ScienceDaily: Engineering and Construction News

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• Viewing cancer on the move: New device yields close-up look at metastasis
• High-intensity sound waves may aid regenerative medicine
• Making lab-grown tissues stronger
• Active, biodegradable packaging for oily products
• 'Nanomotor lithography' answers call for affordable, simpler device manufacturing
• Economical process for micro energy harvesting
• Boosting biogasoline production in microbes

Viewing cancer on the move: New device yields close-up look at metastasis Posted: 31 Oct 2014 09:04 AM PDT Rngineers have invented a lab device to give cancer researchers an unprecedented microscopic look at metastasis, the complex way that tumor cells spread through the body, causing more than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths.

High-intensity sound waves may aid regenerative medicine Posted: 30 Oct 2014 11:19 AM PDT Researchers have developed a way to use sound to create cellular scaffolding for tissue engineering, a unique approach that could help overcome one of regenerative medicine's significant obstacles.

Making lab-grown tissues stronger Posted: 30 Oct 2014 10:35 AM PDT Lab-grown tissues could one day provide new treatments for injuries and damage to the joints, including articular cartilage, tendons and ligaments. Cartilage, for example, is a hard material that caps the ends of bones and allows joints to work smoothly. Biomedical engineers are exploring ways to toughen up engineered cartilage and keep natural tissues strong outside the body.

Active, biodegradable packaging for oily products Posted: 30 Oct 2014 08:48 AM PDT The increase in the presence of plastic in our lives is an unstoppable trend due to the versatility of this material. So innovation in the packaging industry has been focusing on the development of new, more sustainable, economically viable materials with enhanced properties and which also perform the functions required by this sector: to contain, protect and preserve the product, to inform the consumer about it and to facilitate the distribution of it. Now, a single-layer, biodegradable container from agro-industrial by-products suitable for both liquid and solid oily products has been developed by researchers.

'Nanomotor lithography' answers call for affordable, simpler device manufacturing Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:16 AM PDT What does it take to fabricate electronic and medical devices tinier than a fraction of a human hair? Nanoengineers recently invented a new method of lithography in which nanoscale robots swim over the surface of light-sensitive material to create complex surface patterns that form the sensors and electronics components on nanoscale devices.

Economical process for micro energy harvesting Posted: 30 Oct 2014 07:07 AM PDT The trend toward energy self-sufficient probes and ever smaller mobile electronics systems continues unabated. They are used, for example, to monitor the status of the engines on airplanes, or for medical implants. They gather the energy they need for this from their immediate environment - from vibrations, for instance. Researchers have now developed a process for the economical production of piezoelectric materials.

Boosting biogasoline production in microbes Posted: 27 Oct 2014 11:48 AM PDT Microbial genes that can improve both the tolerance and the production of biogasoline in engineered strains of E. coli have been identified by researchers. "Our study demonstrates that microbial tolerance engineering using transcriptomics data can be used to identify target genes that improve fuel production," says the lead researcher. "Our targets include a regulator for amino acid biosynthesis, and an ABC transporter protein, the first native transporter that improves tolerance to a short-chain alcohol."

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