Janice Kiely

An Inexpensive, Fast and Sensitive Quantitative Lateral Flow Magneto-Immunoassay for Total Prostate Specific Antigen

We describe the detection characteristics of a device the Resonant Coil Magnetometer (RCM) to quantify paramagnetic particles (PMPs) in immunochromatographic (lateral flow) assays. Lateral flow assays were developed using PMPs for the measurement of total prostate specific antigen (PSA) in serum samples. A detection limit of 0.8 ng/mL was achieved for total PSA using the RCM and is at clinically significant concentrations. Comparison of data obtained in a pilot study from the analysis of serum samples with commercially available immunoassays shows good agreement. The development of a quantitative magneto-immunoassay in lateral flow format for total PSA suggests the potential of the RCM to operate with many immunoassay formats. The RCM has the potential to be modified to quantify multiple analytes in this format. This research shows promise for the development of an inexpensive device capable of quantifying multiple analytes at the point-of-care using a magneto-immunoassay in lateral flow format.

Prokaryotic Bio-Inspired System

This paper presents a novel bio-inspired artificial system that is based on biological prokaryotic organisms and their artificial model, and proposes a new type of fault tolerant, self-healing architecture. The system comprises of a sea of bio-inspired cells, arranged in a rectangular array with a topology that is similar to that employed by FPGAs. A key feature of the array is its high level of fault tolerance, achieved with only minimal amount of hardware overhead. Inspired by similar biological processes, the technique is based on direct-correlated redundancy, where the redundant (stand-by) configuration bits, as extrinsic experience, are shared between blocks and cells of a colony in the artificial system. Bio-inspired array implementation is particularly advantageous in applications where the system is subject to extreme environmental conditions such as temperature, radiation, SEU (Single Event Upset) etc. and where fault tolerance is of particular importance.

Novel immunoassay technique for rapid measurement of intracellular proteins using paramagnetic particles.

Magnetic immunoassays have been shown to have similar detection limits to conventional immunoassays, with the advantage of reduced total assay time. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that an integrated lysis and measurement system could be used to quantitatively measure intracellular target molecules using prostate specific antigen as a model analyte. The system described utilises the inherent physical properties of paramagnetic particles for both cell lysis and antigen quantification in the same vessel. This is achieved using ultrasound to energise paramagnetic particles to lyse cells combined with a magnetic immunoassay to measure intracellular protein, synthesised within the cells. Antibody coated paramagnetic particles were energised using pulses of ultrasound energy to penetrate and lyse cells and capture intracellular protein on the particle surface. The particles were drawn to an antibody coated sensor surface, in an applied magnetic field, which bound to captured analyte on the paramagnetic particle. The number of immobilised particles on the sensor surface is quantified by a resonant coil magnetometer. The total assay time was reduced to less than 15min. To demonstrate the utility of the system a model assay for intracellular prostate specific antigen was developed to show that the assay could detect differences in the amount of intracellular protein. This was achieved by exposing LNCaP cells to increasing concentrations of testosterone, which causes an increase in prostate specific antigen production. The rapid intracellular assay was able to demonstrate increasing amounts of intracellular prostate specific antigen resulting from increasing testosterone exposure. The technology could be used to develop rapid diagnostic tests for intracellular biomarkers that are difficult to detect in normal serum samples, for example viral proteins and intracellular cancer proteins.

Hilbert Huang transform impedance measurement data for cellular toxicity monitoring

This paper investigates the Hilbert-Huang transformation (HHT), which is adaptive analysis of non-linear and non-stationary signals. The aim of this study is to apply HHT to impedance measurement data analysis in order to discriminate different types of cells and monitor cellular response to toxicity. This study examines two types of cells- i.e. ECV304, Caco-2 grown in culture plates and one toxin DMSO effects on ECV304 cells. The results are monitored over time, which show the changes associated with the cell growth. HHT marginal spectrum provides a measure of energy in the whole frequency range varies with the different types of cells as well as the concentration of toxin. This method could extract the characteristics information of the impedance measurement data effectively, and is useful for monitoring the cell changes associated with applied physiological factors such as different signals.

A cell based voronoi roadmap for motion planning of articulated robots using movement primitives

The manufacturing industry today is still focused on the maximization of production. A possible development able to support the global achievement of this goal is the implementation of a new support system for trajectory-planning, specific for industrial robots. This paper describes the trajectory-planning algorithm, able to generate trajectories manageable by human operators, consisting of linear and circular movement primitives. First, the world model and a topology preserving roadmap are stored in a probabilistic occupancy octree by applying a cell extension based algorithm. Successively, the roadmap is constructed within the free reachable joint space maximizing the clearance to the obstacles. A search algorithm is applied on robot configuration positions within the roadmap to identify a path avoiding static obstacles. Finally, the resulting path is converted through an elastic net algorithm into a robot trajectory, which consists of canonical ordered linear and circular movement primitives. The algorithm is demonstrated in a real industrial manipulator context.

A robot manipulator communications and control framework

The use of industrial scale experimental machinery robot systems such as the Mitsubishi RV-2AJ manipulator in research to experimentally prove new theories is a great opportunity. The robot manipulator communications and control framework written in Java simplifies the use of Mitsubishi robot manipulators and provides communication between a personal computer and the robot. Connecting a personal computer leads to different communication modes each with specific properties, explained in detail. Integration of the framework for scientific use is shown in conjunction with a graphical user-interface and within Simulink as a Simulink block. An example application for assisted robot program generation is described.

The Dual Role of Paramagnetic Particles for Integrated Lysis and Measurement in a Rapid Immunoassay for Intracellular Proteins

A novel, integrated lysis and immunoassay methodology and system for intracellular protein measurement are described. The method uses paramagnetic particles both as a lysis agent and assay label resulting in a rapid test requiring minimal operator intervention, the test being homogeneous and completed in less than 10 min. A design study highlights the critical features of the magnetic detection system used to quantify the paramagnetic particles and a novel frequency-locked loop-based magnetometer is presented. A study of paramagnetic particle enhanced lysis demonstrates that the technique is more than twice as efficient at releasing intracellular protein as ultrasonic lysis alone. Results are presented for measurements of intracellular prostate specific antigen in an LNCAP cell line. This model was selected to demonstrate the rapidity and efficiency of intracellular protein quantification. It was shown that, on average, LNCAP cells contained 0.43 fg of prostate specific antigen. This system promises an attractive solution for applications that require a rapid determination of intracellular proteins.

Novel Embryonic Array with Neural Network Characteristics

This paper introduces a novel design approach for embryonic arrays that is able to employ all three axial characteristics of living beings: phytogeny, ontogeny, and epigenesis. Rather than using multiplexer based binary decision diagrams (BDD) it utilizes the K/N digital neurons to define the functionality of the cells. A special neural network design technique that uses Voronoi diagram (VoD) will be employed that enables neural network array-like configuration of embryonic arrays. Additionally, learning ability, geometrical extraction of genome, gate level configuration, large number of minterm and sum of products (SOP) generation for its constituent cells are some of the other advantages of the technique.

Estimation of the dynamic leakage current of a supercapacitor in energy harvesting powered autonomous wireless sensor nodes

The supercapacitor is a candidate energy storage component for energy harvesting powered autonomous wireless sensor node aiming to achieve battery replacement-free, “fit and forget” sensor node in low-power IoT applications. The leakage current of the supercapacitor provided by the manufacturer is tested long after post-charge, raising a concern relating to the uncertainty of the dynamic leakage current in the IoT applications where the supercapacitor frequently charges and discharges. This paper investigates the charge redistribution process which causes an equivalent capacitance change of the supercapacitor in a full IoT measurement period, and then proposes an experiment design to measure the dynamic leakage current of a supercapacitor for an IoT application. The results showed that the charge redistribution process is completed long before the end of the sleep period due to the low ratio of the amount of discharge in an active period to the total amount of charge the supercapacitor holds. It also showed that the average dynamic leakage current in an entire measurement period corresponds to the value provided by the manufacturer, indicating that leakage current is not an issue when supercapacitors is used for low-power IoT applications.