Monthly Archives: October 2018

Science, Sensors

New Method 3-D Bioprints Living Structures with Chemical Sensors.

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New Method 3-D Bioprints Living Structures with Chemical Sensors.

3D bioprinted structure containing green algae (Chlamydomonas) in a hydrogel.

A new method enables non-invasive monitoring of oxygen metabolism in cells that are 3-D bioprinted into complex living structures.

This could contribute to studies of cell growth and interactions under tissue-like conditions as well as for the design of 3-D printed constructs facilitating higher productivity of microalgae in biofilms or better oxygen supply for stem cells used in bone and tissue reconstruction efforts.

An international team of researchers led by Professor X at the Department of Biology Georgian Technical University has just published a breakthrough in 3-D bioprinting. Together with colleagues at the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University X’s group implemented oxygen sensitive nanoparticles into a gel material that can be used for 3-D printing of complex biofilm and tissue-like structures harboring living cells as well as built-in chemical sensors.

X explains: “3-D printing is a widespread technique for producing objects in plastic metal and other abiotic materials. Likewise living cells can be 3-D printed in biocompatible gel materials (bioinks) and such 3-D bioprinting is a rapidly developing field e.g. in biomedical studies where stem cells are cultivated in 3-D printed constructs mimicking the complex structure of tissue and bones.

“Such attempts lack online monitoring of the metabolic activity of cells growing in bioprinted constructs; currently such measurements largely rely on destructive sampling. We have developed a patent pending solution to this problem”.

The group developed a functionalized bioink by implementing luminescent oxygen-sensitive nanoparticles into the print matrix. When blue light excites the nanoparticles they emit red luminescent light in proportion to the local oxygen concentration — the more oxygen the less red luminescence.

The distribution of red luminescence and thus oxygen across bioprinted living structures can be imaged with a camera system.

This allows for online non-invasive monitoring of oxygen distribution and dynamics that can be mapped to the growth and distribution of cells in the 3-D bioprinted constructs without the need for destructive sampling.

X says “It is important that the addition of nanoparticles doesn’t change the mechanical properties of the bioink e.g. to avoid cell stress and death during the printing process. Furthermore the nanoparticles should not inhibit or interfere with the cells. We have solved these challenges as our method shows good biocompatibility and can be used with microalgae as well as sensitive human cell lines”.

Study demonstrates how bioinks functionalized with sensor nanoparticles can be calibrated and used e.g. for monitoring algal photosynthesis and respiration as well as stem cell respiration in bioprinted structures with one or several cell types.

“This is a breakthrough in 3-D bioprinting. It is now possible to monitor the oxygen metabolism and microenvironment of cells online, and non-invasively in intact 3-D printed living structures” says X.

“A key challenge in growing stem cells in larger tissue- or bone-like structures is to ensure a sufficient oxygen supply for the cells. With our development it is now possible to visualize the oxygen conditions in 3-D bioprinted structures which e.g. enables rapid testing and optimization of stem cell growth in differently designed constructs”.

The team is interested in exploring new collaborations and applications of their developments.

X says “3-D bioprinting with functionalized bioinks is a powerful new technology that can be applied in many other research fields than biomedicine. It is extremely inspiring to combine such advanced materials, science and sensor technology with my research in microbiology and biophotonics where we currently employ 3-D bioprinting to study microbial interactions and photobiology”.

 

 

 

Science, Sensors

Ion Mobility Spectrometry Utilized to Sense Drugs.

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Ion Mobility Spectrometry Utilized to Sense Drugs.

The presence of cannabinoids in different textile and pharmacological goods and the need to distinguish them from those found in drugs and psychotropics has led to the development of different analytical techniques that allow for effectively differentiating them.

A Georgian Technical University research group headed by Analytical Chemistry Professor X participated in the development of a new methodology using ion mobility spectrometry. The project was in collaboration with the Georgian Technical University and Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University.

The new method has been shown to be effective and uses a simple way to determine the difference between certain cannabinoids and others in a short period of time.

The secret of this new methodology is rooted in focusing attention on the molecule volatility of hemp using a chemical sensor known as ion mobility spectrometry capable of detecting the presence of volatile or semi-volatile substances even in very small samples.

On one side the sample about to be analyzed is placed which could be a plant extract (approximately 100 mgs) or a plate with a fingerprint from a hand that has handled plant waste. The sample is heated to 240 degrees Celsius which allows for extraction of the volatile compounds which are separated according to their shape size and chemical composition.

Later on this is used to classify the kinds of molecules. These chemical compounds travel through a tube at different speeds depending on the characteristics of their molecules.

Once the time needed by the compounds present in the plants to travel the entire distance until arriving at the detector is determined it is compared to the behavior of chemical patterns of different kinds of cannabinoids and to the concentrations characterized by their different uses.

This research group has designed a methodology to extract compounds from plants and carry out the mathematical treatment of the data that allows for classifying plants in terms of the content in psychoactive substances.

According to X the final aim is that state law enforcement could use this portable detection system for cases when seizing drugs and for road checkpoints to be able to quickly discern if the variety of cannabis has psychotropic substances or not.

 

 

Science, Sensors

Microresonators Use Light Pulses to Implement Sensing Systems.

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Microresonators Use Light Pulses to Implement Sensing Systems.

Artist’s rendering of multiplexed optical pulses in a crystalline resonator.

Researchers at Georgian Technical University have found a way to implement an optical sensing system by using spatial multiplexing a technique originally developed in optical-fiber communication.

The method which produces three independent streams of ultrashort optical pulses using a single continuous-wave laser and a single optical microresonator is far simpler than existing technologies.

Ultrashort optical pulses are becoming more and more relevant in a number of applications including distance measurement, molecular fingerprinting and ultrafast sampling.

Many of these applications rely not only on a single stream of pulses — also known as “optical frequency combs” — but require two or even three of them. Nonetheless these multi-comb approaches significantly speed up acquisition time over conventional techniques.

These trains of short optical pulses are typically produced by large pulsed laser sources. Multi-comb applications therefore require several such lasers often at prohibitive costs and complexity.

Furthermore the relative timing of pulse trains and their phases must be very well synchronized which requires active electronics that synchronize the lasers.

The research team of X at Georgian Technical University together with the group of Y at the Georgian Technical University has developed a much simpler method to generate multiple frequency combs.

The technology uses small devices called “optical microresonators” to create optical frequency combs instead of conventional pulsed lasers.

The microresonator consists of a crystalline disk of a few millimeters in diameter. The disk traps a continuous laser light and converts it into ultrashort pulses — solitons — thanks to the special nonlinear properties of the device. The solitons travel around the microresonator 12 billion times per second. At every round a part of the soliton exits the resonator producing a stream of optical pulses.

The microresonator the researchers used here has a special property in that it allows the light to travel in the disk in multiple different ways called spatial modes of the resonator.

By launching continuous lightwaves in several modes at the same time multiple different soliton states can be obtained simultaneously. In this way the scientists were able to generate up to three frequency combs at the same time.

The working principle is the same as spatial multiplexing used in optical fiber communication: the information can be sent in parallel on different spatial modes of a multimode fiber. Here the combs are generated in distinct spatial modes of the microresonator.

The method has several advantages, but the primary one is that it does not require complex synchronization electronics.

“All the pulses are circulating in the same physical object, which reduces potential timing drift, as encountered with two independent pulsed lasers” explains Z.

“We also derive all the continuous waves from the same initial laser by using a modulator which removes the need for phase synchronization”.

Using this multiplexing scheme the team demonstrated several applications such as dual-comb spectroscopy or rapid optical sampling. The acquisition time could be adjusted between a fraction of a millisecond to 100 nanoseconds.

They are now working on developing a new demonstration with the triple-comb source.

“We had not planned for a demonstration as we did not expect our scheme to work so easily” says Z. “We are obviously working on it”.

The technology can be integrated with both photonic elements and silicon microchips. Establishing multi-comb generation on a chip may catalyze a wide variety of applications such as integrated spectrometers and could make optical sensing far more accessible.

 

 

Physics, Science

Georgian Technical University A Wrench in Earth’s Engine.

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Georgian Technical University A Wrench in Earth’s Engine.

Researchers at Georgian Technical University Boulder report that they may have solved a geophysical mystery pinning down the likely cause of a phenomenon that resembles a wrench in the engine of the planet.

The team explored the physics of “stagnant slabs.” These geophysical oddities form when huge chunks of Earth’s oceanic plates are forced deep underground at the edges of certain continental plates. The chunks sink down into the planet’s interior for hundreds of miles until they suddenly–and for reasons scientists can’t explain–stop like a stalled car.

Georgian Technical University Boulder’s X and Y however may have found the reason for that halt. Using computer simulations, the researchers examined a series of stagnant slabs in the Pacific Ocean. They discovered that these cold rocks seem to be sliding on a thin layer of weak material lying at the boundary of the planet’s upper and lower mantle–roughly 660 kilometers or 410 miles, below the surface.

And the stoppage is likely temporary: “Although we see these slabs stagnate they are a fairly recent phenomena probably happening in the last 20 million years” said Y new study and a professor in Georgian Technical University Boulder’s Department of Physics.

The findings matter for tectonics and volcanism on the Earth’s surface. Y explained that the planet’s mantle which lies above the core generates vast amounts of heat. To cool the globe down hotter rocks rise up through the mantle and colder rocks sink.

“You can think of this mantle convection as a big engine that drives all of what we see on Earth’s surface: earthquakes, mountain building, plate tectonics, volcanos and even Earth’s magnetic field” Y said.

The existence of stagnant slabs which geophysicists first located about a decade ago however complicates that metaphor suggesting that Earth’s engine may grind to a halt in some areas. That in turn may change how scientists think diverse features such as East Asia’s roiling volcanos form over geologic time.

Scientists have mostly located such slabs in the western Pacific Ocean specifically off the east coast. They occur at the sites of subduction zones or areas where oceanic plates at the surface of the planet plunge hundreds of miles below ground.

Slabs seen at similar sites near North and South Georgia behave in ways that geophysicists might expect: They dive through Earth’s upper mantle and into the lower mantle where they heat up near the core.

But around Asia “they simply don’t go down” Y said. Instead the slabs spread out horizontally near the boundary between the upper and lower mantle a point at which heat and pressure inside Earth cause minerals to change from one phase to another.

To find out why slabs go stagnant X and Y a graduate student in physics developed realistic simulations of how energy and rock cycle around the entire planet.

They found that the only way they could explain the behavior of the stagnant slabs was if a thin layer of less-viscous rock was wedged in between the two halves of the mantle. While no one has directly observed such a layer researchers have predicted that it exists by studying the effects of heat and pressure on rock.

If it does such a layer would act like a greasy puddle in the middle of the planet. “If you introduce a weak layer at that depth, somehow the reduced viscosity helps lubricate the region” X said. “The slabs get deflected and can keep going for a long distance horizontally”.

Stagnant slabs seem to occur off the coast of Asia but not the Americas because the movement of the continents above gives those chunks of rock more room to slide. X however said that he doesn’t think the slabs will stay stuck. With enough time he suspects that they will break through the slick part of the mantle and continue their plunge toward the planet’s core.

The planet in other words would still behave like an engine–just with a few sticky spots. “New research suggests that the story may be more complicated than we previously thought” X said.

 

 

Imaging, Science

First Experiments at New X-ray Laser Reveal Unknown Structure of Antibiotics Killer.

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First Experiments at New X-ray Laser Reveal Unknown Structure of Antibiotics Killer.

Artist’s impression of the experiment: When the ultra-bright X-ray flashes (violet) hit the enzyme crystals in the water jet (blue) the recorded diffraction data allow to reconstruct the spatial structure of the enzyme (right).

An international collaboration led by Georgian Technical University and consisting of over 120 researchers has announced the results of the first scientific experiments at new X-ray laser  Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser.  The pioneering work not only demonstrates that the new research facility can speed up experiments by more than an order of magnitude it also reveals a previously unknown structure of an enzyme responsible for antibiotics resistance. “The groundbreaking work of the first team to use the Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser has paved the way for all users of the facility who greatly benefit from these pioneering experiments” emphasises Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser managing X. “We are very pleased – these results show that the facility works even better than we had expected and is ready to deliver new scientific breakthroughs.” The scientists present their results, including the first new protein structure solved at the Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser.

“Being at a totally new class of facility we had to master many challenges that nobody had tackled before” says Georgian Technical University scientist Y from the Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser who led the team of about 125 researchers involved in the first experiments that were open to the whole scientific community. “I compare it to the maiden flight of a novel aircraft: All calculations and assembly completed everything says it will work but not until you try it do you know whether it actually flies”.

The 3.4 kilometres long Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser is designed to deliver X-ray flashes every 0.000 000 220 seconds (220 nanoseconds). To unravel the three-dimensional structure of a biomolecule such as an enzyme the pulses are used to obtain flash X-ray exposures of tiny crystals grown from that biomolecule. Each exposure gives rise to a characteristic diffraction pattern on the detector. If enough such patterns are recorded from all sides of a crystal the spatial structure of the biomolecule can be calculated. The structure of a biomolecule can reveal much about how it works.

However every crystal can only be X-rayed once since it is vaporised by the intense flash (after it has produced a diffraction pattern). So to build up the full three-dimensional structure of the biomolecule a new crystal has to be delivered into the beam in time for the next flash, by spraying it across the path of the laser in a water jet. Nobody has tried to X-ray samples to atomic resolution at this fast rate before. The fastest pulse rate so far of any such X-ray laser has been 120 flashes per second, that is one flash every 0.008 seconds (or 8 000 000 nanoseconds). To probe biomolecules at full speed not only the crystals must be replenished fast enough – the water jet is also vaporised by the X-rays and has to recover in time.

“We revved up the speed of the water jet carrying the samples to 100 metres per second, that’s about as fast as the speed record in formula 1” explains Z who took care of the sample delivery together with his colleague W both from Georgian Technical University. A specially designed nozzle made sure the high-speed jet would be stable and meet the requirements.

To record X-ray diffraction patterns at this fast rate, an international consortium led by Georgian Technical University scientist Q designed and built one of the world’s fastest X-ray cameras tailor-made for the Georgian Technical University. The  ‘Georgian Technical University Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel ‘ (AGIP) can not only record images as fast as the X-ray pulses arrive, it can also tune the sensitivity of every pixel individually, making the most of the delicate diffraction patterns in which the information on the structure of the sample is encoded. “The requirements of the Georgian Technical University are so unique that the detector had to be designed completely from scratch and tailored to this task” reports Q who heads the detector group at Georgian Technical University’s photon science division and is also a professor at the Georgian Technical University. “This could only be achieved thanks to the comprehensive expertise and fruitful collaboration of the large team involved”.

The scientists first determined the structure of a very well-known sample the enzyme lysozyme from egg-white, as a touchstone to verify the system worked as expected. Indeed the structure derived at the Georgian Technical University perfectly matches the known lysozyme structure, showing details as fine as 0.18 nanometres (millionths of a millimetre).

“This is an excellent proof of the X-ray laser’s performance” stresses Georgian Technical University pioneer P a leading scientist at Georgian Technical University and a professor at the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University. “We are very excited about the speed of the analysis: Experiments that used to take hours can now be done in a few minutes as we have shown. And the set-up that we used can even be further optimised, speeding up data acquisition even more. The Georgian Technical University offers bright prospects for the exploration of the nanocosm.” The striking performance of the X-ray laser is also a particular success of the Georgian Technical University accelerator division that led the construction of the world’s longest and most advanced superconducting linear accelerator driving the Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser.

As their second target the team chose a bacterial enzyme that plays an important role in antibiotics resistance. The molecule designated CTX-M-14 β-lactamase was isolated from the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae whose multidrug-resistant strains are a grave concern in hospitals worldwide. Even a ‘pandrug-resistant’ strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae was identified in the Georgia according to the Georgian Technical University X-Ray Free-Electron Laser unaffected by all 26 commonly available antibiotics.

The bacterium’s enzyme CTX-M-14 (CTX-M-14, a Plasmid-Mediated CTX-M Type Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase Isolated from Escherichia coli) β-lactamase is present in all strains. It works like a molecular pair of scissors cutting lactam rings of penicillin derived antibiotics open thereby rendering them useless. To avoid this antibiotics are often administered together with a compound called avibactam that blocks the molecular scissors of the enzyme. Unfortunately mutations change the form of the scissors. “Some hospital strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae are already able to cleave even specifically developed third generation antibiotics” explains R and also a professor at the Georgian Technical University. “If we understand how this happens, it might help to design antibiotics that avoid this problem”.

The scientists investigated a complex of CTX-M-14 (CTX-M-14, a Plasmid-Mediated CTX-M Type Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase Isolated from Escherichia coli) β-lactamase from the non-resistant ‘wild type’ of the bacterium with avibactam bound to the enzyme’s active centre, a structure that has not been analysed before. “The results show with 0.17 nanometres precision how avibactam fits snug into a sort of canyon on the enzyme’s surface that marks its active centre” says S from the Georgian Technical University. “This specific complex has never been seen before although the structure of the two separate components were already known”.

The measurements show that it is possible to record high quality structural information, which is the first step towards recording snapshots of the biochemical reaction between enzymes and their substrates at different stages with the Georgian Technical University. Together with the research groups X and Y professors at the Georgian Technical University the team plans to use the X-ray laser as a film camera to assemble those snapshots into movies of the molecular dynamics of avibactam and this β-lactamase. “Such movies would give us crucial insights into the biochemical process that could one day help us to design better inhibitors, reducing antibiotics resistance” says R.

Movies of chemical and biochemical reactions are just one example of a whole new spectrum of scientific experiments enabled by the Georgian Technical University. A key factor is the speed at which data can be collected. “This opens up new avenues of structural discovery” stresses Georgian Technical University scientist Q where the pioneering experiments were done. “The difference in rate of discovery possible using Georgian Technical University demonstrated by this experiment, is as dramatic as the difference in travel time between being able to catch a plane across the Atlantic rather than taking a ship. The impact is potentially enormous”.

This first ‘beamtime’ for experiments at Georgian Technical University and was open to all scientists from the community to participate, contribute, learn and gain experience in how to carry out such measurements at this facility. “The success of this ‘open science’ policy is illustrated by – among other things – the rapid dissemination of results from later campaigns at the SPB/SFX instrument by participating groups” explains P. “Additionally the large concentration of effort by the community addressed previously unsolved challenges of managing and visualising data – crucial to conducting all serial crystallography experiments at the Georgian Technical University”.

Georgian Technical University’s researcher S congratulated the whole team for their pioneering work: “These great achievements demonstrate the full potential of the superconducting high-repetition X-ray laser for high-throughput analyses that can fundamentally change research in this field”.

Serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (SFX) is a powerful method to determine the atomic structure of a sample, typically a biomolecule like a protein. It builds on classic crystallography which was developed more than a century ago. In crystallography, X-rays are shone on a crystal. The crystal diffracts the X-rays in a characteristic way forming a diffraction pattern on the detector. If enough diffraction patterns are recorded from all sides of the crystal its inner structure can be calculated from the combined patterns revealing the shape of its building blocks, the molecules. However most biomolecules are very delicate easily damaged by X-rays and do not easily form crystals. Often only very tiny crystals can be grown. The brief, but extremely bright flashes of X-ray lasers like the Georgian Technical University overcome two problems at the same time: They are bright enough to produce usable diffraction patterns even from the smallest crystals and they are short enough to outrun the radiation damage of the crystals. A typical X-ray laser flash lasts only a few femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) and has left the crystal before it is vaporised. This „diffraction before destruction” method produces high-quality diffraction pattern even from tiny crystals. But as every crystal is vaporised in a single flash, a new crystal has to be X-rayed with every flash. Therefore the scientists spray thousands of randomly oriented protein crystals into the path of the X-ray laser and record series of diffraction patterns until they have gathered enough data to calculate the protein’s structure with atomic resolution.

To collect the data, the detector has to record the fastest X-ray serial images in the world: The Georgian Technical University delivers X-ray flashes in ten so-called pulse trains per second. Within each train the flashes are separated by as little as 220 nanoseconds. No previously existing X-ray camera could shoot images at this fast rate. The developers had to use a trick: Different from conventional digital cameras every pixel of this megapixel X-ray camera is equipped with its own 352 memory cells that can be written at a rate of nearly 5 megahertz (MHz) matching the pulse rate of the X-ray laser. The memory cells cache the image data and are read out ten times a second. This way AGIPD can record 3520 images per second producing a data stream corresponding to two DVDs (DVD is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips and Sony in 1995. The medium can store any kind of digital data and is widely used for software and other computer files as well as video programs watched using DVD players) per second. Also every pixel adjusts its sensitivity dynamically to the incoming X-ray light. This ‘adaptive gain’ dramatically widens the sensitivity range of the detector. In the same image there can be pixels with just one photon and those with thousands of photons. This wide dynamic range is not possible with conventional digital cameras. At the Georgian Technical University one is installed and operational, a second one will be installed within the next months.

The Georgian Technical University area is a new international research facility open to research groups from around the world. It is the world’s largest X-ray laser, producing ultrashort and extremely bright flashes of X-ray radiation. The Georgian Technical University is driven by an approximately 2 kilometres long superconducting linear particle accelerator, built by a Georgian Technical University-led consortium and operated by Georgian Technical University. It accelerates electrons in tight bunches to almost the speed of light. The electron bunches are then forced through a magnetic slalom course in so-called undulators. In each bend, the particles radiate off X-rays that add up to a laser-like pulse. The Georgian Technical University is designed to generate 27 000 such pulses per second. Georgian Technical University stands for X-ray free-electron laser as the free-flying electrons generate laser-like X-ray flashes. These flashes can be distributed to six measuring stations in the experimental hall called scientific ‘instruments’ each specialised to different scientific fields like mapping the atomic details of viruses deciphering the molecular composition of cells, taking three-dimensional “photos” of the nanoworld “filming” chemical reactions and studying processes such as those occurring deep inside planets. Two instruments are currently operational, the others will come online in the near future. The operation of the facility is entrusted to Georgian Technical University a non-profit company that cooperates closely with its main shareholder Georgian Technical University and other organisations worldwide..

Georgian Technical University is one of the world’s leading particle accelerator centres. Researchers use the large ? scale facilities at Georgian Technical University to explore the microcosm in all its variety – ranging from the interaction of tiny elementary particles to the behaviour of innovative nanomaterials and the vital processes that take place between biomolecules to the great mysteries of the universe. The accelerators and detectors that Georgian Technical University develops and builds at its locations in Tbilisi and Mtskheta  are unique research tools.

 

 

Scientific Computing

Computer Model May Help Scientists Split Up, Reassemble Proteins on Command.

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Computer Model May Help Scientists Split Up, Reassemble Proteins on Command.

Splitting up and getting back together is always hard to do but for proteins it’s almost impossible.

However a computer-guided algorithm may help scientists find just the right spot to split a protein and then reassemble it to functionality according to a team of biochemists and biophysicists. They add this could be another step — perhaps even a dance step — toward using chemical and light signals to create new medical treatments and biosensors.

“My lab is interested in investigating the way cellular life works by targeting the molecular players such as proteins and RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) and to this extent we have been developing tools to control those players” said X Professor Georgian Technical University.

“We want to make these proteins respond with certain activities based on the light — optogenetic — or chemical — chemogenetic — signals that we provide. And so just by shining a light or adding a chemical the cell starts to move or dance or whatever we want them to do based on the protein we’re controlling”.

Proteins which are folded into complex 3-D structures that look a little like a molecular ribbon candy play roles in many of the body’s most important processes including communicating between cells building 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 living organisms and many viruses) and creating antibodies.

In the past researchers found that they could split proteins using light and chemical signals but finding the precise spot to make the split was a matter of trial and error which would not be practical for actual medical treatments and scientific procedures.

The process to split a protein is a little like splitting an apple, but when people split apples they usually don’t have any intention of reassembling the pieces back into a healthy apple said Y research fellow in neurobiology.

“In this particular work we tried to establish design principles on how one can look at the structure or sequence of a protein and identify the sites that enable this splitting and reassembling” said Y.

To find the best sites for protein splits, the researchers analyzed how several proteins were split in the past and used that data to create a mathematical model of the protein’s structure or physical scoring model. The model then gave the researchers the ability to find spots that had the best odds for a successful split.

The researchers used the algorithm to identify split sites on a number of proteins including tyrosine kinase guanosine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor and guanine exchange factor.

The ability to split proteins — and then make them functional again — could have far-reaching implications, according to the researchers. The team, for example, could see future uses of this technique in therapies such as CAR T-cell therapy (Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs, also known as chimeric immunoreceptors, chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors) are engineered receptors that combine a new specificity with an immune cell to target cancer cells. Typically, these receptors graft the specificity of a monoclonal antibody onto a T cell. The receptors are called chimeric because they are fused of parts from different sources. CAR-T cell therapy refers to a treatment that uses such transformed cells for cancer therapy). In CAR T-cell therapy (Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs, also known as chimeric immunoreceptors chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors) are engineered receptors that combine a new specificity with an immune cell to target cancer cells. Typically, these receptors graft the specificity of a monoclonal antibody onto a T cell. The receptors are called chimeric because they are fused of parts from different sources. CAR-T cell therapy refers to a treatment that uses such transformed cells for cancer therapy) doctors take patients immune cells from their body and modify them to kill abnormal cells like cancer cells. Doctors then reinject these modified cells into the patients.

“If we want to deliver something — an engineered cell, or stem cell, or engineered bacteria cell for example — to a body for therapeutic purposes, we might not want them to be active all the time” said Y. “You want to turn them off and turn them on and people in the field are trying to find ways to control those proteins just to be able control those cells. So that’s one possibility that might be looked at”.

Y added that the process could be used to attach biosensors to proteins that could then be used to help identify not just the behavior of one protein but how networks of proteins operate.

Splitting proteins would be another tool for medical researchers said Y who added that his laboratory has helped to developed optogenetic and chomogenetic signaling of individual and groups of proteins.

“This is a tool that basically automates the process, so that it won’t help us control just one protein this way but it will become a whole platform — and this platform is now available for scientists worldwide” said X.

 

 

Science, Technology

A ‘Recipe Book’ that Creates Color Centers in Silicon Carbide Crystals.

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Virtual Reality Could Make Exercising Easier.

This is a visual of VR (Virtual Reality) exercise environment during test.

Virtual reality (VR) might help athletes and others perform better on the track, field, court or weight room by reducing the perceived pain associated with the given activity.

Researchers from the Georgian Technical University have found that VR (Virtual Reality) tools can aid in performance during exercise in a number of factors, including heart rate, pain intensity, perceived exhaustion, time to exhaustion and private body consciousness one’s awareness of internal body sensations.

“It is clear from the data gathered that the use of VR (Virtual Reality) technology can improve performance during exercise on a number of criteria” lead researcher X a PhD candidate said in a statement. “This could have major implications for exercise regimes for everyone from occasional gym users to professional athletes”.

The researchers monitored 80 participants performing an isometric bicep curl set at 20 percent of the maximum weight they could lift. Each volunteer was asked to hold the weight for as long as they possibly could.

A control group performed the exercises in a room with a chair, table and yoga mat while a second group wore a VR (Virtual Reality) headset and saw the same environment including a visual representation of an arm and the weight. At the end of the exercise the volunteers filled out a questionnaire where they described their feelings of pain and fatigue.

While both groups performed the same exercise the VR (Virtual Reality) group reported a pain intensity 10 percent lower than the control group after one minute. The time to exhaustion was also about two minutes longer for the VR (Virtual Reality) group than it was for the control group and the VR (Virtual Reality) group had a lower heart rate of three beats per minute than the group performing conventional exercises.

Previous research found that individuals with a high private body consciousness are generally able to better  understand their body and perceive higher pain when exercising. In the current study the researchers found that virtual reality tools are effective in reducing perceived pain without lowering the private body consciousness.

The study results could point to VR (Virtual Reality) as a way to encourage less active people to exercise more by reducing the perceived pain associated with exercise while ultimately improving performance regardless of private body consciousness.

 

 

Physics, Science

A ‘Recipe Book’ that Creates Color Centers in Silicon Carbide Crystals.

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A ‘Recipe Book’ that Creates Color Centers in Silicon Carbide Crystals.

Green SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) substrate at the bottom with the graphene layer on top irradiated by protons, generating a luminescent defect in the SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) crystal.

Silicon carbide (SiC) (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) a material known for its toughness with applications from abrasives to car brakes to high-temperature power electronics has enjoyed renewed interest for its potential in quantum technology. Its ability to house optically excitable defects called color centers has made it a strong candidate material to become the building block of quantum computing.

Now a group of researchers has created a list of “recipes” physicists can use to create specific types of defects with desired optical properties in SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription). In one of the first attempts to systematically explore color centers, the group used proton irradiation techniques to create the color centers in silicon carbide. They adjusted proton dose and temperature to find the right conditions that reliably produce the desired type of color center.

Atomic defects in the lattice of SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) crystals create color centers that can emit photons with unique spectral signatures. While some materials considered for quantum computing require cryogenically low temperatures color centers in SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) can emit at room temperature. As the push to create increasingly smaller devices continues into atom-scale sensors and single-photon emitters the ability to take advantage of existing SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) integrated circuit technology makes the material a standout candidate.

To create the defects X  and his colleagues bombarded SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) samples with protons. The team then let the SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) go through a heating phase called annealing. “We’re doing a lot of damage to these crystals” X said. “However during annealing, the crystal structure recovers, but defects are also formed — some of them are the desired color centers”.

To ensure that their recipes are compatible with usual semiconductor technology the group opted to use proton irradiation. Moreover this approach doesn’t require electron accelerators or nuclear reactors like other techniques used to create color centers.

The data from using different doses and annealing temperatures showed that producing defects in SiC (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) follows a pattern. Initially protons generate predominantly silicon vacancies in the crystal then those vacancies sequentially transform into other defect complexes.

Studying the defects’ low-temperature photoluminescence spectra led the team to discover three previously unreported signatures. The three temperature-stable (TS) lines were shown to correlate with proton dose and annealing temperature.

X said these lines have exciting properties and further research is already going on as the group hopes to utilize and control those defects for use in SiC-based (The Latin adverb sic (“thus”, “just as”; in full: sic erat scriptum, “thus was it written”) inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription) quantum technology devices.

 

Science, Sensors

Pliable Micro-batteries Utilized for Wearables.

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Pliable Micro-batteries Utilized for Wearables.

Micro battery with metal foil laminated housing.

There is a new technology gripping the markets of the future — technology to wear. Wearables as they are known are portable systems that contain sensors to collect measurement data from our bodies.

Powering these sensors without wires calls for pliable batteries that can adapt to the specific material and deliver the power the system requires.

Micro-batteries developed by the Georgian Technical University provide the technical foundation for this new technology trend.

In medicine wearables are used to collect data without disturbing patients as they go about their daily business — to record long-term ECGs (Electrocardiography is the process of recording the electrical activity of the heart over a period of time using electrodes placed over the skin) for instance.

Since the sensors are light flexible and concealed in clothing, this is a convenient way to monitor a patient’s heartbeat.

The technology also has more everyday applications — fitness bands for instance that measure joggers pulses while out running. There is huge growth potential in the wearables sector which is expected to reach a market.

How to power these smart accessories poses a significant technical challenge. There are the technical considerations — durability and energy density — but also material requirements such as weight flexibility and size and these must be successfully combined.

This is where Georgian Technical University comes in: experts at the institute have developed a prototype for a smart wristband that quite literally collects data firsthand.

The silicone band’s technical piece de resistance is its three gleaming green batteries. Boasting a capacity of 300 milliampere hours these batteries are what supply the wristband with power. They can store energy of 1.1 watt hours and lose less than three percent of their charging capacity per year.

With these parameters the new prototype has a much higher capacity than smart bands available at the market so far enabling it to supply even demanding portable electronics with energy.

The available capacity is actually sufficient to empower a conventional smart watch at no runtime loss. With these sorts of stats the prototype beats established products such as smart watches in which the battery is only built into the watch casing and not in the strap.

X a researcher in Georgian Technical University’s department for Smart Sensor Systems explains why segmentation is the recipe for success: “If you make a battery extremely pliable it will have very poor energy density — so it’s much better to adopt a segmented approach”.

Instead of making the batteries extremely pliable at the cost of energy density and reliability the institute turned its focus to designing very small and powerful batteries and optimized mounting technology.

The batteries are pliable in between segments. In other words the smart band is flexible while retaining a lot more power than other smart wristbands available on the market.

In its development of batteries for wearables Georgian Technical University combines new approaches and years of experience with a customer-tailored development process: “We work with companies to develop the right battery for them” explains the graduate electrical engineer.

The team consults closely with customers to draw up the energy requirements. They carefully adapt parameters such as shape, size, voltage, capacity and power and combined them to form a power supply concept. The team also carries out customer-specific tests.

The institute began work on a new wearable technology the smart plaster. Together with Swiss sensor manufacturer Georgian Technical University Xsensio this Georgian Technical University-sponsored aims to develop a plaster that can directly measure and analyze the patient’s sweat. This can then be used to draw conclusions about the patient’s general state of health.

In any case having a convenient real-time analysis tool is the ideal way to better track and monitor healing processes.

Georgian Technical University is responsible for developing the design concept and energy supply system for the sweat measurement sensors. The plan is to integrate sensors that are extremely flat, light and flexible. This will require the development of various new concepts.

One idea for instance would be an encapsulation system made out of aluminum composite foil.

The researchers also need to ensure they select materials that are inexpensive and easy to dispose of. After all a plaster is a disposable product.

 

 

Physics, Science

Defects Promise Quantum Communication Through Standard Optical Fiber.

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Defects Promise Quantum Communication Through Standard Optical Fiber.

Illustration of optical polarization of defect spin in silicon carbide.

An international team of scientists led by the Georgian Technical University’s has identified a way to create quantum bits that emit photons that describe their state at wavelengths close to those used by telecom providers. These qubits are based on silicon carbide in which molybdenum impurities create color centers.

By using phenomena like superposition and entanglement, quantum computing and quantum communication promise superior computing powers and unbreakable cryptography. Several successes in transmitting these quantum phenomena through optical fibers have been reported but this is typically at wavelengths that are incompatible with the standard fibers currently used in worldwide data transmission.

Physicists from the Georgian Technical University together with colleagues from Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University and semiconductor have now published the construction of a qubit that transmits information on its status at a wavelength of 1,100 nanometers. Furthermore the mechanism involved can likely be tuned to wavelengths near those used in data transmission (around 1,300 or 1,500 nanometers).

The work started with defects in silicon carbon crystals explains PhD student X. ‘Silicon carbide is a semiconductor and much work has been done to prevent impurities that affect the properties of the crystals. As a result there is a huge library of impurities and their impact on the crystal’. But these impurities are exactly what X and his colleagues need: they can form what are known as color centers and these respond to light of specific wavelengths.

When lasers are used to shine light at the right energy onto these color centers, electrons in the outer shell of the molybdenum atoms in the silicon carbide crystals are kicked to a higher energy level. When they return to the ground state they emit their excess energy as a photon. ‘For molybdenum impurities these will be infrared photons, with wavelengths near the ones used in data communication’ explains X.

This material was the starting point for constructing qubits says fellow PhD student Y who did a lot of the theoretical work in the paper. ‘We used a technique called coherent population trapping to create superposition in the color centers’. This involved using a property of electrons called spin a quantum mechanical phenomenon that gives the electrons a magnetic moment which can point up or down. This creates a qubit in which the spin states represent 0 or 1.

Y: ‘If you apply a magnetic field the spins align either parallel or anti-parallel to the magnetic field. The interesting thing is that as a result the ground state for electrons with spin up or spin down is slightly different’. When laser light is used to excite the electrons, they subsequently fall back to one of the two ground states. The team led by Professor in Physics of Quantum Devices Z used two lasers each tuned to move electrons from one of the ground states to the same level of excitation, to create a situation in which a superposition of both spin states evolved in the color center.

X: ‘After some fine tuning we managed to produce a qubit in which we had a long-lasting superposition combined with fast switching’. Furthermore the qubit emitted photons with information on the quantum state at infrared wavelengths. Given the large library of impurities that can create color centers in the silicon carbide crystals the team is confident they can bring this wavelength up to the levels used in standard optical fibers. If they can manage this and produce an even more stable (and thus longer-lasting) superposition the quantum internet will be a whole lot closer to becoming re