Biomedical Engineering seminars

La resonancia magnética nuclear está basada en el fenómeno del magnetismo nuclear que más aplicaciones ha encontrado para el estudio de enfermedades humanas. Usualmente la señal de RM es recibida y transmitida a distancias cercanas al objeto del que se quiere obtener una imagen. Otra alternativa es emitir y recibir la misma señal de manera remota haciendo uso de guías de onda. Este enfoque tiene la ventaja que se puede aplicar a altos campos magnéticos, la absorción de energía es menor, además es posible cubrir mayores regiones de interés y comodidad para el paciente. Por otro lado, sufre de baja calidad de imagen en algunos casos. En esta ocasión hablaremos de nuestra experiencia haciendo uso de este enfoque empleando una guía de ondas abierta y metamateriales tanto para sistemas clínicos como preclínicos de IRM.

OpenFlexure is a 3D printed flexure translation stage, developed by a group at the Bath University. The stage is capable of sub-micron-scale motion, with very small drift over time. Which makes it quite good, among other things, for time-lapse protocols that need to be done over days/weeks time, and under space restricted areas, such as fume hoods.

Triggerable materials capable of being degraded by selective stimuli stand to transform our capacity to precisely control biomedical device activity and performance while reducing the need for invasive interventions. This talk will cover the development of a modular and tunable light-triggerable hydrogel capable of interfacing with implantable devices. We have applied these materials to two applications in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and demonstrated biocompatibility and on-demand triggering of the material in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo. Light-triggerable hydrogels have the potential to be applied broadly throughout the GI tract and other anatomic areas. By demonstrating the first use of light-degradable hydrogels in vivo, we provide biomedical engineers and clinicians with a previously unavailable, safe, dynamically deliverable, and precise tool to design dynamically actuated implantable devices.

Magnetic fields exert controllable forces that generate microscopic actuation and locomotion in soft materials with superparamagnetic or ferromagnetic components. I will describe the shape changes and materials parameters required to drive and direct matter including filaments, membranes and hydrogels with magnetic components using precessing magnetic fields

One of the most important scientific and technological frontiers of our time is the interfacing of electronics with the human brain. This endeavour promises to help understand how the brain works and deliver new tools for diagnosis and treatment of pathologies including epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Current solutions, however, are limited by the materials that are brought in contact with the tissue and transduce signals across the biotic/abiotic interface. Recent advances in electronics have made available materials with a unique combination of attractive properties, including mechanical flexibility, mixed ionic/electronic conduction, enhanced biocompatibility, and capability for drug delivery. Professor Malliaras will present examples of novel devices for recording and stimulation of neurons and show that organic electronic materials offer tremendous opportunities to study the brain and treat its pathologies.