It is expecting that the high electric field gradient at the nanopore entrance could amplify the dielectrophoretic force so that the nanoparticles transported toward the membrane could be manipulated based on their polarizabilities. To prove the concept, the electric field…
Category: NRG
Ensuring cell adhesion on microporous substrates under shear flow
Just to give a brief background, I have been working with endothelial cells to make a microvessel mimetic device, and one of the important requirements for endothelial cell culture is to be able to grow the cells under physiological levels…
Posted in NRG
YAP/TAZ Staining on Membranes and Nonporous SiO2
As we’re uncovering more bits and pieces of data, we kept being lead to the idea that our membranes may be made out of SiO2 and have a modulus in the gigapascal range, but cells seem to perceive them as soft…
Size separation of DNA with NPN pre-filters
Since my last update I have been trying to achieve reliable size-separation of DNA by length using dwell time with the NPN pre-filter. Originally I had hoped to achieve 250-bp resolution near the optimal length for the NPN filter devices…
Posted in NRG
SEM FIB Lift-out of 50 nm NPN for TEM Analysis
As a step to identifying the particles that I am capturing in my systems, I am attempting to do an immunogold labeling with a CD 63 primary antibody and a 10 nm gold conjugated secondary. It is possible to run…
Posted in NRG
Rapid (and reversible) Vacuolization of Brain Endothelial Cells under Flow
The following contain updates from a group of Swiss collaborators working with NPN for a BBB mimetic. The movies are important because they demonstrate T-cell/endothelial interaction including transmigration and because they show how using vacuum pressure can rapidly cause vacuoles…
Posted in NRG
BMES 2016 Presentation: SiO2 Membranes & Cell-Substrate Interactions
Here is a PDF of the presentation I plan to give at BMES this year. The presentation is first an overview of our SiO2 membranes for cell barrier and co-culture models and then a brief summary of our cell-substrate and…
Posted in NRG
Exosome Capture Update: A Tale of Two Pumps
The week before last, I finally switched back to my exosome experiments with some hope of repeating my January successes with my new clampable format and two pump system. After failing for several hours (and breaking 7 membranes), I was…
Posted in NRG
Microporous Magnesium Fluoride Nanomembrane Becomes Stronger as the Film Thickness Increases
The title really says it all. I have been attempting to make a better cell culture substrate with the Magnesium Fluoride Films. Previous posts have shown the overall structure of the film, and now I am trying to quantify the…
Posted in NRG
Blood Cell Separation Using Microslit Chips
Over the summer, I have been working on a project with Rick Waugh that focuses on separating white blood cells from red blood cells. The goal is to be able to take a lancet droplet of whole blood and perform…
Posted in NRG
