[latexpage] In Episode 3 of this series, I have begun working towards improving my COMSOL modeling for particle capture. In addition to running simulations, I need to run experiments to try and correlate real world solutions with simulated results. One of the major focus points of my work has been trying to explain the shape…

We want to create a structure that can more easily control the electric field inside of the Monolith cavities, by adding an electrode specific to each well. My solution is to create a hybrid film stack, replacing some of the SiO2 spacer with a gold layer that is in fluidic contact on the walls of…

A few weeks ago, Henry and I ran a migration/wound healing experiment using two cancer cell types: T24 (bladder cancer) and MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer). MDA cells are highly migratory, while T24 cells are less so. We wanted to test if the exosomes from MDA cells would cause T24 cells to become more migratory. This was…

Experiments were conducted to determine how effectively protein is bound by suspended graphene oxide (GO) particles. This is important for our application because we hope to use GO as a membrane to bind toxins present in blood. BSA (bovine serum albumin) was used as the test protein. Test samples consisted of a mixture of BSA…

Kyle has made some progress using the monolith chips, however, the wetting of these chips is difficult and makes the monoliths unattractive to use. I have attempted to create a more replicable wetting protocol. We’ve heard over the summer that other groups have used an autoclave to inundate tiny nanostructures with water (like a nano-scale…

This post is meant to conclude the work that I have completed this summer with the double slot single pass devices; recently I have conducted additional experiments and collected ultrafiltration data. In my previous post, “Single Slot Inverted-Chip and Double Slot: Single-Pass Dialysis Devices” https://trace-bmps.org/single-slot-inverted-chip-and-double-slot-single-pass-dialysis-devices/ I was exploring how various analyte / dialysate flow rate…

Background: At the end of August, Greg Schmidt and I were investigating the feasibility of a project that builds off of my PhD research: templating and patterning new materials on top of NPN/microporous nitride. We hope to make composite nanomembranes with various ratios of NPN to sputtered thin films. In addition to my normal TEM,…

Introduction In previous posts by both Alec and Kayli, the urea clearance performance of our bench-top single-pass dialysis devices has been described. Results regarding devices containing untreated, PEG-treated, and nonporous membranes can be found in the “Current Dialysis Research [McGrath Lab, December 2017]”, https://trace-bmps.org/current-dialysis-research-mcgrath-lab-november-2017/ and “Updated Dialysis Research” posts. https://trace-bmps.org/updated-dialysis-research/ The nanomembranes present in these…

Device Breakdown 1 – Pressure Regulator 2 – System Isolation Valve 3 – Pressure Gauge 4 – 3 Way Valve – point left for only pressure gauge, point right to select a volumetric flow meter 5 – 3 Way Valve – point left for only digital volumetric flow meter, point right for digital and physical…

Hi everyone, this is going to be a brief update on something that I’ve been working on the side. I’ll be showing pore detection using color subtraction and Canny edge detection. All code was written in Mathematica. First up, color subtraction: Depending on image brightness, this method can fairly accurately pick up inner pores. Of…