Current systems used to perform sample preparations that integrate with digital microfluidics use liquid valves, rotary valves, or small volume injection loops that are expensive and often require a large apparatus to operate. Other digital microfluidic systems require operators to directly pipette sample reagents into the platform which can incorporate human error and the potential exposure to hazardous chemicals. In order for automated and consistent benchtop chemical synthesis using digital microfluidics to exist, a compact and inexpensive system must be able to interface with the external environment to allow efficient chemical delivery and retrieval. (more...)

Detecting high energy radiation is important to public health, security, nuclear medicine, and astronomical research. The energy-absorbing materials used in detectors fall into two general categories. The first is highly sensitive, making it useful for safety assessment, but requires expensive and bulky ancillary cooling systems which also compromise portability. Other commonly used materials are much more economical to synthesize and operate, and are compact, but sacrifice much in the way of signal sensitivity. There is thus a need for a method to synthesize new materials that combine the best of these two groups; high sensitivity with good energy resolution and low fabrication cost. A composite material containing an inorganic high-Z compound and a polymer would fulfill all of these criteria.       (more...)

As the demand for photon detectors with greater sensitivity increases, Avalanche Photodiodes (APD) are being incorporated in conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMT) due to their high quantum conversion efficiency and small size. Nonetheless, the performance of these HAPD devices is degraded by the background noise that is radiated from the radioactive impurities contained in the photomultiplier components.      (more...)

Researchers at University of California, Irvine, have responded to the worldwide growing demand for fast 3D microscopy in bioimaging, by creating iSPIM Box (Inclined Single Plane Imaging Microscope Box), an adapter for commercial body microscopes, which can be used to achieve high spatial and temporal resolution in live cell imaging with only simple sample preparation in common culture dishes. (more...)

Intracellular pH Sensor Using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) (more...)

Rapid, efficient, and low cost detection and identification of microorganisms including pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi is a challenge facing plant and animal health. Current technologies such as Q-PCR rely on multiple assays and amplification methods to identify bacteria and viruses. Traditional optical detection methods also require fluorescent markers. These multiple independent steps and tests increase the processing time and cost for detection and identification. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a technique that uses nanotechnology to electrically detect and identify bacterial and viral RNA sequences without the necessity of using enzymatic amplification methods or fluorescent markers. In cases where microbe densities are particularly low, the technique provides additional sensitivity that allows for the target molecules to be detected in small quantities. Furthermore, the technique may be scaled into large multiplexed arrays for high-throughput and rapid screening. The implementation is further able to differentiate closely related variants of a given bacterial or viral species or strain. This technique addresses the need for a quick, efficient, and inexpensive bacterial and viral detection and identification system. (more...)

This invention consists of a manufacturing process and a self-calibration procedure for the practical use of MEMS resonant sensors as ultra-sensitive load cells. The invention enables the cost-effective fabrication and implementation of load cells with unprecedented combinations of resolution and range. Such load cells can be mounted on hybrid micro-mechanical test frames or integrated with suitable on-chip actuators for the characterization of materials and structures at small scales. (more...)

Two of the most commonly used humidity control methods employed today use either the air/water vapor flow method, or saturated salt method. With the water vapor flow method, the relative humidity (RH) accuracy is usually +/-1% in a humidity range from 0% to 95%. With the saturated salt method, one can obtain a discrete number of humidities depending on the choice of salt. A limitation with these two methods is the requirement of a uniform temperature environment. Even small fluctuations in temperature or an offset in temperature gradient would result in +/- 1-2% error in relative humidity. Overcoming the present-day limitations on attaining high-precision humidity control, especially for high humidity, promises to open up a new window to imaging research, enabling new experiments which were previously impossible (e.g. X-ray scattering studies of soft materials, bio-mimetic systems and biological systems). (more...)

Microfluidic devices are poised to revolutionize environmental, chemical, biological, medical and pharmaceutical detectors and diagnostics. The term “microfluidic devices” loosely describes the new generation of instruments that mix, react, count, fractionate, detect, and characterize samples in a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) circuit manufactured through standard semiconductor lithography techniques. Although a wide array of microfluidic technologies are currently available, novel MEMS fluidic systems are needed as scientists continue to work with smaller sample volumes and desire devices with increased sensitivity and effectiveness. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a unique non-contact system for sorting monodisperse water-in-oil emulsion droplets in a microfluidic device. The technology can be coupled to other on-chip processes to increase device efficiency by sorting out un-reacted droplets. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel method and device for cell separation that does not require cell labeling. (more...)

Fluorescence tomography (FT) is a sensitive but intrinsically low spatial resolution imaging modality due to strong photon scattering in biological tissue. Recently, a temperature-responsive fluorescence contrast agent has been reported using ICG loaded pluronic nanocapsules. The temperature dependence of these contrast agents provides a major opportunity to overcome the spatial resolution of regular FT by using temperature modulation/tagging.Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new molecular optical imaging modality termed “temperature-modulated fluorescence tomography (TM-FT)” that can provide high resolution images without sacrificing the exceptional sensitivity of fluorescence-based detection. TM-FT is based on the temperature modulation of fluorescence quantum efficiency in a highly scattering medium. The medium is irradiated by both excitation light and a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) wave. The crucial benefit of HIFU is that the temperature of the medium is modulated with a very high spatial resolution (~1.5 mm) due to the absorption of acoustic power in the ultrasound focal zone. When the temperature sensitive fluorescence agent presents within HIFU focal zone, the local temperature increases and in turn, changes the fluorescence quantum efficiency inside the focal zone. As a result, the emitted fluorescence light intensity and lifetime have detectable change only when the agent is present within the focal zone. In other words, it allows fluorescence reconstruction with high spatial resolution by scanning focused ultrasound column over the medium while detecting the change in fluorescence signal. Using a proper reconstruction algorithm, this technique can also provide quantitatively accurate fluorescence images. Finally, the temperature sensitive agents can be modified to target molecular pathways and processes associated with many diseases and hence, TM-FT technique can provide a suitable platform for true molecular in vivo imaging. (more...)

Complex mixtures of aroma compounds are often responsible for the overall aroma of a food, beverage, cosmetic or other product.  Two or more odorants can frequently lead to an aroma that is not similar to any of its components.  A new method and apparatus allow for more precise and informative analysis and characterization of aromas and volatile constituents. (more...)

A personalized approach to medical diagnostics and treatment is required due to heterogeneity within the human population and within diseased tissues. To that end, functional assays at the single-cell level can contribute to uncovering heterogeneity and ultimately assist in improved treatment decisions based on the presence of outlier cells. Single-cell fluorescent microscopy provides a high level of intracellular resolution and dynamics of molecular events. However, the process is slow and manual. Flow cytometry on the other hand, has a high throughput but provides no intracellular resolution or dynamics of molecular events. An automated fluorescent microscopy using a scanning microscope provides a higher throughput and intracellular resolution but there are increased costs and complexity due to the optical requirements. (more...)

Microfluidic devices have applications in a wide variety of areas, including molecular biology, DNA analysis, and lab-on-a-chip systems. Many microfluidic devices incorporate systems that utilize centrifugal force and pneumatic pressure of compressed air to reverse the flow direction on a rotating platform. A centrifugal system that allows for continuous flow without the use of compressed air will be very useful. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a centrifugal microfluidic system that allows for uniform continuous flow reciprocation motion in a microchannel without an external source of pressure. This system requires lower operational rotational velocities and promotes more effective liquid reciprocation than currently available methods. (more...)

Optical microscopy methods have tremendous application in the study of cells and other biological structures.Current imaging methods, such as STED and PALM, have allowed scientists to capture super-resolution images that have been difficult in the past.However, these current imaging methods are inadequate to detect the dynamic movements of live cell structures which are continually changing shape and position in the millisecond to second time scale.In addition, current scanning techniques, which utilize laser scanning in a predetermined pattern, are inefficient when the features to be imaged are at the nanometer scale.A method that is effective at capturing super-resolution images of dynamic, nanoscale biological samples will be an important scientific tool. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed an optical imaging method that can produce 3D images of small, moving cellular structures with fluorescent surfaces.The method is based on a feedback principle according to the shape of the objects present in the sample, instead of having a predetermined path.The feedback approach produces high quality 3D images in seconds and does not require sample fixation.This method works with live cells and is compatible with correlation techniques like FCS and RICS. (more...)

Small animal imaging modalities, such as micro-CT, micro-PET, and micro-MR, are frequently used in preclinical studies. The laboratory mouse is the most widely used small animal model for cancer, immunology, neurodegenerative, and metabolic disease studies. In order to extract anatomical information from mouse images, it is necessary to perform organ segmentation from the 3D images. Human operator-based processing of 3D images is tedious and subject to bias. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a computerized approach to accomplish this task. A promising solution involves registration of a digital mouse atlas to an acquired image. Organ labeling by the atlas can define organ regions in the mouse image. With this strategy, an atlas can give a more accurate, more reliable, and easier estimation of organ region of a preclinical mouse subject. (more...)

Lymphatic dysfunction has been found in many disorders from transplant rejection to cancer metastasis, but there is little effective treatment for lymphatic diseases. The cornea is an ideal site for lymphatic research due to its accessible location, transparent nature, and lymphatic-free but –inducible features. Because there are no pre-existing vessels to consider at this site, it is exceptionally straightforward and accurate to evaluate new lymphatic events in the cornea. Since lymphatic vessels are not easily visible, previous studies using the cornea have relied on traditional immunohistochemistry assays with dead tissues. Currently, there is no means of direct and harmless visualization of lymphatic vessels within live cornea.   Investigators at University of California at Berkeley have addressed this challenge by developing the first live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic specific dye is injected into the subconjunctival space to visualize lymphatic vessels at various stages in the cornea under a fluorescence stereo-, confocal, or two-photon microscope. Lymphatic vessels can be labeled in different colors to produce two-, three-, and four-dimensional images or live videos at a molecular level. The investigators have demonstrated a proof of principle in live mouse cornea. The technique allows time course tracking of dynamic lymphatic processes within the same tissue or subject over a short or long period of time. Live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels allows visualization of lymphatic vessels in their natural morphology, state, and interactions with the local environment. Live imaging of corneal lymphatic vessels is readily applicable to patient examination as the lymphatic dye of dextran is bio-degradable and harmless to human health. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel method for capturing cellular resolution images of biological tissue at depths of up to several millimeters. Conventional fluorescence detection methods utilize microscope objectives for emission light collection, a less effective approach that is only capable of imaging up to one millimeter deep.To improve upon this standard, the UC researchers minimized light losses by optimizing the system’s excitation and detection optics. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel method to continuously pattern nanofibers on 2D and 3D substrates. A unique polymer ink formulation provides the right balance of viscosity and elasticity necessary to enable controlled, seamless near-field electrospinning of nanofibers at very low voltages. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new controllable method to fabricate functionalized carbon nanowires that can then be covalently bound to antibodies, proteins, mRNA, DNA or other reagents. These antibodies and reagents may then bind with analytes of interest in solution causing a measurable change in the electrical current. Additionally, interdigitated electrode arrays may also be fabricated by using nanowires made from this method. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a CD microfluidic device that is capable of blood plasma separation of 2 mL of undiluted blood samples. A technician would pipette into the CD device the blood sample for separation. The device is then rotated at high frequencies in order to separate the plasma from the blood. As the frequency of rotation for the CD device is decreased, a siphon valve is primed due to the low frequency of rotation; and the plasma is separated into a collection chamber. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed an automated microfluidic device that traps different cell populations in different chambers based on the cells’ dielectric properties. The device consists of one main channel with individual sets of electrodes in three or more different chambers. Each set of electrodes generates a non-uniform electric field that traps and therefore separates a heterogeneous cell population at different frequency ranges due to dielectrophoretic forces. These trapping chambers are intersected by channels perpendicular to the main channel. Flow along the different channels is controlled by actuating pneumatic valves. To retrieve the cells, the flow in the main channel is stopped and flow from the perpendicular channels is initiated. The trapped cells are then captured into collection wells. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel microfluidic device that is capable of encapsulating cells at a very high efficiency. The device integrates impedance measurement with a novel on-demand droplet generation process to enable the selective generation of droplets that contain encapsulated cells only when a cell is present. This ensures that a high percentage of cells are encapsulated rather than droplets that do not contain cells. The device consists of two main components – the impedance sensor and the on-demand droplet generator. When the sensing electrodes of the impedance sensor detects a change in impedance caused by a cell, the cell is coupled with a droplet. (more...)

A Michelson interferometer is formed by discrete optical elements mounted to a frame that holds a pendulum suspended from a monolithic flexure. The interferometer measures the displacement of the end of the pendulum with respect to the frame. Optical fibers link the optics to a laser, photodetectors, and a digitizer for signal processing at the other end of an optical fiber cable. The system is robust and ideal for oil and gas borehole sensing, as only optical components are exposed to the harsh working environment with all electronics safely housed at the surface. (more...)

There is growing interests in widespread monitoring of the health effects of airborne particulates in the general population as well as with industrial workers. To address this growing interest, low-cost, distributed particulate matter monitors are needed. Advanced MEMS-based particulate monitors have been developed, but detection limitations, temperature sensitivity, and power requirements continue to impede the broad, distributed application of these monitors. To address these limitations, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a substantially improved MEMS-based particulate matter monitor. In comparison to prior MEMS-based particulate monitors, this innovative Berkeley monitor uses different microfabrication methods, an alternate means of particulate deposition, novel microfluidic principles, and innovative components for filtration and condensation of airborne particulates. (more...)

Quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) with flat electrodes are typically used as mass detectors with monolayer sensitivity. However, the sensitivity of such devices can be increased by enlarging the effective surface area. Researchers in UCI’s Department of Physics have developed a highly sensitive QCM by enlarging the surface area via the application of porous materials deposited on the flat electrodes. (more...)

UCSF researchers have developed a high-performance miniaturized bioreactor that fits inside a standard 5mm tube NMR spectrometer.  This bioreactor is ideal for growth of small, valuable cell samples, including stem cells and biopsies and for metabolomics in living cell samples.  Applications would include rapid metabolic testing of valuable new chemical entities and personalized medicine.    (more...)

The use of electrostatic and electrochemical modification using standard electronic test equipment instead of specialized potentiostats has been developed and proven by researchers at UCI. The precision application of complex, tailored electrochemical sequences provides the ability to both characterize and chemically modify nanoscale materials and circuits. (more...)

This new invention outlines a means of accomplishing underwater time synchronization between arrayed autonomous acoustic recorders without connecting cables between the nodes of the array. Eliminating the wired connections between array elements is seen as providing considerable savings in cost and weight as well as reducing system complexity, improving robustness and portability / reconfigurability. Signal processing schemes are used to maintain timing synchronization between the recorder nodes. (more...)

There is a significant need for more efficient heat transfer techniques in conversion, utilization, and recovery of energy. Traditional techniques used to enhance heat transfer rely on reducing the thermal resistance in a conventional heat exchanger by promoting higher convective heat transfer coefficients. In particular, swirl flow enhancement is popular since secondary recirculation on the axial flow in a channel can be used for single-phase as well as two-phase flows. Twisted-tape inserts are favored due to their ability to increase the heat transfer coefficient, and their ability to carry out tasks at a reduced size. However, twisted-tape inserts pay a sizeable pressure drop penalty during the process. (more...)

Organizing and separating cells is a fundamental function in the research of biochemical systems. Cell separation methods that utilize electromagnetic forces in particular are useful in research applications, where magnetic beads can be linked with antibodies to ensure specific interaction with target cells. Conventional magnetic cell separator devices require multi-layered, complicated fabrication process to incorporate magnetic materials with the microfluidic channels. Furthermore, high magnetic field gradient are difficult to generate in microfluidic devices such as Micro Total Analysis Systems. The complexity and limitations of the current devices hinders increased utilization of cell separation techniques, prompting a need for a more economical design that would make high-yield separations more accessible to a variety of research applications. (more...)

The invention is an acoustic underwater modem that is estimated to have a manufacturing cost of less than $1000. The modem consists of a piezoelectric transducer, a transceiver, a DC-to-DC power supply, a digital signal processor, a 24-volt battery, and a water-tight underwater housing. The modem is designed to operate in less than 100 meters of water and transmit data at distances up to 350 meters underwater. The modem can transmit data at a rate of approximately 200 bits per second. The transmitter has several output levels ranging from 2 watts up to 40 watts and is capable of achieving an overall efficiency of greater than 75 percent. The main advantage of this underwater modem design is the low manufacturing cost of $1,000 per unit when compared to commercially available units ranging from $6,000 to $25,000 per modem. While the present invention is not as robust as commercially available alternatives (e.g. range, depth, or bit rate), its low cost makes it broadly useful in higher risk platforms and in array deployments. (more...)

There is a continual need for low cost, small-sized, fast responding sensors for toxic industrial chemicals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and chemical warfare agents. In addition, there is a growing need for sensors that can monitor the residual adsorption capacity of activated carbon filtration cartridges in gas masks and personal protective equipment. In the U.S., government health and safety regulations require the detection of contaminants prior to depletion of the carbon bed’s adsorption capacity. However, these regulations have not been yet enacted due to a lack of suitable sensing devices. (more...)

Researchers at UC San Diego have developed a MALDI (or chemical ionization) time of flight MS with extensively modified single particle sampling and simultaneous, on-line and real-time, positive and negative, mass detection. Effects, such as initial spatial distribution, initial kinetic distribution, initial temporal distribution, and space charge, which results in poor mass resolution and/or unstable and inaccurate mass calibration are fully eliminated. By eliminating such effects, accurate and stable mass analysis can be obtained for continuous analysis of numerous particles. (more...)

University researchers have designed a family of new dual mass and quadruple mass tuning fork architectures addressing the limitations of the conventional designs. In the dual mass design, the spurious in-phase drive-mode is shifted above the operational frequency to improve the response characteristics. (more...)

BACKGROUND: Flow cytometry and cell sorting are well-established technologies that allow for rapid multiparametric analysis of cells on an individual basis, and also for separation of highly purified populations of cells. Because the technology collects quantitative data regarding cellular size, granularity, and fluorescence intensity signals, it has found many basic research, clinical, and industrial applications. Researchers demands for more intricate, high-throughput analyses have led to modern machines that simultaneously measure many phenotypic and functional parameters, while functioning at high speeds. Future studies will require flow cytometers to deliver increasingly precise data and better detection of rare events.Along with demands for better, more sophisticated instruments, there is also great need for less expensive, simpler machines. The vast majority of flow cytometers are used in clinical diagnostics, where the drive for better and more practical tests imposes demands for inexpensive and robust analysis. Additionally, typical machines are prohibitively expensive for many resource-poor areas in which monitoring of disease and efficacy of therapies is critical, such as in the detection and monitoring of HIV infection and its progression to AIDS. Though flow cytometers are already used in many diverse areas, as they become cheaper, more manageable, and easier to operate they may become more widespread in immunological and infectious screening, field clinics, water monitoring, agriculture and veterinary diagnostics, and rapidly deployable biothreat detection. INVENTION DESCRIPTION AND ADVANTAGES: UCSF inventors have developed a new flow cytometer design that allows for the manufacture of less expensive hardware, with data quality equal or superior to that of currently available machines. The invention portfolio consists of a new hardware design (SF2008-099) and a generally applicable software analysis package (SF2008-100) for use with either the new hardware design or traditional machines.The new hardware design is technically superior to existing designs because it uses fewer hardware resources but allows collection of a larger amount of information about each particle. When combined with the software analysis package, the information collected can be processed to yield data that are superior to those collected by existing machines. Due to reduced hardware requirements, instruments based on this design will be less costly to manufacture and more reliable than currently-available instruments. Despite these cost savings, the data collected are of equivalent or better quality than those provided by traditional designs. For example, early prototypes show improved resolution of low-intensity signals due to a substantial (9-fold) reduction in the spillover between fluorophores. A licensee of both the hardware and software inventions will be able to manufacture better performing, more reliable flow cytometers and cell sorters for less cost than current designs.The analysis softwarewhich is also available separatelysubstantially improves the sensitivity of flow cytometry to low-intensity signals by reducing errors associated with the conventional compensation process. Analyzing the data from a state-of-the-art, commercially available machine with the new software analysis package instead of currently available packages shows an over 100-fold increase in sensitivity. Additionally, the software package allows for the evaluation of fluorescence spectra to determine optimal filter sets, making the machine easier to operate and configure. A licensee of the software package alone would be able to offer software for analysis of flow cytometry data that provides more sensitive and more correct results than other software. With access to both this invention and the new hardware design, a licensee could offer superior flow cytometers as well as the software necessary to optimally configure the machine and interpret the resulting data. (more...)

University researchers have invented a distributed-mass micromachined gyroscope which minimizes quadrature error, eliminates effects of directional residual stresses, and completely decouples the drive and sense modes. The device has multiple drive-mode oscillators, distributed symmetrically around the center of a supporting frame. The multi-directional linear drive-mode and the rotational sense-mode allows complete decoupling of the drive and sense direction oscillations, minimizing instability and zero-rate drift due to dynamical coupling between the drive and sense modes. Due to the radial symmetry, the drive forces applied to the drive-mode oscillators cancel out in all directions, and the quadrature error is effectively nullified. The effects of directional residual stresses are also eliminated, due to the multi-directional and symmetric nature of the drive-mode oscillators. The device also provides a wide-bandwidth operation region in the drive-mode frequency response. By designing each drive-mode oscillator to have incrementally spaced resonance frequencies, the total Coriolis torque is set at a constant value over a wide range of driving frequency. If the sense-mode resonance frequency is designed to be accommodated in the same frequency band, robustness and insensitivity to parameter fluctuations is achieved. (more...)

Large scale confinement chambers have been created in the past using traditional glass-blowing techniques. However, conventional glass-blowing can only be used to create large components and requires the components to be made one at a time. Micro-glass spheres have previously been fabricated by letting glass particles fall through a temperature-controlled drop tower. While it is possible to create hollow spheres by introducing a blowing agent in the glass, these micro-spheres are not attached to a substrate and are therefore difficult to integrate with micro-machined components on a wafer. (more...)

Magnetometers are used for sensing magnetic fields. Applications include geophysical surveying, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magneto-encephalography and perimeter surveillance. Gyroscopes sense rotation. Together, these instruments are used in inertial navigation and platform stabilization such as anti-roll systems in cars. A variety of commercial magnetometers exist with various application areas. Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS) are highly sensitive but require cryogenic cooling. Atomic magnetometers are even more sensitive but run approximately $10,000 per unit. Commercially available gyroscopes run a similar gamut. (more...)

SPI is one of the most popular bus interfaces between a microcontroller and a peripheral device. However, system designers often overlook a bottleneck, which uses SPI inefficiently when transferring between two slave devices. Our technique eliminates this bottleneck with very simple hardware, and this should be of interest to manufacturers of microcontrollers. Peripheral devices would not require any modifications and can be used just as before. (more...)

Electrophoresis, the movement of charge particles in an electric field, is commonly used in chemistry, biology and medicine to separate macromolecules including DNA and RNA. Bulk gel and capillary electrophoresis are among the two most widely used electrophoretic methods. However, the bulk method has slow separation times and while the capillary method has faster separation times (and higher resolution) its costs are much higher due to an increase in ancillary equipment and corresponding fabrication costs. To address those weaknesses and tradeoffs, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new electrophoretic method with low-cost fabrication attributes that involve photolithography, micro-imprinting or wet lithography. The advantages that this novel Berkeley method has over bulk gel and capillary electrophoresis include (1) easy analyte extraction, (2) minimal ancillary equipment, and (3) simultaneous multiple assay capabilities. This new method has additional advantages over the bulk gel method including (1) reduced assay time, (2) higher resolutions, (3) reduced sample size, and (4) smaller form-factor. (more...)

Micromachining of axisymmetric silicon resonators for gyroscopes using DRIE leaves a fixed residual resonant frequency mismatch of 1 to 0.1 HZ for mesoscale resonators and 10 to 30 Hz for millimeter-scale microgyro resonators. Current methods do not allows any adjustments in-situ and are difficult to apply to an assembled gyroscope. Gyroscope quadrature drift is proportional to frequency mismatch and for navigation-grade applications high-Q resonators with mill- or micro-Hz matching of kHz resonances are desired. Laser-assisted gas etching or laser ablation after micromaching has been attempted, but it is unprecise and gas reaction products or debris may damage the resonator or assemble gyroscope. Electrostatic bias trimming can be used to adjust one or more resonance frequencies for some resonators, such as capacitive gyroscopes. However, this method is subject to electrical errors and thermal tracking of mechanical and electrical errors. (more...)

Ataxia telangiectasia is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive cerebellar degeneration, immunodeficiency, growth retardation, premature aging, chromosomal instability, acute sensitivity to ionizing radiation, and a predisposition to cancer, particularly breast cancer. It is caused by mutations in the ATM gene which lead to defects in the DNA repair process and cell cycle control. Given the severity of the disease, there is a need for efficient and accurate diagnosis. However, current methods of mutation screening are cumbersome when applied to large genes, such as the ATM gene. (more...)