Media Watch
Eight-letter genetic code hints at how alien life might evolve
Chemistry World -
‘Expanded genetic systems allow us to challenge the notion that the most conserved aspects of biology, shared across all life, are special,’ says genetic systems engineer Chang Liu from the University of California, Irvine, US, who was not involved in the new work.
Carbon capture could be key to decarbonizing U.S. fossil fuels
Axios -
Luca Mastropasqua, senior research scientist at the University of California Irvine's Advanced Power and Energy Program writes, “Approximately 49 million tons of CO2 could be cut via carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in the power sector — equivalent to removing 7 million cars from the roads — by 2030, according to a Clean Air Task Force (CATF) report published this week.”
Shrinky Dinks Inspire Respiration Monitor
R&D Magazine -
“The current standard of care in respiration monitoring is a pulmonary function test that's often difficult to perform and limited in terms of the snapshot it provides of a patient's respiratory health—meaning problems can sometimes be missed,” Michael Chu, UCI graduate student researcher in biomedical engineering and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “Our new stretch sensors allow users to walk around and go about their lives while vital information on the health of their lungs is being collected.”
UCI Engineers Develop Wearable Respiration Sensors with Shrinky Dinks
Wearable Technologies -
Biomedical engineers at the University of California, Irvine have now developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides high-fidelity readings on a continuous basis. It’s designed to help children with asthma and cystic fibrosis and others with chronic pulmonary conditions, reports UCI News. The researchers used these inexpensive sensors using the popular children’s toy Shrinky Dinks. They are thin sheets of plastic that are painted on and then shrunk with heat.
Shrinky Dinks Inspire Wearable That Predicts Oncoming Asthma Attacks
ECN Magazine -
When UCI biomedical engineers went to work on creating a sensor for the device, they decided to use Shrinky Drinks. "The current standard of care in respiration monitoring is a pulmonary function test that's often difficult to perform and limited in terms of the snapshot it provides of a patient's respiratory health—meaning problems can sometimes be missed," said Michael Chu, UCI graduate student researcher in biomedical engineering and lead author of a paper on the innovation published today in npj Digital Medicine.
Wearable Respiration Sensors Made from Shrinky Dinks
Medgadget -
Engineers at University of California, Irvine have now developed a cheap and easy to use respiration monitor based on Shrinky Dinks, a popular children’s craft toy. It consists of two piezo-resistive sensors that are stuck around the ribs and abdomen, and which measure the strain on the tissues they’re pressed against.
Could this smart sticker save asthmatics from attack? Patch measures movement of the ribs and sends warning to your PHONE if your breathing gets worse
The Daily Mail -
A sticker asthmatics wear on their skin could warn when an attack is looming, research suggests. When worn on the abdomen, sensors in the sticker measure the strain being put on a user's rib cage. … The research was carried out by the University of California, Irvine, and led by Michelle Khine, a professor of biomedical engineering.
California’s ‘smart’ energy future glows on the horizon—but how to get there?
CALmatters -
Gene Tsudik, a UC Irvine professor and one of the participants, is a computer scientist specializing in privacy and security. … “We are surrounded by smart devices all over the place. Of course, they violate your privacy.” … One takeaway for Scott Samuelsen, director of UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program, which ran the project, is that while the adoption of smart home devices is growing fast, regulation and consumer protections that should accompany them are not keeping pace. “The market is out of control with respect to regulation (of devices),” Samuelsen said. “We are in a free-for-all.”
Smart skin sticker could detect asthma attacks before they happen
NewScientist -
The device is made using Shrinky Dinks – plastic sheets that shrink to a fraction of their original size when heated. They are popular among children because they can be coloured and cut into shapes before shrinking. … It could be a useful tool for monitoring people with chronic lung conditions, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, says Michelle Khine at the University of California, Irvine, who led the team. People will use the device by sticking it to their lower ribs.
Nurturing Talent
Lab Manager -
Susan Seestrom, chief research officer and associate laboratories director for advanced science and technology at Sandia, will be mentoring the first two fellows—Mercedes Taylor, who earned her doctorate in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and Chen Wang, who completed her doctorate in materials science at the University of California, Irvine.