Brown University – TechConnect Briefs

A Study of Protein Filaments Sliding through Solid-State Nanopores

McMullen A., Mihovilovic M., Stein D., Tang J.X., Brown University, US

The use of nanopores to study DNA has been the topic of intense research over the past decade. Nanopores have been used to probe the structure and electro-physical properties of DNA. These studies have been [...]

Modeling and Analysis of a Membrane-Based Randomized-Contact Decoder

Long J., Savage J.E., Brown University, US

Controlling nanowires with mesoscale wires is important in addressing nanoscale memories. In this paper we report on simulations and analysis of an implementation of the randomized-contact decoder that is based on the use of porous [...]

Novel Resorbable Drug-Carrying Nano-Scaffolds for Treating Bone Diseases at Targeted Sites

Liu H., Webster T.J., Brown University, US

Pharmaceutical agents are often required to stimulate new bone formation for the treatment of bone injuries or diseases (such as osteoporosis and osteosarcoma). However, there are several problems associated with current drug delivery methods. First, [...]

Investigating Helical Rosette Nanotubes and Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite as Novel Bone-like Biomaterials for Orthopedic Applications

Zhang L.J., Rodriguez J., Fenniri H., Webster T.J., Brown University, US

The objective of this study was to create a novel biomimetic hydrogel composite based on helical rosette nanotubes (HRNs) and nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite (HA). HRNs are newly-developed self-assembled nanomaterials with DNA base pair building blocks. HRNs [...]

SWNTs inhibit normal physiological function of calcium ion channels through yttrium release

Jakubek L.M., Raingo J., Lipscombe D., Hurt R.H., Brown University, US

The calcium ion channel is a voltage gated channel that enables calcium to enter electrically active cells. Proper function of these channels is essential for gene expression, neuronal excitability, muscle contraction and the release of [...]

Favored Osteoblast Interactions with Aerosol Printed 3D Nano-to-Macro Hierarchical Architectures: The Promise of Nanocomposites as Orthopedic Prostheses

Liu H., Webster T.J., Brown University, US

Ceramic/polymer nanocomposites simulate bone in terms of its nanostructure and associated properties, thus, offering a promising new opportunity for bone regeneration in a natural way. Previous in vitro studies demonstrated that well-dispersed nanophase titania in [...]

Characteristics of Bacterial Pumps in Microfluidic Systems

Kim M-J, Breuer K.S., Brown University, US

In this paper we show that (i) the flow-deposition of bacteria can successfully create a live bacterial carpet to generate local fluid motion inside a microfabricated system; (ii), that the carpet-activated microfluidic system can be [...]

Simulation and Optimization of Colloidal Micropumps

Liu D., Maxey M., Karniadakis G., Brown University, US

A fast algorithm for particulate microflows has been used to simulate the 3D micro-colloidal pumps tested in the experiments conducted by Terray et al. The Force-Coupling Method and a penalty method were implemented in a [...]

Multiscale Modeling of Microfluidics

Karniadakis G., Brown University, US

Micro-electro-mechanical systems involve complex functions governed by diverse transient physical and electrical processes for each of their many components. This is an example of a coupled-domain simulation, i.e., the simultaneous simulation of different functional units [...]