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 to grow in endothelial cells.
Diffusion of rhodamine was observed through pncSi samples from W620. This was done to compare the porosity of the membranes after RTP treatment. From the following movies (real time = 10 mins) it can be seen that there is no significant difference in diffusion between the samples after they are RTPed, as expected. Now, Henry…
Nanobattery Paper Nanobattery Supplement I have long desired to make energy storage devices with our nanomembranes (supercapacitor post), mainly because they would be really great separators, having both excellent charge conduction and physical barrier resistance due to the porosity and material properties of silicon. Other groups have begun to take advantage of the increased…
When I first starting testing the microcon filters I noticed that if they were allowed to sit overnight (exposed to air) after having been already tested with water the next day if they were tested again the permeability of the membrane decreased significantly. The membranes come pre-wet with trace amounts of glycerin; spinning with water…
I few weeks ago, I had a couple wafers made with different size squares and slits. I posted my first results here and here. In that experiment, I showed pretty dramatic 2D structures over both supported and free-standing membranes with rectangle shapes. Also, I showed vacuole formation at (almost) the single cell level on square…
In light of technical difficulties associated with the current liftoff device design, I’ve been working on a slight alteration to the design with an eye towards reducing leaking and improving the shape of the flow in the dialysate chamber. The shape of the blood conduit has been demonstrated to be successful in distributing the flow fairly…
There have been differences between the previous long term discoloration studies carried out by myself and Barrett. Couple of reasons speculated for the differences were: 1) Wafer variation (w683 vs w704); w683: has no visible pores, is more amorphous in character, and has many pinholes; w704: 200um series. 2) Silanization treatment (UVO chamber PDMS contamination;…