To reduce costs and increase the availability of personalized genomics new approaches to DNA sequencing are required. Nanopore sequencing is one proposed technique. In nanopore sequencing, DNA molecules are forced through a tiny aperture by electrophoresis. As the individual bases transit the nanopore, their identity can be determined, in theory, by...

Background Effective ground improvement methods are essential for optimal utilization of land, whether they be roads, embankments, dunes, or slopes. Conventional methods using compaction, pile insertion, and cement-soil mixing provide adequate stability but have several major drawbacks. They are often expensive, time-consuming, require specialized...

Background Recent research in the asphalt industry has focused on promoting sustainability through reducing mixing and compaction temperatures. Sulfur-extended asphalt has been studied extensively for this purpose because of the reduction in price of asphalt concrete that sulfur offers, as well as reducing the mixing and compaction temperatures. However,...

FFPE is a well-established and widely used method for preservation and histological analysis of tissue samples. DNA/RNA/and Proteins can be extracted from FFPE samples, but generally lack single cell resolution and completely lack 3D spatial resolution. Enabling 3D resolution allows the correlation of morphology to information like gene expression,...

Diagnosing and monitoring diseases and health often requires detecting and measuring concentrations of one or more analytes in a patient. Frequent trips to a healthcare facility are onerous and expensive and at home testing is painful, sometimes laborious and time consuming. All of this may lead to a lack of regular testing, and could mean missed diagnoses...

Cyanobacteria are model species for studying photosynthesis and recently have been gaining increased attention for their ability to produce renewable fuels and chemicals by harvesting solar energy and recycling carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, despite all the recent research and exciting achievements made regarding cyanobacteria, genetic transformation...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prominent and feared neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging. A hallmark of this disease is the formation of extra-cellular amyloid plaques in the brain. The principle component of these extracellular plaques is amyloid-ß protein (Aß). Though the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s...

Despite decades of research, cancer remains one of today’s most pressing health concerns. Traditional treatment approaches such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy can cause systemic toxicity and become ineffective when resistant tumors emerge. Recently, anticancer strategies have focused on drugs which specifically target tumor-related biological...

­Background Polyimide is used as a substrate for flexible electronics and flexible solar cells. The processing of polyimides has previously been challenging because of their low solubility in common solvents and their high softening temperature. De-bonded polyimide at a thickness of less than 30 microns is difficult to handle without creasing or...

Glucose, oxygen, and extracellular pH are important components of human metabolic processes -- many diseases are associated with glucose transport and metabolic disorders including diabetes and cancer. Monitoring glucose and cell metabolism can provide invaluable information for understanding these diseases. There are many assays and sensors for glucose,...