Ultrasonics research team aids battle against biological weapons
16/04/2010
A research team comprising partners from Bristol, Dundee, Southampton and Glasgow universities has recently gained large-scale interest from the media for its development of a microscopic ultrasonic tweezer-like device that could be used to help homeland security officials to detect deadly biological weapons such as anthrax. The team believes that its technology could have a variety of applications beyond homeland security and foresee it being used in everything from tissue engineering to stem-cell research.
Team leader Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bristol and active Member of The British Institute of NDT, told a recent issue of The Engineer that the team's so-called 'sonotweezers' would comprise an array of millimetre scale piezoelectric transducers on a silicon chip. Imagine an NDT array, scaled down by a factor of ten or more and integrated within a silicon chip along with all the associated electronics.
When a small sample such as a powdery anthrax mix is placed inside the chip cavity, the transducers would generate an ultrasonic force field that would act on the particles within the cavity. Particles with different size, shape, stiffness or density will 'feel' different ultrasonic forces. This then enables the detection of, for example, anthrax spores, even when present in tiny amounts within benign powers.
The group started its four-year EPSRC grant worth £4 million in mid 2009 and so the work is still in its early stages. To help the group deliver devices with commercial potential they are collaborating with a number of companies from across the supply chain, including Agilent, DSTL, Leica-Genetix, Loadpoint, Logitech, PCT and Weidlinger Associates. The aim is to build and test the first prototype devices in the coming year or two and then to focus efforts on the most promising specific application areas. "Initial results are extremely promising," commented Drinkwater.
For example, stem-cell researchers currently need an effective method to separate and classify stem cells that will go on to form different parts of the body such as skin or lungs. "There is a big demand to be able to separate stem cells at the earliest stage possible," Drinkwater said. "At the moment we don't know if the ultrasonic force on different types of cells will be different enough, but if it is we can separate them and that would be a hugely important application because at the moment it is almost impossible to distinguish different types of stem cells."
With tissue engineering, the ultrasonic forces exerted by the transducers would be used to move groups of cells – ranging from microns to millimetres in size – to build up artificial tissue. These tissues could be used for rapid testing of the effects of new drugs.
