BioTechMedical

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The Person Behind the Pills Page 20

The Man of Life and Limb Inside the MRI Machine Page 16

The truth about your medications

Page 10

How The Nanomoter will Revolutionize the World Page 4 The Cutting Edge of Page 24 3D Bioprinting

Table of Contents pg 4 pg 16

A Small Motor with a Large Difference Diagram fromwww.metexas.edu

Medical Robots

pg 9 The life of a Pharmacist Marsha A. Green

pg 24

Putting the “Organ” in Organoid

It’s a Life, Not a Limb

pg 20 1

Diagram from Midlands Prosthetics and Orthotics

MEET THE AUTHORS

Rameen, a self-proclaimed dork, spends her time reading and on her laptop with a Starbucks frappucino in hand. When she doesn’t have her nose stuck in a book, she hangs out with her two younger siblings and her older four siblings. Her passion for learning world languages has already taken a stretch, knowing six different languages already: Urdu, Arabic, Afhgani, Punjabi, Irani, and English.She plans to learn French, Latin, and German in the future.

In her free time, she does photography.

Rameen’s passion for learning is strong, especially when it comes to science and in specific, the human body. Being raised in a family of doctors, Rameen plans to become a cardiologist or a pediatrician in the future. Occasionally, she takes a trip to her sister’s hospital in London and her career dream becomes stronger every time.

People often confuse him for the sexiest horse alive. His name... is Jesús. He is in the bro army and never gets tired of being a part of it. His activities are doing things such as being a potato, playing video games, and hanging out with his horse friends. He hopes to one day go to Japan so he can enjoy the food, the food, and the toilets. He likes to use computers a lot, and uses any means of technology whenever he has time to. He likes to eat potatoes a lot and has his own potato pet, his name is Rick Astley. He enjoys listening to various different types of music, ranging from the magical dubstep from the deepest place in earth, to classical music from the heavens. It’s been fourteen years since his heroic escape from his mother’s womb, and he is still making heroic stuff to this day, like cleaning his room. He likes playing the violin and is interested in learning other instruments in the future.

John Hardin is an avid fan of reading and sports. He spends the time that he doesn’t have but still doesn’t do what he is supposed to be doing outside throwing the baseball,playing some ultimate frisbee, or trying to score at least one goal in soccer. He likes to go out and do anything that has a thrill factor, such as motocross or gliding, or just you know, being himself/stupid. John works at the Austin Sailboat Rentals as a Counselor In Training/Staff Member that doesn’t actually do anything but sit around all day eating potato chips. He thinks he can play the piano and is trying hard to at least remember the name of a song he’s trying to learn. He often crashes on the couch in order to watch several seasons of a TV show at a time. Yep he’s one of those guys, might wanna reconsider ladies. His favorite subject is science because it is very direct and makes more sense than his couch sitting abilities. He has two dogs and two horses that aren’t all that great, but still pretty cool...

Sten Evans is of a quarter German and an eighth Swedish, and some other percentage unknown to everyone. Sten is stone in Swedish, and was almost named Sven, meaning swan instead, but a last second decision changed it. Despite a slight allergy that causes tears, he is an avid cat lover, owning two cats of his own and fosters kittens from the Austin animal shelter. Not much of a morning person, he slurs his speech and he is often told that he looks and sounds stoned. He dabs in the affairs of geek culture, and plays video games in most of his free time.

His favorite movie is, in fact, the LEGO Movie (that was some beautiful stuff ), and is a fan of Disney movies. Sten is not fond of writing, as he thinks that everything he writes is trash, much like he thinks of his own article. Much like his speech, the article doesn’t flow and feels like it is changing subject almost instantly. The one who introduced the idea of biotechnology was Sten, having almost written a paper about 3D printers last year and watched a show on new sciences and 3D bioprinters was part of it. Do note, he is not a hard worker when it comes to casual stuff like this. Most of this article is just Sten putting up random facts about himself to waste space.

Andrew Hall is a human who currently lives in Texas. He is a person who likes science but he doesn’t actually like biotechnology or medical science. He though had the best subject to write about so he is still pretty happy about the magazine. Andrew knows how to do a rubik’s cube. His favorite book series is The Lord of the Rings. He is part German and Polish.

He dsoesn’t really have a favorite movie. He doesnt like writing an autobiography of himself so he will hopefully keep his the shortest one out of evrybody who wrote a stunning article in this magazine which was hopefully everybody and he thinks everybody did.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Photo by: Iram M. Sultan

Dear Reader,

Thank you for picking up BioTech Medical! We hope you enjoy reading our magazine just as much as we did making it.

My passion for science has always been strong but I didn’t realize how strong it was until I started creating this magazine. I found myself researching further and found out many things that I didn’t know about.

When the five of us were grouped together to make the first issue of BioTech Medical, things got awkward really fast. No one really knew each other and we just kind of stared at each other for about five minutes. I didn’t really know anyone in my group and I think that’s what upset me the most at the time. When we presented our ideas to our boss, Jesus had put my name as “that Juan girl.” In retaliation, I wrote his name as “Juice.” I think thats what started our friendship and then I got to know everyone through Jesus. But after spending six weeks preparing this magazine, the mutual awkwardness has definitely lessened significantly.

Going through these interviews was an experience for all of us. From the day we drafted the stories to the day the final magazine was produced, we all enjoyed and learned something from this experience. Not only did our passion for science strengthen, we also bonded as a team.

We were proud of something we never thought we could have been capable of.

So, in conclusion, thank you for picking up the first and only issue of BioTech Medical.

Editor of BioTech Medical, 3

Nanomotor picture from http://www.techietonics.com/ created by a person at UT

A Small Motor With a Large Change

by:

Andrew Hall

F

ive hundred times smaller that a grain of salt and faster than a jet engine, this tiny motor could save your life.

In May of 2014, University of Texas at Austin researchers announced that they had developed the world’s smallest, fastest, and longest running nanomotor.

This nanomotor might revolutionize how diseases such as cancer are fought. This motor could power a nanobot so tiny that it can enter the bloodstream and it’s strong enough to fight individual diseased cells.

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Definitions A hinderance in the process of something.

Definitions

A form of technoogy that is built by moving individual atoms and building it on a molecular scale.

Nanotechnology Bottleneck Chemicals that can degrade organisms or any living thing.

Making or creating

Fabrication

Toxins A measurement that is equivanent to one millionth of a meter.

Moving chemicals through the body in order to cure a disease.

Chemotherapy

This is a revolution in nanotechnology. Previous motors have been made but they were not as small as this one. Also the previous motors only had a small fraction of rotation speed and only rotated for a few minutes.

The nanomotor could fight diseases in the body and power small nanomachines that could do all sorts of jobs. For example, the motor could travel through the bloodstream and spray toxins at cancer cells. It also could deliver drugs such as antibiot-

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Micrometer

ics to infected cells or power larger nanodevices.

Many UT researchers worked to create the device. The head of the research lab is Donglei Fan, Ph.D,an assistant professor in Department of Mechanical Engineering at The UT. Three graduate students were key in its creation, including Kwanoh Kim. Kim and the other researchers at a UT Cockerell School of Engineering lab made the nanomotor by building on previous research.

Kwanoh Kim, graduate student

“The rotating mechanisms are from my advisor’s previous research,” Kim said.

Kim’s advisor, Donglei Fan, invented a method to assemble the nanomotor called “electric,” tweezers which was a fast and easy way to put the motor together. “ [We] rotate chemical particles suspended in water or liquid medium so from that all we did was assemble

them and to fix their position.” Kim

said.

With some parts of the device already developed, the researchers were able to focus on the finer details of the motor such as how it would spray chemicals.

Researchers also wanted to simplify the process of building the nanomotor smaller than one micrometer.

“There was a bottleneck in the fabrication of the nanomotor, and the process was too complicated, and so researchers wanted to improve the fabricating process,” according to Kim. Building the nanomotor involved several delicate steps that resulted in a device 500 times smaller than a grain of salt.

The nanowires are chemically fabricated as rotors and magnetic bases work like a bearing structure so by putting them together it is a rotating motor, according to Kim.

Kim and his fellow researchers built the nanomotor for speed and endurance.

The nanomotor runs and moves by a rotor spinning around. There are two magnets that interact and their forces swing the rotor as fast as a jet engine.The nanomotor was powered by using an alternating electric field between the magnet in the rotor and the magnet in the base.

This motor has a unique assembly.

It only takes about 10 seconds to assemble one motor. Also, the parts of the motor just snap together so not much manual labor is needed.

When fully developed and tested,

this nanomotor would work in a unique way. The motor could be injected into the bloodstream and travel throughout the body spraying cells with chemicals coated on the nano-rotors. The speed of the rotor could be adjusted so that it sprayed chemicals at different rates.

This could help patients because the amount sprayed could vary by how much the cells were affected.

This nanomotor would be an improvement on todays methods of fighting diseases. Today when cancer is combated with chemotherapy, chemicals are sent throughout the entire body. This can damage healthy cells and not just the cancer.

“This is also an optimal use for the human body,” Kim said .

These motors also could destroy viruses by eliminating infected cells.

A diagram of the nanomotor showing all of the elements used to create the motor and how the motor works.Diagram fromwww.metexas.edu, created by a person at UT

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Since there is no cure for viruses, this would be a giant leap in the medical field.

Even though the nanomotor developed by Kim and his fellow researchers was a big improvement over previous mechanisms, there is still work to be done.

“We want to overcome the friction issue,” Kim said.

A scene of equiptment from the lab where the nanomotor was made.

Photo taken bu Andrew Hall

The friction problem occurs when the rotor turns on top of a layer of gold. The layer of gold slows down the motor due to friction. That is why the motor does not run longer.

It will still be a long time until the nanomotor is used in everyday life.

“We would still have to go a long way for the practical applications,” Kim said.

We will first use these on cells and

then go to bigger organisms, he summarized This nanomotor could pave the way for other nanodevices too such as the lab on a chip. The nanomotor could power this lab. This would be essentially a tiny lab that could be put onto the human body. This lab could analyze things like blood samples and how healthy cells are.

After testing on cells, the nanomotor will be tested on animals and down the road, it will be used in humans to cure many diseases. One day, this tiny, fast, and revolutionary motor might just save your life.

Chart describing the nanomotors. This chart was outside of the lab where the nanomotors were crerated. Photo taken by Andrew Hall

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Blancman Atom Shippers

The finest atoms shipped across the country and right to your home or lab.

The Life Of A Pharmacist Take an inside look on what a pharmacy is actually made up of.

By Rameen Haroon, July 17th, 2014, Editor for BioTech Medical

T

he handwriting is barely legible, the phone’s constant buzzing in her ear, and the amount of medications to deliver are insane. The counter is crowded with screaming patients, bellowing her name for their orders. But Stacey Rahe loves her job.

Stacey Rahe, Walgreens Pharmacy Manager, graduate from University of Texas Photo By Rameen Haroon

Stacey Rahe is a pharmacist who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Doctor of Pharmacy. When she saw the pharmacy industry, she didn’t think much about it.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to be until my mom suggested being a pharmacist. It was unusual but when I researched further into it. Pharmacy held many aspects that could help: I could learn to interact with people, learn more about the human body, and help people get better,” Rahe said. “Becoming a pharmacist was

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the best decision I have ever made.”

A pharmacy is a store where drugs are sold and dispensed. Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy assistants all have specialised roles in pharmacy. Pharmacists require a university degree and practical training whereas pharmacy technicians and assistants can either train on the job and earn whilst gaining their qualifications, or gain a qualification through full time study in a variety of settings.

FIND A JOB!

An overview of the UT campus. Photo by: Ricardo B. Brazziel

The University of Texas at Austin offers a career in Pharmacy. Rahe explains the requirements you must meet to get into pharmacy school.

“ You have to meet the undergraduate requirements of a pharmacy school you want to get accepted into. At that point, you take a test called the PCAT. Your score on this preliminary test, plus your grades and application are sent into the pharmacy schools of your choice. I believe the majority of pharmacy school programs are four years, but I think that some of them have accelerated plans. Curriculum differs between pharmacy schools. You do not have to have a degree before entering pharmacy school, but you have to meet the prerequisite requirements to be accepted into a pharmacy school.”

Stacey explains the general steps that lead to any pharmacy school.

“Graduate high school. Focus on the major science classes such as biology and physics. Graduate with good grades and you’re good. Earn a Bachelor of Science degree (BS). This degree is an undergraduate academic award for completed courses that lasts three to five years. Take the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test). The PCAT usually deciphers whether or not you get into Pharmacy School. Get a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from an accredited pharmacy school. Get a license. A license is required to obtain a license so you can practice pharmacy in the United States. And last but not least, find a job!”*

James Rotonoff (Article), Chicago Times, New York Times

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WHAT IS A PHARMACIST?

A pharmacist is the person who is in charge of making and distributing the medicine to aid physicians, dentists, and other kinds of doctors. Once a doctor prescribes a medicine to a patient, the patient then takes the prescription to a pharmacy and the pharmacist makes it.

“We interpret prescriptions – reading doctor’s handwriting and determining if the prescription makes sense based on what we know about the patient, the other medications they’re taking, their age and dosing guidelines. We look at their history and check for interactions between medications, duplications of therapy and any other possible problems that we can identify,” Rahe said. “We’re in contact with doctors throughout the day clarifying prescriptions or suggesting changes if we see problems. Unfortunately, we end up spending a lot of time calling insurance companies in an attempt to clear up insurance problems for patients. A large part of our job is just being problem solvers. Since I am in the retail sector, a large part of my job is also customer service.”

Pharmacists are like the bridge between medicine and doctors. In fact, there are some pharmacists who actually research further into drugs and try to make new and improved medicine.

“In particular, I only sell the medicines currently, but if a customer has a question, I look into it a little bit,” Rahe said. “I mean that’s what my mom wanted me to do; something simple and sweet.”

“My mom suggested it because I liked healthcare and my cousin was a pharmacist. And she said, ‘Well, because Lance is one it seems like a good job so why don’t you try that?’ So I decided to get a job at one of the pharmacies as a technician, I liked it,” Rahe said.

Stacey has worked with Walgreens for 10 years now.

Rahe enjoys her job and found that pharmaceutics is something that actually made a difference in her life.

“ I get to help people every day,” said Stacey. “I get to make a difference in people’s lives that will come back and tell you that you’ve helped them out, thanking you. That you just made a difference. That’s what I like to do every day,” Rahe said.

“I like the patients and whenever they ask a question, I am happy to comply,” Rahe explains. “It is my job to make sure the customer is satisfied and is

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kept safe and healthy. Nothing makes me happier than doing my job.”

COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS

When anyone has a question about a certain drug or medicine, they should go see a pharmacist. A pharmacist can answer many questions about medicine and prescriptions. Rahe has answered many people’s questions.

“People mostly ask about what kind of medicines they can take together and the symptoms so over the years I got the medicine nearly memorized, including symptoms,” Rahe said. Some people ask whether or not they can take aspirin and ibuprofen together. They also ask whether or not medicines can interact with each other and if it can harm them. They don’t ask about specific medicines, they ask about their own symptoms. Most of the time, the questions are about drug overdoses and what would happen to them if medicines start interacting.”

YOU USE, YOU LOSE

A drug overdose is when a patient takes a greater amount of medication than they are supposed to.

Drug overdoses can be accidental or intentional. Rahe is astounded by the rapid increase in drug overdoses.

“I don’t think that the majority of people understand how dangerous medication can be and how one overdose can be deadly. I don’t think overdoses are as much of a concern to people as they should be.

I also fear the number of overdoses really increasing in the coming years based on what I have seen since I began practicing as a pharmacist in 2003. The number of prescriptions for addictive medications have really increased and the frequency that a lot of patients who are on these medications chronically are asking from them early is disturbing.”

Overdoses are harmful to the body and can result in possible death. Some drugs that pop up a lot on pharmacist’s radars are hydrocodone and oxycodone.

Hydrocodone is a drug that is used to relieve severe pain, coughs, and the upper respiratory system. Oxycodone is a drug that is also used to relieve severe pain. oxycodone is found in opium.

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are some drugs that we have been talking about a lot because

everyone wants it too early in their lives. Bodies don’t really adapt to oxycodone and hydrocodone that well so when people who are young take these drugs, their bodies are at a greater risk than say, an older person. That is definitely one drug that might change our drug industry. And also, the side effects can be serious and people don’t realize that.

It’s like they are taking it without knowing what is happening to their body. Just like smoking, it’s addictive and harmful. It’s more prevalent now.

Everyone wants it too early. People say that their doctors have allowed them to take it but their directions on the bottles don’t show that so it’s a fine line.”

Hydrocodone is a drug that is used to relieve severe pain, coughs, and the upper respiratory system.

Oxycodone is a drug that is also used to relieve severe pain. oxycodone is found in opium.

Though some drugs are harmful, they can help patients tremendously. But not all medicines are harmful. Like penicillin. Penicillin is not addictive and helps patients tremendously. I have always been a bit fascinated by penicillin. A lot of drugs are still going through changes so they are not as addictive as before.”

WHO’S THE VICTIM? On September 9, 1982, Tylenol took it’s first victim. The Tylenol tablet that was taken by 12-year-old Mar y Kellerman, was laced with 65 milligrams of potassium cyanide.

The myster y of the Chicago Tylenol murders still remains unsolved. Can you g uess the names of the seven victims?

2.

1.

3.

4.

a) Stanley Janus, age: 25 b) Mary Kellerman, age: 12 c) Mary McFarland, age: 31 d) Theresa Janus, age: 19 e) Paula Jean Prince, age: 35 f) Mary Reiner, age: 27 g) Adam Janus, age: 27

5.

Picture credits:Jamie Sotonoff

6.

7.

Some medicines such as benzodiazepine are used to ease nausea but have killed many people over the years.

1) Theresa Janus 2) Mary McFarland 3) Mary Reiner 4) Paul Jean Prince 5) Stanley Janus 6) Adam Janus 7) Mary Kellerman

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ENTERING THE BODY

Medicine must be delivered to the body in some shape, way, and form. The delivery methods also play a crucial life into the pharmacist’s lives. Rahe explains some of the different methods that have come across the local Walgreens.

“There are so many new ways that have to come to Walgreens to deliver medicine. Like swallowing things that can possibly check your body like the camera inside the pill. There is a camera that is combined into a pill and you swallow it and then the camera kind of films throughout your body and then it comes out of the digestive system just like food. We have insulin pumps which can help people out as far as they don’t have to inject the insulin, it can just do it itself. There are other things than tablets, like you can put a film on your tongue and it can dissolve that way. So I think the major breakthrough has got to be the different delivery methods.”

There are many delivery methods breaking through but Rahe thinks that one in particular will become the dominant method sooner or later.

“I think as far as insulin, like there are many projects going on with. I think inhaling the insulin will overtake now. That’s as much as I learned in UT. We worked on insulin so many times! Projects and projects!

It was insane.”

SELLING OVERTIME

In 2013, Abilify was found to be the most sold drug in the United States. However, in 2014, the most sold drug changed. Hydrocodone (Generic Vicodin) was voted the most sold drug in 2014, so far. Rahe explains the number of customers she has seen buying hydrocodone.

“Generic Vicodin is one of our fastest moving medications. The generic name is hydrocodone/ acetaminophen,” Rahe explains. “ It is an addictive medication and a popular one to be sold on the street.

I think we see prescriptions of that more each day than anything else. There are also lots of other common classes of medications, but none stand out to me as \

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much as the hydrocodone”

The usual dose of Vicodin for adults is 1 to 2 tablets or capsules every 4 to 6 hours as needed. Combining alcohol and other sedatives with hydrocodone can lead to increased sedation and even cause confusion.

PHARMACY IS THE BEST!

“Becoming a pharmacist really has changed my life. I work with people everyday and it’s so much fun getting to know the staff at Walgreens and the patients. Even the kids are wonderful!” Rahe exclaims.

Pharmacists are like the bridges between you and your health. They guide on the right paths to help yourself and your body maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“I’m so glad I became a pharmacist. I can’t imagine standing as a clerk or serving food in a restaurant after the great journey I have been through.

I’d recommend becoming a pharmacist anyday!”

With the aid of the Austin Regional Clinic, the Trojans made it to their tournament without any injury

The Austin Regional Clinic is always opened, has specialty doctors, and has several locations around Austin. They also provide services and insurance for native Austinites.

Photo courtesy of Renjith Krishnan

Medical Robots By: Jesus Uresti. 6/13/14. Feature and Back Cover Creator

When you go into the machine, you hear a loud noise which is the vibration of metal coils inside of the machine that are caused by the rapid pulses of electricity. The magnets make a strong magnetic field around the patient and sends pulses of radio waves from a scanner. This lines up the hydrogen atoms, and as the nuclei line up with the magnets, they send signals and let us see a 3D picture of the patient’s body.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines are used to diagnose cancer in people..

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The first MRI machine was proposed in 1969 and then was being first used in 1977 by a scientist named Raymond Vahan Damadian. July 3, 1977 was the first time a human was scanned.

MRI machines have changed from being with small, restrictive openings with long and large tubes and tunnels to having even 3 types of MRI scanners to allow better scanning and being more comfortable.

“The thing that I’ve learned that I’ve found more challenging than using the machine would be working with the people, getting them through the machine to tolerate the exam.”

Eric Meyer who has been using the MRI machine for fifteen years. He says he doesn’t want to change the world, but instead help people one by one with whatever needs they have.

Meyer has a bachelors degree in business administration and marketing, but since there was no job he went to back to school 6 months later and got a bachelors degree in medical imaging technology knowing that there was a demand in healthcare jobs at the time. He now works at Brackenridge Hospital.

“I graduated college the first time with a bachelors in business administration and marketing.”

Meyer said, once he graduated from school he was looking for a job, but couldn’t find one for 6 whole months.

“There was no job available in 6 months of what I went to school for, I decided to go back to school I got a second bachelors in medical imaging technology because I knew there was a demand in healthcare for jobs.”

Meyer uses MRIs 8 hours a day and it is a daily routine for him now. Before his current job as an MRI technician, he used to work for general electric for about six years.

“I went to school for X-Ray and later on I learned how to do hot cat scans and MRI.”

He taught MRI at new hospitals every week.

After that he taught breast cancer detection software to doctors for about a year.

“I think that it is going to expand and potentially help a lot of people,”Meyer said.

An MRI machine is a machine that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of organs and tissues that are within your body. MRI machines detect the severity of injuries and are also very useful on finding and pinpointing some types of cancers. The exam takes about thirty to forty five minutes, but it also depends on the number of body parts that are being examined. The MRI produces 3D images that can be viewed from different angles to look at the different sections of your body.

There are many things that can go wrong in an MRI. Unlike Computer Tomography (or CT), MRI machines do not bombard your body with X-Ray beams. X-Ray beams can damage your DNA and create mutations that induces cells to grow into tumors.

“There are no risks that are known,” says Meyer. “We do not use ionizing radiation, we use magnetic field and radio frequencies.”

Ionizing radiation is radiation that carries enough energy to liberate electrons from atoms or molecules ionizing them. Ionizing radiation compromises subatomic particles, ions or 16

atoms or molecules ionizing them. Ionizing radiation compromises subatomic particles, ions or atoms moving at relativistic speeds, and electromagnetic waves on the short wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum. A magnetic field is the magnetic influence of the electric currents and the magnetic materials. The magnetic field is always under the influence of both a direction and a magnitude/strength.

“We use giant magnets and radio frequencies and we manipulate the hydrogen protons in your body and we essentially knock ‘em over,” Meyer said “And as they get back up we sample their positions which that information goes to the computer and allows us to make pictures.”

MRI machines work because in the center of each hydrogen atom there is a proton. The proton serves as a magnet that is easily attracted.. When you lie in an MRI machine, all of the protons line together to look directly at the magnets inside of the MRI machine, liek the tip of a needle at the end of a compass.

Eric B Meyer Picture by Jesus Uresti

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Short bursts of radio waves are sent to specific parts of the body, knocking the protons out of alignment.

Once the radio waves are turned off, the protons realign themselves, which send radio waves back to the receiver. Those signals help pinpoint the exact places of protons in the body and also help look distinguish the different types of tissue. In the same way that pixels on a computer are created, the signal from the millions of protons within our body help create a very detailed image of how the body looks inside. “ I can look at soft tissue with an MRI, which is something that a cat scan or an x-ray does not do very well,” Meyer said “ I can slice you, your body in any direction I need to find out what’s going on to see any disease process or pathology” MRI machines can do things that other machines can’t, like diagnosing cancer and other things. The CT Scan can detect a tumor, since cat scans detect the structure of anything in the area that you are checking with the cat scan. What cat scans cannot do though, is check if those tumors are cancerous r benign, but they would definitely show that there is a tumor there.

If going into an MRI, a good thing to know is to not bring any metal into the machine. If someone brings a metal into the machine, there is a very high chance someone will get hurt due to the fact that the magnets in it are superconducting magnets which have a magnetic field of up to 2.0 Tesla. Any metal objects that anyone brings in there will probably cause a lot of damage for anybody that is working in the area of the MRI because the piece of metal would be attracted to the magnets with a very high force and it will go flying out of the MRI at a very high speed. A very helpful tip, which doesn’t apply to every person in the world, is to remove your piercings. The feeling that someone gets when entering the machine is a slight pull at first, but as the person inside it get closer inside, the force will keep getting stronger. The more mass that an object has, the more dangerous it is because the force is much stronger than it would if it was a needle against some big metal object.

Radio Frequency Coil: Broadcasts the radio frequency signals Magnets: The biggest and most important part of the MRI to the patient and/or receives the return signal. scanner and are used to line up the protons which will send the signals back Scanner: Where the person goes in whenever his scan is being done

Gradient Coil: Used to produce deliberate variations in the main magnetic field.

Patient Table: Where the patient is supposed to lie down to get his/her MRI scan.

Photo courtesy of Jesus Uresti

“For me I had a doctor to come in for his scan and he left a pair of toenail clippers in his pocket I didn’t see anything but I heard a loud smack and when we pulled him out of the room and we climbed inside magnitude found his toenail clippers, which it probably went whizzing by our head roughly at 60 miles an hour” Photo courtesy of Eric Meyer

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Several prosthetic legs and arms, also some prostheses, photo by Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics

It’s a Life, Not a Limb

Mike Martin giving amuptees a second chance

F

or over 20 years, a Vietnam veteran had been reduced to a walk on an ill-fitting prosthetic, after losing his leg in a combat injury. Then he met Mike L. Martin. They started to train together on how to use his prosthetic, but the poor prosthetic was holding the veteran back. Martin then built him a new prosthetic that changed his life and let him train even harder.

The veteran was even able to jog for the first time since Vietnam. The veteran trained enough to complete a half-marathon with his new leg. This was an especially favorite memory 19 of Martin’s because when he was

younger he was a runner.

“We have the ability to help people reach their goals in terms of being independent and walking again or using their prosthesis to accomplish the things they want to do,” Martin said.

As a prosthetist, Martin works with people who are amputees.

He first meets his patients in hospitals to give initial information about prosthetics and the process. He then provides compressive therapy for the residual limb following amputations.

He next sees them for evaluations for their prosthesis, which includes making casts, taking measurements,

By John Hardin, 2014 Feature and Cover creator Mike L Martin, photo

by Round Rock Orthotics and Prosthetics

fittings, and alignments. He even follows up with but you worked directly underneath the supervision of the patient during the process of manufacturing their an experienced prosthetist so they could check your prosthesis. work,” Martin said.

The first prosthetics ever made were by

To take the exams to become a prosthetist, one the Egyptians and were made out of simple wood must first be eligible by participating in a one year and leather. Since then changes have been made to residency. The exams were set by American Board of improve the design or function of prosthetics.

Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics, or ABC for Changes have been slow, but they have Prosthetic leg with carbon fiber socket, photo by Midlands revolutionized the lives of many amputees.

Prosthetics and Orthotics Some of the same ideas have been used, but new ones are always coming. The common materials of old were wood and leather. Now they’re carbon fiber and urethane.

Martin has been dedicated to helping amputees from a very early age. At the age of 13, he visited a prosthetic facility and got a sense of whether or not this was something he wanted to do. Going through high school, he knew he wanted to work with prosthetics.

“It was suggested that I need to have some sort of science degree,” Martin said

During college, he volunteered at a local prosthetics facility. While he was there, he cleaned the place and did general menial work. He watched the professionals take care of patients and learned from that. As he learned a little bit more, they let him participate some more, doing some fairly simple basic straightforward stuff. This facility helped him realize that he really did want to be in the field of prosthetics and would help him achieve his dream.

“The summer after I graduated from college I went back and applied for a job as a technician.” Martin said, “Technicians do the kinda nuts and bolts stuff, they do a lot of the fabrication. So they laminate the sockets, they trim out the sockets, they cut the plastic down, they do a lot of the basic assembly, and so I worked as a technician for two years until I got into a prosthetics program in Northwestern in Chicago.”

He studied at Northwestern for six months in their prosthetics program. There he learned how to be a prosthetist. Once the six months were over, he started his residency.

“Then one year of performing a residency, so you would go back to whatever 20 facility and you worked, not as an apprentice,

short. His certification was complete in 1997.

Ever since his certification, he has been primarily working with lower extremities prosthetic amputees for the better part of 20 years. He tries to tackle the biggest complaints from users, the general discomfort of wearing a prosthetic.

“People generally just have a difficult time tolerating wearing a prosthesis,” Martin said. “It could be hot. The devices we manufacture are made out of plastic and it’s a container for what remains of their limb. So, when it’s 100 degrees outside and you put your leg inside the prosthesis and you have to have a way to hold the prosthesis on and in some cases it’s with a suspension sleeve that is rolled up onto their thigh. So their leg is surrounded with silicone gel/ urethane gel and plastic. So it can be hot.”

Nowadays, although lots of materials are used in the making of a prosthetic, the prosthetic itself generally consists of only two major materials.

“This material starts off as a fabric.” Martin said, “It’s woven carbon fiber, and starts off as a fabric, then is saturated with a resin which is essentially a liquid that we promote, and with the chemical reaction that occurs, it turns the liquid to a solid. Once that saturates, the carbon fiber, it turns into this rigid socket. So it’s very strong, very lightweight. So that’s a common material. Urethane is another very common material.”

Urethane is used as a common interface Concept of future prosthetic arm, by Richard Hague

21

Molds of remaing limbs, photo by Round Rock Orthotics and Prosthetics material. An interface material is the material that directly touches the skin of the remaining limb. A lot of these material technologies are 15 to 20 years old, which sounds old, but advancements in prosthetics have always taken time.

“Sometimes the results aren't instantaneous, but it’s a whole lot of fun when you can see these people improve,” Martin said.

Some people can stand up and start walking right away. Others can stand up, but have to be sent off to physical therapy, and then in 12 weeks they can start to walk. It is more difficult and complicated to learn to use a prosthetic if it is large or if there is a small residual limb.

“Whether it’s standing at the counter to wash an apple or playing in the yard with their grandchildren or running for the first time in 30 years, that’s pretty gratifying,” Martin said.

Sometimes there are patients that are harder to fit with a prosthetic.

“One of the biggest limitations is that we frequently work with folks that the size of their limbs is not consistent,” Martin said. “The container doesn’t change size or shape, while their limb is changing size and shape, that creates a

challenge and could potentially cause complications within using the prosthesis including tissue breakdown, sores, calluses, bruising, swelling, pain.”

The people that are shrinking and swelling are medically complicated.

They might have heart disease, respiratory disease, or kidney disease, they could have a lot of things going on medically. The propensity to change can make the use of a prosthetic very challenging.

“There are hundreds of different types of feet and knees. So there is essentially probably about a half dozen different ones that are the sort of fundamental design,” Martin said.

Every manufacturer makes its own variation of each type of foot, socket, or knee. Each one has its own limitations and advantages.

Nearly everything in prosthetics

“This is really just the tip of the iceberg.”

-Martin

The plaster is taken out and wrapped in carbon fiber at 420 degrees

will have pros and cons because the requirements for a 25 year old who wants to play sports is different from someone who is just wanting to get from the wheelchair to the bed.

Martin worked in Austin from 1997 to 2008. He then moved

to Oklahoma because his boss made him. Martin joined Round Rock Orthotics & Prosthetics because he knew he wanted to relocate to Austin.

“It’s a small field so you tend to know the people even if they work for a competing company,” Martin said.

So in 2012, he reached out to Round Rock Orthotics & Prosthetics and they had an interview. He has been working there ever since. He looks forward to seeing what the next big advancement in prosthetics will be.

“This is really just the tip of the iceberg,” Martin said.*

Plaster The mold is then filled with a heat resistant plaster.

300 Million

Socket

Making of a Prosthetic 2 Million # of people in the USA

The finished product The socket is fitted with various types of knees and feet

First, a mold of the remaining limb is taken.

Credits: Mike L. Martin, George Blake, and www.census.gov

# of people with prosthetics in the USA

Start 22

Putting the “Organ” in Organoids

Bioprinting Tissue

E

ach day, around 79 people receive organ transplants, but around 18 people a day die while waiting for an organ for transplant. If you know one of the millions of people waiting for an organ transplant as of now, know that it will not be for long. New technology and companies are coming into the world that will be able to print organs for all those in wait.

In 1983, one of many concepts of printers that could make three-dimensional objects was made by Charles “Chuck” Hull, with the now more standard idea of a three-dimensional printer. Today, scientists can use a printer to create living tissue by printing cells in a threedimensional kind of stacking method.

Jordan Miller is an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice university whose primary research interests in regenerative medicine combine synthetic chemistry, three-dimensional printing,

microfabrication, and molecular imaging to direct cultured human cells to form more complex organizations of living vessels and tissues.

“Lab generated organs cannot be fully considered as organs, exactly,” Miller said.

He explains that complexities Hartwell Fellow Jordan S. Miller, Ph.D. University in the lab are much of Pennsylvania less sophisticated Photo by Newsworks than ones that can be

Whereas a natural organ found in the human body. transplant would prolong life,

“Because of this they are organoids would not. called organoids.”

“[Organoids] are not Bioprinting actually used to perform as has a variety of permanent organs and replacing uses, but the most organ donors fully,” Miller said, common usage is “But could be used for the short to create and use term until an organ donor is organoids in a available.” transplant.

And after created,

“There are organoids cannot be preserved humans living very well. today with tissues

“When the cells have and organs created in lab,” Miller finished adhering to the material... said. you would want to implant the

He also explains organ bioprinting can be used for into the body right away.” repairing parts of an organ.

Organoids are made in

“Lab-generated organs cannot be fully considered as organs, exactly,” - Miller

23

By Sten Evans, feature writer and ad creator

the lab by first taking a sample of cannot use human volunteers for a patient’s cells and then making drug test for potentially harmful more in the lab. drugs.

“Typically it has been thin “With enough financial support, it organs... for example with the skin, can break through a lot of barriers cornea, and bladder,” Miller said. and large-scale investigations can

Then, a kind of mold is be done.” made for the cells to grow around Organ implant testing is prepared and then a series of the patient’s by starting the organ, making it cells are printed into the mold in start working. an a pattern that causes the cells to “We put liver cells in this cube, that become specialized. have blood vessel structure that we

“The cornea would take made, and we measure the proteins a couple of days and for others, it and chemicals livers cell normally would take a week to grow enough cells for the specialized tissue.”

The more cells from a patient that are taken, the faster the The process of creating an organoid with a bioprinter cells will grow.

Photo by Cornell University

“If you can only take a small biopsy from the patient then make, one is called albumin, and you won’t be able to grow up a lot biotin,” Miller said. of Then animals have the liver, for cells quickly, but if you’re able to example, implanted in them to test take a larger biopsy you would be if the organ connects correctly and able to grow more cells quicker.” if certain cells moved from the There body to the are more uses for organ. bioprinting in the “You have pharmaceutical to do implants field, where the in animals and tissue is used to see how those test drugs. cells perform

“There is in that type of a lot of support environment.” for that area especially from

Of those certain cells, most pharmaceutical companies,” Miller of which consist of immune cells said. and cells with multiple functions,

The reason for support is have to enter the organ through the that pharmaceutical companies body.

“There is a lot of support, especially from pharmaceutical companies,” -Miller

“We can’t make those in lab, so the idea is to actually implant the organ and have the patients own immune cells migrate back in if the organ is not initially rejected,” Miller said.

He says that immune cells and cells like it are too complex to replicate and even though it’s risky to have them enter through the body because they might reject the organ, it’s the only way as of now to successfully implant complex cells in the organoids.

“Theoretically if we knew everything cells had to do, we could recreate that and have multiple cell types but we just still don’t know how to do that at the moment,” Miller said.

The types of cells they can make in the lab is limited to two, but the number they can make is a million or more.

“We can only make one or two cell types, but we’re able to create millions of cells in lab to create organs,” Miller said.

Capillaries are made of just one kind of cell, so they are easy to create.

“Some cells make up the vascular cells, so all the blood vessels are all one type of cell, and they for the most part can make capillaries on their own,” Miller said.

Each organ has it’s own kind of special cell that makes up the organ.

“Organs each have their own active type of cell, so in the kidney there be kidney cells, and liver there would be liver cells and

24

soAon,” Miller said.to test the printer in wildly itPhoto always

Ethically, Miller says it example piece Miller’ssuccessful lab by begins RICE University

Bones have cells that either with a low population.” Miller said. depends on your state’s laws and apply or take away calcium.

Over time the technology the personal opinion for animal

“For bones, there are cells will become more standardized and testing. that make up the calcium enriched commoditized and come off patent.

“Animal testing that has bone deposits, and others that take

He explains that overalways been an ethical issue in it away,” Miller said. the-counter drugs used to only be various medical fields and with also

The main material of the available by prescription. the general public,” Miller said. organoids is a protein that is the

“Not that organs will be

And although it’s a structure of the organ. available over the counter,” Miller problem, Miller says people would

“They are kind of still prefer animal testing rather protein cells types, called than test the organoid transplant fibroblasts, that make up into a human. a majority of the physical

“Even people who do not component of the organs favor animal studies wouldn’t and tissues,” Miller said. recommend going directly from in

A real question vitro to directly testing on humans,” for such a topic is: Will Miller said. bioprinting become

Although, with enough affordable and/or a part of our said, “But when you think about time, Miller explains we can make everyday life? antibiotics that are prescribed, a large structure of organs to test

“These things always start anyone can get prescribed the organ on. off at low volume, even if they are antibiotics from their doctors.”

“Potentially you can make 25

“More complex organs will most likely be another 30 years before those transplants are avaiable.”

-Miller

large structure of organs, you can test cells on these lab generated organs instead of animal testing,” Miller said.

There is only one type of organ currently creatable.

“Last year, a trachea was down, so the windpipe, so again thin tissue organs that are easily architected are available,” Miller said.

More sophisticated organs will be printable in a few decades.

“More complex organs it will most likely be another 30 years before those transplants are available,” Miller said.*

Student at Rice University doing some touch-ups on the bioprinter Cerebral organoids are allways white, pea-sized balls that can’t get much Cortex bigger than

milimeters wide

3-5

Hippocampus Most cerebral organoids manage to develop distinctive parts of the brain such as the cortex and hippocampus.

because of the lack of bloodflow.

Madeline Lancaster made a cerbral organoid by bathing stem cells in proteins and “persuaded” them to make neurons, which make up brains.

Photo by RICE University

30

It takes

Cerebral Organoids

days for the organoid to start to look similar to the brain.

This is also how a brain looks in the first nineweeks of pregnancy.

Credits: National Geographic, Economist, The Scientist

26

BM io

tech

edical

Rice University, M&M Sony Pictures, Iflscience, Siemens UK, DMS Bulletin, Devian Art