A new cancer treatment being studied at a few major centers including UW Health is CAR T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell) therapy. CAR T therapy uses a patient's own cells and 'reengineers&#...
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The importance of T cells in immunotherapy is driving the development of technologies to better characterize T cells and improve therapeutic efficacy. One specific objective is assessing antigen-induc...
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Optical phase tuning is highly desired in many precision and imaging tools used by industry, in medicine and in biological research. Various optical phase shifters (OPS) and methods exist, each with c...
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Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are made of layered semiconductor materials. The structures’ cores are composed of tens of stages, each of which consists of three regions: an electron injector, an act...
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Bacterial contamination is a major risk in biologics manufacturing and the presence of endotoxin, an outer membrane component of Gram-negative bacteria, is vigorously tested for in protein and DNA/RNA...
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Mass spectrometry is a broadly applicable analysis tool for detecting and characterizing molecules and other chemical species, including complex mixtures of biomolecules such as peptides, proteins or ...
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Extraction and isolation of nucleic acids from biological samples is an essential prerequisite for further amplification, detection and quantification of specific genetic sequences. The first step in ...
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are found in common household and industrial products. These toxic and/or carcinogenic compounds such as toluene, benzene and styrene are difficult to detect and pers...
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The three-dimensional structure of proteins can be studied in solution using various methods of covalent and noncovalent labeling in which the readout is accomplished by mass spectrometry (MS). These ...
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Mass spectrometry is a highly selective and quantitative technique that is widely used to determine the chemical composition of a sample. Applications of this analytical tool include measuring isotope...
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Semiconductor nanowire lasers are promising building blocks in state-of-the-art photonic and optoelectronic devices due to their advantageous properties – including ultracompact size, efficient wave...
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An optical resonator is an arrangement of optical components that allows a beam of light to circulate in a closed path. Nanoresonators are a type of optical resonator that can effectively concentrate ...
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A Fresnel lens or ‘zone plate’ is a type of compact lens made of concentric rings that alternate between opaque and transparent materials. The design is lighter and smaller than conventional lense...
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Regenerative medicine requires a practical, high throughput method of assessing the cellular components of multicellular entities before transplantation. Such a method would have many clinical and res...
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Label-free sensing methods could enable detection and characterization of chemical species at the single molecule level without the aid of probes or modifications to the target of interest. Such capab...
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Cellular ecology is a major factor in processes like cell signaling and transport as well as in the development and progression of systemic diseases like cancer. In situ, in vitro studies are becoming...
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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to generate copies of a particular DNA sequence. The technique is common and indispensable in many research applications. Unfortunately, methods for isolating/p...
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Many laser applications require multiple, simultaneous laser beams, each with a specific wavelength. But using multiple lasers and associated optical components increases the cost and size of the syst...
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Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells shed from tumor deposits that flow into the bloodstream. They are detected at a frequency of about one CTC per one billion surrounding blood cells. The great h...
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Mass spectrometers are analytical instruments that can precisely measure the mass of molecules to determine their composition and identity. Generally, the molecules are ionized and then accelerated by...
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In the past decade, cataloguing the thousands of proteins present in a cell using mass spectrometry (MS) has matured into a procedure both deeply vital and straightforward. Yet discovering how such mo...
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Single molecule spectroscopy and microscopy – a popular tool for biological, biophysical and chemical characterization – generally requires the use of fluorescent molecules. Researchers at UW–M...
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Studying molecular properties in complex chemical and biological samples, including live cells, requires sufficient spatial resolution and contrast between different substructures. To achieve enhanced...
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Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor lasers that provide light in the mid- and far-infrared wavelength ranges. They are designed so that the generated light is transverse-magnetic (TM) pola...
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Atomically sharp micro-fabricated tips are used in atomic force microscopy (AFM) for scanning near-field microwave microscopy (SNMM) to create an image of the tiny topography on or under a surface. Th...
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