Using Remotely Accessible Microscopy in the Elementary Classroom

Elementary children are at an age of investigation and exploration. In today’s society, this exploration often occurs using technology. Whether learning to type with Typing Club, using Google to search for information on Yellowstone National Park or designing and creating a city in Minecraft, technology has become a part of every child’s existence. Early access to technology could be the impetus to a students’ pursuit of a degree in STEM disciplines. Presented here is a conglomerate of University, Community College and High School sites that provide free access to advanced scientific technologies remotely for students to view and manipulate for themselves. The Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology (RAIN) Network provides Scanning Electron (SEM), Atomic Force (AFM) and Confocal Microscopes to educators and allows an opportunity to connect with higher education scientist across the globe, with the goal of using technology to enhance the teaching of science to our children

Making it RAIN: Using Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology to Enhance High School Science Courses

The Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology (RAIN) Network is a conglomerate of nineteen community colleges, four-year universities and high school sites that aims to enhance STEM learning by bringing advanced technologies to K-12 education. RAIN provides free remote access to instruments such as Scanning Electron, Atomic Force and Transmission Electron Microscopes, as well as Energy Dispersive and Infrared Spectroscopy. The following is a variety of experiments and an empirical formula lab that can be performed in a high school physical science or chemistry classroom that utilizes the RAIN Network

It’s RAINing : Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology to Promote Student Success

Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology (RAIN) is a community of educators that aims to bring advanced technologies into K-12 and college classrooms via remote access. RAIN\u27s mission is to facilitate the study of nanoscale science by lowering barriers for instructors to deliver relevant educational activities for younger students interested in learning about nanotechnology across traditional STEM fields. Additionally, RAIN engages the next generation STEM workforce with a connection to experts, tools and institutions where cutting-edge research is being performed. This resource is particularly vital for underrepresented and minority students, especially those attending institutions that cannot provide on-site access to advanced technologies. Currently the RAIN network consists of ten sites across the United States and offers its services free of charge to make STEM education more accessible to the students that would otherwise not encounter these resources. Data shows that RAIN is effective at fostering a passion for the sciences when used in K-12 thru college curricula

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

MNT-CURN Seminar Series: Nanotechnology - The Future of Medicine?

This video is part of a series from the Micro Nano Technology Education Center's (MNT-EC) Micro Nano Technology Collaborative Undergraduate Research Network (MNT-CURN) Research Program. In this program, students gain hands-on research experience and build nanotechnology technical education skills. Throughout this video series, viewers "... will hear and see nanotechnology and microtechnology professors presenting about their own research and work -- from biosensors to underwater drones to nanomaterials." Each video covers a different specialty that students may want to learn about and pursue as an undergraduate research project.In the video, Jared Ashcroft, chemistry professor at Pasadena City College, discusses research on connecting nanomaterial to biomolecules for use in cancer therapy. Ashcroft introduces nanotechnology as a concept and talks about its uses in medicine, such as in COVID-19 vaccines and cancer treatment. Ashcroft goes into further detail on how nano drugs work, covering nanoparticle-bioconjugates, cell specific nano drug delivery, and more.The video runs 25:15 minutes in length. Additional videos from this series are available to view separately

Immunoconjugates of carbon nanostructures

For the first time, carbon nanostructures have been designed and synthesized to form immunoconjugates with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) for use in cell-targeted cancer diagnosis and therapy. The immunoconjugates are derived from various nanoscale carbon-based building blocks, specifically fullerenes (C60 ), gadofullerenes (M C60) and ultra-short carbon nanotubes (US-tubes). The exterior of each nanostructure has been derivatized with water-solubilizing addends using Bingel-type (nucleophilic cyclopropanation) addition chemistry to facilitate biocompatibility. Initially, conjugation to the murine anti-gp240 melanoma antibody (ZME-018 mAb) was completed with two different water-soluble C60 derivatives, only one of which had the potential to covalently attach to the ZME-018 mAb. After conjugation, this covalently linked C 60-SPDP conjugate incorporated 15 C60 moieties per antibody, while retaining 80% of the antibody's target specificity. In a second experiment a non-covalently linked C60-Ser conjugate incorporated 38 fullerenes per antibody but retained only 4% of the antibody's target specificity. These findings suggest that covalent attachment of C60 derivatives to antibodies may not be essential for the development of fullerene immunotherapy (FIT), although the ratio of C60: antibody may need to be minimized so as not to inhibit antibody targeting. To study the cell internalization characteristics of the fullerene immunoconjugates, two water-soluble Gd C60 derivatives, which allowed for Gd 3+ monitoring by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) at concentrations <10 ppb, have been utilized. These studies have provided evidence that the fullerene-based immunoconjugates retain the ability to effectively internalize into target cells, with approximately 20% of the available Gd 3+ internalizing into the A375m melanoma cells. These results suggest that immunoconjugates derived from C60-based chemotherapeutics may become new-targeted therapies against cancer. Of the carbon-based nanomaterials studied in this work, US-tubes are perhaps the most attractive candidates for nanomedicine platforms, due to the possibility of internally loading medically interesting materials, such as Gd3+ ions for magnetic imaging resonance (MRI) or iodine (I2) for computed tomography (CT). Toward this end, single-molecule US-tubes have been isolated by chemical reduction of the US-tubes, followed by immediate functionalization using Bingel chemistry to produce debundled and derivatized US-tube materials. Three different malonate addends have been attached to the US-tubes, including serinol, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and amide malonates. Each of the US-tube derivatives exhibited varying degrees of solubilities in water ranging from 0.25 mg/mL to 1.00 mg/mL. An n-octanol/water partition coefficient has also been determined for each derivative, with values ranging from 0.25 to 1.20, which suggest that these derivatized nanocapsules might readily internalize into cells. Loaded internally with medically-useful materials such as Gd3+ ions, I2 or radionuclides for imaging and therapeutic applications, these biocompatible carbon nanocapsules may be engineered into a universal platform for the containment and delivery of an array of medical agents in vivo

TiO2 Nanoparticles as a Soft X-ray Molecular Probe

With the emergence of soft x-ray techniques for imaging cells, there is a pressing need to develop protein localization probes that can be unambiguously identified within the region of x-ray spectrum used for imaging. TiO2 nanocrystal colloids, which have a strong absorption cross-section within the "water-window" region of x-rays, are ideally suited as soft x-ray microscopy probes. To demonstrate their efficacy, TiO2-streptavidin nanoconjugates were prepared and subsequently labeled microtubules polymerized from biotinylated tubulin. The microtubules were imaged using scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM), and the TiO2 nanoparticle tags were specifically identified using x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). These experiments demonstrate that TiO2 nanoparticles are potential probes for protein localization analyses using soft x-ray microscopy

Implementation of Asynchronous Educational Modules to Improve Student Understanding of Statistical Analysis in STEM Undergraduate Courses

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many undergraduate students have been given no other option but to take their classes remotely. This has provided many challenges for both students and instructors, especially in the STEM field due to the required laboratory coursework. For this reason, alternative methods of distance learning are needed to optimize student laboratory experiences. The sudden transition to a remote format and adjusting to a new learning environment has proven to be difficult for both students and faculty. It has also been established throughout the pandemic that students perform substantially worse in on-line coursework compared with traditional, in-person classes. Students in a general chemistry course were introduced to innovative asynchronous lab modules that could be performed at home with the additional opportunity of conducting statistical analysis tests. These modules utilize discussion boards, graphing assessments, and labs to teach students how to perform different statistical tests and to familiarize students with the DataClassroom, Google Sheets, and Microsoft Excel platforms. This asynchronous learning format will promote both overall student engagement in STEM courses and student understanding of statistical analysis, thus exhibiting the potential to implement these modules in future undergraduate STEM coursework

Contextualizing technology in the classroom via remote access: using space exploration themes and scanning electron microscopy as tools to promote engagement in multidisciplinary geology/chemistry experiments

A multidisciplinary science experiment was performed in K-12 classrooms focusing on the interconnection between technology with geology and chemistry. The engagement and passion for science of over eight hundred students across twenty-one classrooms, utilizing a combination of hands-on activities using relationships between Earth and space rock studies, followed by a remote access session wherein students remotely employed the use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to validate their findings was investigated. Participants represent predominantly low-income minority communities, with little exposure to the themes and equipment used, despite being freely available resources. Students indicated greatly increased interest in scientific practices and careers, as well as a better grasp of the content as a result of the lab and remote access coupling formatPeer Reviewe

Contextualizing technology in the classroom via remote access: Using space exploration themes and scanning electron microscopy as tools to promote engagement in multidisciplinary geology/chemistry experiments

A multidisciplinary science experiment was performed in K-12 classrooms focusing on the interconnection of technology with geology and chemistry. The engagement and passion for science of over eight hundred students across twenty-one classrooms, utilizing a combination of hands-on activities to study the relationships between Earth and space rock studies, followed by a remote access session wherein students remotely employed the use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to validate their findings was investigated. Participants were from predominantly low-income minority communities, with little exposure to the themes and equipment used, despite being freely available resources.  Students indicated greatly increased interest in scientific practices and careers, as well as a better grasp of the content as a result of the lab and remote access coupling format.