Organ engineering: Possibilities and challenges ahead

Tetsushi Taguchi of the International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) in Japan gives a comprehensive overview of the key technologies and materials required for the regeneration of organs. This review emphasizes the importance of the development of methods for the assembly and adhesion between individual cells and/or vesicles for in vitro regeneration of organs.

European collaboration towards efficient, low-cost tandem organic solar cells

Imec and its 16 project partners have announced that they have launched the European FP7 project X10D, a project aimed at developing tandem organic solar cells with an increased conversion efficiency and lifetime, and a decreased production cost. The ultimate goal of the X10D project is to bring organic photovoltaic technologies (OPV) towards introduction into the competitive thin-film PV market.

Lipid monolayers herald a new class of ultrathin dielectric

Lipids are the main component of the outermost membrane of cells. Their role is to seperate the inner and outer media of the cell and prevent any ionic current between these two media. Because of this last property, lipid layers can be thought of as good ultra-thin insulators that could be used in the development of electronic devices. So far though, because of their inherent instability in air, their use in advanced processes has been limited. This might change, though, since researchers in France have shown the possibility to stabilize by polymerization a lipid monolayer with a thickness of 2.7 nm directly at the surface of H-terminated silicon surface therefore opening a whole new world of possibilities of the use of these layers. Now, they reported the electrical performance of stabilized lipid monolayers on H-terminated silicon.

Carbon nanostructures for easier detection of Parkinson’s disease

Dopamine deficiency is indicative of serious diseases of the nervous system. Tests of dopamine concentration are expensive and require specialised equipment that is unavailable in doctors' offices. New electrodes coated with carbon nanoparticles deposited on silicate submicroparticles allow to detect dopamine in solutions easily and at low cost, even in the presence of interferences.