A new medical-diagnostic device made out of paper detects biomarkers and identifies diseases by performing electrochemical analyses - powered only by the user’s touch - and reads out the color-coded test results, making it easy for non-experts to understand. “You could consider this a portable laboratory that is just completely made out of paper, is inexpensive and can be disposed of through incineration,” said Ramses V. Ma...

A non-toxic glue modelled after adhesive proteins produced by mussels and other creatures has been found to out-perform commercially available products, pointing toward potential surgical glues to replace sutures and staples. More than 230 million major surgeries are performed worldwide each year, and over 12 million traumatic wounds are treated in the United States alone. About 60% of these wounds are closed using mechanical methods such as...

  A  technology being developed at Purdue University could provide an affordable, smart, self-learning device that, when placed into existing MRI machines could allow medical professionals to monitor patients more effectively and safely, by performing concurrent medical imaging and recording for diagnostic purposes.

  Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals changes in blood-oxygen levels in different parts of the brain, but the data show nothing about what is actually happening in and between brain cells, information needed to better understand brain circuitry and function.

Brightlamp, a startup out of Purdue University, is developing an app that uses machine learning and the smartphone camera to help diagnose a concussion in about five seconds. Concussions are a type of brain injury that can happen during a collision or impact, causing the affected person to feel dizzy or disoriented. In sports like American Football or boxing, concussions are a common type of injury. Unfortunately, concussions can increase the lik...

A technology developed by Purdue researchers could provide an 'instantly rechargeable' method that is safe, affordable and environmentally friendly for recharging electric and hybrid vehicle batteries through a quick and easy process similar to refuelling a car at a gas station. It could expedite the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by eliminating the time needed to stop and re-charge a conventional electric car's battery and dramatically...

A specialised type of adaptive-optics technology that has been demonstrated by taking high-resolution time-lapse images of functioning brain cells might be used to better understand how the brain works. The system is capable of revealing changing details of biological processes in cells over a larger field of view than otherwise possible, allowing “high throughput” essential for the study of brain activity.

Researchers have shown how to modify commercially available silicon wafers into a structure that efficiently absorbs solar energy and withstands the high temperatures needed for "concentrated solar power" plants that might run up to 24 hours a day. The research advances global efforts to design hybrid systems that combine solar photovoltaic cells, which convert visible and ultraviolet light into electricity, thermoelectric devices that conve...

  Purdue researchers are developing technology that could lead to the early detection of cervical cancer with low-cost, easy-to-use, lateral flow test strips similar to home pregnancy tests.

Purdue University researchers are developing software in a “haptic device” that could give people with visual impairments the ability to identify scientific images on a computer screen using their other senses. Ting Zhang, a graduate student in the Purdue School of Industrial Engineering, is developing a system that involves a specially designed joystick attached to a computer. The joystick controls a cursor.

Doctors may soon be able to detect and monitor a patient's cancer with a simple blood test, reducing or eliminating the need for more invasive procedures, according to Purdue University research. W. Andy Tao, a professor of biochemistry and member of the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research and colleagues identified a series of proteins in blood plasma that, when elevated, signify that the patient has cancer. Their findings were publ...

  A skin-like biomedical technology that uses a mesh of conducting nanowires and a thin layer of elastic polymer might bring electronic bandages that monitor biosignals for medical applications and provide therapeutic stimulation through the skin. The biomedical device mimics the human skin's elastic properties and sensory capabilities.

A Purdue University biochemist has developed a novel method for detecting certain types of proteins that serve as indicators for cancer and other diseases. Glycoproteins are formed when sugars attach to and modify a protein. In some cases, a combination of glycoproteins present in a sample of blood or urine could be an indicator of disease or cancer. But those glycoproteins can be elusive.

Purdue University researchers have developed a way to produce amine-boranes that promises to be safer and cheaper, and could lead to new uses in medicine, energy storage, rocket propulsion and other technologies. P.V. Ramachandran, professor of organic chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, and graduate assistant Ameya S. Kulkarni have discovered a way to produce amine-boranes in an open-air environment using cheaper and more plentiful ch...

Researchers have levitated a tiny nanodiamond particle with a laser in a vacuum chamber, using the technique for the first time to detect and measure its "torsional vibration," an advance that could bring new types of sensors and studies in quantum mechanics. The experiment represents a nanoscale version of the torsion balance used in the classic Cavendish experiment, performed in 1798 by British scientist Henry Cavendish, which determined N...

  An international research team has used a "thermal metamaterial" to control the emission of radiation at high temperatures, an advance that could bring devices able to efficiently harvest waste heat from power plants and factories. Roughly 50 to 60% of the energy generated in coal and oil-based power plants is wasted as heat.

  A team of researchers from Purdue University and the Toyota Research Institute of North America developing a cooling technology for hybrid and electric vehicles is a finalist for the 2016 R&D 100 award. The technology has evolved from work originating in the Purdue-based National Science Foundation Cooling Technologies Research Center.

A concept could bring highly efficient solar power by combining three types of technologies that convert different parts of the light spectrum and also store energy for use after sundown. Combining the technologies could make it possible to harness and store far more of the spectrum of sunlight than is possible using any one of the technologies separately.

A Purdue-based startup is developing molecular modelling simulation software that could help pharmaceutical companies more accurately predict the crystal structure of a drug once produced, helping maintain a consistent drug quality and save costs when developing new drugs. Lyudmila Slipchenko, associate professor in Purdue's Department of Chemistry, and Pradeep Kumar Gurunathan, a graduate student in chemistry, co-founded the company Simplex...

  Purdue University researchers have developed tough, flexible, biodegradable films from cellulose, the main component of plant cell walls. The films could be used for products such as food packaging, agricultural groundcovers, bandages and capsules for medicine or bioactive compounds.