EDITOR’S COLUMN
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Engineering Solutions:
MDEA Coverage
Going Gaga Over
VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4
Exploring the roles of suppliers and
manufacturers, MPMN highlights several
products that have won 2009 Medical
Design Excellence Awards.
Graphene
6
Need To Know
Move over, silicon: A new wunderkind in the
materials world has stolen the spotlight.
37
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Researchers have discovered titanium
nanotubes that promote biointegration of
implants and provide local drug delivery.
MD&M East 2009
Event Coverage
■
Scientists are enlisting natural
agents found in tea leaves to develop
nanotechnology for combating cancer.
In addition to a preview of exhibitor products
and services, MPMN profiles a handful of
companies that are exhibiting at MD&M
East for the first time.
12
Spotlight
52
Breakthroughs
Just discovered in 2004, graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet composed of carbon arranged
in a honeycomb-like lattice. Although new to us,
graphene has actually been around for a long time:
Stacked sheets of graphene comprise graphite, the
material from which pencils are made. And while
pencils are well and good for graphite, much bigger
applications may be in store for graphene.
Metal Components
■
16
Spotlight
Prototyping and
Rapid Prototyping
The fabrication of the world’s longest
balloon may help to minimize surgical
risks.
■
A firm offers what it claims is the world’s
first thermopowered wireless sensor
system.
20
Outsourcing Outlook
Product Design
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An award-winning metal-stamping-based
system simplifies and miniaturizes PCB
wire connections.
Referred to in some circles as ‘the new silicon,’
graphene is low cost and easy to work with. It also
boasts a flexible structure, high optical transparency,
and significant mechanical strength. The material’s
appeal, however, is rooted in its superior electrical
and thermal conductivity. Graphene’s electrical
conductivity is 100 times faster than that of
silicon, while its thermal conductivity ranges from
3500–5300 W/mK, compared with 130 W/mK for
silicon, notes Vikas Berry, an assistant professor of
chemical engineering at Kansas State University.
24
Focus on Equipment
Welding
4
28
Product Update
Sterilization
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49
50
Editor’s Column
Products and Services
Classifieds
Advertisers Index
Equipped with these inherent properties,
graphene has been the subject of much excitement
regarding its potential to revolutionize such sectors
as electronics and semiconductors. Garnering
less attention, sadly, is its potential in medical
applications, which could, in fact, be sizable.
The material shows particular promise for
biomedical sensing applications. “Graphene’s
microscale surface area can be used for
biointerfacing with cellular components, while
its nanoscale quantum-confinement imparts it a
high electronic sensitivity,” explains Berry.
“With the electrons restricted to move in a
single-atom-thick sheet, any small interference
from the outside world brings a sensitive change
in graphene’s electrical properties.”
This sensitivity inspired Berry’s team to examine
the idea of a graphene-based DNA sensor upon
noticing that electrons in
graphene tethered with
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30
ON THE WEB
DNA change their speed
if complementary DNA
binds to it. The concept
of a bacteria-operated
battery engineered from
wrapping graphene
around electron-producing bacteria is
also being discussed.
Berry cautions, however,
that more research is necessary to determine how
molecules interface with graphene. The toxicity of
graphene is unknown as well.
Brand-new features enhance the MPMN Online experience!
The perfect complement to the MPMN print edition, Medtech Pulse, a blog written by the editors of
MPMN online keeps you informed of new products, MPMN, covers what you have come to expect
services, suppliers, and emerging technologies. from MPMN, and more. The blog keeps tabs on
emerging technologies, industry reports, supplier
news, and medtech developments, enabling you to
stay abreast of developments as they happen.
At devicelink.com/mpmn, you’ll find:
Ask the Expert—a Q&A forum featuring experts
from the medtech industry. Ask the Expert includes
industry specialists such as:
■
Kyle Rhodes, market segment
manager for Dymax Corp.,
who fields such adhesive-related
questions as, “What’s the best clear
Composite materials, namely graphene oxide,
also demonstrate potential. A Stanford University
research group, for example, has shown that it is
photoluminescent in the visible and infrared regions
of the electromagnetic spectrum. This revelation
indicates that graphene oxide could be used for
in vivo imaging. The researchers also think that
the material could transport cancer therapies, a
discovery that could pave the way for simultaneous
cancer cell imaging and treatment.
At devicelink.com/mpmn, you’ll also find:
adhesive that will work with PET?”
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Bonus, online-only coverage of MD&M East,
including news from the show floor as it happens.
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Joseph B. Kain, product manager of
Web-exclusive coverage of MDEA-winning
nitinol and fabricated PGM products
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products.
for Johnson Matthey, who answers
The latest supplier and industry news briefs.
metals-oriented questions, including:
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Product category pages that help you to easily
Researchers have only begun to scratch the
surface of graphene’s potential, despite the fact that
this nanoscale component of graphite has been right
under our noses—or in our hands—for ages. But if
even a fraction of these hypotheses become realities,
graphene could open up a world of possibilities. The
writing’s on the wall: pencil in some time to get to
know graphene—it may just be worth it.
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“ What metals can be used in place
navigate our site for articles and related
of platinum for radiopaque markers
information by topic.
and marker bands?”
■
Thousands of supplier listings in our North
E-mail mpmneditorial@cancom.com to submit
a question for our Ask the Expert column.
American Suppliers Directory, which can be
accessed by clicking on the Buyers Guide tab
found on our home page.
EDITOR
shana.leonard@cancom.com
