When viruses emerge—spreading in a rapid and extensive way—researchers must scramble to create life-saving vaccines. At Brigham Young University, researchers are working to speed up that process.

A team of chemical engineers has devised a way to create machinery for vaccine production en masse, freeze drying the produced vaccines and stockpiling them for future use. This development could aid in relief efforts when new viruses hit populations, allowing researchers to rapidly produce vaccines.

“You could just pull it off the shelf and make it,” says Brad Bundy, senior author of the study. “We could make the vaccine and be ready for distribution in a day.”

This from Brigham Young University:

Bundy’s idea is a new angle on the emerging method of ‘cell-free protein synthesis,’ a process that combines DNA to make proteins needed for drugs (instead of growing protein in a cell). His lab is creating a system where the majority of the work is done beforehand so vaccine kits can be ready to go and be activated at the drop of a dime.

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Researchers from MIT have unveiled new opportunities in diagnostics through the development of an ingestible sensor with the ability to continuously monitor vital signs. The device, which measures heart rate and breathing from within the gastrointestinal track, has the potential to offer beneficial assessment of trauma patients, soldiers in battle, and those with chronic illness.

“Through characterization of the acoustic wave, recorded from different parts of the GI tract, we found that we could measure both heart rate and respiratory rate with good accuracy,” says Giovanni Traverso, one of the lead authors of the study.

The development of pulse sensors such as this are beginning to outpace the traditional stethoscope. However, the pulse sensors that currently exist wrest on the patient’s skin, which is problematic for those with skin sensitivity such as burn victims.

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We are pleased to announce that Professor Christian Amatore, CNRS, will deliver The ECS Lecture, “Seeing, Measuring and Understanding Vesicular Exocytosis of Neurotransmitters” at the 229th ECS Meeting in San Diego, May 29 – June 3, 2016.

Submit your abstract for this meeting today!

Professor Amatore is member of the French Académie des Sciences, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, of the Academia Europae, and of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society, Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Honorary Member of the Israeli Chemical Society, and President of ISE.

He was one of the few pioneers of micro- and ultramicroelectrodes in electrochemistry with Mark Wightman, University of North Carolina. He published over 465 primary research publications cumulating more than 19,000 citations with an “h-index” of 68 and an average citation rate of ca. 1100 over the past five years.

His lecture discloses the best present measurements aimed to a precise understanding of vesicular exocytosis in endocrine cells and inside neurons obtained through a combination of theory and quantitative analyses of individual amperometric spikes recorded as ultramicro- and nano-carbon fiber electrodes. Altogether, these data cast a series of unprecedented new views of vesicular exocytosis that relegate previous ones to history.

In addition to Professor Amatore’s talk, Dr. John Scully, University of Virginia, will be receiving the Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching, and Dr. Ralph White, University of South Carolina, will be receiving the Vittorio de Nora Award in San Diego.

Don’t miss your chance to present your latest work in San Diego! The deadline for abstract submission is December 11, 2015. Submit now!

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board.

P.S. Employers can post open positions for free!

Analytical Lab Manager
Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc. – Hunt Valley, MD
The Analytical Lab Manager will provide technical leadership for the Analytical Lab at Teledyne Energy Systems Sparks Facility. This position requires the ability to draw on strong technical background in chemistry and expertise in analysis of materials and method development combined with solid personnel management skills.

Senior Battery Engineer
Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc. – Hunt Valley, MD
The Senior Battery Engineer with 7 or more years of related experience serves as a project engineer with a leadership role on Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) product development programs. The job functions include new product design and development as well as upgrades and modifications to existing products.

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Lithium ion batteries affect everything from small electrical devices to airplanes, yet the battery’s aging process creates limitations to storage capacity. While researchers have not yet been able to determine what causes aging in lithium ion batteries, a research team has made new developments to offer more insight to this downfall and potentially create more youthful batteries.

The study, recently published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES), describes newly discovered factors that speed up the aging process in lithium ion batteries. This research is especially important in light of efforts in renewable energy, where this energy storage technology could be interwoven with the grid to help bolster efforts in wind and solar.

This from a press release:

The research group determined two key mechanisms for the loss of capacity during operation: The active lithium in the cell is slowly used up in various side reactions and is thus no longer available. The process is very temperature dependent: At 25 °C the effect is relatively weak but becomes quite strong at 60 °C. When charging and discharging cells with a higher upper cut off potential (4.6 V), cell resistance increases rapidly. The transition metals deposited on the anode may increase the conductivity of the pacifying layer and thereby speed up the decomposition of the electrolyte.

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ECS’s Europe Section is now offering a travel grant to students presenting their papers at ECS biannual meetings. While there are over ten different divisions that offer travel grants, the Europe Section is the only section currently offering travel grants to students.

This grant will be offered to up to four students per biannual meeting that are enrolled in a graduate or upper level undergraduate program at, or be recent (within 12 months) graduates from, an institution in Europe. The attending student must also present an oral or poster presentation in a symposium sponsored or co-sponsored by ECS. Head over to our website for the complete terms of reference for this award.

The deadline to apply for a travel grant for the 229^th ECS Meeting in San Diego is February 12, 2016.

Why wait? Apply today!

Graphene is called the “wonder material” with good reason. The material hosts a slew of unique chemical and physical properties, with applications from fuel cells to biomedical to energy storage.

Now, a team from MIT is taking the material and applying it to infrared sensors to create next-gen night vision goggles. Additionally, the team is looking to take that same technology and apply it to high-tech windshields and smartphones.

We achieve night vision capabilities through thermal imaging that allows people to see otherwise invisible infrared rays that are shed as heat. This technology is useful for many different applications, such as assisting soldiers and firefighters in their duty. While night vision devices currently exist, they need bulky cooling systems to create a useful image.

Because of graphene’s electrical qualities, researchers have known that the material would be an excellent infrared detector. The team at MIT took this idea and moved forwarding in creating a less bulky night vision goggle through the utilization of graphene.

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While the newly established University of Utah student chapter may just be getting off the ground, the group has big plans for the coming months. From outreach to collaboration to discovering new information, leadership of the new student chapter hopes that it will create both a sense of community and a forum for the exchange of knowledge.

“The student chapter is actually really good for the student population here because there’s not a lot of community involvement type activities for graduate students.” says Sara Koepke, chair of the University of Utah student chapter. “Moving in this direction is a really positive thing.”

For Koepke, outreach and scientific communication will play a large role in the direction of the student chapter. One of the first activities of the student chapter will be a professional development workshop, focusing on presentation skills for the communication of scientific research. The group also plans to begin outreach to schools, going to areas with the greatest need and presenting live demonstrations and practical lessons.

“The more people that know how important science is, the more likely that you’re going to have people willing to vote for such things as funding of the National Science Foundation or any other political movement that is necessary for the sciences,” says Koepke, currently a graduate student at the Minteer Research Group.

Additionally, Koepke believes that this type of outreach has the potential to inspire young students to pursue the sciences.

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With 783 million people world-wide lacking access to clean drinking water and more than 35 percent of the world’s population without access to improved sanitation facilities, researchers are pursuing new ways to clean wastewater that is both effective and energy efficient.

An interdisciplinary team from multiple institutions in China has developed a new freestanding anode that can take harmful electrolytes form bacteria in wastewater and transfer them to a microbial fuel cell. This new process opens the door to effectively cleaning wastewater while converting waste to electricity.

The treatment of wastewater is an essential, yet energy intensive, process. While scientists have been exploring new ways to treat wastewater, none of the option has been very energy efficient.

Many current wastewater treatment plants function through fermentation and the burning of methane. The research team from China opts for an alternative method, where they create sewage-based fuel cells that pull the bacterial electrolytes and create electricity.

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In honor of Open Access Week 2015 (October 19-25), ECS removed the paywall from the Digital Library in order to show readers our vision of the future.

Now, we need your help. Please take a few minutes to complete our brief (4 question) survey to share your feedback on ECS’s participation in Open Access Week, as well as ECS’s transition to Open Access.

Take the survey.