Science and Technology Meet Design to Monitor High RIsk Pregnancies

I'm always interested in new and ingenious ways to improve health for everyone, but especially pregnant moms and children. So, I was particularly excited to hear about research on wearable sensors that give physicians a heads up on early labor and baby movement.

Supported by the National Science Foundation, electrical/computer engineer Kapil Dandekar, industrial/fashion designer Genevieve Dion, and OB-GYN physician, Owen Montgomery have added radio frequency identification (RFID) technology into their “belly bands” for women with high-risk pregnancies. The wearable sensor constantly tracks movements and signals the physician via the Internet if a patient begins early contractions. A petite sensor band is in the works for babies at risk for sleep apnea.

Combining engineering, medicine and fashion design, this trifecta of human-centered technology offers simple-to-use, yet critical tools for better healthcare. Go science!

Self-assembly of 3D Structures

As another holiday season of boxing and wrapping comes to a close, it might be fun to take a look at boxes on the micro and nanometer scales for those specialized gift-wrapping occasions. 

At those sizes, 3D containers are too tiny to be assembled by a machine. They have to come together on their own. Seem like science fiction? Well, engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and mathematicians at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have found a way for polyhedra (many-sided structures) to fold and assemble themselves. With support from the National Science Foundation, Brown University mathematician Govind Menon and Johns Hopkins University chemical and biomolecular engineer David Gracias are developing self-assembling 3-D micro and nanostructures for a number of applications, including medicine.

The personalized delivery of an anticancer drug to a tumor, for example, has virtually no global side effects unlike the whole body chemotherapy treatments of today. It's like pouring salt on a slug on the sidewalk to kill it instead of spreading salt over the entire yard. 

Check out this video to see how the addition of heat causes 2D polyhedral nanostructures assemble into hollow 3D structures. Go science!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I just finished reading and reviewing The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in my bookclub. Not as much science as I would have liked, but the history of cell culture, vaccine development, cancer research, and patient information/rights was thought provoking. Culture change and public science education in the past 60 years was deeply intertwined with one family's history and growth. Interesting!