Faculty and Research News
 Music, rather than electromechanical valves, can drive experimental samples through a lab-on-a-chip in a new system developed by Mark Burns and doctoral student, Sean Langelier. This development could significantly simplify the process of conducting experiments in microfluidic devices. (To see sample video, click on image above.)
To do an experiment in a microfluidic device today, researchers often use dozens of air hoses, valves and electrical connections between the chip and a computer to move, mix and split pin-prick drops of fluid in the device's microscopic channels and divots.
The Burns' group device uses sound waves to drive a unique pneumatic system that does not require electromechanical valves. Instead, musical notes produce the air pressure to control droplets in the device. This requires only one "off-chip" connection.
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
>>Video demonstration of music moving, splitting and sorting droplets
A paper on the research was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Acoustically driven programmable liquid motion using resonance cavities, August 4, 2009 vol. 106 no. 31 12563-12564
>>Also see related articles in Nature, IEEE Spectrum, Physics Today, and Popular Science
 Danial Hohne, a recently-graduated Ph.D. in chemical engineering, and his advisor, Michael Solomon, professor of chemical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering, have devised a microscaled, microfluidic device to help them understand the mechanical behavior of biofilms, slimy colonies of bacteria involved in most human infectious diseases. The third member of this research team was John Younger, associate chair for research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the U-M Health System. Their research has been published in a cover story of the July 7 edition of Langmuir.
Most bacteria in nature take the form of biofilms. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that rarely live alone. Representing a new application of microfluidics, the device measures biofilms' resistance to pressure. Biofilms experience various kinds of pressure in nature and in the body as they squeeze through capillaries and adhere to the surfaces of medical devices, for example.
The experiments were performed on colonies of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are known to cause infections in hospitals. "If doctors and engineers can gain a greater understanding of how biofilms behave, they could perhaps design medical equipment that is more difficult for the bacteria to adhere to" Younger said.
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
 A new National Science Foundation report from a panel led by Sharon Glotzer underscores the importance of computer modeling and simulation in advancing science and engineering, and finds that the U.S. no longer leads in all aspects of this discipline. The report, “International Assessment of Simulation-Based Engineering and Science,” was written by a 9-member panel of researchers from leading U.S. universities.
“This report is important for several reasons,” Glotzer said. “First and foremost, it documents that simulation is ubiquitous and a critical enabling tool in science and engineering throughout the world, as well as a discipline in its own right. Second, it demonstrates that the U.S. does not lead in certain areas of simulation-based engineering and science that are critical for technological innovation. And even in those areas in which the U.S. leads today, that leadership position is at risk. This threatens long-term economic competitiveness and the security, health and prosperity of the nation.” (2009)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
 Suljo Linic has been announced as the recipient of the 2009 ACS Colloid and Surface Chemistry Unilever Award. This award recognizes the work of young investigators with particular attention to "originality and creativity."
We also congratulate Suljo on winning a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation selects awardees who have published an important and independent body of scholarly research in conjunction with showing a dedication to education in the chemical sciences. Only three chemical engineering faculty in the country were selected for this prestigious award. (2009)
 Check out the recent article about Nick Kotov's carbon-nanotube-treated textiles in the May/June article in MIT's Technology Review. Dr. Kotov and his group have transformed the fabric into a biosensor and an electrical conductor simply by dipping it into a solution of carbon nanotubes, antibodies, and a polymer. The textiles coated with these nanotubes form electronic sensors that look and feel like ordinary cotton. (2009)
 Michael Mayer, an assistant professor in the U-M departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, and Jerry Yang, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD have settled a decade-long dispute about one of the mechanisms believed to be responsible for brain cell death and memory loss in the illness. Resolving this controversy improves understanding of the disease and could one day lead to better treatments.
The research team found a flaw in earlier studies supporting one side of the debate. Their results clarify how small proteins called amyloid-beta peptides damage brain cell membranes, allowing extra calcium ions to enter the neurons. An ion is an electrically-charged particle. An ion imbalance in a cell can trigger its suicide.
Their findings are published online in the Journal of Neurotoxicity Research. They will appear in the May print edition. (2009)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
 Artificial bone marrow that can continuously make red and white blood cells has been created in Nicholas Kotov's lab. This development could lead to simpler pharmaceutical drug testing, closer study of immune system defects, and a continuous supply of blood for transfusions. The marrow is not made to be implanted in the body, like most 3-D biomedical scaffolds. It is designed to function in a test tube.
A paper about these research findings was published in the February 2009 issue of Biomaterials. (2009)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
Sharon Glotzer received a $4.3 million, five-year grant through a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship. This fellowship will allow Sharon and her students to use modeling and simulation to discover how to create shape-shifting materials from nanoparticles.
In the national security realm, such materials could be used for protective uniforms and gear, chemical detection, and stealth, for example. An aircraft conceivably could be painted with a material that changes its appearance as a chameleon does. (2009)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
>>Also, see Physics Today article (PDF)
Nature and Nanotechnology Fuse in Electric Yarn
 Researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering have been working on a carbon nanotube-coated “smart yarn” that conducts electricity that could be woven into soft fabrics that detect blood and monitor health. Nick Kotov and Bongsup Shim, a doctoral student in the department, are among the co-authors of a paper on this material currently published online in Nano Letters.
“Currently, smart textiles are made primarily of metallic or optical fibers. They’re fragile. They’re not comfortable," says Kotov. "We have found a much simpler way [of creating smart textiles]—an elegant way—by combining two fibers, one natural and one created by nanotechnology.”(2008)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
>> Also, see The Economist and Scientific American articles
Max Shtein received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award from the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy is the federal government's highest honor to early-career scientists and engineers. (2008)
>> Max Shtein, MSE
Paul Podsiadlo, recent PhD graduate, was the winner of the 2008 Collegiate Inventors Competition in the graduate category. His invention "Ultra-Strong and Stiff, Optically Transparent Plastic Nanocomposites" was based on his doctoral research with Professor Nick Kotov on ultra-strong nanostructured composites. (2008)
 Mark Burns' lab's make-your-own-microfluidic-device kit has been named one of The Scientist magazine's top 10 innovations of 2008. Minsoug Rhee, a graduate student in the Burns' group, developed the 16-piece set of microfluidic building blocks
The device, also known as a "lab-on-a-chip," integrates multiple laboratory functions onto one chip just millimeters or centimeters in size. The kit in essence brings the lab on a chip to the scientific masses. It cuts the costs and the time involved in making one from days to minutes. (Illustration above by Hanna Bae)(2008)
>> Read the full article by Nicole Casal Moore at the U–M News Service
>> See The Scientist Top Innovations of 2008
 Researcher and scholar Michael Solomon, associate professor of chemical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering, is known as a passionate teacher and mentor and a cherished colleague. He has established a world-recognized laboratory for the study of complex fluids and is one of the leaders of a new generation of chemical engineering faculty who are using advances on confocal microscopy, as well as other state-of-the-art methods in scattering, to reveal the microstructure and dynamics of colloidal materials in real space.(2008)
(Read full story from The University Record)
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