MUTLIBLOT™: Western Blotting Device For Simultaneous Detection Of Several Proteins Species From A Single Electrophoretic Gel

poster abstractWestern blotting is a popular technique for examining expression levels of proteins using gel-based electrophoretic fractionation followed by blotting and antibody reactions. Since most analyses require the detection of multiple protein species, we developed an easy to use device that enables simultaneous detection of several proteins species from a single electrophoretic gel. The Western blotting procedure includes three critical steps: electrophoretic fractionation, blotting to a membrane, and antibody reactions. Although it has been well established for over 30 years, the procedure remains highly labor-and-resource intensive, using various chemical agents and solutions. Our device aims to dramatically improve the second of the three steps (blotting to a membrane). The device contributes to reduction in procedural time and sample amounts, as well as a removal of variations among multiple gels. The technique is so prominent that improving the cost and efficiency of such a widely used technique could have a significant impact on the time and costs of many projects, and such a project could prove to be an astute investment by the institute. A US patent for the technology is pending

Infrared Reflectivity of Pedestrian Mannequin for Autonomous Emergency Braking Testing

In order to be able to evaluate the performances of different Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems for pedestrian crash avoidance and mitigation, a standard surrogate pedestrian mannequin needs to be developed. One of the requirements for pedestrian mannequin is to ensure it “looks” like a real representative pedestrian to each of the sensor modalities used in AEB systems. The purpose of this paper is to generate the recommended IR reflectance specifications for the standard surrogate pedestrian mannequin based on the collected data from various sources and the experiment

Western Multi-blotting Device - Improve the Productivity of Protein Transfer

poster abstractDr. Stanley Chien from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Dr. Hiroki Yokota from Department of Biomedical Engineering jointly formed an interdisciplinary research team for the development of new devices to improve the productivity in Biology lab experiments. Western blotting is a common procedure in many biomedical laboratories. The team has developed a novel Western blotting device that can significantly reduce the time and cost for protein transfer experiments. Specifically, it enables the transferring of proteins of various sizes simultaneously to five blotting membranes from a single gel. The other advantage of the device is the resulting membranes are not affected by the variations among gels. A US patent is pending and a company has been formed to attract funding for the commercialization of the device. A spin-off company, YCBioelectric LLC., was created with the support of IURTC for commercialization of the Western Multi-blotting device. A $300,000 NIH STTR phase I grant has been received to further develop the devi

Alternate Interchange Signing Study For Indiana Highways

Alternate Interchange Signing Study for Indiana Highways—This presentation focuses on understand signing issues from the perspective of the driver and developing recommendations for improved design of interchange signing in Indiana. An online survey with specific questions was designed and distributed to better understand driver thinking at decision-making areas on the interstate. Although the number of valid survey responses was not as high as we initially expected, it did cover all major Indiana cities and returned useful and actionable information for INDOT

Analysis of Potential Co-Benefits for Bicyclist Crash Imminent Braking Systems

In the US, the number of traffic fatalities has had a long term downward trend as a result of advances in the crash worthiness of vehicles. However, these improvements in crash worthiness do little to protect other vulnerable road users such as pedestrians or bicyclists. Several manufacturers have developed a new generation of crash avoidance systems that attempt to recognize and mitigate imminent crashes with non-motorists. While the focus of these systems has been on pedestrians where they can make meaningful contributions to improved safety [1], recent designs of these systems have recognized mitigating bicyclist crashes as a potential co-benefit. This paper evaluates the performance of one system that is currently available for consumer purchase. Because the vehicle manufacturer does not claim effectiveness for their system under all crash geometries, we focus our attention on the crash scenario that has the highest social cost in the US: the cyclist and vehicle on parallel paths being struck from behind. Our analysis of co benefits examines the ability to reduce three measures: number of crashes, fatalities, and a comprehensive measure for social cost that incorporates morbidity and mortality. Test track simulations under realistic circumstances with a realistic surrogate bicyclist target are conducted. Empirical models are developed for system performance and potential benefits for injury and fatality reduction. These models identify three key variables in the analysis: vehicle speed, cyclist speed and cyclist age as key determinants of potential co-benefits. We find that the evaluated system offers only limited benefits for any but the oldest bicycle riders for our tested scenario

Obtain a Simulation Model of a Pedestrian Collision Imminent Braking System Based on the Vehicle Testing Data

Forward pedestrian collision imminent braking (CIB) systems has proven to be of great significance in improving road safety and protecting pedestrians. Since pedestrian CIB technology is not mature, the performance of different pedestrian CIB systems varies significantly. Therefore the simulation of a CIB system needs to be vehicle specific. The CIB simulation can be based on the component sensor parameters and decision making rules. Since these parameters and decision rules for on the market vehicles are not available outside of vehicle manufactures, it is difficult for the general research communities to develop a good CIB simulation model based on this approach. To solve this problem, this study presents a new method for developing a pedestrian CIB simulation model using pedestrian CIB testing data. The implementation was in PreScan. The simulation results demonstrate that a pedestrian CIB simulation model developed using this methodology could reflect the behavior of a real vehicle equipped with pedestrian CIB system

Performance Measurement of Vehicle Crash Imminent Braking Systems

poster abstractAs active safety systems have been introduced to passenger vehicles, there is an immediate need to develop a standardized testing protocol and scoring mechanism which enables an objective comparison between the performance of active safety systems implemented across various vehicle platforms. This project proposes a methodology for the establishment of such standards to evaluate and compare the performance of Crash Imminent Braking (CIB) systems. The proposed scoring mechanism is implemented based on track testing data in the evaluation of a 2011 model year passenger vehicle equipped with a CIB system

Development of an Artificial Finger-Like Knee Loading Device to Promote Bone Health

This study presents the development of an innovative artificial finger-like device that provides position specific mechanical loads at the end of the long bone and induces mechanotransduction in bone. Bone cells such as osteoblasts are the mechanosensitive cells that regulate bone remodelling. When they receive gentle, periodic mechanical loads, new bone formation is promoted. The proposed device is an under-actuated multi-fingered artificial hand with 4 fingers, each having two phalanges. These fingers are connected by mechanical linkages and operated by a worm gearing mechanism. With the help of 3D printing technology, a prototype device was built mostly using plastic materials. The experimental validation results show that the device is capable of generating necessary forces at the desired frequencies, which are suitable for the stimulation of bone cells and the promotion of bone formation. It is recommended that the device be tested in a clinical study for confirming its safety and efficacy with patients

A Novel Western Multi-blotting Device

poster abstractBlotting is a common technique widely used for molecular analysis in life sciences. The Western blot, in particular, is a process of transferring protein samples from a polyacrylamide gel to a blotting membrane and detecting the levels of specific proteins through reactions with primary and secondary antibodies. The state-of-the-art of Western blotting usually generates one blotting membrane per gel. However, multiple copies of blots are useful in many applications. Two blotting copies from a single protein gel, for instance, can be used for identifying a total amount of proteins of interest as well as its specific subpopulation level such as a phosphorylated isoform. To achieve this multi-blotting operation from a single gel, we modified a blotting procedure and developed a novel blotting device. The device consisted of a multi-anode plate and a microcontroller. It was designed to generate a well-controlled electrophoretic voltage profile, which allowed a quasi-uniform transfer of proteins of any size. The prototype device was built and its operation procedure was described. The experimental results clearly supported the notion that the described device was able to achieve 5 blotting from a single gel and reduce time and cost for protein analysis

Development of Automated Incident Detection System Using Existing ATMS CCTV

Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has over 300 digital cameras along highways in populated areas in Indiana. These cameras are used to monitor traffic conditions around the clock, all year round. Currently, the videos from these cameras are observed by human operators. The main objective of this research is to develop an automatic real-time system to monitor traffic conditions using the INDOT CCTV video feeds by a collaborative research team of the Transportation Active Safety Institute (TASI) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Traffic Management Center (TMC) of INDOT. In this project, the research team developed the system architecture based on a detailed system requirement analysis. The first prototype of major system components of the system has been implemented. Specifically, the team has successfully accomplished the following: An AI based deep learning algorithm provided in YOLO3 is selected for vehicle detection which generates the best results for daytime videos. The tracking information of moving vehicles is used to derive the locations of roads and lanes. A database is designed as the center place to gather and distribute the information generated from all camera videos. The database provides all information for the traffic incident detection. A web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed. The automatic traffic incident detection will be implemented after the traffic flow information being derived accurately. The research team is currently in the process of integrating the prototypes of all components of the system together to establish a complete system prototype