Building on research that sent her biking across Tanzania a couple of summers ago to test remote water sources on the spot for bacteria, University of Arizona Professor Linda Powers is moving into the diagnostic realm. The Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering is developing fast, disposable blood tests for pathogens that cause diseases such as HIV and hepatitis.
The novel technology for rapid pathogen detection in blood relies on the capture of the pathogens with specially designed binding mechanisms and the intrinsic fluorescent signatures of the live captured pathogens.
"This will save time, work and expense when detection of blood-borne disease organisms is needed and other facilities are not available," said Powers, who holds appointments in... Read Complete Article
The kind of mayhem caused by homemade explosives, both domestically and overseas, likely will involve high-tech systems that can identify concealed bombs from a distance. With a recent $1.5 million U.S. Department of Defense award, University of Arizona researchers will adapt their breast cancer imaging research for detection of embedded explosives.
Salim Hariri, professor of electrical and computer engineering and UA site director for the National Science Foundation Center for Cloud and Autonomic Computing, is considered to be among the best of the best when it comes to University of Arizona innovators. Hariri, who has developed a cyber-nervous system to protect against cyber-attacks, and five of his UA colleagues recently received UA Technology Innovation Awards recognizing their entrepreneurial contributions.
When Boeing had the unfortunate malfunction of its lithium-ion battery in its 787, engineers at the University of Arizona knew what could be grounding the Dreamliner. The airplane was an “example of a device that is so complicated and complex, that you don't know whether it works until you build it,” said Jonathan Sprinkle, UA professor of electrical and computer engineering and a chair of the upcoming 20th Annual IEEE International Conference and Workshops on the Engineering of Computer-Based Systems.
