More Like this

1. Developing Bioactive-Nanograined Metals With Bacterial Biofilm Inhibition Properties For Orthopedic Devices

   Kelkar, Shaunak ; Saleh, Bahram ; Yusa, Fumie ; Suzuki, Yohei ; Komatsu, Takafumi ; Webster, Thomas ( January 2021 , Orthopaedic Research Society)

   INTRODUCTION: Orthopedic implants are important therapeutic devices for the management of a wide range of orthopedic conditions. However, bacterial infections of orthopedic implants remain a major problem, and not an uncommon one, leading to an increased rate of osteomyelitis, sepsis, implant failure and dysfunction, etc. Treating these infections is more challenging as the causative organism protects itself by the production of a biofilm over the implant’s surface (1). Infections start by the adhesion and colonization of pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Multi-Drug Resistant Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli) on the implant’s surfaces. Specifically, Staphylococcus comprises up to two-thirds of all pathogens involved in orthopedic implant infections (2). However, bacterial surface adhesion is a complex process influenced by several factors such as chemical composition, hydrophobicity, magnetization, surface charge, and surface roughness of the implant (3). Considering the intimate association between bacteria and the implant surface, we measured the effect of stainless-steel surface properties on bacterial surface attachment and subsequent formation of biofilms controlling above mentioned factors. METHODS: The prominent bacteria responsible for orthopedic implant infections (SA, SE, E. coli, MRSA, and MDR E. coli) were used inmore »this study. We were able to control the grain size of medical grade 304 and 316L stainless steel without altering their chemical composition (grain size range= 20μm-200nm) (4). Grain size control affected the nano-topography of the material surfaces which was measured by an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Grain sizes, such as 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 9, and 10 μm, were used both polished and non-polished. All the stainless-steel samples were cleaned by treating with acetone and ethanol under sonication. Triplicates of all polished and non-polished samples with different grain sizes were subjected to magnetization of DM, 0.1T, 0.5T, and 1T, before seeding them with the bacteria. Controls were used in the form of untreated samples. Bacterial were grown in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB). An actively growing bacterial suspension was seeded onto the stainless-steel discs into 24-well micro-titer plates and kept for incubation. After 24 hours of incubation, the stainless-steel discs were washed with Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) to remove the plankton bacteria and allow the sessile bacteria in the biofilm to remain. The degree of development of the bacterial biofilms on the stainless-steel discs were measured using spectrophotometric analysis. For this, the bacterial biofilm was removed from the stainless steel by sonication. The formation of biofilms was also determined by performing a biofilm staining method using Safranin. RESULTS SECTION: AFM results revealed a slight decrease in roughness by decreasing the grain size of the material. Moreover, the samples were segregated into two categories of polished and non-polished samples, in which polishing decreased roughness significantly. After careful analysis we found out that polished surfaces showed a higher degree for biofilm formation in comparison to the non-polished ones. We also observed that bacteria showed a higher rate for biofilm formation for the demagnetized samples, whereas 0.5T magnetization showed the least amount of biofilm formation. After 0.5T, there was no significant change in the rate of biofilm formation on the stainless-steel samples. Altogether, stainless steel samples containing 0.5 μm and less grainsize, and magnetized with 0.5 tesla and stronger magnets demonstrated the least degree of biofilm formation. DISCUSSION: In summary, the results demonstrate that controlling the grain size of medical grade stainless steel can control and mitigate bacterial responses on, and thus possibly infections of, orthopedic implants or other implantable devices. The research was funded by Komatsuseiki Kosakusho Co., Ltd (KSJ: Japan) SIGNIFICANCE/CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Orthopedic implants that more than 70% of them are made of metals (i.e., stainless steel, titanium, and cobalt-chromium alloys) are failing through loosening and breakage due to their limited mechanical properties. On the other hand, the risk of infection for these implants and its financial burden on our society is undeniable. We have seen that our uniformly nanograined stainless steel shows improved mechanical properties (i.e., higher stiffness, hardness, fatigue) as compared to conventional stainless steel along with the reduction of biofilm formation on its surface. These promising results made us to peruse the development of nanograined titanium and cobalt-chromium alloys for resolving the complications of orthopedic implants.« less
2. NanoSUS (Ultra Fine Grained Stainless-Steel) for Orthopedic Implants

   Bahram Saleh, Ada Vernet-Crua ( February 2021 , Orthopaedic Research Society)

   Statement of Purpose: Orthopedic implants are important therapeutic devices for the management of a wide range of orthopedic conditions. However, bacterial infections of orthopedic implants remain a major problem, and not an uncommon one, leading to an increased rate of osteomyelitis, sepsis, implant failure and dysfunction, etc. Treating these infections is more challenging as the causative organism protects itself by the production of a biofilm over the implant’s surface (1). Infections start by the adhesion and colonization of pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (SA), Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Multi-Drug Resistant Escherichia coli (MDR E. coli) on the implant’s surfaces. Specifically, Staphylococcus comprises up to two-thirds of all pathogens involved in orthopedic implant infections (2). However, bacterial surface adhesion is a complex process influenced by several factors such as chemical composition, hydrophobicity, magnetization, surface charge, and surface roughness of the implant (3). Considering the intimate association between bacteria and the implant surface, we measured the effect of stainless-steel surface properties on bacterial surface attachment and subsequent formation of biofilms controlling above mentioned factors. Method: The prominent bacteria responsible for orthopedic implant infections (SA, SE, E. coli, MRSA, and MDR E. coli) weremore »used in this study. We were able to control the grain size of medical grade 304 and 316L stainless steel without altering their chemical composition (grain size range= 20μm-200nm) (4). Grain size control affected the nano-topography of the material surfaces which was measured by an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Grain sizes, such as 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 9, and 10 μm, were used both polished and non-polished. All the stainless-steel samples were cleaned by treating with acetone and ethanol under sonication. Triplicates of all polished and non-polished samples with different grain sizes were subjected to magnetization of DM, 0.1T, 0.5T, and 1T, before seeding them with the bacteria. Controls were used in the form of untreated samples. Bacterial were grown in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB). An actively growing bacterial suspension was seeded onto the stainless-steel discs into 24-well micro-titer plates and kept for incubation. After 24 hours of incubation, the stainless-steel discs were washed with Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) to remove the plankton bacteria and allow the sessile bacteria in the biofilm to remain. The degree of development of the bacterial biofilms on the stainless-steel discs were measured using spectrophotometric analysis. For this, the bacterial biofilm was removed from the stainless steel by sonication. The formation of biofilms was also determined by performing a biofilm staining method using Safranin. Results: AFM results revealed a slight decrease in roughness by decreasing the grain size of the material. Moreover, the samples were segregated into two categories of polished and non-polished samples, in which polishing decreased roughness significantly. After careful analysis we found out that polished surfaces showed a higher degree for biofilm formation in comparison to the non-polished ones. We also observed that bacteria showed a higher rate for biofilm formation for the demagnetized samples, whereas 0.5T magnetization showed the least amount of biofilm formation. After 0.5T, there was no significant change in the rate of biofilm formation on the stainless-steel samples. Altogether, stainless steel samples containing 0.5 μm and less grainsize, and magnetized with 0.5 tesla and stronger magnets demonstrated the least degree of biofilm formation. Conclusion: In summary, the results demonstrate that controlling the grain size of medical grade stainless steel can control and mitigate bacterial responses on, and thus possibly infections of, orthopedic implants or other implantable devices. The research was funded by Komatsuseiki Kosakusho Co., Ltd (KSJ: Japan)« less
3. PRECISE 3D STRUCTURING OF POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES USING TRIAXIAL MAGNETIC FIELDS

   Atescan, Yagmur ; Yamamoto, Namiko. ( January 2019 , Composites)

   Polymer nanocomposites have been sought after for their light weight, high performance (strength-to-mass ratio, renewability, etc.), and multi-functionality (actuation, sensing, protection against lightning strikes, etc.). Nano-/micro-engineering has achieved such advanced properties by controlling crystallinity, phases, and interfaces/interphases; hierarchical structuring, often bio-inspired, has been also implemented. While driven by the advanced properties of nanofillers, properties of polymer nanocomposites are critically affected by their structuring and interfaces/interphases due to their small size (< ~50 nm) and large surface area per volume. Measures of their property improvement by nanofiller addition are often smaller than theoretically predicted. Currently, application of these novel engineered materials is limited because these materials cannot often be made in large sizes without compromising nano-scale organization, and because their multi-scale structure-property relationships are not well understood. In this work, we study precise and fast nanofiller structuring with non-contact and energy-efficient application of oscillating magnetic fields. Magnetic assembly is a promising, scalable method to deliver bulk amount of nanocomposites while maintaining organized nanofiller structure throughout the composite volume. In the past, we have demonstrated controlled alignment of nanofillers with tunable inter-assembly distances with application of oscillating one-dimentional magnetic fields (~100s of G), by taking advantage of both magnetic attraction and repulsion.more »The low oscillation frequency (< 1 Hz) was tuned to achieve maghemite nanofiller alignment patterns, in an epoxy matrix, with different amount of inter-nanofiller contacts with the same nanofiller volume fraction (see Figure 1a). This work was recently expanded to three-dimensional assembly using a triaxial Helmholtz coil system (see Figure 1b); the system can apply the triaxial magnetic fields of varying magnitude (max. ±300G, ±250G, ±180G (x-y-z)) and frequency (0 to 1 Hz, ~0.1 Hz resolution) with controlled phase delay to the sample size of 1.5” x 2.5” x 3.5”(x-y-z). Two model systems are currently studied: maghemite nanofillers in an elastomer for magnetoactuation, and nickel-coated CNTs in an thermoset for mehcniacl and transport property reinforcement. The assembled nanofiller structures are currently characterized by microCT; microCT scan data (see Figure 1b) are segmented through a machine learning algorithm, and will be modeled for their transport properties using a Monte Carlo method. These estimated properties will be compared with the experimentally characterized mechanical, transport, and actuation properties, providing the structure-interphase-property relationships. In future, we plan to integrate these nanocomposites to CFRPs for interlaminar property reinforcement, possibly with an out-of-autoclave composite processing.« less
4. Photonic crystal cavities with germanium vacancy color centers in diamond (Conference Presentation)

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2507722  

   Akimov, Alexey Alajlan ( March 2019 , Proc. SPIE)

   Development of quantum information processing requires realization of solid state structures able to manipulate light or matter quantum bits. One of the promising candidates for been active elements of such solid-state platform are color centers in diamond. The most famous nitrogen-vacancy color center has number of attractive features and found a lot of applications in sensing and imaging. Still, it has number of considerable disadvantages, among which it sensitivity to the surface damages and thus its incompatibility with nanostructures. On another side implementation of nano- and micro- structures enabled considerable progress in manipulation of light quanta. In particular photonic crystal cavities allowed to realize strong coupling of cavity and spin system. This led to demonstration of efficient light collection and realization of simple quantum gates with artificial or real atoms. Novel color centers such as silicon-vacancy or germanium-vacancy color center due to inversion symmetry of the electron structure are not sensitive to the surface damages and presence of surface nearby. Thus, those are perfect candidates for been combined with photonic crystal structures. Novel technologies enabled growing of the nanodiamonds of ultra-small size having well-defined color center inside. Along with techniques to position those precisely on the nano- and micro structuresmore »these achievements opened opportunity to integrate high-fines photonic-crystal cavities with the germanium-vacancy containing nanocrystals thus forming fully solid-state platform for quantum manipulation of light. In my talk I will describe our progress towards realization of this ambitious goal« less
5. Modeling analysis of the growth of a cubic crystal in a finite space

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cp00260d  

   Yang, Fuqian ( April 2022 , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   The applications of semiconductor nanocrystals in optoelectronics are based on the unique characteristic of quantum confinement. There is great interest to tailor the performance of optoelectronic nanodevices and systems through the control of the sizes of nanocrystals. In this work, we develop a general mathematical formulation for the growth of a crystal/particle in a liquid solution, which takes account of the combinational effect of diffusion-limited growth and reaction-limited growth, and formulate the growth equations for the size of a cubic crystal grown under three different scenarios – isothermal and isochoric conditions, isothermal growth with the evaporation and/or extraction of the solvent and isochoric growth with continuous change in temperature. For the growth of a cubic crystal under isothermal and isochoric conditions, there are three growth stages – linear growth, nonlinear growth and plateau, and the growth rate in the stage of linear growth and the final size of the cubic crystal are dependent on the degree of supersaturation. For the growth of multi-crystals with a Gaussian distribution of crystal sizes, the change of the monomer concentration in a liquid solution is dependent on the change rates of average size and the standard deviation of the crystal sizes.