Nano-chip for cancer diagnostics

Exosomes are vesicles with a size range of 30 to 50nm, which are secreted by a cell into its surroundings..

Nano-chip for cancer diagnostics

Exosomes are vesicles with a size range of 30 to 50 nm, which are secreted by a cell into its surroundings. They are currently investigated as possible biomarkers for teh detection of early stage cancer, infections or autoimmune siseases. To identify which exosomes could contain viable markers, they have been isolated form body fluids such as blood, urine, or salive and have subsequently undergone screening procedures Exosome isolation has, so far, been performed by ultra-centrifugation, a time-consuming prcedure that requaires large volumes of the fluid sample

Medical applications based on nanotechnology

Poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid can form nanoparticles which can be applied in nanomedicine as delivery vehicle for therapeutic agents. Here the aim is to reduce negative side-effects and to obtain higher local concentrations at the site of action. This work is about determining the binding-capacity of PLGA nanoparticles to several substances, applying a small set of model proteins. Our aim was to find out, whether PLGA nanoparticles can transport drugs in order to make drug targeting in medicine easier. This would show us a new section of medicine with new ways of therapy methods

Use of micro tensile test samples in determining the remnant life of pressure vessel steels

The aim of this collaborative study was to measure mechanical properties of 14MoV67-3 steel taken from small sections of material machined in-situ from an operating high pressure collector pipe after different operating lifetimes (from 0h to 186 000h) at elevated temperatures (540°C). Conventional methods of measuring mechanical properties of materials, such as the uniaxial tensile test require relatively large test samples. This can create difficulties when the amount of material available for testing is limited. One way of measuring mechanical properties from small quantities of material is using micro tensile test samples. In this work, micro-samples with a total length of 7.22mm were used. Digital Image Correlation method (DIC) was employed for the strain measurements in a uniaxial tensile test. This paper shows that there is measurable difference in the yield, ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure as a function of the plant operating conditions. This work demonstrates, therefore, a ‘semi-invasive’ method of determining uniaxial stress-strain behaviour from plant components