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Sandia: Bionic Man Continued from page 1
Flexible Electrode Materials Researchers are looking at flexi-
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ble conducting electrode materials us- ing thin evaporated metal or pat- terned multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The work is in its early stages
and it might be years before such ma- terials reach the market. Studies must confirm that they function as needed, then they would face a lengthy Food and Drug Administra- tion approval process. But the need is there. The Am-
putee Coalition estimates 2 million people in the United States are living with limb loss. The Congressional Research Service reports more than 1,600 amputations involving U.S. troops between 2001 and 2010, more than 1,400 of those associated with the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most were major limb amputations. Before joining Sandia, Buerger
worked with a research group at MIT developing biomedical robots, includ- ing prosthetics. Sandia’s robotics group was developing prosthetics be- fore his arrival as part of U.S. De- partment of Energy-sponsored hu- manitarian programs to reduce pro- liferation risks.
Technical Approach Robotics approached the prob-
lem from a technical point of view, looking at improving implantable and wearable neural interface elec- tronics. However, Buerger said that didn’t address the central issue of in- terfacing with nerves, so researchers turned to Dirk’s team. “This goes af- ter the crux of the problem,” he said. The challenges are numerous.
Interfaces must be structured so nerve fibers can grow through. They must be mechanically compatible so they don’t harm the nervous system or surround- ing tissues, and biocompatible to inte- grate with tissue and promote nerve fiber growth. They also must incorpo- rate conductivity to allow electrode sites to connect with external circuit- ry, and electrical properties must be tuned to transmit neural signals. Dirk presented a paper on poten-
April, 2012
tial neural interface materials at the winter meeting of the Materials Re- search Society, describing Sandia’s work in collaboration with the Univer- sity of New Mexico and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Co-authors are Buerger, UNM assistant professor Elizabeth Hedberg-Dirk, UNM gradu- ate student and Sandia contractor Kirsten Cicotte, and MD Anderson’s Patrick Lin and Gregory Reece. The researchers began with a
technique first patented in 1902 called electrospinning, which produces non- woven fiber mats by applying a high- voltage field between the tip of a sy- ringe filled with a polymer solution and a collection mat. Tip diameter and solution viscosity control fiber size. Collaborating with UNM’s Cen-
ter for Biomedical Engineering and department of chemical engineering, Sandia researchers worked with poly- mers that are liquid at room tempera- ture. Electrospinning these liquid polymers does not result in fiber for- mation, and the results are sort of like water pooling on a flat surface. To remedy the lack of fiber formation, they electrospun the material onto a heated plate, initiating a chemical re- action to crosslink the polymer fibers as they were formed, Dirk said. Researchers were able to tune
the conductivity of the final composite with the addition of multiwalled car- bon nanotubes. The team electrospun scaffolds with two types of material — PBF, or poly-butylene fumarate, a polymer developed at UNM and San- dia for tissue engineering, and PDMS, or poly-dimethylsiloxane. PBF is a biocompatible material
that’s biodegradable so the porous scaffold would disintegrate, leaving the contacts behind. PDMS is a bio- compatible caulk-like material that is not biodegradable, meaning the scaffold would remain. Electrodes on one side of the materials made them conductive. Contact: Web:
www.sandia.gov r
Contents
Tech-Op-Ed ........................... 4 People.................................... 12 Business News........................ 14 Business Briefs....................... 15 Management........................ 16 EMS .................................... 18 ElectronicMfg. Prods............. 22 Production.......................... 48 Partnering........................... 50 Distribution........................ 52 New Products..................... 78 High-Tech Events............. 92 Editorial Calendar............... 92 Advertisers Index............... 94
Special Focus: Test and Measurement........... 54
Product Preview: NEPCON China...................... 64
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