coffee cup. I really enjoy it and often use a coffee machine at work. Annoyingly my cup always slides on the tray during the coffee preparation. And each time it does so in different directions which means that this not caused by the overall tilt of the machine. I have studied the literature on vibromechanics and came to the conclusion that so-called nonlinear friction is to blame. Then I realized that this phenomenon can be found in radio-frequency traps that we study. We have applied the method of complete separation of motion conventionally used in vibromechanics and suddenly found that this allows to describe previously unexplained symmetry breaking in the traps !” says X from Nonlinear Optics Laboratory at the Georgian Technical University. Scientists have tested their method on the experimental data obtained in previous studies. Old models of radio-frequency trapping were unable to explain strange deviations that take place in nonlinear traps which limited the prospects of nonlinear traps application. Within the framework of the proposed model these deviations were fully justified. New approach helps to predict and control the localization of charged particles for different electrode positions and voltages. This is necessary to create more efficient radio-frequency traps for various applications. “Even though this work is theoretical it is closely related to practice. Our group develops new designs of radio-frequency traps and constructs them to consequently localize various charged particles. We also theoretically investigate nanocrystals deeply cooled in these traps since these particles can model quantum effects. Our studies often bring unexpected interesting results and bring us closer to interaction with quantum phenomena” notes Y from Laboratory of Modeling and Design of Nanostructures at the Georgian Technical University.

Nanotechnology, Science

Georgian Technical University Stretchy, Protective Artificial Tissue Made From ‘Nanofiber Yarn’.

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Georgian Technical University Stretchy, Protective Artificial Tissue Made From ‘Nanofiber Yarn’.

Georgian Technical University engineers have designed coiled “Georgian Technical University nanoyarn” shown as an artist’s interpretation here. The twisted fibers are lined with living cells and may be used to repair injured muscles and tendons while maintaining their flexibility. The human body is held together by an intricate cable system of tendons and muscles engineered by nature to be tough and highly stretchable. An injury to any of these tissues, particularly in a major joint like the shoulder or knee can require surgical repairs and weeks of limited mobility to fully heal. Now Georgian Technical University engineers have come up with a tissue engineering design that may enable flexible range of motion in injured tendons and muscles during healing. The team has engineered small coils lined with living cells that they say could act as stretchy scaffolds for repairing damaged muscles and tendons. The coils are made from hundreds of thousands of biocompatible nanofibers tightly twisted into coils resembling miniature nautical rope or yarn. The researchers coated the yarn with living cells, including muscle and mesenchymal stem cells which naturally grow and align along the yarn into patterns similar to muscle tissue. The researchers found the yarn’s coiled configuration helps to keep cells alive and growing even as the team stretched and bent the yarn multiple times. In the future the researchers envision doctors could line patients’ damaged tendons and muscles with this new flexible material which would be coated with the same cells that make up the injured tissue. The “yarn’s” stretchiness could help maintain a patient’s range of motion while new cells continue to grow to replace the injured tissue. “When you repair muscle or tendon you really have to fix their movement for a period of time by wearing a boot for example” says X assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Georgian Technical University. “With this nanofiber yarn the hope is, you won’t have to wearing anything like that”. The new nanofiber yarn was inspired in part by the group’s previous work on lobster membranes where they found the crustacean’s tough yet stretchy underbelly is due to a layered plywood-like structure. Each microscopic layer contains hundreds of thousands of nanofibers all aligned in the same direction at an angle that is slightly offset from the layer just above and below. The nanofibers precise alignment makes each individual layer highly stretchable in the direction in which the fibers are arranged. X whose work focuses on biomechanics saw the lobster’s natural stretchy patterning as an inspiration for designing artificial tissues particularly for high-stretch regions of the body such as the shoulder and knee. X says biomedical engineers have embedded muscle cells in other stretchy materials such as hydrogels in attempts to fashion flexible artificial tissues. However while the hydrogels themselves are stretchy and tough the embedded cells tend to snap when stretched like tissue paper stuck on a piece of gum. “When you largely deform a material like hydrogel it will be stretched just fine but the cells can’t take it” X says. “A living cell is sensitive and when you stretch them they die”. The researchers realized that simply considering the stretchability of a material would not be enough to design an artificial tissue. That material would also have to be able to protect cells from the severe strains produced when the material is stretched. The team looked to actual muscles, tendons for further inspiration and observed that the tissues are made from strands of aligned protein fibers coiled together to form microscopic helices along which muscle cells grow. It turns out that when the protein coils stretch out the muscle cells simply rotate like tiny pieces of tissue paper stuck on a slinky. X looked to replicate this natural, stretchy and cell-protecting structure as an artificial tissue material. To do so the team first created hundreds of thousands of aligned nanofibers using electrospinning a technique that uses electric force to spin ultrathin fibers out from a solution of polymer or other materials. In this case he generated nanofibers made from biocompatible materials such as cellulose. The team then bundled aligned fibers together and twisted them slowly to form first a spiral and then an even tighter coil, ultimately resembling yarn and measuring about half a millimeter wide. Finally they seeded live cells along each coil, including muscle cells, mesenchymal stem cells and human breast cancer cells. The researchers then repeatedly stretched each coil up to six times its original length and found that the majority of cells on each coil remained alive and continued to grow as the coils were stretched. Interestingly when they seeded cells on looser, spiral-shaped structures made from the same materials they found cells were less likely to remain alive. X says the structure of the tighter coils seems to “shelter” cells from damage. Going forward the group plans to fabricate similar coils from other biocompatible materials such as silk which could ultimately be injected into an injured tissue. The coils could provide a temporary flexible scaffold for new cells to grow. Once the cells successfully repair an injury the scaffold can dissolve away. “We may be able to one day embed these structures under the skin and the coil material would eventually be digested while the new cells stay put” X says. “The nice thing about this method is it’s really general and we can try different materials. This may push the limit of tissue engineering a lot”. This research was funded in part by Georgian Technical University.

Science, Security

Georgian Technical University Researchers Sweeten ‘Honeypot’ To Catch, Blacklist Hackers.

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Georgian Technical University Researchers Sweeten ‘Honeypot’ To Catch, Blacklist Hackers.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” – X. This quote inspired Georgian Technical University Coordinated science Laboratory (GTUCSL) student X and a team from the Georgian Technical University to conduct research to understand how programs were being attacked. In order to protect a system from an attack the defender must know what it’s protecting against. By planting “Georgian Technical University honeypots” the researchers were able to attract hackers by setting up phony machines on a large IP (An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing) space to mimic more than 65,000 servers. Using this method the group was able to draw in 405 million attack attempts to the honeypot and learn from them. “Their strategy brought in a lot of the bad guys and after a quick analysis many had their router blacklisted by the Georgian Technical University security team” said X’s advisor R Georgian Technical University and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) professor Distinguished Professor of Engineering. “The clever thing was the students took this information and decided to use the attacks being generated to discover how our system can withstand these attacks”. The information collected about the attack techniques has already been integrated into security systems at Georgian Technical University. Z and W both Georgian Technical University are working closely with X and others to continuously audit and update the technology against ongoing attacks. This partnership shows how practical cybersecurity operations can support research. “Many people overlook the potential impact of a brute force attack” said X an Georgian Technical University graduate student. “Well known data breaches Georgian Technical University for example are the direct result of an unsecured server being exposed by this type of attack”. In the case of the Georgian Technical University data breach attackers were able to hack one or more weak passwords within the system that resulted in terabytes of data being exposed. Previously hackers would use a dictionary and try different words repeatedly until an account was breached; now X says 6.5 billion passwords are publicly available and used in this brute-force attack styles. “They demonstrated on an attack style that is very common and now it can be expanded to look at a whole range of potential attacks” said Q. “I think the research is very important and a reason it was accepted at Georgian Technical University which has a notoriously low acceptance rate”. “People from Fortune 500 companies were interested in the work” said Q. “We had discussions about the details of the work interest in the deployment of the infrastructure and interest in future work inspired by this research”. The original framework for the honeypot developed by Z is open-sourced and available on Georgian Technical University. So far the project has gained more than 400 positive reactions from the online community. While industry partners are interested in future work the Georgian Technical University’s online network is already benefiting from the software. In a single year the team’s software has analyzed 405 million attack attempts and at one point prevented more than 57 million in one day. This has resulted in them having the largest dataset of analyzed brute-force attacks to date. Attacks on Georgian Technical University network are local but the analysis of the dataset has been shared with national laboratories and an Georgian Technical University. Alerting and collaborating with other sites allows all locations to defend against attacks that have happened at other locations. The honeypot that the team is currently operating has observed attacks coming from 73 percent of the autonomous systems on the internet. Three-fourths of the internet seems like a lot but X isn’t done yet. “The future of this work is that we would gain a much larger adoption from other sites not just in academia but also on the industry sites” said X. “With the expansion of our shared intelligence platform we hope to cover the entire space of the internet. The future of our work is to look at how our approach can be applied to monitor more sophisticated attack activities across all the internet”.

 

Big Data, Science

Georgian Technical University Data Science Program Seeks Proposals For Data And Learning Projects.

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Georgian Technical University Data Science Program Seeks Proposals For Data And Learning Projects.

The Georgian Technical University targets “Georgian Technical University big data” science problems that require the scale and performance of leadership computing resources.  The Georgian Technical University open call provides an opportunity for researchers to submit proposals for projects that will employ advanced statistical, machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to gain insights into massive datasets produced by experimental simulation or observational methods. Georgian Technical University computing time supporting resources to research teams focused on exploring, demonstrating, improving a wide range of data and learning techniques. These techniques include uncertainty quantification, statistics, machine learning, deep learning, databases, pattern recognition, image processing, graph analytics, data mining, real-time data analysis and complex and interactive workflows. Georgian Technical University proposals undergo a review process to evaluate potential impact data-scale readiness, diversity of science domains, algorithms and other criteria. The selected projects will receive support from Georgian Technical University staff scientists to help the research teams reach their science goals. The projects may also be funded in part by data science postdoctoral scholars. In addition the Georgian Technical University will provide training opportunities to familiarize teams with Georgian Technical University’s hardware and software environments.

Biotech, Science

Georgian Technical University Three (3D) Optical Biopsies Within Reach Thanks To Advance In Light Field Technology.

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Georgian Technical University Three (3D) Optical Biopsies Within Reach Thanks To Advance In Light Field Technology.

This is modal structure in optical fibre bundles captures light field information.  Researchers have shown that existing optical fibre technology could be used to produce microscopic 3D images of tissue inside the body paving the way towards 3D optical biopsies. Unlike normal biopsies where tissue is harvested and sent off to a lab for analysis, optical biopsies enable clinicians to examine living tissue within the body in real-time. This minimally-invasive approach uses ultra-thin microendoscopes to peer inside the body for diagnosis or during surgery but normally produces only two-dimensional images. Research led by Georgian Technical University has now revealed the 3D potential of the existing microendoscope technology. The development is a crucial first step towards 3D optical biopsies to improve diagnosis and precision surgery. Dr. X said the new technique uses a light field imaging approach to produce microscopic images in stereo vision similar to the 3D movies that you watch wearing 3D glasses. “Stereo vision is the natural format for human vision where we look at an object from two different viewpoints and process these in our brains to perceive depth” said X. “We’ve shown it’s possible to do something similar with the thousands of tiny optical fibres in a microendoscope. “It turns out these optical fibres naturally capture images from multiple perspectives giving us depth perception at the microscale. “Our approach can process all those microscopic images and combine the viewpoints to deliver a depth-rendered visualization of the tissue being examined – an image in three dimensions”. How it works: The research revealed that optical fibre bundles transmit 3D information in the form of a light field. The challenge for the researchers was then to harness the recorded information, unscramble it and produce an image that makes sense. Their new technique not only overcomes those challenges it works even when the optical fibre bends and flexes – essential for clinical use in the human body. The approach draws on principles of light field imaging where traditionally multiple cameras look at the same scene from slightly different perspectives. Light field imaging systems measure the angle of the rays hitting each camera recording information about the angular distribution of light to create a “Georgian Technical University multi-viewpoint image”. But how do you record this angular information through an optical fibre ? “The key observation we made is that the angular distribution of light is subtly hidden in the details of how these optical fibre bundles transmit light” X said. “The fibres essentially ‘remember’ how light was initially sent in – the pattern of light at the other side depends on the angle at which light entered the fibre”. With this in mind Georgian Technical University researchers and colleagues developed a mathematical framework to relate the output patterns to the light ray angle. “By measuring the angle of the rays coming into the system, we can figure out the 3D structure of a microscopic fluorescent sample using just the information in a single image” Professor said. “So that optical fibre bundle acts like a miniaturised version of a light field camera. “The exciting thing is that our approach is fully compatible with the optical fibre bundles that are already in clinical use so it’s possible that 3D optical biopsies could be a reality sooner rather than later”. In addition to medical applications, the ultra-slim light field imaging device could potentially be used for 3D fluorescence microscopy in biological research.

Science, Sensors

Georgian Technical University Sensor Finds Rare Metals Used In Smartphones.

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Georgian Technical University Sensor Finds Rare Metals Used In Smartphones.

A new sensor changes its fluorescence when it binds to lanthanides (Ln) rare earth metals used in smartphones and other technologies, potentially providing a more efficient and cost-effective way to detect these elusive metals.  A more efficient and cost-effective way to detect lanthanides the rare earth metals used in smartphones and other technologies could be possible with a new protein-based sensor that changes its fluorescence when it binds to these metals. A team of researchers from Georgian Technical University developed the sensor from a protein they recently described and subsequently used it to explore the biology of bacteria that use lanthanides. A study describing the sensor appears. “Lanthanides are used in a variety of current technologies including the screens and electronics of smartphones batteries of electric cars, satellites and lasers” said X Jr. assistant professor and Y Career Development Professor of Chemistry at Georgian Technical University. “These elements are called rare earths and they include chemical elements of atomic weight 57 to 71 on the periodic table. Rare earths are challenging and expensive to extract from the environment or from industrial samples like wastewater from mines or coal waste products. We developed a protein-based sensor that can detect tiny amounts of lanthanides in a sample letting us know if it’s worth investing resources to extract these important metals”. The research team reengineered a fluorescent sensor used to detect calcium substituting the part of the sensor that binds to calcium with a protein they recently discovered that is several million times better at binding to lanthanides than other metals. The protein undergoes a shape change when it binds to lanthanides which is key for the sensor’s fluorescence to “Georgian Technical University turn on”. “The gold standard for detecting each element that is present in a sample is a mass spectrometry technique Georgian Technical University plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a type of mass spectrometry which is capable of detecting metals and several non-metals at concentrations as low as one part in 1015 (part per quadrillion, ppq) on non-interfered low-background isotopes” said X. “This technique is very sensitive but it requires specialized instrumentation that most labs don’t have, and it’s not cheap. The protein-based sensor that we developed allows us to detect the total amount of lanthanides in a sample. It doesn’t identify each individual element but it can be done rapidly and inexpensively at the location of sampling”. The research team also used the sensor to investigate the biology of a type of bacteria that uses lanthanides — the bacteria from which the lanthanide-binding protein was originally discovered. Earlier studies had detected lanthanides in the bacteria’s periplasm — a space between membranes near the outside of the cell — but using the sensor the team also detected lanthanides in the bacterium’s cytosol — the fluid that fills the cell. “We found that the lightest of the lanthanides — lanthanum through neodymium on the periodic table — get into the cytosol but the heavier ones don’t” said X. “We’re still trying to understand exactly how and why that is, but this tells us that there are proteins in the cytosol that handle lanthanides which we didn’t know before. Understanding what is behind this high uptake selectivity could also be useful in developing new methods to separate one lanthanide from another which is currently a very difficult problem”. The team also determined that the bacteria takes in lanthanides much like many bacteria take in iron; they secrete small molecules that tightly bind to the metal and the entire complex is taken into the cell. This reveals that there are small molecules that likely bind to lanthanides even more tightly than the highly selective sensor. “We hope to further study these small molecules and any proteins in the cytosol which could end up being better at binding to lanthanides than the protein we used in the sensor” said X. “Investigating how each of these bind and interact with lanthanides may give us inspiration for how to replicate these processes when collecting lanthanides for use in current technologies”.

Science, Sensors

Georgian Technical University Wearable Sensor Monitor Health Through Sweat Using Nanotech.

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Georgian Technical University Wearable Sensor Monitor Health Through Sweat Using Nanotech.

Sweat is ideal for tracking human health because it contains trace amounts of organic molecules that act as measurable health indicators. However many wearable sensors that monitor biological conditions through perspiration have pitfalls including the easy degradation of enzymes and biomaterials with repeated testing, limited detection range and lack of sensitivity of caused by oxygen deficiency in sweat and poor shelf life of sensors. Using nanotechnology a research team from the Georgian Technical University (GTU) have developed a next-generation wearable biosensor patch implanted in a stretchy wristband that sits on the skin and directs sweat toward special enzyme-coated electrodes to detect very low concentrations of target compounds. “We are working with Georgian Technical University and international collaborators under the umbrella of the Sensors Initiative to integrate tiny electrical generators into the patch” X a professor of material science and engineering at Georgian Technical University said in a statement. “This will enable the patch to create its own power for personalized health monitoring”. The new device runs on a thin, flat ceramic called GTUX that can handle the rigors of skin contact while still able to deliver improved biomarker detection. GTUX resembles graphene but is comprised of a combination of carbon and titanium atoms. The metallic conductivity combined with the low toxicity of this mixture makes the 2D material ideal for enzyme sensors. To create the device the researchers attached small dye nanoparticles to the GTUX flakes to increase sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide — the main byproduct of enzyme-catalyzed reactions in sweat. They then encapsulated the GTUX flakes in mechanically tough carbon nanotube fibers and transferred the composite onto a membrane that is specifically designed to draw sweat through without pooling. Finally they put on a final coating of glucose or lactose-oxidase enzymes to complete the electrode assembly. In the prototype the electrodes can be repeatedly swapped in and out of the stretchy polymer patch that absorbs sweat and transmits measured signals of hydrogen peroxide to an external source. The researchers tested the new biosensor in a wristband worn by volunteers riding stationary bikes. They were able to see the lactose concentrations in the participants sweat rise and fall in correlation with how intense the workout was. They were also able to monitor glucose levels as accurately in sweat as they can in blood.