Plasmon-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: Towards hyperuniform ultrasensitive enhancement through hyperuniform disorder

We are developing a polymer-silver nanocomposite self-assembling-based protocol for fabricating surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for versatile applications. The substrate is based on a silver-made fractal nanotexture produced by the long-range self-assembling of Ag-loaded block-copolymer micelles. We removed the nano-packing limitation imposed by the copolymer shell, achieving a condition close to the so-called hyperuniform structural disorder. Despite the large enhancement factor, estimated up to 109, the SERS response shows an ultrahigh spatial uniformity with a relative standard deviation in the range 0.9% - 5.6%, as measured from raster scans covering a total area of 1 cm2, that is from an active surface orders of magnitude larger than the typical nanofeature size and produced by an innovative low-cost and immediate deposition. The SERS-active coating allows large-scale spectroscopic scanning as required for real biological applications, still having, as experimentally evidenced, single-molecule sensitivity. © 2014 IEEE

Stiffness characterization of biological tissues by means of MEMS-technology based micro grippers under position control

This paper presents a method for detecting the mechanical stiffness of micro-metric biological tissues by means of compliance tests performed with a MEMS-Technology based microgripper. Thanks to an actuating rotary comb drive working in cooperation with another sensing rotary comb drive, the system is able to recognize the tissue sample stiffness. Such characterization is possible thanks to a proper control system that is applied to the whole mechanical structure

Gender and innovation in STE(A)M education

Gender aspects continue to play an important role in science education, conditioning study choices or shaping beliefs about one's own capacities and those of others. Performing arts based initiatives are on the forefront of innovative science education approaches and have participatory, dialogic and dialectic qualities to engage students in democratic, inclusive and reflective ways of learning. Both these dimensions can be brought together in order to explore how arts-based science education can contribute to address gender bias and stereotypes in educational and team-collaborative settings