Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The underground use of diesel equipment introduces high concentrations of toxic gases such as CO, NO and NO2 into a confined atmosphere. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has determined that diesel exhaust is a potential human carcinogen, based on a combination of chemical, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity data. This is due to th ...

Current drug discovery and development efforts are severely limited by expensive animal trials and oversimplified in vitro models. Results obtained from in vitro models are not predictive of in vivo toxicity owing to significant difference from the in vivo physiological conditions. In this context, we propose to develop and demonstrate a novel microfluidic device that reproduces the physiological ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The combination of high toxicity and widespread occurrence has created a pressing need for effective monitoring of arsenic in groundwater. Through this program Agiltron will develop a field deployable monitoring tool based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for rapid on-site detection and quantification of arsenic in groundwater. During operation in ...

Extremely Efficient Nebulizer for Intranasal Vaccination. Specifically the nasal delivery device could reduce health care associated infections by providing a needle-free method of delivery of vaccines and therapeutics which are currently delivered by injection with all the attendant risks of transmission of blood borne disease through needle-stick injury and unsafe needle practices. One of the m ...

Longwave infrared (LWIR, 8-12µm) focal plane arrays (FPAs) play an important role in hyperspectral chemical and biological (CB) sensing and spectral imaging. Existing thermal detectors are unable to meet the high sensitivity and fast response requirements of many hyperspectral chemical and biological sensing applications. FPAs based on photon excited electron generation process can fulfill the sp ...

Leveraging on Agiltron industry leading development of optical MEMS devices and the PI experience with FTIR spectrometer design, we propose to develop a new class of high performance compact and rugged FTIR spectrometers for the LWIR optical range. The design is based on the MEMS lamellar mirror technique. Although this approach is not new, it has not yet been efficiently applied to LWIR, and per ...

Current high-throughput platforms rely on labeled substrates that produce detectable spectroscopic signals upon reaction for monitoring enzyme catalytic activity. Add to that the high price tag for these instruments, ranging from several hundred thousand to millions of dollars, and there is a clear need for alternate solutions for a label-free, low-cost, high-throughput enzyme screening platform. ...