This week, a 3D light switch targets hundreds of individual neurons, NASA uses laser additive manufacturing to make rocket parts, and bacterial DNA sequencing controls an MRSA outbreak for the first time.
First, a fiber-optic device created by researchers at MIT can deliver precise points of light to a 3D section of living brain tissue. By using the new 3D light switch to better understand how the brain works, it could be used to create neural prostheses that could treat conditions such as Parkinsonâs disease and epilepsy. Each probe measures just 150 µm across, making them slightly thicker than a human hair and thin enough so that the device can be implanted at any depth in the cortex without damaging it. Several light-emitting ports are located along the length of each probe, and scientists can illuminate and change the color of each light port independently from the others. An added third dimension allows unlimited patterns of light within the volume of a cubic centimeter of brain tissue using a few hundred independently controllable illumination points. Details of the work appear in Optics Letters.
In laser manufacturing news, NASAâs Marshall Space Flight Center is using selective laser melting to create intricate metal parts for the Space Launch System, a rocket designed to take people, equipment, and experiments beyond low-Earth orbit to nearby asteroids and eventually Mars. Some parts of the rocketâs J-2X engine will be 3D-printed using selective laser melting, a process that will significantly reduce the manufacturing time required to produce parts to weeks or even days.
And finally, researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and colleagues turned to advanced DNA sequencing technologies to confirm the presence of an ongoing MRSA outbreak in a special care baby unit in real time. The investigators note that this approach assisted in stopping the outbreak earlier, saving possible harm to patients. Next,the team will study all MRSA carriers and infected patients over the next year in Addenbrookeâs Hospital and surrounding hospitals and the community to understand transmission events with the aim of improving infection management. Full details appear online in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
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