Medical Design Briefs - November 2021 - 32

tinuous lengths. " No matter where you
measure them, they have the same very
high electrical conductivity, " she says.
" The piece I measured was small only
because my setup isn't capable of measuring
50 m of fiber. "
Pasquali is director of the Carbon Hub,
which promotes expanding the development
of carbon materials and hydrogen
in a way that also fundamentally changes
how the world uses fossil hydrocarbons.
" Carbon nanotube fibers have been
on a steady growth path and are proving
advantageous in more and more applications, "
he says. " Rather than wasting carbon
by burning it into carbon dioxide,
we can fix it as useful materials that have
further environmental benefits in electricity
generation and transportation. "
Whether the new research leads to a
solar panel you can throw in the washing
machine remains to be seen, but Kono
agreed the technology has great and varied
potential.
" Nanotubes have been around for 30
years, and scientifically, a lot is known, "
he says. " But in order to make real-world
devices, we need macroscopically or -
dered or crystalline assemblies. Those
are the types of nanotube samples that
Matteo's group and my group can make,
and there are many, many possibilities
for applications. "
Co-authors of the paper are Rice graduate
students Oliver Dewey, Lauren Taylor,
and Mitchell Trafford; Geoff Wehmeyer,
an assistant professor of mechanical engineering;
and Yota Ichinose, Prof. Yohei
Yomogida, and Prof. Kazuhiro Yanagi of
Tokyo Metropolitan University.
Kono is the Karl F. Hasselmann Pro -
fessor in Engineering and a professor of
electrical and computer engineering, of
physics and astronomy, and of materials
science and nanoengineering. Pasquali is
the A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical
and Biomolecular Engineering and a professor
of chemistry and of materials science
and nanoengineering.
Rice University graduate student Natsumi Komatsu holds a spool of thread-like carbon nanotube
fiber, the basis of a project that uses the nanomaterials to make flexible thermoelectric generators.
(Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
The Department of Energy Basic
Energy Science program, the National
Science Foundation, the Robert A.
Welch Foundation, the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Science, the U.S. Air
Force, and the Department of Defense
supported the research.
This article was written by Mike Williams,
Senior Media Relations Specialist, Rice
University, Houston, TX. A video of the technology
is available at https://youtu.be/
YcJeJefb74s. For more information, visit
https://news.rice.edu.
Antimicrobial Coating for Orthopedic Implants Prevents
Dangerous Infections
The coating is
customizable to individuals
and requires less than 10
minutes to prepare
and use.
Duke University
Durham, NC
Biomedical engineers and surgeons
at Duke University and UCLA have
demonstrated an antibiotic coating
that can be applied to orthopedic
implants minutes before surgery that
32
Cov
eliminates the chances of an infection
around the implant.
In early trials in mice, the coating prevented
all subsequent infections, even
without infusions of antibiotics into the
bloodstream, which is the current standard
of care. After 20 days, the coating
did not reduce the bone's ability to fuse
with the implant and was completely
absorbed by the body. The results appear
in the journal Nature Communications.1
The project began when Tatiana
Segura, professor of biomedical engineering
at Duke, met Nicholas Bernthal, interim
chair and executive medical director at
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
ToC
the David Geffen School of Medicine at
UCLA, who specializes in pediatric orthopedic
oncology and surgery. He told
Segura that many children being treated
for bone cancer have large portions of
bone removed, which then requires
orthopedic implants. But because the
patients are usually also undergoing
chemotherapy, their immune systems
are weak, and they are especially vulnerable
to bacteria colonizing the surface of
the implant.
" These kids face the choice of having
chemotherapy versus saving their limb
or even sometimes needing amputaMedical
Design Briefs, November 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJeJefb74s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJeJefb74s https://news.rice.edu http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com

Medical Design Briefs - November 2021

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