Neural prosthetic device can help humans restore memory

Study highlights a promising avenue for cognitive enhancement technologies

ATRIUM HEALTH WAKE FOREST BAPTIST

 

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DURING THE STUDY, THE RESEARCH TEAM DELIVERED NEUROSTIMULATION TO STUDY PARTICIPANTS DURING VISUAL RECOGNITION MEMORY TASKS. THEY FOUND SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN HOW WELL PEOPLE REMEMBERED IMAGES. IN ABOUT 22% OF CASES, THERE WAS A NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE. WHEN THE STIMULATION WAS GIVEN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN, ALMOST 40% OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS SHOWED SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN MEMORY PERFORMANCE.

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CREDIT: WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Feb. 13, 2024 – A team of scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Southern California (USC) have demonstrated the first successful use of a neural prosthetic device to recall specific memories.

The findings appear online in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience.

This groundbreaking research was derived from the Wake Forest and USC team’s 2018 study led by Robert Hampson, Ph.D., professor of regenerative medicine, translational neuroscience and neurology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, that showed the successful implementation of a prosthetic system that uses a person’s own memory patterns to facilitate the brain’s ability to encode and recall memory.

In the previous study, the team’s electronic prosthetic system was based on a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear mathematical model, and the researchers influenced the firing patterns of multiple neurons in the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in making new memories.

In this study, researchers built a new model of processes that assists the hippocampus in helping people remember specific information. When the brain tries to store or recall information such as, “I turned off the stove” or “Where did I put my car keys?” groups of cells work together in neural ensembles that activate so that the information is stored or recalled. Using recordings of the activity of these brain cells, the researchers created a memory decoding model (MDM) which let them decode what neural activity is used to store different pieces of specific information. The neural activity decoded by the MDM was then used to create a pattern, or code, which was used to apply neurostimulation to the hippocampus when the brain was trying to store that information. 

“Here, we not only highlight an innovative technique for neurostimulation to enhance memory, but we also demonstrate that stimulating memory isn’t just limited to a general approach but can also be applied to specific information that is critical to a person,” said Brent Roeder, Ph.D., a research fellow in the department of translational neuroscience at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author.

The team enrolled 14 adults with epilepsy who were participating in a diagnostic brain-mapping procedure that used surgically implanted electrodes placed in various parts of the brain to pinpoint the origin of their seizures. Participants underwent all surgical procedures, post-operative monitoring and neurocognitive testing at one of the three sites participating in this study including Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Keck Hospital of USC in Los Angeles and Rancho Los Amigo National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, California.

The team delivered MDM electrical stimulation during visual recognition memory tasks to see if the stimulation could help people remember images better. They found that when they used this electrical stimulation, there were significant changes in how well people remembered things. In about 22% of cases, there was a noticeable difference in performance.

When they looked specifically at participants with impaired memory function, who were given the stimulation on both sides of their brain, almost 40% of them showed significant changes in memory performance.

“Our goal is to create an intervention that can restore memory function that’s lost because of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke or head injury,” Roeder said. “We found the most pronounced change occurred in people who had impaired memory.”

Roeder said he hopes the technology can be refined to help people live independently by helping them recall critical information such as whether medication has been taken or whether a door is locked.

“While much more research is needed, we know that MDM-based stimulation has the potential to be used to significantly modify memory,” Roeder said.

This research is built on more than 20 years of preclinical research on memory codes led by Sam Deadwyler, Ph.D., emeritus professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, along with Hampson (now a member of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine), and the USC team led by biomedical engineers Theodore Berger, Ph.D., and Dong Song, Ph.D.

The preclinical work applied the same type of stimulation to restore and facilitate memory in animal models using the MIMO system, which was developed at USC.

The research was funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

 

 

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

DOI

10.3389/fncom.2024.1263311 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Developing a hippocampal neural prosthetic to facilitate human memory encoding and recall of stimulus features and categories

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Feb-2024

The MIT Press launches second year of shift+OPEN to publish more open access journals

shift+OPEN from the MIT Press provides funding and support to flip an existing subscription-based journal to diamond open access

THE MIT PRESS

 

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SHIFT+OPEN IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FROM JOURNALS THAT WANT TO "FLIP" TO DIAMOND OPEN ACCESS.

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CREDIT: COURTESY OF THE MIT PRESS.

The MIT Press proudly announces that applications are now open for shift+OPEN, an initiative designed to flip existing subscription-based journals to a diamond open access publishing model. 

Launched with generous funding from Arcadia and expanded with funding from the National Science Foundation, shift+OPEN seeks to catalyze needed change in journals publishing, introduce authors to new readerships, and increase the reach of vital scholarship that has previously been locked behind paywalls.

“Access to quality research and information is a means to solving some of humanity’s greatest challenges,” says Nick Lindsay, director of journals and open access at the MIT Press. “We are absolutely delighted with the outcomes of shift+OPEN so far and grateful to the National Science Foundation and Arcadia for making it possible to offer this opportunity to journals world-wide.”

For the second round of shift+OPEN, the MIT Press welcomes submissions for English-language journals in any field and from any part of the world. Selected journals will  receive funding to cover the expenses of transitioning a journal to open access model for a three-year term, access to the Press’s full suite of professional publishing services, and support to develop a sustainable funding model for the future. The deadline for applications is April 30, 2024. 

In 2023, shift+OPEN embarked on a groundbreaking partnership with the European Sociological Association (ESA), to transition two journals, European Societies and European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, to MIT Press as premier diamond open access publications. 

Lígia Ferro, President of the European Sociological Association, underscored the Press's professionalism and reputation as a trailblazer in open access publishing as a pivotal factor in their decision to apply: “Our confidence in making the open access transition was bolstered by the MIT Press’s recent successful journal conversions like Imaging Neuroscience or Quantitative Science Studies. Our firsthand experience with the Press's unwavering professionalism and high standards during the process cemented our decision.”

The MIT Press has a long history of being at the leading edge of open access journal publishing and the last year has been no exception. From expanding the peer overlay journal Rapid Reviews: Infectious Diseases to launching diamond open access journal Imaging Neuroscience with former editorial teams of Neuroimage and Neuroimage: Reports, the Press has embraced the need to broaden the dissemination of its journals while developing new models that work for everyone, including authors, editors, societies, and universities. 

For further information on shift+OPEN and to submit an application, please visit mitpress.mit.edu/shiftopen/

BioOne and CSIRO publishing expand partnership with new eBook collection

BIOONE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A newly curated collection of more than 200 eBooks will be available on the BioOne Digital Library in 2024 through an extension of BioOne’s partnership with CSIRO Publishing, an editorially independent business unit of CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency.

Through this collaboration BioOne will make available a specialized collection of CSIRO Publishing catalog titles specifically selected to complement BioOne’s areas of focus, invaluable resources for environmental, plant and animal scientists, and researchers, practitioners, and students in related disciplines. The strength of this eBook curation is the diversity of content relevant to BioOne customers, covering decades of trusted knowledge. Representing unique species from Australia, as well as outcomes of key research with global applications, the collection will enhance the depth and breadth of any library. The CSIRO Publishing BioSelect Collection will be available for cost-effective institutional license under a one-time purchase model beginning in mid-2024.

“We are pleased to be expanding our relationship with BioOne to now include an eBook Collection,” said Briana Melideo, Books Publisher, CSIRO Publishing. “This collection represents decades of trusted knowledge, through a curation of titles offering a broad range of biological subject matter. The content represents not only unique Australian flora and fauna but also globally relevant conservation science and applications. We are thrilled to see these titles reach a wide audience through this partnership with BioOne.”

“We’re proud to expand our partnership with CSIRO Publishing to bring their important research to the libraries and institutions we serve,” said BioOne Director of Sales and Community Outreach, Christine Orr. “This project, the second collection from our BioOne eBooks program, demonstrates our commitment to collaboration with our publisher partners and our shared vision to find new sustainable pathways to advance the biological sciences.”

About CSIRO Publishing

CSIRO Publishing is Australia’s leading science publisher. Through our publications we demonstrate the value of science and capture and share knowledge for future generations. As part of the research community our purpose is to enhance the impact of science by communicating the outcomes of research, empowering decision makers, and enriching the lives of our all our readers. We operate as a not-for-profit, editorially independent business unit within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s National Science Agency.

CSIRO focus on delivering connectivity to global science, technology and innovation, as well as accessing new markets for Australian innovation. We have teams based in six countries who act as hubs for their regions, promoting Australian innovation and strengthening the bridges between Australia and the world.

About BioOne

BioOne is an innovative nonprofit collaborative and the leading content aggregator in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. More than 150 global scientific societies and nonprofit publishing organizations include their journals in BioOne’s flagship product, BioOne Complete, for the benefit of 3,500 accessing institutions and millions of researchers worldwide. Since 2001, BioOne has returned more than 68 million USD in royalty sharing back to its participants, with a commitment to share research more broadly, equitably, and sustainably.'

Studies with more diverse teams of authors get more citations

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SURREY

Diverse research is more impactful in the business management field, with female influence growing stronger in the past decade, finds a new study from the University of Surrey.  

The study analysed all articles published in the last 10 years (January 2012 to December 2022) in the influential Journal of Management Studies.  

The empirical analysis examined three key aspects of teams’ diversity:  

• Internationality (how international is mix of authors),  

• Interdisciplinarity (how many different fields of study they come from),  

• Gender (the balance of males and females). 

 

Professor Sorin Krammer, lead author of the study and Professor of Strategy and International Business at the University of Surrey, said: 

"As new technologies such as cloud computing, blockchain, or the internet of things have deeply transformed our society in the past decade, it is heartening to see this change reflected also through our research. The world is becoming more diverse – and so is the world of business management research. Our findings reveal that articles written by teams with a wide variety of backgrounds, expertise, and genders tend to receive more citations. However, more work needs to be done to better understand when and why these benefits of diversity are fully realised." 

The study has been published in the Journal of Management Studies. 

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Note to editors 

Professor Sorin Krammer is available for interview upon request. 

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JOURNAL

Journal of Management Studies

DOI

10.1111/joms.13044 

ARTICLE TITLE

Happy Diamond Anniversary JMS! A Decade Analysis of the Journal of Management Studies

 

Greetings from the island of enhanced stability: The quest for the limit of the periodic table

Review in Nature Review Physics discusses major challenges in the field of superheavy elements and their nuclei and provides an outlook on future developments

Peer-Reviewed Publication

GSI HELMHOLTZZENTRUM FÜR SCHWERIONENFORSCHUNG GMBH

 

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THE ISLAND OF ENHANCED STABILITY OF SUPERHEAVY ELEMENTS AS SEEN IN 2024: THE COAST HAS BEEN REACHED AND THE EXPERIMENTERS HAVE LEFT THE FIRST FOOTPRINTS ON THE BEACH. STABILITY MOUNTAINS ARE EMERGING, BUT IT IS STILL UNCLEAR WHERE EXACTLY THESE ARE TO BE FOUND. NEITHER IS IT CLEAR HOW LONG-LIVED THE MOST STABLE ATOMIC NUCLEI WILL BE – HENCE, HOW HIGH THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE.

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CREDIT: PICTURE: SIMON TSCHACHTLI / JGU & GSI DARMSTADT

Joint press release of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Since the turn of the century, six new chemical elements have been discovered and subsequently added to the periodic table of elements, the very icon of chemistry. These new elements have high atomic numbers up to 118 and are significantly heavier than uranium, the element with the highest atomic number (92) found in larger quantities on Earth. This raises questions such as how many more of these superheavy species are waiting to be discovered, where – if at all – is a fundamental limit in the creation of these elements, and what are the characteristics of the so-called island of enhanced stability. In a recent review, experts in theoretical and experimental chemistry and physics of the heaviest elements and their nuclei summarize the major challenges and offer a fresh view on new superheavy elements and the limit of the periodic table. One of them is Professor Christoph Düllmann from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM). In its February issue, the world's leading high-impact journal Nature Review Physics presents the topic as its cover story.

Visualizing an island of stability of superheavy nuclei

Already in the first half of the last century, researchers realized that the mass of atomic nuclei is smaller than the total mass of their proton and neutron constituents. This difference in mass is responsible for the binding energy of the nuclei. Certain numbers of neutrons and protons lead to stronger binding and are referred to as “magic”. In fact, scientists observed early on that protons and neutrons move in individual shells that are similar to electronic shells, with nuclei of the metal lead being the heaviest with completely filled shells containing 82 protons and 126 neutrons – a doubly-magic nucleus. Early theoretical predictions suggested that the extra stability from the next “magic” numbers, far from nuclei known at that time, might lead to lifetimes comparable to the age of the Earth. This led to the notion of a so-called island of stability of superheavy nuclei separated from uranium and its neighbors by a sea of instability.

There are numerous graphical representations of the island of stability, depicting it as a distant island. Many decades have passed since this image emerged, so it is time to take a fresh look at the stability of superheavy nuclei and see where the journey to the limits of mass and charge might lead us. In their recent paper titled "The quest for superheavy elements and the limit of the periodic table", the authors describe the current state of knowledge and the most important challenges in the field of these superheavies. They also present key considerations for future development.

Elements up to oganesson (element 118) have been produced in experiments, named, and included in the periodic table of elements in accelerator facilities around the world, such as at GSI in Darmstadt and in future at FAIR, the international accelerator center being built at GSI. These new elements are highly unstable, with the heaviest ones disintegrating within seconds at most. A more detailed analysis reveals that their lifetimes increase towards the magic neutron number 184. In the case of copernicium (element 112), for example, which was discovered at GSI, the lifetime increases from less than a thousandth of a second to 30 seconds. However, the neutron number 184 is still a long way from being reached, so the 30 seconds are only one step on the way. Since the theoretical description is still prone to large uncertainties, there is no consensus on where the longest lifetimes will occur and how long they will be. However, there is a general agreement that truly stable superheavy nuclei are no longer to be expected.

Revising the map of superheavy elements

This leads to a revision of the superheavy landscape in two important ways. On the one hand, we have indeed arrived at the shores of the region of enhanced stability and have thus confirmed experimentally the concept of an island of enhanced stability. On the other hand, we do not yet know how large this region is – to stay with the picture. How long will the maximum lifetimes be, with the height of the mountains on the island typically representing the stability, and where will the longest lifetimes occur? The Nature Reviews Physics paper discusses various aspects of relevant nuclear and electronic structure theory, including the synthesis and detection of superheavy nuclei and atoms in the laboratory or in astrophysical events, their structure and stability, and the location of the current and anticipated superheavy elements in the periodic table.

The detailed investigation of the superheavy elements remains an important pillar of the research program at GSI Darmstadt, supported by infrastructure and expertise at HIM and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, forming a unique setting for such studies. Over the past decade, several breakthrough results were obtained, including detailed studies of their production, which led to the confirmation of element 117 and the discovery of the comparatively long-lived isotope lawrencium-266, of their nuclear structure by a variety of experimental techniques, of the structure of their atomic shells as well as their chemical properties, where flerovium (element 114) represents the heaviest element for which chemical data exist. Calculations on production in the cosmos, especially during the merging of two neutron stars, as observed experimentally for the first time in 2017, round off the research portfolio. In the future, the investigation of superheavy elements could be even more efficient thanks to the new linear accelerator HELIAC, for which the first module was recently assembled at HIM and then successfully tested in Darmstadt, so that further, even more exotic and therefore presumably longer-lived nuclei will also be experimentally achievable. An overview of the element discoveries and first chemical studies at GSI can be found in the article “Five decades of GSI superheavy element discoveries and chemical investigation,” published in May 2022.

Recoil separator TASCA (IMAGE)

GSI HELMHOLTZZENTRUM FÜR SCHWERIONENFORSCHUNG GMBH

The TASCA recoil separator at GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt used for the production and isolation of superheavy elements.

CREDIT

Photo: G. Otto, GSI/FAIR

CAPTION

Cover the February 2024 issue of Nature Reviews Physics

CREDIT

Picture: Springer Nature Ltd, cover design Susanne Harris

JOURNAL

Nature Reviews Physics

DOI

10.1038/s42254-023-00668-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The quest for superheavy elements and the limit of the periodic table

 

Trust in NHS advice key to Covid vaccine uptake, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

Trust in NHS advice key to Covid vaccine uptake, study finds

People’s trust in the NHS was linked to increased uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic, a study suggests.

Public confidence in the information issued by the healthcare system was the strongest predictor of vaccine uptake across the four UK nations, researchers found.

NHS websites were the most used source of information associated with a positive vaccination status, followed by advice given by scientists, experts said.

Information from a GP and the influence of televised public health information was also linked to positive uptake of the Covid-19 jab.

Looking at guidance shared on social media and messenger apps – which were more frequently mentioned as sources of information among young adults – was linked to a lower likelihood of having been vaccinated or intending to get the vaccine.

Researchers say the study helps understand the effects of different information sources during a public health emergency, and highlights the need for policy makers to recognise the influence of public trust in the NHS.

The University of Edinburgh study assessed the views of more than 4400 people aged 18 years and over, during the period 16 to 31 July 2021 – a time when overall vaccination rates were high.

The group was asked about their levels of trust in sources of advice on Covid-19, which sources they used and their vaccination status.

Researchers found that 85 per cent of those surveyed were most likely to trust the NHS. This was followed by 79 per cent expressing trust in family and friends, and 77 per cent trust in scientists.

Trust in the UK Government was relatively low at 48 per cent. Compared to those in England, respondents in other UK nations were more likely to trust their respective governments’ information – with the rates in Scotland at 63 per cent and Wales at 64 per cent. The lowest rates of trust in Government advice were in Northern Ireland at 40 per cent.

Trust in the UK government increased with age, with 35 per cent of the youngest age group having confidence in its Covid-19 advice compared with 62 percent among those aged 65 years or older.

Religious leaders were trusted least, with only around 1 in 4 people relying on them for information on Covid-19.

The largest predictor for positive vaccination status was found to be trust in the NHS. Trust in the NHS was associated with a three times higher chance of respondents having had the jab. Trust in scientists was the second highest predictor of a positive vaccine status.

Respondents aged 65 and over were four times as likely to have a positive vaccination status compared with the youngest group. The respondents least likely to be vaccinated were people aged 25 to 34 years old.

The study also highlighted significant differences in trust in government by annual household income and occupational class, with higher incomes correlating with greater likelihood of trust.

Researchers say the findings reveal high levels of trust in the key sources of public health advice, and a positive association between using official sources of advice and vaccination intentions, even in the context of overall high vaccination rates.

Dr Valeria Skafida, of the School of Social and Political Science, said: “The finding of a high level trust in the NHS contrasts with general public views on the NHS, with a 2021 survey showing that over half of respondents found that the general standard of care provided by the NHS had worsened during the preceding years. Overall, our findings could highlight the need for the UK and devolved governments to value the importance of public trust in the health system and take appropriate measures to preserve such trust.”

The study is published in the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. An Open Access version of the paper is available here: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/trust-in-covid-19-information-sources-and-vaccination-status-expl

For further information, please contact: Joanne Morrison, Press and PR Office, 0131 651 4266, joanne.morrison@ed.ac.uk

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DOI

10.1177/135581962412277 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Trust in COVID-19 information sources and vaccination status: Exploring social inequalities and differences within the four United Kingdom nations using a representative survey

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Feb-2024

 

Researchers develop economical tool to facilitate identification of disease-causing pathogens

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

 

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A STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY SHOWS THAT A LOW-COST TOOL, CALLED SUBAK, IS EFFECTIVE AT TELLING WHEN NUCLEASE DIGESTION HAS OCCURRED, WHICH IS WHEN AN ENZYME CALLED NUCLEASE BREAKS DOWN NUCLEIC ACIDS, SUCH AS DNA OR RNA, INTO SMALLER FRAGMENTS. RESEARCHERS PROGRAMMED THE SUBAK REPORTERS TO EMIT A DIFFERENT COLOR WHEN THEY ARE DIGESTED BY NUCLEASES. 

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CREDIT: NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY

DALLAS (SMU) – SMU nanotechnology expert MinJun Kim helped a team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin to develop a less expensive way to detect nuclease digestion – one of the critical steps in many nucleic acid sensing applications, such as those used to identify COVID-19. 

Nucleic acid detection is the primary method for identifying pathogens that cause infectious diseases. As millions of PCR tests were run worldwide every day during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to reduce the costs of these tests.

A study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology shows that this low-cost tool, called Subak, is effective at telling when nuclease digestion has occurred, which is when an enzyme called nuclease breaks down nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA, into smaller fragments.

The traditional way of identifying nuclease activity, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) probe, costs 62 times more to produce than the Subak reporter.

“Subak reporter is more cost-effective and simpler than FRET-based systems, offering an alternative method for detecting nuclease activity,” said Kim, the Robert C. Womack Chair in the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU and principal investigator of the BAST Lab. “Many nucleic acid detection methods today, such as PCR and DETECTR, still rely on the use of FRET probes in their final steps.”

Unlike PCR, DETECTR (DNA endonuclease-targeted CRISPR trans reporter) is an easier assay, or test, that relies on CRISPR-Cas nuclease for pathogenic DNA detection. Kim and the researchers at UT Austin have successfully replaced the FRET probe with Subak reporter in the DETECTR assay, thus substantially reducing the assay cost.

Subak reporters are based on a special class of what are known as fluorescent silver nanoclusters. They are made up of 13 silver atoms wrapped around a short DNA strand – an organic/inorganic composite nanomaterial that is too small to be visible to the naked eye and ranging in size from 1 to 3 nanometers (one billionth of a meter) in size.

Nanomaterials at this length scale can be highly luminescent, such as quantum dots, and exhibit different colors. Fluorescent nanomaterials have found applications in TV displays and in biosensing, such as the Subak reporter.

Lead researcher Tim Yeh, an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin, and his team programmed the Subak reporters to emit a different color when they are digested by nucleases. 

“These DNA-templated silver nanoclusters initially emit green fluorescence, but undergo a remarkable color-switching to bright red when DNA is fragmented by nucleases,” Kim said. “The color change of Subak reporters is easily visible under a UV lamp,” even though the actual device is miniscule.

Subak reporters cost just $1 per nanomolecule to make. In contrast, FRET – which requires using different fluorescent dyes that require more to get results – costs $62 per nanomolecule to produce, Kim said.

Kim and Madhav L. Ghimire, SMU’s Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellow in SMU’s Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, worked with Yeh to optimize and characterize the DNA/AgNC silver nanoclusters. This included increasing the intensity of the green and red fluorescence before and after fragmentation by nucleases.

Characterization involved confirming the size, structure and the stability of the nanoclusters in specific environments.

“Optimization of these low-cost detectors is essential to monitor their fluorescence properties, ensuring nanocluster’s stability, controlling size and structure, and most importantly to enhance their sensitivity and selectivity in various environmental conditions, making them more reliable for the sensing purpose,” Ghimire said.

In addition to further testing of the Subak reporter for nuclease digestion, the team also wants to investigate if it can be a probe for other biological targets. 

About SMU

SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty and over 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities and the world.

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JOURNAL

Nature Nanotechnology

DOI

10.1038/s41565-024-01612-6 

ARTICLE TITLE

A non-FRET DNA reporter that changes fluorescence colour upon nuclease digestion

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Feb-2024

University of Limerick, Ireland study reveals eco-friendly way to generate power from waste wood

The groundbreaking study, led by researchers at UL in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Valencia, has demonstrated a method of generating electricity using low-grade heat recovered from lignin-derived membranes

 NEWS RELEASE 13-FEB-2024

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK

 

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MUHAMMAD MUDDASAR, A NXTGENWOOD PHD STUDENT BASED AT THE BERNAL INSTITUTE WITH PROFESSOR MAURICE N COLLINS, PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS SCIENCE IN UL’S SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR AT THE BERNAL INSTITUTE

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CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK

***REPRO free imagery attached

A new study by researchers at University of Limerick in Ireland has revealed a sustainable method of efficiently converting waste heat into electricity using Irish wood products, while minimising costs and environmental impact.

The groundbreaking study, led by researchers at UL in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Valencia, has demonstrated a method of generating electricity using low-grade heat recovered from lignin-derived membranes.

Lignin, typically overlooked, is a sustainable byproduct derived from wood in paper and pulp production.

The study shows that these membranes can convert waste heat into electricity by utilising the movement of charged atoms (ions) within the material.

This is a significant advancement as previous studies had only demonstrated this technology using cellulose from natural wood, and the new UL research has successfully applied it to lignin from waste wood—contributing to a more circular and sustainable economy as a result.

Low-grade heat refers to waste heat generated at temperatures below 200 degrees Celsius. In industrial processes, 66% of the waste heat falls into this category, highlighting the potential of this breakthrough for developing sustainable heat-to-electricity applications.

The NXTGENWOOD study, which was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, has been published in the Journal of Advanced Functional Materials.

Professor Maurice N Collins, Professor of Materials Science in UL’s School of Engineering and Principal Investigator at the Bernal Institute who supervised the study, explained: “Low-grade heat comes from various sources like waste heat in industries, heat losses in insulating systems, ocean thermal gradients, biomass fermentation, and solar heat.

“Despite its potential, utilising low-grade thermal energy in energy harvesting applications has been challenging due to the lack of cost-effective technologies.

“Our research explores the use of ionic thermoelectric membranes made from lignin, an underutilised by-product in the paper and pulp industry, offering a sustainable solution.”

Lead author Muhammad Muddasar, a NXTGENWOOD PhD student based at the Bernal Institute, explained: “We have developed the first lignin-based membrane for ionic thermoelectric energy harvesting.

“Our membrane is lightweight, easy to synthesise, and biocompatible, making it suitable for various applications, including thermal energy harvesting, temperature sensing, and biomedical sensors for health monitoring.”

The UL researcher’s work on the NXTGENWOOD project comes under the umbrella of the Science Federation Ireland-funded Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (AMBER). The project is dedicated to developing new value-added applications from Irish wood.

Professor Collins added of the environmental potential of the research taking place at UL: “While there is still room for further development in heat-to-electricity conversion applications, the study demonstrates that abundantly available lignin can successfully contribute to low-grade thermal energy harvesting, especially in scenarios where sustainability and cost-effectiveness are crucial.”

ENDS

 

The study, ‘Lignin-Derived Ionic Conducting Membranes for Low-Grade Thermal Energy Harvesting’, by Maurice N Collins, Muhammad Muddasar and others, has been published in the Journal of Advanced Functional Materials.

 

For further information, please contact:

Alan Owens

Communications Officer

University of Limerick

alan.owens@ul.ie

 

About University of Limerick:

University of Limerick is a research-led, independent, internationally focused university with almost 18,000 students and 2,000 staff. It is a young, energetic and enterprising University with a proud record of innovation in education and excellence in research and scholarship.

More information is available at www.ul.ie.

Tweet @UL

Facebook.com/universityoflimerick

LinkedIn University of Limerick

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JOURNAL

Advanced Functional Materials

DOI

10.1002/adfm.202306427 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Lignin-Derived Ionic Conducting Membranes for Low-Grade Thermal Energy Harvesting