[UCI-Calit2] SURF-IT Seminars July 14: Human Subjects Research; Microfluidics

[Stuart Ross]

SURF-IT SEMINAR SERIES

Tuesday, July 14           Calit2 Building, Room 3008

 

A light lunch will be available at 11:30 AM; the seminars will begin at
12:00.

 

12:00 noon

"DOING RESEARCH WITH HUMAN SUBJECTS"

Karen Allen, Director, Human Research Protections

Office of Research Administration

This seminar will provide an overview of the issues that are important
when considering research on human subjects. What activities are
considered research on human subjects? What are the different levels of
review? What are the underlying principles and categories? At UCI as
elsewhere, a committee called the Institutional Review Board (IRB)
reviews individual project proposals according to federal guidelines. 

 

12:30 PM

"FRACTALS IN NATURE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND WORMS IN CDs"

Marc Madou, Chancellor's Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering


                  SURF-IT Fellow:  Bryce Kubo

CDs containing microfluidic channels can provide a portable platform to
perform rapid molecular diagnostic tests. The centrifugal force is
utilized for sample and reagent propulsion, and surface tension
elegantly provides for a method of valving. Madou's group is developing
CD microfluidic technologies that can be integrated into automated
sample-to-answer diagnostic systems. Even whole-animal assays are
possible, using the small worm C. elegans for drug testing and
diagnostic applications. Work on CD microfluidics is at the center of a
2009 SURF-IT project. But the Madou group has another "micro" interest
also - the construction of carbon electrodes for micro-batteries. It
turns out that the development of the electrodes can be improved by
applying the concept of fractals -- geometric patterns composed of small
pieces that resemble the larger whole.  Nature uses fractal designs, for
example, in the lungs, which are composed of increasingly smaller
tube-shaped bronchi. Fractal designs are advantageous in situations
requiring minimal energy loss and maximum transport efficiency -
precisely the needs for battery electrode design.

 

This seminar is free and open to the public.

 

"SURF-IT" is the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in IT,
co-sponsored by Calit2 and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Office.

 

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