Graphene: The magic material

Graphene is an allotropic form of carbon and posses some of the unique properties that are making this compound stand out of all other allotropic compounds of carbon. The compound was discovered in modern ages by two scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester, UK.  After its initial discovery the compound soon began to make impact on every field of life and in recognition to their work they were awarded a physics noble prize in 2010. Graphene has unique physical and chemical properties and is much lighter, flexible and strong than many previously existing compounds.

Properties of Graphene:

One of the most unique properties of graphene is that its only one atom thick in nature. Graphene is composed of a simple 2D single layer of carbon atoms, which are closely packed in a hexagonal structure. Graphene is highly flexible material and can stretch to a great extent from its original shape. Graphene is lighter than any form of existing steel yet it is stronger than the strongest known form of steel. Graphene exhibits great intrinsic mobility to electrons moving through it. Graphene possess a very high rate of surface area and is generally many times greater than the carbon nano-tubes.

Uses of Gaphene:

Thanks to its unique properties graphene can be used for multiple purposes including :

Biological Use:

Graphene molecules are being used for the production of :

• Improved biodegradable polymeric nanocomposites for engineering bone tissues.
• Creation of graphene based fluids for better MRI imaging.
• Enhanced PCR activity by increasing DNA yields.
• Production of various kinds of bio-sensors, due to its unique thickness graphene based bio-sensors are nearly perfect water transparent and are not affected by any sorts of aqueous degradation of such bio-sensors.
• By applying certain bio-capture molecules on to the surface of graphene membrane multiple bio-sensors can be developed.
• Specifically designed graphene droplets are being tested for deliverance of drugs to special infected target tissues and cells.
• Researchers from the Texas University, USA have developed tattoo bio-sensors which when attached to the patient skin can monitor their body temperature and hydration levels.
• A research team at the University of California, Berkley, USA has used graphene layers for production of mutation detecting chips.

Treatment of Sea-Water:

Water is of great importance to mankind and without it the concept of life is nearly impossible. A large proportion of our water resource is in sea but due to high salinity it is unfit for both human and agriculture usage. Efforts are being made for the development of cheap water treatment methods. Recently researchers have developed graphene based special filters which filtrates the water with high success. It consists of thin layers of graphene with pores in it and these pores only allows water to pass through trapping out all the salt and pollutants resulting in production of fresh water. A recent effort by a research team from the CSIRO, Australia has shown the effectiveness of graphene for treating sea water and making it drinkable, the compound used is called as “Graphair”.

High strength Body armours:

In battlefield it is an absolute necessity for the soldier to be mentally assured of his own safety so that he can operate with absolutely no fear. Standard body armours present in market are usually made up of Kevlar and metal plates, and often fail to completely reduce the damage. Graphene armours could be answer to this problem, research group from the Georgia Tech University, USA  attempted to perofrate 2 layer of graphene with diamond tip and observed the diamond failed to break the layers showing the absolute strength of this material.

Improved batteries:

Grpahene also has great potential in improving the existing battery outlook, special graphene molecules when applied on to standard batteries improve their charging capacity and makes battery more durable. An ongoing research by Samsung R&D divivsion has developed batteries which can get fully charged five time faster than current duration and last much longer, graphene does this by preventing the degradation of cathohde and anode ends by continuous charging.

In a new effort recently Samsung R&D divivsion in a joint research venture with Seoul National University, South Korea has announced that they have developed a battery system for electric cars which can completely charge within 30 minutes and can last for up to 600Km drive.

Samsung Research Paper about improved batteries

Flexible Mobile Phones:

Grpahene is a highly flexible material and a material with great electric conductivity because of this it can also be used for manufacturing mobile phones and other wearable technology gadgets. Graphene also enables the creation of transparent display modules combined with its flexibility trait, tensile strength and electrical conductivity the material can be used for making mobile phones in near future. The material can definitely be used for production of more durable wearable gadgets that can withstand harsh environments and maintain their performance.

Rust Prevention:

Grpahene is an exceptionally strong material and applying it alongside other paint coats on cars and containers can prevent their rust and corrosion with upon reacting with corrosive materials. This thing can greatly revolutionize the automotive industry.

Space craft Materials:

Another effective application of this magic material comes in spaceships, these ships often get damaged upon existing or re-entering the earth’s orbit as the rubber insulation fails to maintain the shape due to massive quick temperature fluctuation. Graphene is an answer to this problem Vorbeck Technologies, USA graphene based rubber materials which are way more stronger than standard rubber and are not affected by temperature fluctuations, this further ensures the structural integrity and safe flight of spacecrafts.

Conclusion:

Graphene has come a long way since its discovery in 2004, so far it has shown some promising solution to existing problems faced by mankind , how far this tech can go on let’s see…

CRISPR/CAS Gene Editing in Space: A Science beyond the world

Humans are destined to achieve great things, moving along a passage that leads to greatness but this greatness is not just limited to the world, it actually goes way beyond this world. Over the past few years the novel gene editing tech CRISPR/CAS has completely revolutionized the scientific world changing the face of modern research. With multiple successful experiments all over the world over the past 6 years one could simply just think of what can be achieved further, last year a science-fiction movie “The Rampage” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson indicated about CRISPR based gene editing experimentation in space,  putting human mind in to thinking is it really possible? Well it is for sure… Scientists have recently successfully conducted first ever gene editing experiment in space, the experiment was itself was an idea turned in to a reality over a period of two years. The experiment was completed in two phases:

Phase I:

The experiment was proposed and designed by a group of high school students (including David Li, Aarthi Vijayakumar, Deniz Atabay, Guy Bushkin, Michelle Sung, and Rebecca Li) from the state of Minnesota for the annual Gene in Space Competition 2018,  an annual competition focused on enhancement of biology skills of high school students arranged by an organization consortium (ISS,NASA, New England Bio-labs, Boing and MiniPCR). The team of students from the Minnesota guided by the NASA scientists Sarah Wallace and Sarah Stahl. The proposal of editing genes of micro-organism in space and later on observing changes and repair mechanism of those genes was greatly praised by the committee and turned out to be the winner of annual competition. The consortium itself was impressed and decided to make this a reality.

From left to right, David Li, Aarthi Vijayakumar, Deniz Atabay, Guy Bushkin, Michelle Sung, and Rebecca Li by a Saturn V rocket during a trip to NASA's Johnson Space Center- Courtesy WhiteHead institute

Phase II:

After initial success of the concept, it was decided to execute this experiment and change it in to a reality. For this all necessary equipments were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) research Lab. The experiment was conducted by the astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague in ISS Labs. The organism of choice for this experiment was the “Saccharomyces cerevisiae” the common yeast. The yeast DNA was edited with CRISPR/CAS9, followed by growing of the culture and ultimately isolating the fungal DNA and sequencing it for the identification of whole genome structure and mutations before and after the experiment.

Nick Hague at the ISS, Lab

The Purpose:

One would simply wonder what was the exact purpose for this experiment… ??

The answer is a complex one, this experiment can be identified as an initial phase of a long research. The edits produced in yeast were to mimic the effect of those edits or mutations caused by exposure to cosmic radiations. The edits and DNA repairing mechanism was observed pointing out kind of changes caused by those radiations and their impact from gene to organism level. The knowledge gathered could be further used to identify the effect of cosmic radiations absorbed by astronauts followed by designing of such equipments and suits to minimize the absorption of such cosmic rays. This could further enable successful exploration missions on mars and probably beyond.

Nick Hague Showing edited yeast culture- Courtesy NASA 

Conclusion:

This entire experiment, its every single stage was carried out in space from editing to culture growing to the isolation of DNA and later on its sequencing and analysis. This experiments gives two unique results first opening up all new possibility of conducting the entire biological experiments in space or even on moon or Mars in future and second identifying effect of cosmic rays at gene level in real time which can give further knowledge for developing high-tech and reliable space suits for astronauts which will make space travelling even more easy and this all could lead to a possibility of better, more connected and more diverse inter-space research.

Courtesy: ISS, NASA, MIT review, Gene in space, White Head institute  

CRISPR Geo-Politics: A race to become global CRISPR superpower

CRISPR Geo-Politics: A race to become global CRISPR superpower

A code is what defines everything; a code is a combination of some characters which makes up a series of rules and regulations and constitutes a system, and a system is what that’s  necessary for the ongoing and creation of every aspect of nature. A code consists of all the hidden traits inside it and manages the working of a system. Binary code system is among the most common and basics code of computer, a simple combination of 0 and 1 which interprets chunks of data, analyzes it and prepare the corresponding responses ensuring the accurate working of a computer system and who ever can manipulate these code it is pretty much easy to say that he can manipulate the entire computer system. In a similar manner to the combination of 0 and 1 a related kind of code exists in every single living organism a combination of four letters (four nucleotide basis) namely A,T,G and C which defines the every aspect of life in different manners. These massive long chains of Letters (the nucleotides) code on for some specific bio-molecules in living beings and imparts the specific traits to each one of us and contributes to our unique identities. These sequences are all present inside the DNA of every living being, all that unique information encoded in our genome and in a similar manner to the manipulation of binary codes and controlling the entire computer system if one can also be finally enable to manipulate the genetic letter code present inside the DNA one can easily manipulate various life forms and decide their future prospect.

During the twentieth century in the middle of chaos and all the military face-off in the battle fields a secondary battle was going on behind closed doors inside secured research labs and facilities around the world when every major country was involved in a series of experimentation focused on altering, manipulating and mastering the genetics of human being most of such experimentation failed to produce results and with continuous failure and collapsing geo-political systems such researches were ultimately abandoned. One can easily take out from this that these researchers were limited and bounded by the technology of their time should they have been living in today’s world the outcome of all these research experiments would have been quite different, by the early twenty first century biological sciences have made some tremendous progress and the introduction of the gene editing technology the CRISPR is probably the biggest achievement of the century till now.

In simple words CRISPR  is a gene editing technology which enables the alteration of a large number of genes at once with high success ratio and quick results. But this is the scientific side of this tech and it has a more aggressive, intense, and dark side in form of geo-politics and power gaining strategies. The easy gene manipulation trait which is the simplest application of this tech is also the most deadly one as it is now finally possible to create desired alterations in genetic materials in real time the genetic code can finally be manipulated and whoever controls this manipulation of genetic materials, will master the control of manipulating various life forms and ultimately gain a massive control over the world (nature and every aspect of existence).

The Big Guns CHINA vs USA:

Like all the other ongoing battles and face off the two biggest competitors in CRISPR tech are none other than USA and China. The USA alongside its other western allies can very much be titled as the inventors of the CRISPR tech, but since its introduction in 2012 as a gene editing tool the Chinese are the one to understand the values and potential of this tech above all. Although a recent estimation by research watch groups labels the USA still being the overall leader in the total number of effective publications and the patents filed but the Chinese are closing the gap at an exponential rate. Presently the USA leads with nearly 3000 high rated papers in comparison to the Chinese who sits at number 2 with almost 2100 papers in addition the USA have highest number of patents 872 versus the China which sits at number two with 858 patents filed.

A part from this the experts around the world expect that China will easily outclass the US in a while where some believe the Chinese have already beaten the US in this ground. Many experts believe the thing that makes China way better is the close interaction and partnership between the Government and Private sector and the level of commitment for the gene editing research by the state. In a short period of time the Chinese have conducted successful gene editing experiments on various kinds of life forms including plants, Dogs, fungus and even humans. On one side where the western countries are dealing with legal and ethical issues of applying gene editing to for mainstream animal and human editing the Chinese are showing no signs of slow down as the world was shocked by the announcement of First ever birth of a genetically edited human. Though it trigged an ethical debate and questions about involvement of the government being tabled one cannot simply deny the fact that they achieved something that no one could have before this. The Chinese are also making significant progress with application of gene editing in plants for disease management and yield enhancements. According to recent estimation at least 20 big major research groups are working across China using gene editing techniques in plants and the state has injected a massive $10 billion in to the agriculture research sector which is a big step a head in China’s effort to feed it’s massive 1.4 billion population. In response to China’s aggressive approach the US is making its own move a recent project by the US DOD focuses on using gene editing technologies on insects to sustain certain genetically edited viruses which when injected in to plants will enable to resist the stress conditions. The two major powers are making prominent progress but who will be able to cash the best out of it is still a long debate particularly with the entrance of new players in the game.

Russia’s Move:

One of the key developments in recent time is the changing mindset of Russia the Russian’s were significantly anti-GMO type but they have made some prominent changes in their setup recently the Russian Government has announced to invest $1.7 Billion in to gene editing research for agriculture purpose. Dr. Alexey Kochetov Director of institute of cytology and genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences has praised this announcement from the government saying the genetic research in Russia has seen very slow growth for the past decade due to small investments from the government but this announcement is encouraging specially under the current conditions and will help the Russian scientists to match up with their counterparts from rest of the world. Also a group of Russian scientists announced their proposed plan of applying gene editing on human germline, which is a major step a head.

Russian President visiting research fields

Set-Back for the “EUROPE”:

Europe has enjoyed great prosperity in almost every major field of life but a recent decision by the Continents top most court has delivered a huge blow to the efforts of European Scientific Community. The court decision place the gene edited crops under same regulations to the GMO’s which  was a huge upset for the scientific community which insist the court must review its decision as the technology enables quick effective results and unlike GMO’s do not pose any imminent threat as no foreign DNA is being added in. the European research community is in total dismay and believes if not dealt quickly Europe will be in a huge deficit in the field of science.

The new Players in the Game:

Followed by the massive interest from the global powers other countries have also entered the play countries like Japan and Australia have indicated towards possible legislation to enable the use of gene editing freely and possible introduction of such products in consumer market. In recent developments the New Zealand government also announced to invest in gene eliding related experiments.

Conclusion:

What initially began simply as a scientific venture has now turned in to a global phenomenon, the technology has its positive aspects with introduction of high yielding crops, treatment of diseases, and environmental issues but it also has its dark side as this very tech could also be used for dark purposes like bio-terrorism and creation of super soldiers. This dual nature of the tech is main reason of interest for all major global powers who are now in a race to get the best out of this tech and become a global leader.

Courtesy: SingularityHub, GLP, BBC