Imagine reading this article on an electronic screen that could be rolled up and put into a pocket. Someday, the electronics to power this kind of screen may be produced by a process that relies on a very simple tool: a stamp.

Reliable flexible displays are only one of a variety of new microelectronic and micromechanical devices that may become possible thanks to fundamental research by Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Kevin Turner. Turner is studying the underlying physics and mechanics of adhesion during a process called microtransfer printing. He will use his research to improve microtransfer printing manufacturing processes, which eventually could be used to produce a host of innovative technologies, such as advanced optoelectronic devices, high efficiency solar cells, and new types of microelectromechanical systems.   [MORE]

Using computer simulations, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has identified some of the pathways through which single complementary strands of DNA interact and combine to form the double helix.

Present in the cells of all living organisms, DNA is composed of two intertwined strands and contains the genetic "blueprint" through which all living organisms develop and function. Individual strands consist of nucleotides, which include a base, a sugar and a phosphate moiety.

Understanding hybridization, the process through which single DNA strands combine to form a double helix is fundamental to biology and central to technologies such as DNA microchips or DNA-based nanoscale assembly. The research by the Wisconsin group begins to unravel how DNA strands come together and bind to each other, says Juan J. de Pablo, UW-Madison Howard Curler Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.  [MORE]

In a presentation today (Aug. 19) to the American Chemical Society meeting, Ankit Agarwal, a postdoctoral researcher working with Professor Nicholas Abbott at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, described an experimental approach to wound healing that could take advantage of silver’s antibacterial properties, while sidestepping the damage silver can cause to cells needed for healing.

"Silver is widely used to prevent bacterial contamination in wound dressings," says Agarwal, “but these dressings deliver a very large load of silver, and that can kill a lot of cells in the wound.”

Wound healing is a particular problem in diabetes, where poor blood supply that inhibits healing can require amputations, and also in burn wards. Agarwal says some burn surgeons avoid silver dressings despite their constant concern with infection.

Using a new approach, Agarwal has crafted an ultra-thin material carrying a precise dose of silver. One square inch contains just 0.4 percent of the silver that is found in the silver-treated antibacterial bandages now used in medicine.  [MORE]

Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Mike Graham was quoted in the July 13 issue of Physical Review Focus. Graham commented on research regarding fluid jets by a team of Australian researchers. Fluid jets are normally made by forcing liquid through a nozzle, such as in a squirt gun or a syringe. But in the July 10 issue of Physical Review Letters, researchers reported a way to induce a fluid jet to burst from an isolated droplet. The team placed a liquid droplet on a surface and blasted it with focused surface acoustic waves--nano-sized versions of the ground-shaking waves from earthquakes--causing the droplet to shoot upward in a narrow stream. The researchers believe the technique could be useful in drug delivery, biomedical research, and inkjet printing. This work is an "interesting approach to manipulating fluids on small scales that hasn't seen a lot of investigation in the past," said Graham.  [MORE]

An August 12 story, "Revealing the factors behind liver disease," in Highlights in Chemical Biology, quoted Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Bill Murphy. The story highlights University of California, San Diego, researchers' recent development of an array to test the conditions that lead to liver damage. In the story, Murphy calls the work an elegant example of the potential of array-based strategies in biology and medicine. "Emerging approaches like this may ultimately lead to a more advanced understanding of natural microenvironments, as well as identification of new microenvironments that elicit specific cell behaviors, such as tissue regeneration." he said.  [MORE]