REPU MAGAZINE N 3
2017 REPU Research Projects
2017
nanoREPU
Ricardo Gonzales - Yale University
Reed Laboratory, USA
Currently, one third of the world's population suffers from tuberculosis,
being considered one of the deadliest diseases in the world. With current
technology, detection of this infection requires at least 3 days with cell
culture techniques. With dielectrophoretic (DEP) separation of bacterial
cells in a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) application, a project being developed by
the Reed Lab, it is possible to accomplish this detection task in only 30
minutes. This electronic phenomenon (DEP) depends strongly on the
electrical and physical properties of the cells to be analyzed, the fluid to
be injected in the microchannel, and the frequency of the electric field.
Once the targeted cells are instantly separated from the red blood cells,
an electrical quantification is made through a cell counter, which gives the
detection result. During the internship, Ricardo worked on this project, led
by Shari Yosinski, in which he was able to design new fabrication
methods, to test its microfluidic properties and to operate the cell counter.
REPU - Physics
Álvaro Chupillón - McMaster University
Buijs Laboratory, Canada
Fission reaction is the process in which could generate a great deal of
energy by splitting of heavy atoms into others particles. This reaction is
the main process on nuclear reactors to obtain enough energy for
electricity. In addition, there are not only nuclear reactors for the
generation of electricity but also it is used for research.
On the field of research nuclear reactors, we can find many applications
as neutron radiography for photographing the interior structure of solid
objects, production of radioisotopes, neutron irradiation, etc.
During the internship, Alvaro participated in a research project in which
the goal was to characterized the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) . In
order to do that, he simulated the cycles during the rector was activated
generating the results of the actual amount of uranium and plutonium in
each cycle.
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