Effect of Serum and Cellular Proteins on Hybrid Vector Transduction Efficiency

Our study involved formation of hybrid vector complex from viral and synthetic parts and studying the effect of presence of proteins on transduction of the hybrid vector. We separated proteins from virus-like particles and formed complexes to study their transduction. We added proteins to our viral part and formed complexes and studied the transduction efficiency of the hybrid vector. Our experiments showed that removal of proteins decreased the transduction efficiency of the hybrid vector. We also observed changes in the morphology of complex formed from purified VLPs and PEI compared to that formed from unpurified VLPs and PEI. We concluded that proteins have an impact on hybrid vector complex formation and transduction efficiency. Removal of proteins decreased the transduction efficiency of the hybrid vector and changes the morphology of the hybrid vector.School of Chemical Engineerin

3D printable solid tissue-mimicking material for microwave phantoms

Phantoms provide valuable platforms for testing of medical devices including microwave diagnostic systems. This work describes a 3D printable solid tissue-mimicking material (TMM) for the production of such phantoms. The TMM is fabricated from ABS, SEBS and Carbon Black. The polymers ABS and SEBS produce a material that is 3D printable, robust and mechanically stable. Adjustment of the percentage of Carbon Black in a mixture alters the dielectric properties of the mixture. A variety of such mixtures were fabricated into 3D printable spools and the dielectric properties were measured across the 0.5 8.5 GHz band. The dielectric properties of a wide biological range are covered with the ability to emulate tissues within the range. The material hence can be used to print anatomically realistic and dielectrically accurate phantoms that can be multi- layered and as complex as desired depending on the study.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme/ ERC Grant Agreement BioElecPro n.637780, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) grant number 15/ERCS/3276, and the Hardiman Research Scholarship from NUIG.non-peer-reviewe