Controlling Gene Expression With Our Mind

Mind-controlled transgene expression by a wireless-powered optogenetic designer cell implant

Today I would like to discuss something about a new invention happened in the research field. Just imagine the world where we can control anything with our mind. Yes that is true that there are gadget in developmental stage, by which we can control other devices just by our 'brain waves' or in simple word 'by our thought'. But we crossed the limits by developing something new, by which we can control gene expressions by though- brain waves.

Schematic representation of mind-controlled transgene expression.

Future Treatment Technique For arthritis, Diabetes, Obesity

Mammalian synthetic biology has significantly advanced the design of gene switches that are responsive to trace less cues such as light, gas and radio waves, complex gene circuits, including oscillators, cancer-killing gene classifiers and programmable biocomputers, as well as prosthetic gene networks that provide treatment strategies for gouty arthritis, diabetes and obesity. Akin to synthetic biology promoting prosthetic gene networks for the treatment of metabolic disorders cybernetics advances the design of functional man–machine interfaces in which brain–computer interfaces (BCI) process brain waves to control electromechanical prostheses, such as bionic extremities and even wheel chairs. The advent of synthetic optogenetic devices that use power-controlled, light-adjustable therapeutic interventions will enable the merging of synthetic biology with cybernetics to allow brain waves to remotely control the transgene expression and cellular behaviour in a wireless manner.

Future Of Gene And Cell Based Treatments using optogenetic Implant

Synthetic devices for traceless remote control of gene expression may provide new treatment opportunities in future gene- and cell-based therapies. Here we report the design of a synthetic mind-controlled gene switch that enables human brain activities and mental states to wirelessly programme the transgene expression in human cells. An electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) processing mental state-specific brain waves programs an inductively linked wireless-powered optogenetic implant containing designer cells engineered for near-infrared (NIR) light-adjustable expression of the human glycoprotein ​SEAP (​secreted alkaline phosphatase). The synthetic optogenetic signalling pathway interfacing the BCI with target gene expression consists of an engineered NIR light-activated bacterial diguanylate cyclase (DGCL) producing the orthogonal second messenger ​cyclic diguanosine monophosphate (​c-di-GMP), which triggers the ​stimulator of interferon genes (​STING)-dependent induction of synthetic ​interferon-βpromoters. Humans generating different mental states (biofeedback control, concentration, meditation) can differentially control ​SEAP production of the designer cells in culture and of subcutaneous wireless-powered optogenetic implants in mice.

Optogenetic devices operating in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range combine high tissue penetration power with negligible phototoxicity. The phototrophic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides is able to capture NIR light with the multidomain protein ​BphG1, which contains an amino-terminal (N-terminal) NIR light sensor and carboxyl-terminal diguanylate cyclase (DGC) domain, as well as phosphodiesterase (PDE) activities, to control the level of the ubiquitous bacterial second messenger ​cyclic diguanosine monophosphate (​c-di-GMP) and orchestrate the environmental light-triggered transition from motile cells to biofilm-forming communities. ​Stimulator of interferon genes (​STING) was recently identified as a novel player in the human innate immunity that functions as a cyclic di-nucleotide sensor (​cGAMP, ​c-di-AMP, ​c-di-GMP) to detect the presence of cytosolic DNA via ​cyclic-GMP–AMP (cGAMP) synthase (​cGAS)-mediated production of ​cGAMP, as well as second messengers (​c-di-AMP, ​c-di-GMP) released from intracellular pathogens. Activated ​STING specifies the phosphorylation of the ​interferon-regulatory factor 3 (​IRF3) by ​tank-binding kinase 1, which results in the nuclear translocation of ​IRF3, binding to ​IRF3-specific operators and induction of type I interferon promoters. In this study, we rewire BCI-triggered NIR light-based induction of ​c-di-GMP production by ​BphG1 variants to ​c-di-GMP-dependent ​STING-driven activation of optimized interferon-responsive promoters to enable mind-controlled transgene expression in mammalian designer cells inside subcutaneous wireless-powered optogenetic implants in mice. Cybernetic control of synthetic gene networks in designer mammalian cells may pave the way for mind-genetic interfaces in future treatment strategies.

Wireless-powered optogenetic implant

The wireless-powered optogenetic implant was a fully sealed, all-in-one biocompatible device comprising a power receiver, which was remotely powered by electromagnetic induction controlled by the field generator, and the 700-nm NIR LED (λmax=700 nm, 20 mW sr⁻¹; cat. no. ELD-700-524-1; Roithner Lasertechnik, Vienna, Austria), which enabled light-programmable transgene expression of designer cells inside the semi-permeable cultivation chamber (Fig. a–c). The power receiver’s antenna was assembled from three orthogonal copper coils (0.1-mm copper wire with 130 windings on a 7 × 7 × 7 mm ferrite cube), three in-series resonance capacitors and six Schottky diodes, which integrated and rectified the current of the three coils and powered the NIR LED in an orientation- and motion-independent manner ( Fig. b) The entire power receiver, including the base of the NIR LED, was moulded into a spherical polycarbonate cap containing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS; cat. no. 701912-1, Sigma-Aldrich, Buchs, Switzerland) and fitted to a custom-adapted 500-μl polycarbonate chamber (0.4 × 0.9 mm) with semi-permeable polyethersulfone <300 kDa-cutoff membranes (PES Membrane, VS0651, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, Germany) on two sides (Fig. a). The device was sealed by polymerizing the PDMS for 30 min at 50 °C. The coupling intensity of the wireless-powered optogenetic implant was profiled in the space above the field generator by scoring the wireless transmission of power to the implant . A total of 500 μl of a pSO3/pSO4- or pSO3/pSBC-2 (negative control)-transgenic HEK-293F cell suspension (1 × 10⁶cells) was loaded via a syringe through a hole in the polycarbonate side of the culture chamber, which was sealed with a PDMS plug before implanting the device subcutaneously into the mouse.

 Wireless-powered optogenetic implant.

(a) Wireless-powered implant on the field generator with an illuminated NIR LED. A 1 CHF coin (23 mm in diameter) serves as a size indicator. The 0.5-ml cultivation chamber containing semi-permeable PES membranes on both sides was moulded to a spherical polycarbonate cap contain a PDMS-sealed three-dimensional (3D) receiver antenna wired to the NIR-LED. (b) 3D receiver antenna wired via the receiver circuit (receiver coils, resonance capacitors, Schottky diodes; Supplementary Figs 5 and 11) to the NIR LED. (c) Quality-control test of the custom-made wireless-powered optogenetic implants illuminated while standing on the powered field generator. (d) Mouse with a subcutaneous wireless-powered optogenetic implant, the activity of which can be observed through the skin. (e) Field generator.

Mind-controlled transgene expression in mice

Cell-containing wireless-powered optogenetic implants were subcutaneously implanted on the backs of short-term ​isoflurane-anaesthetized wild-type mice (Oncins France souche 1, Charles River Laboratories, Lyon, France), and the cage containing the treated animals was placed on the field generator connected to the BCI. The human subject wearing the BCI headset conducted three different mental states, biofeedback, concentration and meditation, which were integrated (5/25/25 min) and converted to threshold (meditation-meter values 90/75/75)-dependent activation of the time-delay relay that switched the NIR LED in the wireless-powered optogenetic implant ON for defined periods of time (60 min/30 s/30 s) and induced light-triggered ​SEAP expression in the implanted cells. After 48 and 144 h, blood samples were collected retro-orbitally, and serum ​SEAPlevels were determined as described above. The implants of one treatment group were removed after ​SEAP profiling at 48 h, and the serum ​SEAP levels were quantified again 96 h after implant removal. Control mice received wireless-powered optogenetic implants containing pSO3/pSBC-2-transfected HEK-293F cells. Throughout the entire animal study, five 4-week-old female Oncin Souche 1 wild-type mice of the delivered pool were randomly allocated to the individual treatment groups. Neither samples nor animals were excluded from the study and blood-sample analysis was blinded

Controlling Gene Expression With Our Mind

2:28 PM arthritis, cell based treatment, gene expression, Mind control gadget, new technology, obesity, optogenetic implan, transgene, treatment dibetes

Diamond Gemstones From Peanut Burtter

Geophysicists Are Turning Peanut Butter Into Diamond Gemstones

The world's simplest sandwich is actually a diamond in the rough .

Climate Simulating Lab Foeanut Butter

In his lab at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Germany, Dan Frost is trying to simulate conditions found in the Earth’s lower mantle. More than 1,800 miles below the surface, the lower mantle experiences temperatures nearing 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures that are 1.3 million times higher than the air we breathe.

According to David Robson at BBC Future, in trying to simulate those scorching underground environments, Frost has stumbled upon some innovative ways to manufacture diamonds. Beneath their sparkles, diamonds are composed of simple carbon atoms arranged into a crystal.

Lab For Diamond Making

Frost's research started with a hypothesis that in ancient times, rocks could have pulled carbon dioxide from the oceans. Then, as the rocks were drawn down into the mantle, high pressures force the CO₂ to leave the rocks. Once the CO₂ was free, iron in the mantle stripped it of its oxygen. That left just the naked carbon, which was squished into diamond by the high heat and temperatures. That was the hypothesis anyway, "[a]nd that is exactly what Frost found when he recreated the process using his presses – essentially forging a diamond from thin air," writes Robson.

Diamond From Sandwiches ! Is It Possible?

Because all foodstuffs (and for that matter, all living things) contain carbon, the researchers have successfully made diamonds out of everyone's favorite sandwich ingredient: peanut butter. However, the hydrogen that’s bonded to the carbon in peanut butter apparently does make the process messier. And even under the best circumstances, the transformation is slow. “If we wanted a two-or-three-millimetre diamond, we would need to leave it for weeks,” Frost told BBC Future.

Still, the technique could be useful for things other than manufacturing nerdy bling. By tinkering with the ingredients that go into the diamond-making process, the researchers are hopeful that they’ll be able to make better superconductors as well as super-strong diamonds for industrial applications.

Diamond Gemstones From Peanut Burtter

8:39 AM Diamond, germstones, making diamond, peanut butter

Plastic Chemical Linked to Changes in Baby Boy's Genitals

Plastic Chemical Linked to Changes in Baby Boy's Genitals

Boys exposed in the womb to high levels of a chemical found in vinyl products are born with slightly altered genital development, according to research published today.

di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP)

The study of nearly 200 Swedish babies is the first to link the chemical di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP) to changes in the development of the human male reproductive tract.

Previous studies of baby boys in three countries found that a similar plastics chemical, DEHP, was associated with the same type of changes in their genitalia.

The Role of vinyl toys, flooring and packaging

Less is known about the reproductive risks of DiNP, a chemical which scientists say may be replacing DEHP in many products such as vinyl toys, flooring and packaging. In mice, high levels block testosterone and alter testicular development.

A study of nearly 200 Swedish babies is the first to link the chemical di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP) to changes in the development of the human male reproductive tract. 

“Our data suggest that this substitute phthalate may not be safer than the chemical it is replacing,” wrote the researchers, led by Carl-Gustaf Bornehag at Sweden’s Karlstad University, in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Levels of DiNP in U.S. adults and children more than doubled in the past decade.

“This study raises concern about DiNP, which is being used in increased amounts in products that contain vinyl plastics, and the impact on the developing fetus,” said Dr. Russ Hauser, a professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health who is not involved in the new study.

The researchers measured metabolites of five phthalates in the urine of pregnant women during the first trimester. Development of male reproductive organs begins during that period, said senior study author Shanna Swan, a professor of reproductive science at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

The researchers then measured the anogenital distance – the length between the anus and the genitals – when the boys were on average 21 months old. Boys who had been exposed to the highest levels of DiNP in the womb averaged a distance that was slightly shorter – about seven-hundredths of an inch – than the boys with the lowest exposures.

“These were really subtle changes,” Swan said.

Effect On Fertility

Considered a sign of incomplete masculinization, shortened anogenital distance in men has been associated with abnormal testicular development and reduced semen quality and fertility. In men, this measurement is typically 50 to 100 percent longer than in women.

But it’s unknown whether a slightly shorter distance in infants corresponds with any fertility problems later in life.

“More research is needed to understand the extent to which shorter anogenital distance at birth is associated with impaired reproductive function later in life in humans,” said Emily Barrett, a reproductive health scientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.

For other phthalates, the study found shorter anogenital distance with higher concentrations, but the findings were not statistically significant, meaning they may have been due to chance. The Swedish women in the new study had phthalate levels similar to U.S. women in Swan's previous studies. Those studies, published in 2005and 2008, linked several phthalates to shorter anogenital distance.

A spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, a group representing chemical manufacturers, said the study "reports small changes that are associated with exposure to DiNP" but does not prove that the chemical caused the changes. 

The spokesperson said the new findings "seem to contradict" the authors' earlier findings as well as two other studies that found no association between DiNP and men's anogenital distance. In addition, the study is based on a single urine sample from the mothers. As a result, the "plausibility is low," the industry group said. "To demonstrate causal associations in the field of epidemiology, there are criteria that should be evaluated and considered...We found that this study scores low for many important considerations."

The industry group did not answer questions about what types of products DiNP is used in. The scientists said exposures to the chemical can come from food or through skin contact with home furnishings or child-care articles.

In 2008, the United States temporarily banned use of DiNP and two other phthalate plasticizers in toys and other children's products. “This ban does nothing to protect the developing fetus,” Swan said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommended in July to make the ban permanent and urged that “U.S. agencies responsible for dealing with DiNP exposures from food and other products conduct the necessary risk assessments.”

The Role of Packed Food , Plastic Containers

While it’s nearly impossible to eliminate exposure to phthalates, Swan suggested that pregnant women may be able to reduce their exposures by incorporating unprocessed, unpackaged foods into the diet and by avoiding heating or storing foods in plastic containers.

Plastic Chemical Linked to Changes in Baby Boy's Genitals

4:36 PM DEHP, DiNP, Fertility, Infent Abnormalities, Plastic containers

Artificial Human Stomach Grown In Lab

Tiny human stomachs grown in the lab

Scientists have successfully grown miniature stomachs in the lab from human stem cells, guiding them through the stages of development seen in an embryo. The lumps of living tissue, which are no bigger than a sesame seed, have a gland structure that is similar to human stomachs and can even harbour gut bacteria.

The feat, reported in this week's Nature¹, offers a window to how cells in human embryos morph into organs. Scientists say that these 'gastric organoids' could also be used to understand diseases such as cancer, and to test the stomach's response to drugs.

“This is extremely exciting,” says Calvin Kuo, a stem-cell biologist at Stanford University in California. “To be able to recapitulate that in a dish is quite a technical achievement.”

The stem cells used to grow the mini stomachs are pluripotent, or plastic: given the right environment, they can mature into any type of cell. But to coax them down a specific path in the lab requires recreating the precise sequence and timing of environmental cues in the womb — the signals from proteins and hormones that tell cells what kind of tissue to become. Bits of kidney, liver, brain and intestine have previously been grown in a lab dish using this technique.

Stomach switch- Cancer Research , Drug REaction

The key to turning pluripotent stem cells into stomach cells was a pathway of interactions that acts as a switch between growing tissues in the intestine and in the antrum, a part of the stomach near its outlet to the small intestine.

When the stem cells were around three days old, researchers added a cocktail of proteins including Noggin, which suppresses that pathway, and timed doses of retinoic acid, a compound in vitamin A. After nine days, the cells were left to grow in a protein bath.

At 34 days, the resulting organoids were only a few millimetres in diameter and had no blood cells, immune cells, nor the ability to process food or secrete bile. But their gland structures and each marker of their development paralleled development in their control tissues, which the team obtained from mice. In that sense, they “are remarkably similar to an actual stomach”, says study leader James Wells, a developmental biologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio.

That similarity allowed the researchers to use the tiny stomachs as test subjects for human disease by injecting them with Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that targets the antrum and can cause ulcers and stomach cancer. Within 24 hours, the team found that H. pylori was causing the organoid cells to divide twice as fast as normal, and activating a particular gene, c-Met, that can cause tumours. These effects are also seen in human stomachs infected with H. pylori.

The researchers say that they can grow the stomach organoids from both embryonic stem cells and skin cells induced to pluripotency. Jason Mills, a gastrointestinal pathologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, envisions growing thousands of such organoids, each from a different person’s cells, and infecting them with a pathogen to study the role of individual genetics.

Wells says that his team's long-term goal is to be able to grow personal stomach tissue to patch up ulcers in humans. He and some colleagues are already attempting to use human organoids to plug stomach holes in mice.

Artificial Human Stomach Grown In Lab

4:16 PM Cancer, Drug, Lab grwon Stomach

New Google product: Inbox

Googles New Inbox

On 22nd October Google announced  something new. It’s called Inbox. Years in the making, Inbox is by the same people who brought you Gmail, but it’s not Gmail: it’s a completely different type of inbox, designed to focus on what really matters. 

Email started simply as a way to send digital notes around the office. But fast-forward 30 years and with just the phone in your pocket, you can use email to contact virtually anyone in the world…from your best friend to the owner of that bagel shop you discovered last week. 

With this evolution comes new challenges: we get more email now than ever, important information is buried inside messages, and our most important tasks can slip through the cracks—especially when we’re working on our phones. For many of us, dealing with email has become a daily chore that distracts from what we really need to do—rather than helping us get those things done.

If this all sounds familiar, then Inbox is for you. Or more accurately, Inbox works for you. Here are some of the ways Inbox is at your service:

Bundles: stay organized automatically 
Inbox expands upon the categories we introduced in Gmail last year, making it easy to deal with similar types of mail all at once. For example, all your purchase receipts or bank statements are neatly grouped together so that you can quickly review and then swipe them out of the way. You can even teach Inbox to adapt to the way you work by choosing which emails you’d like to see grouped together. 

Highlights: the important info at a glance
Inbox highlights the key information from important messages, such as flight itineraries, event information, and photos and documents emailed to you by friends and family. Inbox will even display useful information from the web that wasn’t in the original email, such as the real-time status of your flights and package deliveries. Highlights and Bundles work together to give you just the information you need at a glance.

Reminders, Assists, and Snooze: your to-do’s on your own terms

Inbox makes it easy to focus on your priorities by letting you add your own Reminders, from picking up the dry cleaning to giving your parents a call. No matter what you need to remember, your inbox becomes a centralized place to keep track of the things you need to get back to. 

A sampling of Assists

And speaking of to-do’s, Inbox helps you cross those off your list by providing Assists—handy pieces of information you may need to get the job done. For example, if you write a Reminder to call the hardware store, Inbox will supply the store’s phone number and tell you if it's open. Assists work for your email, too. If you make a restaurant reservation online, Inbox adds a map to your confirmation email. Book a flight online, and Inbox gives a link to check-in.

Of course, not everything needs to be done right now. Whether you’re in an inconvenient place or simply need to focus on something else first, Inbox lets you Snooze away emails and Reminders. You can set them to come back at another time or when you get to a specific location, like your home or your office.

Get started with Inbox
Starting today, we’re sending out the first round of invitations to give Inbox a try, and each new user will be able to invite their friends. If Inbox can’t arrive soon enough for you, you can email us at inbox@google.com to get an invitation as soon as more become available. 

When you start using Inbox, you’ll quickly see that it doesn’t feel the same as Gmail—and that’s the point. Gmail’s still there for you, butInbox is something new. It’s a better way to get back to what matters, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

New Google product: Inbox

6:55 AM email, Google, inbox, new Google product

Number of eggs a woman has predicts heart attack risk

What Else An Eggs Can Say?

The number of eggs in a woman's ovaries could tell a lot more than just how fertile she is. It may provide a window onto how fast her cells are ageing and, in particular, reflect her risk of developing heart disease.

Number of Eggs and Disease Risks

Women are born with all of their eggs and, throughout their life, the number they have declines. The onset of menopause is triggered by this decline.

After menopause hits, the risk of heart disease increases. Women who experience it early – before the age of 46 – are at twice the risk of developing heart disease in later life as women who go through menopause at a typical age.

Several factors that coincide with menopause compound this risk, including a shift in the type of cholesterol the body produces, the redistribution of body fat and increased blood pressure. The drop in oestrogen levels is also thought to play a role as the hormone helps keeps blood vessels elastic. ButMarcelle Cedars at the University of California, San Francisco, wondered if the increased risk to women who experience early menopause might have a more fundamental cause. "Perhaps women who go through menopause early are intrinsically aging at a different rate," says Cedars.

Telling telomeres

To find out, Cedars' team took blood samples from 1100 non-menopausal women aged 25 to 45 and measured their amount of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), an indicator of how many eggs are in the ovaries. They confirmed the number of eggs by counting the pockets of fluid, called follicles, around each egg using an ultrasound.

To measure the women's biological age, the researchers looked at the length of telomeres in their white blood cells. Telomeres are the dangly bits at the end of chromosomes that shorten every time a cell divides. Their length is considered a measure of cellular age.

Between three and five years later, 250 of the women came back so researchers could calculate their risk of developing heart disease in the next decade – known as their Framington score. This takes account of risk factors such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure and body weight.

As expected, the team found that women with lower egg counts had higher Framington scores, but they also had shorter telomeres. Previous studies have suggested that shorter telomeres are linked with heart disease,dementia and cancer, and also with a shorter lifespan. So women with fewer eggs may also be at higher risk of other age-related diseases, although epidemiological studies will be needed to bolster this link.

Early warning

"We think the ovary may be more sensitive to the processes of aging," says Cedars, making it like a canary in a coal mine for a general state of accelerated aging.

"It is a very promising hypothesis that reproductive ageing could serve as a window into cardiovascular health and the cellular aging process," says JoAnn Manson, an epidemiologist at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

Confirming that number of eggs, as well as age at menopause, is associated with risk of cardiovascular disease is important because heart disease is thenumber one cause of death for women around the world. Women are often diagnosed later than men and also tend to have a worse prognosis after being diagnosed, so finding ways to identify those at higher risk is crucial, says Cedars. Many women undergo AMH testing for fertility purposes and those with low egg counts could be monitored for cardiovascular health and advised to make lifestyle changes at a relatively young age, she says.

The researchers presented their findings this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Number of eggs a woman has predicts heart attack risk

2:48 PM Disease Risk, Heart Attack prediction

Anticlotting Medical Device : Inspired By Pitcher Plant

Technology Inspired By Nature : New Medical Device

Dialysis and implanted arteries widely used in medical industry to keep people alive. The major concern with these devices are blood clotting and infection due to adhered pathogens. Clotting of blood was  handled by treating blood with anticlotinng agents like Heparin. But this method have its own risk;by interfering with clotting, they can cause potentially deadly bleeding.

The New Dialysis Device

Recently, researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University looked to the carnivorous pitcher plant for guidance. The plant’s structure includes wells with surfaces too slippery for insects to crawl out of. Those surfaces inspired the development of a coating so slippery that it prevents blood and bacteria from sticking.

The team tested the coating on the interiors of tubes and catheters attached to pigs. They demonstrated that the coating did not degrade, and that blood kept flowing without clotting, for eight hours. Blood usually starts to clot in tubes in an hour. The study is in the journal Nature Biotechnology. [Daniel C. Leslie et al, A bioinspired omniphobic surface coating on medical devices prevents thrombosis and biofouling]

The researchers also tested whether a gecko could latch onto the coating with its notoriously sticky footpads. But not even the gecko could get a grip. 

Liquid-infused, Porous Surface (SLIPS) approach

SLIPS was inspired by the Nepenthes pitcher plant, which uses a layer of liquid water to create a low friction surface that prevents attachment of insects. The SLIPS technology creates omniphobic slippery surfaces by infiltrating porous or roughened substrates with various liquid perfluorocarbons (LPs) that prevent adhesion to the underlying substrate through formation of a stably immobilized, molecularly smooth, liquid overlayer. However, existing medical-grade materials, such as polycarbonate, polysulfone and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), have highly smooth surfaces. Thus, to create nonadhesive, antithrombogenic surfaces that might be useful for clinical medicine in the near-term, we set out to modify the SLIPS technology so that it can be applied to these smooth surfaces. This was accomplished by covalently binding a flexible molecular perfluorocarbon layer, or tethered perfluorocarbon (TP), on the material surface and then coating it with a mobile layer of an LP (perfluorodecalin) that has been used extensively in medicine for applications such as liquid ventilation, ophthalmic surgery and as an US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved blood substitute.

Anticlotting Medical Device : Inspired By Pitcher Plant

4:58 PM Dialysis, featured, medical device, Nepenthes, perfluorocarbons, Pitcher plant., SLIPS