• Question: do you use nanomachines or nanotech

    Asked by 215artc28 to Andrew, Lizzie, Nick, Sonia on 13 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 13 Jun 2015:

      No were not quite down to tha level yet. The cochlear comprise of 2.5 turns and 30mm long and around 12mm in diameter. the job of the surgeons to to find this organ and then to inster an electrode 0.9mm in diameter and 25-30 mm long. Consisting of between 12-22 electrodes, all these electrode arrays are currently constucted by hand!

      There are experiments to make electrode where micro machining techniques are being used manufacture smaller electrode arrays.

    • Photo: Andrew Phillips

      Andrew Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2015:

      My research groups works down to the microscale (at micro-metres) but we haven’t yet gone down to the nanoscale. All sorts of things change at the nanoscale, including the mechanics. If you are able to span between the nano and microscale then you will be very sought after!

    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 14 Jun 2015:

      Since I work with cells things can go down to the nanoscale – for example we use antibodies that specifically tag a protein we are interested in which contains a fluorescent tag that can be imaged using microscopes.
      My final undergraduate project involves using silica nano nanoparticles to encapsulate ibuprofen to investigate using it within biodegradable wound dressings for chronic wounds and ulcers. The wound dressings I made consisted of small fibres that can have nano or micro diameters.

    • Photo: Nicholas Hitchins

      Nicholas Hitchins answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      No, I haven’t worked on anything quite that small yet. I tend to work on products that are in the visable scale as most of the products that I work on are used by patients or surgeons. We do occasionally work on products for treatments such as cancer treatment which would utalise biological elements that would be on the nano or micro scale, however we don’t normally get involved in the biological side of it, we normally work on delivering the treatment to the patient in a safe and controlled maner.

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