Autonomous Sensors: Existing and Prospective Applications

Diseases & disorder

Chapter Autonomous Sensors: Existing and Prospective Applications

Diseases & disorder

Communication and Sensing Circuits on Cellulose

This paper proposes a review of several circuits for communication and wireless sensing applications implemented on cellulose-based materials. These circuits have been developed during the last years exploiting the adhesive copper laminate method. Such a technique relies on a copper adhesive tape that is shaped by a photo-lithographic process and then transferred to the hosting substrate (i.e., paper) by means of a sacrificial layer. The presented circuits span from UHF oscillators to a mixer working at 24 GHz and constitute an almost complete set of building blocks that can be applied to a huge variety communication apparatuses. Each circuit is validated experimentally showing performance comparable with the state-of-the-art. This paper demonstrates that circuits on cellulose are capable of operating at record frequencies and that ultra- low cost, green i.e., recyclable and biodegradable) materials can be a viable solution to realize high frequency hardware for the upcoming Internet of Things (IoT) era

A 24-GHz Front-End Integrated on a Multilayer Cellulose-Based Substrate for Doppler Radar Sensors

This paper presents a miniaturized Doppler radar that can be used as a motion sensor for low-cost Internet of things (IoT) applications. For the first time, a radar front-end and its antenna are integrated on a multilayer cellulose-based substrate, built-up by alternating paper, glue and metal layers. The circuit exploits a distributed microstrip structure that is realized using a copper adhesive laminate, so as to obtain a low-loss conductor. The radar operates at 24 GHz and transmits 5 mW of power. The antenna has a gain of 7.4 dBi and features a half power beam-width of 48 degrees. The sensor, that is just the size of a stamp, is able to detect the movement of a walking person up to 10 m in distance, while a minimum speed of 50 mm/s up to 3 m is clearly measured. Beyond this specific result, the present paper demonstrates that the attractive features of cellulose, including ultra-low cost and eco-friendliness (i.e., recyclability and biodegradability), can even be exploited for the realization of future high-frequency hardware. This opens opens the door to the implementation on cellulose of devices and systems which make up the “sensing layer” at the base of the IoT ecosystem

Resetting cancer stem cell regulatory nodes upon MYC inhibition.

MYC deregulation is common in human cancer and has a role in sustaining the aggressive cancer stem cell populations. MYC mediates a broad transcriptional response controlling normal biological programmes, but its activity is not clearly understood. We address MYC function in cancer stem cells through the inducible expression of Omomyc-a MYC-derived polypeptide interfering with MYC activity-taking as model the most lethal brain tumour, glioblastoma. Omomyc bridles the key cancer stemlike cell features and affects the tumour microenvironment, inhibiting angiogenesis. This occurs because Omomyc interferes with proper MYC localization and itself associates with the genome, with a preference for sites occupied by MYC This is accompanied by selective repression of master transcription factors for glioblastoma stemlike cell identity such as OLIG2, POU3F2, SOX2, upregulation of effectors of tumour suppression and differentiation such as ID4, MIAT, PTEN, and modulation of the expression of microRNAs that target molecules implicated in glioblastoma growth and invasion such as EGFR and ZEB1. Data support a novel view of MYC as a network stabilizer that strengthens the regulatory nodes of gene expression networks controlling cell phenotype and highlight Omomyc as model molecule for targeting cancer stem cells