Tag Archives: Michigan State University (MSU)

Protecting the brain and internal organs with nanofoam

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A March 11, 2025 news item on phys.org announces research on protective sports (and other) equipment, Note: Links have been removed,

Researchers at Michigan State University have refined an innovation that has the potential to improve safety, reduce severe injury and increase survival rates in situations ranging from car accidents, sports, law enforcement operations and more.

In 2020 and 2022, Weiyi Lu, an associate professor in MSU’s College of Engineering, developed a liquid nanofoam material made up of tiny holes surrounded by water that has been shown to protect the brain against traumatic injuries when used as a liner in football helmets. Now, MSU engineers and scientists have improved this technology to shield vital internal organs as well.

Falls, motor vehicle crashes and other kinds of collisions can cause blunt force trauma and damage to bodily organs that can lead to life-threatening emergencies. These injuries are often the result of intense mechanical force or pressure that doesn’t penetrate the body like a cut, but causes serious damage to the body’s organs, including internal lacerations, ruptures, bleeding and organ failure.

Lu and Yun Liang, an assistant professor in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, have teamed up to see how the liquid nanofoam could protect internal organs in the event of blunt force trauma. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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A March 11, 2025 Michigan State University (MSU) news release by Emilie Lorditch, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the work,

We improved the liquid nanofoam by adjusting its protective response to match biological organs,” said Lu. “Then, we sealed the liquid nanofoam material inside a plastic pouch about the size of a quarter and made the new protection layer flexible and moldable enough to be worn comfortably against the body.”

To test the capabilities of Lu’s liquid nanofoam, the pouch was used as a protective cover and laid over a tissue sample and compressed by a machine with enough force to mimic a blunt force trauma event.

“For the first time, we are trying to understand how trauma is introduced by mechanical force and effectively mitigated it by using liquid nanofoam,” said Liang. “We are trying to understand the force needed to damage an internal organ, which will be then converted into the future design criteria for protective materials.”

Lu and Liang found that the liquid nanofoam could withstand the mechanical force equal to a blunt force trauma without damaging biological tissue. Liang and her team demonstrated that the liquid nanofoam protected multiple biological tissues, including the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs, from forces and pressures equal to blunt force trauma injuries.

“I could see with my eyes that there’s literally no damage,” said Liang. “I was totally amazed.”

Future applications of the liquid nanofoam could include using it as a protective layer inside an automobile’s framework, to line the walls of an earthquake-proof room or to wear it close to the body as a protective vest that could have multiple applications to save lives and prevent tissue and organ damage from blunt force trauma events.

Here`s a citation and a link to the paper,

Effective protection of biological tissues from severe blunt force injury by engineered nanoscale liquid flow by Fuming Yang, Runqi Zhu, Anqi Zheng, Runsheng An, Weiyi Lu & Yun Liang. Scientific Reports volume 14, Article number: 28947 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80490-3 Published: 22 November 2024

This paper is open access.

Research on how the body will react to nanomedicines is inconsistent

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This is a good general introductory video to nano gold but I have two caveats. It’s very ‘hypey’ (as in hyperbolic) and, as of 2023, it’s eight years old. The information still looks pretty good (after all it was produced by Nature magazine) but should you be watching this five years from now, the situation may have changed. (h/t January 5, 2023 news item on Nanowerk)

The video, which includes information about how nano gold can be used to deliver nanomedicines, is embedded in Morteza Mahmoudi’s (Assistant Professor of Radiology, Michigan State University) January 5, 2023 essay on The Conversation about a lack of research on how the body reacts to nanomedicines, Note: Links have been removed,

Nanomedicines took the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers are using these very small and intricate materials to develop diagnostic tests and treatments. Nanomedicine is already used for various diseases, such as the COVID-19 vaccines and therapies for cardiovascular disease. The “nano” refers to the use of particles that are only a few hundred nanometers in size, which is significantly smaller than the width of a human hair.

Although researchers have developed several methods to improve the reliability of nanotechnologies, the field still faces one major roadblock: a lack of a standardized way to analyze biological identity, or how the body will react to nanomedicines. This is essential information in evaluating how effective and safe new treatments are.

I’m a researcher studying overlooked factors in nanomedicine development. In our recently published research, my colleagues and I found that analyses of biological identity are highly inconsistent across proteomics facilities that specialize in studying proteins.

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Nanoparticles (white disks) can be used to deliver treatment to cells (blue). (Image: Brenda Melendez and Rita Serda, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, CC BY-NC) [downloaded from https://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news2/newsid=62097.php]

Mahmoudi’s January 5, 2023 essay describes testing a group of laboratories’ analyses of samples he and his team submitted to them (Note: Links have been removed),

We wanted to test how consistently these proteomics facilities analyzed protein corona samples. To do this, my colleagues and I sent biologically identical protein coronas to 17 different labs in the U.S. for analysis.

We had striking results: Less than 2% of the proteins the labs identified were the same.

Our results reveal an extreme lack of consistency in the analyses researchers use to understand how nanomedicines work in the body. This may pose a significant challenge not only to ensuring the accuracy of diagnostics, but also the effectiveness and safety of treatments based on nanomedicines.

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… my team and I have identified several critical but often overlooked factors that can influence the performance of a nanomedicine, such as a person’s sex, prior medical conditions and disease type. …

Mahmoudi is pointing out that it’s very early days for nanomedicines and there’s a lot of work still be done.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper Mahmoudi and his team had published on this topic,

Measurements of heterogeneity in proteomics analysis of the nanoparticle protein corona across core facilities by Ali Akbar Ashkarran, Hassan Gharibi, Elizabeth Voke, Markita P. Landry, Amir Ata Saei & Morteza Mahmoudi. Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 6610 (2022) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34438-8 Published 03 November 2022

This paper is open access.

Call for works for a virtual October 2020 ‘Catalyst: A Sci-Art Exhibition’ (Michigan State University)

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McKenzie Prillaman both profiles a 2019 sci-art exhibit at Michigan State University (MSU) and publicizes a ‘call for submissions’ for the 2020 edition in a July 10, 2020 posting on artthescience.com (Note: Links have been removed),

The Exploring Life Through SciArt exhibition united the science and art communities of East Lansing, Michigan. Organized by the Michigan State University Science Communication Organization (MSU SciComm) in 2019, this exhibition featured original science-art collaborations created by university science students and local artists.

The artworks, which were exhibited on MSU’s campus from October 2019 to March 2020 then donated to various locations around the city, are now on display in Art the Science’s Polyfield Digital Art Gallery. 

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Fine art photographer Jane Kramer helped plant biology student Emily Jennings share her research on chloroplasts, the structures in plants that convert light energy into plant food. Together, they created the work Micrometer by Micrometer, which showcases the size variation in chloroplasts. Jennings’ research examines how chloroplast size impacts the amount of food a plant can produce.

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This initiative taught the photographer that participation in sci-art projects didn’t always mean she needed to be behind the camera. “I lent my skills in conceptualizing how to best present Emily’s work in a way that engages and excites the public,” Kramer says. “It was important for me to incorporate her passion for this research into the final piece and bring her message to light.”

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Micrometer by Micrometer (2019) by Emily Jennings and Jane Kramer, 6” x 9”, image capture on acrylic

You can see all 18 artist or artist/scientist pairings for a digital exhibit of the work here at the online Polyfield Digital Art Gallery.

The ‘call for submissions’ is an ‘application’ according to the organizers (from the MSU SciComm ‘Catalyst: A Sci-Art Exhibition’ application webpage),

MSU SciComm 2020 Sci-Art Application

This form is meant to provide us with a more detailed picture of your project. Additionally, information provided on this form will help us get you the resources needed for your project’s success. Thank you and happy planning! The theme for this year’s exhibit is Catalyst: A SciArt Exhibit

Due Date: July 31st at 11:59pm

-Noelia Barvo (MSU SciComm SciArt Chair)

Please email questions at msuscicomm.sciart@gmail.com

There are two questions on the form:

Question 1: Please list a short description of yourself including name, background/affiliation, and degree (completed/in progress) as you’d like it to appear online.

Question 2: Are you an MSU student?

YesNo

Should you be concerned that you’re not a student or member of the MSU community, there’s this from Prillaman’s July 10, 2020 posting,

Applications are now open for MSU SciComm’s next exhibition, Catalyst: A Sci-Art Exhibition, scheduled to open virtually in October 2020. The organization hopes to keep growing and work with international artists [emphases mine] to continue making an impact through the beauty of science-art.

Fro the curious, here’s a brief description of the MSU SciComm’s mission on their organization’s homepage (scroll down),

MSU SciComm is a student-run organization that focuses primarily on promoting awareness of science communication across the various disciplines at Michigan State University. We focus on science writing, speaking, art, policy, & outreach.

Our mission is to empower students and young professionals to communicate complex scientific topics in clear and engaging ways. 

Good luck with your submission/application!