Category Archives: BioEngineering

A new method to image cancerous tissues has been created by researchers who have paired infrared measurements with high-resolution optical images.

This side-by-side comparison of a breast tissue biopsy demonstrates some of the infrared-optical hybrid microscopes capabilities. On the left, a tissue sample dyed by traditional methods. Centre, a computed stain created from infrared-optical hybrid imaging. Right, tissue types identified with infrared data. The pink in this image signifies malignant cancer (credit: Rohit Bhargava).

By adding infrared capability to the ubiquitous, standard optical microscope, researchers hope to improve cancer imaging for research and diagnosis. The team, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US, say they developed their stainless method to improve digital biopsies.

Pairing infrared measurements with high-resolution optical images and machine learning algorithms, the researchers created an imaging technique that closely correlates with traditional pathology processes and, according to the team, has outperformed state-of-the-art infrared microscopes.

The advantage is that no stains are required and both the organisation of cells and their chemistry can be measured. Measuring the chemistry of tumour cells and their microenvironment can lead to better cancer diagnoses and better understanding of the disease, said lead researcher Rohit Bhargava, a professor of bioengineering and the director of theCancer Center at Illinois.

The scientists explain that when using a labelled technology, it can be difficult to distinguish cancer from healthy tissue or to pinpoint the boundaries of a tumour.

For more than a century, we have relied on adding dyes to human tissue biopsies to diagnose tumours. However, the shape and colour induced by the dye provide very limited information about the underlying molecular changes that drive cancer, Bhargava said.

Machine-learning tools can analyse the data from the infrared-optical hybrid microscope to create digital versions of standard dyes, left, or to identify tissue types based on their chemical composition, right (credit: Rohit Bhargava).

Technologies like infrared microscopy can measure the molecular composition of tissue, providing quantitative measures that can distinguish cell types. Unfortunately, infrared microscopes are expensive and the samples require special preparation and handling, making them impractical for the vast majority of clinical and research settings.

Bhargavas group developed its hybrid microscope by adding an infrared laser and a specialised microscope lens, called an interference objective, to an optical camera. The infrared-optical hybrid measures both infrared data and a high-resolution optical image with a light microscope the kind ubiquitous in clinics and labs.

We built the hybrid microscope from off-the-shelf components. This is important because it allows others to easily build their own microscope or upgrade an existing microscope, said Martin Schnell, a postdoctoral fellow in Bhargavas group and first author of the paper.

Combining the two techniques harnesses the strengths of both, the researchers said. It has the high resolution, large field-of-view and accessibility of an optical microscope. Furthermore, infrared data can be analysed computationally, without adding any dyes or stains that can damage tissues. Software can then recreate different stains or even overlap them to create a more complete, all-digital picture of the tissue.

The researchers verified their microscope by imaging breast tissue samples, both healthy and cancerous and comparing the results of the hybrid microscopes computed dyes with those from the traditional staining technique. The digital biopsy closely correlated with the traditional one. Furthermore, they found that their infrared-optical hybrid was able to outperform state-of-the-art in infrared microscopes with a coverage 10 times larger, greater consistency and four times higher resolution.

the researchers created an imaging technique that closely correlates with traditional pathology processes

Infrared-optical hybrid microscopy is widely compatible with conventional microscopy in biomedical applications, Schnell said. We combine the ease of use and universal availability of optical microscopy with the wide palette of infrared molecular contrast and machine learning. And by doing so, we hope to change how we routinely handle, image and understand microscopic tissue structure.

The researchers plan to continue refining the computational tools used to analyse the hybrid images. They are working to optimise machine-learning programmes that can measure multiple infrared wavelengths, creating images that readily distinguish between multiple cell types and integrate data with the detailed optical images to precisely map cancer within a sample. They also plan to explore further applications for hybrid microscope imaging, such as forensics, polymer science and other biomedical applications.

The group published its resultsin the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more from the original source:
Stainless imaging developed by adding infrared to standard microscopes - Drug Target Review

The LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market research encompasses an exhaustive analysis of the market outlook, framework, and socio-economic impacts. The report covers the accurate investigation of the market size, share, product footprint, revenue, and progress rate. Driven by primary and secondary researches, the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market study offers reliable and authentic projections regarding the technical jargon.

All the players running in the global LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market are elaborated thoroughly in the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market report on the basis of proprietary technologies, distribution channels, industrial penetration, manufacturing processes, and revenue. In addition, the report examines R&D developments, legal policies, and strategies defining the competitiveness of the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market players.

Request Sample Report @ https://www.researchmoz.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2460411&source=atm

In global market, the following companies are covered: CreeFluence BioengineeringHeliospectraHubbell LightingIllumitexKessil LightingLemnis OreonLumiGrowOsram SylvaniaSmart Grow Technologies

Market Segment by Product TypeLED LampLED Luminaire

Market Segment by ApplicationCommercial greenhouseIndoor and vertical farming

Key Regions split in this report: breakdown data for each region.United StatesChinaEuropean UnionRest of World (Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)

The study objectives are:To analyze and research the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application status and future forecast in United States, European Union and China, involving sales, value (revenue), growth rate (CAGR), market share, historical and forecast.To present the key LED Lighting for Horticulture Application manufacturers, presenting the sales, revenue, market share, and recent development for key players.To split the breakdown data by regions, type, companies and applications To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends, drivers, influence factors in global and regionsTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of LED Lighting for Horticulture Application are as follows:History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025

Make An EnquiryAbout This Report @ https://www.researchmoz.com/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=2460411&source=atm

Objectives of the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application Market Study:

The LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market research focuses on the market structure and various factors (positive and negative) affecting the growth of the market. The study encloses a precise evaluation of the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market, including growth rate, current scenario, and volume inflation prospects, on the basis of DROT and Porters Five Forces analyses. In addition, the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market study provides reliable and authentic projections regarding the technical jargon.

You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.researchmoz.com/checkout?rep_id=2460411&licType=S&source=atm

After reading the LED Lighting for Horticulture Application market report, readers can:

Continue reading here:
LED Lighting for Horticulture Application Market: A Deep Dive Analysis of Various Regions and Strategies During Forecast Period 2019 2025. - News...

Sho Madjozi (Image courtesy of the Design Indaba)

Take the case of Mazbahul Islam, an inspirational millennial from Bangladesh. A business school graduate, who grew up in the high-rises of Dhakka, he started working in user interface and user experience (UI/UX) on graduation, when one of his business school cohorts, Rafi Islam, called him one day. Islams uncle had taken ill in a small, rural village and his brother (Islams father), had used the only transport available to get him to the nearest medical facility 20km away on rough roads.

The transport is an open, flat-bed rickshaw/tricycle structure and his uncle died en route. The four graduates came together to form a start-up: They created an emergency service, fit for its environment, using traditional transport from adapted tuk-tuks, or tricycles. Each tricycle is equipped with medical emergency facilities, buoyed by robust shock-absorbers, and this has created a career path for rural ambulance drivers and paramedics.

And if you thought this was cool, wait for the astonishingly accessible renowned scientist, Indian-born, MIT-trained Bioengineering Professor from Stanford University, Manu Prakash, who is also a MacArthur Fellow. A crowd favourite, quiet-spoken and humble, and deeply committed to his work across the world from India to Madagascar Prakash has made science accessible, affordable for all and participative.

After noticing an electric centrifuge being used as a doorstop in Uganda where there is no power, Prakash returned to the laboratory and, experimenting with childrens toys, like yoyos, he devised an inexpensive rotating mechanism, the Paperfuge, based on button and string tools that date back to Ancient Greece, and appear to be present in every culture. This centrifuge, which is essential in medical diagnosis from blood and stool samples, runs at 125,000rpm, which is equal to 30,000 G Forces per atom. Underlining his thinking, he noted: It is not about developing and developed worlds, but the haves and have-nots: Of 2 billion children in the world, 1 billion go to schools without walls; 1 billion people have to walk twelve hours to access healthcare!

But Prakashs most popular invention has to be his microscopy project a hit across the world. An origami-like fold-up paper unit, the Foldscope has turned communities into contributing scientists in the most inaccessible parts of the globe, at $1.75 per unit: Of 3,500 mosquito species, only 40 carry the deadliest disease in the world. But you can only measure them in 575 locations in Africa. These are the places where entomologists, not mosquitoes, live.

Having built a community of one million contributing scientists across the world, in the most remote parts of the globe, he notes that the future of science will not be written by academics but by people who are the first in their generation to experience science. Adding fun to the science, he noted: Mosquitoes use their wings to produce sound now available for download as a ringtone.

From South Africa hails Vukheta Mukhari, a masters candidate in civil engineering at the University of Cape Town, who, with his team is working on making the worlds first bio-brick from urine.

Working with brick, mortar and concrete mega-structures is Ghanaian-born artist, Ibrahim Mahama. Already an acclaimed visual artist, it has been his mission to create significant art that spoke of his roots jute bag roots and colonisation.

Having created a sensation at key sites and major art exhibitions of the world, where he covered buildings (Christo-like) with jute bags, telling a powerful message of colonial return, (from the Venice Biennale, to Cape Town where he was commissioned to create an installation, Labour of Many, for the Norval Foundation in 2019), he has focused on his homeland, and his home-town of Tamale. He not only replicated the work, but began creating (and resurrecting colonial), structures that can be used as areas of production and learning, between.

Ghana, the home of cocoa, colonised by Britain, is filled with abandoned relics of colonialism: railway sidings, grain silos, industrial warehouses, being reclaimed by vegetation, and sometimes, the people, as well as aeroplanes. One of his most whimsically audacious projects was to uproot abandoned aeroplanes dating back a century, and transporting them to his home town in the north where he has created a centre of learning by turning the aeroplanes into classrooms.

His philosophy is wry: Turn colonialism on its head. For the Manchester International Festival in 2019, he took all the elements of abandoned railway carriages seats and rails and shipped them back to England, and reconstructed a Parliament of Ghosts. He has now taken the abandoned and reconstructed relics of colonialism back to Ghana, to create a vibrant peoples parliament in Tamale.

Working with history, reconstructing, deconstructing and resurrecting for meaningful production, his mission is to work in-field, with what is there. Of the humble jute bag that has wrapped mammoth theatres and palaces in both the global North and Ghana, he notes: I used jute sacks because for me, the history of crisis and failure is absorbed into the material. Their history speaks of how global transactions and capitalist structures work. And because how their humbleness contrasts with the monumentality of the buildings they cover.

Reworking her Tsonga roots in fabrics as well is local music sensation Sho Madjozi, (Maya Christinah Xichavo Wegerif), who kicked the festival off with a show-piece psychedelic, Afro-futurist style, interwoven with a powerful narrative; she talked about history, colonisation, tradition and her contemporised reworking of her Tsonga culture. She traced back the history of the Xibelani dance and the potential origins of the Tinguvu skirt, and shared her dream to regularly stage a massive Xibelani Festival in Giyani to celebrate her heritage, upscaled and revived for global consumption in technicolour, rap and gqom.

When the Design Indaba moved from the Cape Town International Convention Centre to the Artscape Theatre some years back, the intention was to ramp up the spectacle with theatrical technologies. LGBTQI+ fashion activist Sunny Dolat from Kenya not only shared his clothing design philosophy, but performed a beautiful piece using massive drapes from white muslin, lowered from the trusses into vast vats, and then receding to the rafters with red dye dripping downwards, as Dolat too, in his beautifully tailored white kaftan, immersed himself in the red liquid and emerged dripping.

The most profound and resonant performance was by South African actor, Nhlanhla Mahlangu, who has collaborated with the South-African born global luminaries of our artistic practice (William Kentridge, Robyn Orlin, Gregory Vuyani Maqoma and Hugh Masekela), and found time to complete his Masters of Arts in Creative Research.

Taking the audience back to his youth, Mahlangu performed in loincloth, accompanied by an absurdist old vacuum cleaner as a key prop, and so poignantly brought home the realities of apartheid South Africa in the 1980s: the sadistic decimation of human and animal lives by the brutal apartheid police machinery. He poetically reminisced about accompanying his grandmother to work and bonding with Penny, the pet dog of her white employers.

When the employers migrated, his granny was turfed out and became a street trader. Penny joined them in the tin shack in Phola Park and ate better than Nhlanhla did, but also wandered around the informal settlement; and Penny produced little Pennies and little grand-Pennies, until one night the police arrived. The people fled; the houses and animals were left behind; the shacks burnt to the ground. They returned to reclaim smouldering ashes and corpses. Chant, the first of his works on the chant theme is a piece that should be compulsory for all South Africans. It drives home so much of what has been forgotten in the reconciliation and bonhomie of the 90s, and the millennial hate-speech that remains disembodied from the realities of the apartheid and post-apartheid state. Our hearts broke for thousands of Pennies and Nhlanhlas across our land.

At this years festival, Impact seemed to be the buzz word, as were design thinking, collaboration, customer journey and user-centred design. But not just buzz-words or coda for design practise; the exploratory Rape Kit was another innovation by a young masters graduate, Antya Waegemann, who managed to deconstruct over 20 unintelligible and alienating steps administered by professionals, to rape victims, survivors under forensic examination, into a kit that works with the emotional and medical needs of the survivor showing us how such user-centred work can radically transform such experiences in the most intimate way. The kit is being prototyped for Silicon Valley funding.

The most uplifting and humorous collaboration was about four friends, sitting in a pub. It sounds like a bad joke, which it was for some. Utterly disheartened by the Brexit inequity, they started a movement; calling themselves Led By Donkeys, the four men decided to replicate offensive twitter posts by offensive politicians in billboard format and plastered these on billboards across the UK in the dead of night. The movement spread and evolved into massive flags during protests, beach sculpture and finally, a projection on the White Cliffs of Dover, imploring the EU to retain the British star from the EU symbol for safekeeping until Britain returns.

When collaboration, inclusion and community come together across academic disciplines, impact happens, and provides a key to global advance and innovation. It was the designers collaborating with scientists, who left the audience gaping at the possibilities of nano- and bio-technology. While one speaker focused on the bacteria inhabiting our bodies, two others examined the organic structure of both colour and fabric. Bio-designer, synthetic biologist and academic, Natsai Audrey Chieza, a D&AD prize winner, hailing originally from Zimbabwe, is obsessed with the structure of bio-friendly pigmentation.

Chiezas work with chemists, engineers and scientists, is forging multidisciplinary innovation in both practice, and academic research. She shared how the parameter-defined discipline of science, when fused with the beyond-constraint disciplinary practice of design, allowed her to interrogate an organic pigment option; the idea was to prove that progress requires true collaboration, while posing the question: Why are designers not upstream in the invention and innovation process, if our scientists are designing for real-world application?

Fashion technologist Elissa Brunato, set the collective guilt festering in the audience with her deconstruction of the life cycle of the sparkling sequin, hoping to disrupt the industry and return it to a bio-friendly model. Sequins are made from plastic, which derives from petrol, and are one of those nano-pollutants that are clogging up our landfills, oceans and planet. She, and Natsai, are fusing design with biomimicry: using collagen, she has created her first prototype bio-iridescent sequins.

Another young graduate using biomimicry, Catalinao Loatero, hailing from Columbia is prototyping trees and leaves to create energy. Troubled by the social devastation wrought on rural, indigenous peoples deprived of electricity, infrastructure and services by her government, she set about researching an alternative energy option within the structure of leaves, which create an internal energy. Her prototype mimics, and extends, the shape and function of leaves to produce an innovative bio-friendly green energy.

The algorithm geniuses were represented by the Head of Google Creative Lab, Robert Wong, whose tears and joy showed what massive corporates in the cloud can do to change the world for good.

Graphic designer Olimpia Zagnoli, with her whimsical designs not only shared her passion for colour, but her quiet activism. I grew up in the 80s, when young girls were given pink Barbies, pink everything. It was not fair especially to the colour pink! An activist for colour, she describes the uniform use of beige, forest-green and Scandi-grey for furniture. But her difference came in work for Barilla the pasta producers: One of their directors was outed in Italy for his proclamation that being gay was antithetical to the traditional notion of the Italian family. At first, reluctant to design for the apologetic organisation, her iconic packaging for their new range of spaghetti graphically depicts a gorgeously bright lesbian couple embracing a plate of Barilla pasta.

Chinese architects Neri and Hu presented their iconic buildings, as did Chicago-based mega-structure architect, Jeanne Gang, whose passion for bio-diversity is incorporated into her high-rise buildings, conceptually and physically. Based on Cyril Ramaphosas 2020 State of the Nation address this year, she publicly committed to building a local biodiversity centre in South Africa in the future. British architect Paul Cocksedge has already commenced his project for a bridge over the Liesbeeck river in Cape Town.

As the 25th edition of Design Indaba ends, its easy to see how the scores of scientists, collaborators, designers, innovators and the 600 speaker graduates who have graced the festival over the past years have brought not only novelty and audacity, but also change and impact. And hope for a better tomorrow. ML

Please note you must be a Maverick Insider to comment. Sign up here or if you are already an Insider.

Read more from the original source:
Design Indaba 2020: A commitment to changing the world, for good - Daily Maverick

The report contains a wide-view explaining Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Marketon the global and regional basis. Global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market report is a definitive source of information and provides latest market research intelligence, changing consumer trends with actionable insights on emerging players, products, and technologies. Our analysts possess statistical data to provide insights on statistical report including the factors responsible for driving and hindering the growth of the market along with the impact theyll have on the demand over the coming years.

The study is a combined effort of primary as well as secondary research. The report gives insights on the key factors concerned with generating and limiting Feed Grade Fumaric Acid industry growth. Additionally, the report also studies competitive developments, such as mergers and acquisitions, new partnerships, new contracts, and new product developments in the global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market. The past trends and future prospects included in this report makes it highly comprehensible for the analysis of the market. Moreover, the latest trends, product portfolio, demographics, geographical segmentation, and regulatory framework of the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market have also been included in the study.

Feed Grade Fumaric Acid industry competition by top manufacturers/ Key player Profiled:Bartek Ingredients, Jiangsu Jiecheng Bioengineering, Isegen, Polynt Group, Yantai Hengyuan Bioengineering, Thirumalai Chemical, Anhui Sealong Biotechnology, Nippon Shokubai, Fuso Chemicals, Changzhou Yabang Chemical, Jiangsu Suhua Group, Changmao Biochemical Engineering, Jiaoda Rising Weinan Chemical, China Blue Star Harbin Petrochemical, Suzhou Youhe Science and Technology, China BBCA Group, Zhejiang Dongda Biological Technology

Scope of the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Market Report:

APAC is expected to dominate the global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market during the forecast period. The worldwide market for Feed Grade Fumaric Acid is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2025, from xx million US$ in 2020, according to the study. This report focuses on the Feed Grade Fumaric Acid in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.

Get a Sample PDF of report @ https://www.regalintelligence.com/request-sample/34213

The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, growth rate of Feed Grade Fumaric Acid market in 2025is also explained. Additionally, type (Purity: 99.5%, Others) wise and application (Poultry, Swine, Ruminant, Others) wise consumption tables and figures of Feed Grade Fumaric Acidmarketare also given.

Objective of Studies:

Report on Global Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Industry 2020 mainly covers 10 Section in Table as follows:-

Look into Table of Content of Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Industry Report @ https://www.regalintelligence.com/request-toc/34213

Contact Us:Regal Intelligencewww.regalintelligence.comsales@regalintelligence.comPh no: +1 231 930 2779 (U.S.)

Follow Us:https://in.linkedin.com/company/regal-intelligence

See the article here:
Feed Grade Fumaric Acid Market to Witness Swift Growth Owing to Extensive Demand & Rise in Industrialization by 2025 - Bandera County Courier

Srn FogartyAssistant News Editor

Four Trinity researchers have been awarded a combined total of over 6 million from a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) scheme that recruits and retains emerging early career researchers.

Ten recipients were honoured today by President Michael D Higgins as part of the President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Programme including three from University College Dublin (UCD), two from Maynooth University and one from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).

The researchers fields include lung disease, ageing, traumatic brain injury, bowel and gastrointestinal diseases and sensors. The four Trinity researchers are Dr Suzanne Cloonan, Dr David Loane, Prof Neasa OConnor and Prof Roman Romero-Ortuno.

In a press statement, Prof Linda Doyle, Trinitys Dean of Research, said: The SFI President of Ireland Future Research Leader Awards are crucial in attracting talent to Ireland. We are incredibly proud of the four academics who have come to Trinity through this scheme.

The four awardees, Doyle said, have already demonstrated strong leadership in their fields. The research they do will have real impact on peoples lives and I am excited to see what they will accomplish as a result of the support of this scheme.

Programmes like this, she added, are an essential part of creating a balanced research ecosystem, and the broad range of projects that have been supported this year shows the need to ensure that more funding continues to be made available to individual researchers. I extend my sincere congratulations to all this years Future Research Leaders.

In a press statement, Cloonan, whose research is focused on lung and respiratory diseases, said: I am delighted and honoured to receive this prestigious award. It has allowed me to develop a cutting-edge interdisciplinary research programme at Trinity College Dublin, to understand and develop new treatment approaches for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a debilitating chronic lung disease that remains the fourth leading cause of death in Ireland.

This work, Cloonan said, will not only place Ireland on the map for world-class COPD research but will also raise much needed awareness for COPD and COPD-related research.

OConnor, an assistant professor of zoology in Trinity, said that I am truly honoured to receive this award and immensely excited to continue our work with a growing team at Trinity College. We will use ecological knowledge to unlock the potential of Irelands marine resources.

She continued: By cultivating seaweed to harness products for bioengineering and biofuels, we will be helping to develop new tools for the treatment of debilitating diseases, such as osteoarthritis, while also combating climate change by enhancing carbon sequestration and also enriching local coastal habitats.

Romero-Ortuno is an associate professor in Medical Gerontology, and works closely with The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), which is Trinity-based. He said: I am delighted to have received this SFI President of Ireland Future Research Leaders award.

As a clinician scientist, this award will enable me to build the human and computational capability to investigate a highly complex issue that is of immense importance to our ageing society, he added.

Read the original:
Award-Winning Trinity Scientists to Share Over 6m in Research Funding - The University Times

Lesley Chow, an assistant professor at Lehigh, felt inspired to develop a novel method to fabricate scaffolds that resemble native biological tissues. To do so, her research takes place in The Chow Lab.

Chow, who completed her Ph.D at Northwestern as a polymer chemist, and her lab work primarily with polymer modification. She works in the bioengineering and materials science department, said her lab takes the polymers and modifies them with peptides, which are thought of as the building block to make different types of molecules to form cells with respective specialties.

We started adding peptides onto the polymers because that allowed us to create something which we call bioactive, Chow said. Its almost like giving a signal to the cell to check out a molecule on the surface, and then bossing them around and trying to tell them all the different things they need to do.

Intrigued and aware of the intricately-organized structure of tissues, Chow said the lab then tries to use 3D printing to control where each of the molecules go to replicate the organization of different tissues.

Diana Hammerstone, 20, a materials science and engineering student, said the labs overarching project is to try to regenerate the osteochondral tissues, the cartilage in the knee that does not regenerate on its own.

We use solvent-cast 3D printing to fabricate scaffolds made of biodegradable polymers, Hammerstone said. We can independently change the physical and biochemical cues the scaffolds give cells using this technique.

In one specific project, Chow said they found that cells responded differently in their material that has organized signals, rather than just being mixed together, which illustrates how intelligent cells are.

Chow said one of the biggest things the lab is doing is taking some of its technologies in vivo, or with the living, to implant them into animals and see how the existing cells in the animal would respond.

We want to try and demonstrate the ability for our materials to be useful and hopefully one day make materials that can be implanted in the clinic, Chow said. What would be really cool, is if our small, little material helps regenerate that tissue. For instance, say you have an injury, you could just get this material implanted in your body, and then itll heal itself better.

The research team collaborates as a whole to achieve its overarching research goal.

As a new member of the team, Yaa Donkor, 23, chemical and biological engineering student, said a lot of her collaboration is asking and clarifying questions to her lab members.

When my team and I need to figure something out, each of us shares our ideas and talks through the problems together to achieve the goal of our project, Doker said.

Chow said the team has a broad, big picture goal of being able to make materials that guide the organization of tissues, and each student in the lab has a specific job that fits within that larger goal.

Chow said the dynamic of the lab is like a dream situation for her, and she said she values the way the group interacts with each other.

Matthew Fainor, 20, said every undergraduate in the lab is paired with a graduate student to collaborate on larger projects.

I work with my graduate student, and then the graduate students work together to piece together the bigger picture of the research, and we all work with Dr. Chow to communicate that research and make sure everything is coming together cohesively, Fainor said.

Hammerstone said the biomaterials lab allows her to apply her material science and engineering background in a bioengineering setting. She said her research experience will be helpful as she transitions to a graduate researcher.

Hammerstone said the most rewarding part of her research is getting to work with experienced and bright engineers to make a difference in peoples lives, as osteoarthritis affects millions of people worldwide, according to the Mayo Clinic.

As someone who will be leaving the lab in a few months, Fainor said he hopes that the projects he is working on can be handed off successfully to someone and made easy for them to understand.

I really believe in the goal our lab has and looking forward to seeing how Dr. Chow, and the graduate students that will continue to be there, continue to move toward our goal, Fainor said.

In the future, Donker said she hopes that The Chow Lab will continue to be the heartwarming place that contributes to life-improving medical knowledge.

See original here:
'The Chow Lab' researches to fabricate scaffolds - The Brown and White