New Hope in Fight Against “Superbug” Infections

Late this year, several U.S. high school and college students died as a result of bacterial infections that were resistant to antibiotics. These “superbugs” survive and thrive in hospitals and patients, and doctors are helpless to fight them with current medications. A biomedical engineer at Boston University (BU) recently discovered a previously unknown chain of events occurring in bacteria when they are fed antibiotics.

The three classes of bactericidal antibiotics used today each target a different bacterial function: inhibiting DNA replication, blocking protein building, or halting construction of cell walls. But, BU research found the three distinct classes more alike than anyone realized, and the commonalities may be the bugs’ downfall.

BU researchers (from left) Michael Kohanski,Carrie Lawrence, Jim Collins, and Dan Dwyer.

In addition to potentially making bacteria more vulnerable to current drugs, this finding may revitalize development of antibiotic drugs sidelined because of narrow differences between therapeutic and toxic doses. Such drugs might reenter the pipeline, if this pathway is exploited to lower the therapeutic dose, making formerly dangerous drugs safer.

For more information on this new pathway, click here.

Storing Power in a Sheet of Paper

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new energy storage device that resembles a sheet of black paper. The nanoengineered battery is lightweight, ultra thin, flexible, and meets design and energy requirements of tomorrow’s gadgets, implantable medical equipment, and transportation vehicles. Along with its ability to function in temperatures up to 300°F and down to 100 below zero, the device is completely integrated and can be printed like paper. Another key feature is the capability to use human blood or sweat to help power the battery.

RPI’s flexible “paper” battery can be rolled,twisted, folded, or cut into a number ofshapes.

The device can be rolled, twisted, folded, or cut into a number of shapes with no loss of mechanical integrity or efficiency. The paper batteries can also be stacked, like a ream of printer paper, to boost the total power output. The components are molecularly attached to each other: the carbon nanotube print is embedded in the paper, and the electrolyte is soaked into the paper. The end result is a device that looks, feels, and weighs the same as paper.

The researchers used ionic liquid, essentially a liquid salt, as the battery’s electrolyte. Ionic liquid contains no water, which means there’s nothing in the batteries to freeze or evaporate.

Along with small handheld electronics, the paper batteries’ light weight could make them ideal for use in automobiles, aircraft, and boats. The paper also could be molded into different shapes, such as a car door. Paper is biocompatible, so the hybrid battery/supercapacitors have potential as power supplies for devices implanted in the body. The team printed paper batteries without adding any electrolytes, and demonstrated that naturally occurring electrolytes in human sweat, blood, and urine can be used to activate the battery device.

The team has filed a patent protecting the invention, and is working on ways to boost the efficiency of the batteries and supercapacitors.

For more information on the paper batteries, click here.