News and Events (Archive)
The MSSE Divison participates in sponsor-funded research and development and supports a number of conferences in scientific and technical areas. This area of our site contins archieve information regarding our research, publications, proposals, awards, technical directions, conferences, staffing, and student and faculty visitors.
Highlights for January-March 2011
Highlights for January-December 2010
Highlights for July-December 2009
Highlights for January-June 2009
To see our current events, please visit our MSSE Current News and Events page.
December 2009
Steve McNeany, ORNL working on Light Armored Vehicle
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Oak Ridge researchers will work on upgrades for LAVs. |
Steve McNeany is the program manager, Shaun Gleason (Measurement Science & Systems Engineering Division), Glen Harrison (Energy & Transportation Science Division), and Cy Smith (Computational Sciences & Engineering Division) are task leaders, and Tim Vane (Global Security Division) is the program developer.
The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge operations received a record amount of funding in fiscal 2009 -- $495 million -- to do work for other agencies. Among the projects is a three-year, $25 million effort at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in which researchers will work with the U.S. Marine Corps to enhance the capabilities of the Light Armored Vehicle.
According to information from DOE, the primary objective of this effort is to "ensure the viability" of the LAV to 2025 and beyond.
The Marine Corps Times did a story earlier this year about plans to upgrade the LAV fleet.
In response to questions, DOE provided this statement about ORNL's work on the military project:
"These tasks will focus on, but not necessarily be limited to, sensor development; evaluation and improvements to current sensors and sense and respond systems; development of materials to enhance the LAV's maintainability/survivability; development of cognitive radio applications/techniques to improve the LAV's communications and logistics capabilities; and, the application of knowledge discovery/knowledge management tools that can be applied to LAV sensor/cost data as well as in diagnostics and systems evaluations."
DOE said ORNL was chosen for the work "because of its multidisciplinary approach to problem solving, its world class scientific/engineering capabilities and its unique ability to manage large projects with multiple, diverse team members."
Of the "work for others" in Oak Ridge, ORNL had the biggest allotment at $358 million.
"The cutting edge research being performed in Oak Ridge is helping to address some of the nation's most pressing issues," DOE Manager Gerald Boyd said in a statement.
Of the $495 million, $415 million was the traditional work for other agencies, while $80 million was associated with Cooperative Research and Development Agreements between DOE and the Department of Homeland Security.
About $100 million of the total was funding associated with the Recovery Act, DOE said.
During FY 2009, there were more than 3,100 funding agreements approved by DOE's Oak Ridge office to support non-DOE entities.
The Department of Defense was a major funder, but money also came to Oak Ridge from these federal agencies: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency."
Knoxville News Sentinel - Posted by Frank Munger on December 28, 2009 at 12:04 PM
LDRD Award
Scott Hunter of the Nanosystems and Structures Group received LDRD Award...
Project: "MEMS-based Pyroelectric Thermal Energy Scavenger"
A new type of high efficiency, low grade waste heat energy converter is proposed that can be used to actively cool electronic devices, computer systems, data centers and larger waste heat producing systems, while generating electricity that can be used to power monitoring sensor systems, or recycled to provide electrical power. The energy scavenger potentially has the ability to generate high rates of change in the temperature during the energy generation cycle through the device with minimal power loss, leading to high efficiency power generation. The MEMS based device can be can be fabricated into scalable arrays using well-known and established microfabrication techniques and materials. With temperature differences in the range 100-300 C, such as those for computer microprocessors, internal combustion engines and steam power plants, overall efficiencies in the 20-40% range are achievable. These values are several times larger than those achievable with any other competing thermal-to-electrical scavenging techniques. The energy converter can be scaled to high volume, low cost manufacturing using readily available contract manufacturing CMOS and MEMS foundries.
November 2009
Three MSSE staff members receive UT-Battelle 2009 Awards Night Recognition
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Inventor of the Year Lonnie J. Love (Robotics & Energetic Systems Group) received the UT-Battelle 2009 Awards Night-Inventor of the Year Award. Dr. Love was recognized for inventions and innovation in the fields of bio-generation of energy-related materials, omnidirectional vehicles, fluidics controls and biomedical robotics, enabling significant impact on human health and welfare and on future clean, efficient energy. |
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Battelle Distinguished Inventor |
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Esprit de Corps Teresa Ferguson, Energy & Engineering Sciences Directorate, was a member of team receiving the UT-Battelle 2009 Awards Night — Espirt de Corps Award. The team was recognized for providing and encouraging outstanding esprit de corps and community outreach within ORNL as part of the Veterans Day Committee to honor the service of ORNL veterans and all those who have served their country. |
Seed Money Award
Shaun Gleason of the Image Science and Machine Vision Group received Seed Money Award...
Project: Development of Computational Methods for Neurobiological Imaging Research
Neurobiologists are interested in understanding how neurons form complex synaptic circuits during development and how these processes are perturbed in diseases. Neuronal migration and maturation during development play a critical role in how neurons ultimately function. Development of computational methods to extract pertinent information from the large 3D and 4D image data sets has not kept pace with available imaging technologies. We propose to develop of a set of analysis methods that allow researchers to discover relationships between the anatomical and migratory characteristics of neurons and their ability to function in a network of cells. These methods will provide a foundation upon which a comprehensive suite of tools can be developed. The biological questions that these tools will address strike at the foundation of many neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and schizophrenia.
Chris Boehnen of the Image Science and Machine Vision Group received Seed Money Award...
Project: Multi-Modal Biometric Recognition of Non-Cooperative Subjects at a Distance
Biometrics is “the measurement and analysis of unique physical or behavioral characteristics (such as fingerprint or voice patterns) especially as a means of verifying personal identity.” This project will collect multiple biometrics including whole body images, face images, eye (iris) images, and ear images of subjects walking normally. The system will automatically illuminate and capture these biometrics which will be used for biometric recognition research and experiments to test the ability of a computer to automatically identify who is walking by the system.
October 2009
Stack Characterization Systems (SCS) allows safe and cost-effective remediation of highly contaminated, structurally deteriorated off-gas stacks
The conceptual design of a stack characterization system (SCS) that will facilitate the safe and cost-effective remediation of highly contaminated, structurally deteriorated off-gas stacks has been completed. The selected approach removes workers from harm's way while providing more and better quality data than previously available. The selected concept is a crane-deployed remotely operated system that descends down through the top opening of an off-gas stack to gain access to the stack internals. The SCS uses video inspection and alpha/beta/gamma radiation detectors, smear sampling, and core sampling tools to acquire characterization data on the stack walls.
A report has been delivered to DOE EM-23 presenting the results of the requirements definition and conceptual design activities that were performed during the last quarters of FY-09, as well as a proposed plan for developing, testing, and demonstrating a working stack characterization system on an existing ORNL stack by mid FY-11.
For more information contact Francois Pin, Robotics and Energetic Systems Group Leader – pinfg@ornl.gov
MSSE staff members play a key role in meeting milestones for ongoing work with USEC CRADA
United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) entered into a multiyear, $336M CRADA with ORNL in 2000 to develop and demonstrate an economical centrifuge machine. The CRADA is highly unusual not only in its size (ORNL’s largest ever) but also in the fact that it contains a small number of extremely aggressive milestones that, under a USEC-DOE agreement, must be met. Failure to meet any of these milestones invokes major adverse consequences that strongly impact USEC’s financial health.
In the most recent quarter, ORNL staff members have been working with USEC to measure, analyze, and demonstrate the readiness of the centrifuge components, subsystems, and complete systems for deployment in the plant in Piketon, Ohio. The relevant accomplishments include:
- the continued operation of the Lead Cascade demonstration in Piketon, now exceeding 220,000 machine-hours of operations;
- initiation of a robust reliability program to gather data and report on critical component failure rates and projected improvements; and
- completion of a Bayesian analysis on reliability data demonstrating that the existing USEC designs meet their business targets for profitability for the plant.
Our staff members played key roles in all of the above activities including critical meetings at DOE Headquarters assisting USEC in presenting their findings for the DOE Loan Guarantee Board.
Wayne Manges, USEC CRADA Program Manager
MSSE staff members continue work with National Research Council (NRC) on Wireless Communications
The National Research Council (NRC) had identified (in 1998) advanced wireless sensors as a key research need for the DOE. ORNL’s previous project ended with feasibility demonstrations at various industrial sites around the nation. Further work is needed however to meet the goals identified in the NRC study cited above:
- eliminate interference from metal structures in the manufacturing environment
- use intelligent integrated sensors
- develop reliable wireless networks for process monitoring and control
- develop remote power systems for wireless devices
- standardize communication protocols, interfaces, and software.
In the most recent quarter, ORNL staff members have been working with government, industry, and standards bodies to bring reliable, secure, and resilient wireless communications to critical infrastructure protection sites around the nation. The relevant accomplishments include:
- Release of the first ANSI-authorized standard for wireless industrial automation, ISA100.11a. Wayne co-chairs the international standards body the prepared the standard, ISA100.
- Product deployments from ISA100 member companies that build on technologies and standards developed under ORNL program leadership.
- Formation of a joint working group with ISA100 and ISA99 to promote trustworthiness in communications systems, both wired and wireless, for industrial automation systems.
- Publication of numerous invited papers, invited key-note talks, and invited presentations around the world recognizing ORNL as the lead in industrial wireless communications technology.
Wayne Manages, Wireless Communications
ORNL scientist says superhydrophobic powder will "change the world"
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| John Simpson says his new powder may "change the world". |
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| The powder is superhydrophbic, or very water-resistant. |
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| The science is based on the lotus plant leaf. |
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| The powder is made from tiny fiberglass pieces. |
An Oak Ridge scientist is out to master the undesirable effects of a substance most of us come in contact with every day: water.
John Simpson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Scientist of the Year, has created a powder that takes water-proof to a level never seen before.
His science imitates the lotus plant.
"It's a natural plant that has a hydrophobic chemistry but also has a nanostructure," Simpson explained.
In other words, its chemical make-up is water resistant, and its physical makeup contains bumps and spikes.
Simpson's idea was to reproduce the lotus plant's leaves with glass fibers.
"We took 2 glasses, a tube and a rod. Put them together. Drew them and made a few thousand meters of fiber. Bundled the fiber into a hexagon bundle," Simpson said.
The bundle of fibers is then drawn into a single fiber under extremely high temperatures.
The process is repeated until you get a surface comprised of bumps and spikes like the lotus plant.
"Microscopic glass cones that look like this," Simpson said pointing to an image taken under microscope.
The final result is a wafer with a few million of those cones on it.
"The wafer is superhydrophobic; very water-repellant," Simpson said.
When the wafer is ground into a powder and put on various surfaces, the water rolls right off.
Current products cause water to slide across surfaces, but Simpson's powder forces water drops to bounce.
"Of course what this does is change the world. We live in a water world," Simpson said.
Though water does a lot of good, it also comes with potentially serious damage.
When it freezes on power lines, icicles form, weighing the lines down, and causing them to snap.
"Here it is on our coated power line," Simpson said while dropping water onto a power line treated with his powder.
The water flies right off.
The superhydrophobic powder may also help with coating wood homes to prevent them from damage due to hurricanes or flooding.
"You might have to get rid of some drywall but you wouldn't have to knock down the houses," Simpson said.
The powder can also help extend the lifespan of concrete roads and metal bridges.
"It will throw the water off the bridge and stop corrosion," Simpson said.
Altogether, Simpson has developed four superhydrophobic powders.
All four may be available for commercial use in a year.
Posted by Alison Morrow - WBIR.COM on October 1, 2009
Seed Money Award
Scott Hunter of the Nanosystems and Structures Group received Seed Money Award...
Project: Dual Waveband Passive Longwave (LWIR) Infrared Imager
The infrared imaging approach to be developed in this project is a dual waveband imager using a binocular type device that allows simultaneous visible and infrared imaging using passive imaging optics and overlayered visible and infrared images. The value of this dual waveband imager is particularly apparent under low ambient lighting conditions or when a target is camouflaged or hidden in the surrounding environment. Under these conditions, potential targets are not easily recognizable using either of these imaging techniques separately, but the combined images give a clearer image of the potential target and surrounding threats. No other dual wavelength imaging camera (including all microsystems based imagers) have this dual wavelength imaging capability, and all require high power readout electronics and additional visible imaging cameras to convert the infrared signal to visible imagery.
August 2009
Bionic Science (PROBLEM: Can prosthetic devices be engineered to feel natural?)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Review (Research Horizons)
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| Mesofluidic exoskeletons equipped with an array of sensors will enable remotely controlled "hands" to have the same dexterity as a human hand. |
Lonnie Love's robotics group traditionally has worked on robotic applications for big things—really big things, like industrial-scale manipulators and mobile robots. In predictable scientific fashion, one of his colleagues posed the question, "What if we reversed our thinking, scaled the process down and, instead of designing huge robots, started making very small robotic devices?" Some two years later, the answer has materialized in the form of a surge of research in the relatively new field of mesofluidics.
Mesofluidics is the application of millimeter- to centimeter-sized hydraulics to problems that require substantial amounts of power to be generated and applied in a limited space. "One of the first things we demonstrated in this relatively new area of research was an artificial finger powered by mesofluidics," says Love. The unique thing about this accomplishment was that all the control valves and other equipment required to operate the finger were small enough to fit inside the finger. Despite their miniature size, the hydraulics in the finger provide about 20 pounds of pinch force—about twice the force generated by a human finger.
Packing that level of performance into such a small space required some innovation on the part of the mesofluidics team. Love credits the group's development of two "enabling" technologies for much of the progress they have made. The first is a small but powerful pump. About a cubic inch in volume, the pump operates at 200 psi and generates about 30 watts of hydraulic power. The other new technology is the specialized valves that control motion in the system. "We cannot buy control valves off the shelf that provide this level of performance at this small scale," says Love. "Because no one makes the kind of high-pressure, low-flow valves needed for mesofluidic applications, we were forced to make them ourselves."
The design of a hydraulic finger led, perhaps predictably, to the group's current effort to design and control a mesofluidic hand. In addition to the obvious prosthetic applications, the ORNL team believes the hand also could serve as a remotely controlled device used for disposing of explosives. "If we can make a hand that has the same dexterity as the human hand," says Love, "we could use the device not only for prosthetics but also for remotely disarming weapons, handling IEDs, and thereby removing humans from the risk zone."
One of the first challenges that confronted the project was developing the ability to control a device of such complexity. " A joystick for every joint in the hand is not practical," says Love. "We needed something more natural." To find the balance of complexity and natural function, Love's team is designing a glove with a mesofluidic exoskeleton. They hope to enable the position of each finger joint to be measured and transmitted to the remote hand. Similarly, the exoskeleton would be able to measure the forces occurring remotely and use mesofluidics to provide force feedback, so the user can 'feel' what the remote hand is doing.
As is often the case with scientific exploration, the enabling technologies developed by Love and his colleagues are leading to a broader understanding that wearable robotics can be applied in a number of areas. The team is currently working with Orthocare, one of the leading American manufacturers of prosthetic limbs, on a system to strengthen weakened joints such as elbows or knees. 'If you have a weak knee," Love says, " it would be nice if you could wear a device that would give that joint a little extra power—not to make you a superman, but to restore the strength that you've lost."
Several companies have expressed an interest in applying mesofluidic technology to other prosthetic applications, as well as the production of small-scale, unmanned aerial vehicles with almost bird-like agility. Not surprisingly, Love is enthusiastic about the future of this line of research. "Our initial discoveries have opened a variety of opportunities," he says. "Our challenge now is to find even more unique applications."
July 2009
Image Science and Machine Vision Group Completes Quarterly Program Review for DHS/DNDO Gamma Monitoring System
The portable portal monitor project task, being performed in partnership with the Global Nuclear Security Technology Division, is to construct a roadside gamma radiation imager that uses visible light images from a video system to accurately detect radiation from passing vehicles. A critical quarterly program review was held at the end of June to review progress and demonstrate a functional dual-road system which uses gamma imagers and video systems on both sides of the road to automatically detect and locate vehicles. The system performed as expected, taking stereo, monocular, and motion-corrected data from both sides of the road and merging them with a simplified approach, reporting the results to the operator. The next phase of the project development is concerned with utilizing optical stereo data to improve the measurement accuracy and fusing the data from both road sides in a robust manner.
For additional information on ORNL’s vehicle detection/tracking technology for the portable monitor system, please contact Dr. Shaun S. Gleason.
Demonstration of ORNL-Developed Cognitive Radio/RFID Technology to Enable Just-In-Time In-Transit Asset Visibility
MSSED personnel recently demonstrated the results of its development effort to combine cognitive radio and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies to enable the interoperability of existing legacy active RFID tag infrastructure and ISO 18000-7 2008 RFID tags. The demonstration took place on May 26, 2009 in Washington, DC for the U.S. Army PM J-AIT. The MSSED team was able to accomplish in 9 months what would typically takes multiple years and millions of dollars to complete.
The U.S. Army must be capable of operating in locations where an existing active RFID infrastructure does not exist, nor where is it deemed likely that permission would be granted to establish one. Commensurate with this need, the U.S. Army PM-JAIT needs the ability to provide just-in-time, condition-based, in-transit visibility of critical assets throughout the entire supply chain, including the “last tactical mile” where the location and condition of critical assets are often unavailable when they have gone beyond existing infrastructure. Therefore, PM J-AIT explored developing a tracking and tracing system similar to the U.S. Army’s Movement Tracking System (MTS), but smaller and more agile. The key goal was to provide continuous global connectivity that works independently of the availability of the local communications infrastructure. For such a system to be viable it must not only provide enhanced capabilities and features such as geo-location, sensor data and interoperability with ISO 18000-7, but backward compatibility with existing ANSI/INCITS 256 tags and infrastructure.
To that end, cognitive radio/RFID (CR2) devices were developed at ORNL that act as mobile active RFID readers for both types of RFID tags. Along with dual-mode RFID tagging functionality, the CR2 devices incorporate sensors for condition monitoring (temperature and light), reach-back communications via the Iridium satellite network, commercial global positioning system (GPS) capability, and system-initiated alerts (temperature threshold, container breach, and geofencing). The CR2 devices are also housed in a relatively small form factor. The system in which the CR2 devices operate is called the Secure Adaptive Intelligent Tracking (SAINT) System and is filling a key gap in the military’s logistics requirements.
For additional information on ORNL’s cognitive radio technology, please contact Paul D. Ewing, ewingpd@ornl.gov
ORNL advances therapy for Parkinson’s, other diseases
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., July 22, 2009 -- By miniaturizing a device that monitors the delivery of healthy cells, researchers at Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a powerful instrument for physicians to use in treating patients with Parkinson’s syndrome, brain tumors and other diseases.
While cell replacement therapies can be effective, the challenge is to deliver a sufficient quantity of healthy cells, said Boyd Evans III of the lab’s Measurement Science and Systems Engineering Division.
“Regardless of the source of cells and the location of delivery, there is a great need to improve cell viability after the cells are transplanted,” Evans said. “The vast majority of transplanted cells do not survive more than 24 hours regardless of their source.”
Studies have shown that merely implanting more cells does not necessarily increase the number that survive and differentiate into dopamine-producing, or viable, cells in Parkinson’s models. The key is being able to deliver precise quantities of healthy cells to a targeted location. This requires the ability to determine if the cells are viable upon delivery and the ability to make meaningful measurements. ORNL’s proprietary instrumented cell delivery catheter allows physicians to do just that.
“Our approach consists of monitoring cells that are implanted using a catheter equipped with a fiber optic probe to perform fluorescence-based cytometric measurements on cells as they exit the port at the catheter tip,” Evans said. These measurements confirm that the cell is alive and provide indications of the cell’s health.
“What we have done is taken the function of a laboratory instrument and put it on the tip of a catheter that can make measurements inside the brain,” Evans said.
Results from several studies underscore the value of delivering a highly controlled amount of tissue into the host brain, and understanding cell viability at the delivery point is critical for meaningful comparison of experimental results, according to Evans.
The instrumented catheter is part of a larger effort to develop a complete system for collecting healthy tissue from an individual who is both the donor and recipient, expanding this tissue in vitro and implanting the tissue under monitored conditions. Joining Boyd in this effort are other researchers from ORNL, George Gillies of the University of Virginia, and neurosurgeon William Broaddus and neuroscientist Helen Fillmore of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Funding provided through ORNL’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program was used to develop a prototype device and demonstrate its functionality for characterizing cell flows of cell.
Following completion of the LDRD funded project, NexGen Medical Systems and Kopf Family Foundation at the University of Virginia, and the Cullather, Hord and Hafner Funds at Virginia Commonwealth University worked on other issues associated with flows of slurries of cells, such as cell delivery, cell selection and culturing technique.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.
10 Better Bionic Body Parts Grabbing: Fingers"
Jonathan Fahey (Forbes)
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Grabbing: Fingers |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has applied its expertise in building powerful arms built for loading 2,000 bombs very, very carefully to making prosthetics that may be able to help replace the strength of those who have lost function in body parts, like hands. Oak Ridge researchers are developing small hydraulics to power the joints. Electric motors can only move about 10% of their weight. One hydraulic robotic arm Oak Ridge built for DARPA curled 60 pounds--12 times the arm's body weight, says John Jansen, an Oak Ridge research engineer. Medical device company OrthoCare Innovations is hoping to commercialize components of the technology.
New Mechanism Controlling Neuronal Migration Discovered
ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — The molecular machinery that helps brain cells migrate to their correct place in the developing brain has been identified by scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The finding offers new insight into the forces that drive brain organization in developing fetuses and children during their first years. Disruption of this brain-patterning machinery can cause epilepsy and mental retardation and understanding its function could give new insight into such disorders.
Led by David Solecki, Ph.D., an assistant member in the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology, the researchers published their findings in the July 16 issue of the journal Neuron.
In the experiments, the researchers sought to understand the biological machinery powering a process called glial-guided neuronal migration. Glial cells in the brain support and guide neurons, which make up the brain's wiring. During brain development, neurons are born in germinal zones at some distance from where they must ultimately land in order to form brain structures and integrate into the brain's circuitry.
"Glial cells produce very thin fibers, and neurons in essence walk a tightrope along these fibers in moving from these germinal zones to their final position," Solecki said. In earlier work, Solecki and his colleagues identified a control molecule called Par6 alpha that regulates this migration. Other researchers had produced evidence that a molecular motor called Myosin II might power the migration. Myosins are proteins that use chemical energy to create contractions by moving along filamental proteins called actins—like a train moves along a railroad track.
The researchers used a technique of microscopic time-lapse imaging to establish that Myosin II and actin made up the machinery of neuronal migration. Working with cultures of migrating neurons, the investigators used fluorescent dyes to label Myosin II and actin proteins, as well as key cell structures. The scientists then illuminated the cultures with rapid-fire pulses of laser light measured in thousandths of a second, taking an image with each flash. The result was a series of micromovies that revealed how the Myosin II and actin proteins and cell structures behaved during migration.
These micromovies showed that the Myosin II-actin machinery powers neuronal migration. As part of a step-wise migration process, the machinery pulls the internal cell structures of the neuron forward during migration to allow those structures to build the scaffolding that enables the neuron to move the main cell body forward. The researchers demonstrated that both Myosin II and actin are necessary for the process, because they could completely shut it down by using drugs that inhibited either molecule.
"No one had actually looked in living cells to see the configuration of actin in migrating neurons to show how it positions the machinery that will eventually elicit movement of the cell," Solecki said. "We also found that contraction of Myosin II in the leading portion of a neuron powers movement."
Critical to the researchers' success was the development of a computer analysis technique for the massive number of time-lapse images, Solecki said. The analysis program was developed by study co-authors Ryan Kerekes, Ph.D., and Shaun Gleason, Ph.D., of Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee.
"Our time-lapse microscopy could image hundreds of cells in a single afternoon, but analyzing that mass of data by hand would have taken months," Solecki said. "However, the automated analysis enabled those data to be analyzed in a matter of hours. Also, the automated analysis was free of the kind of natural bias that can occur when humans analyze such images."
In further experiments, the researchers also showed that Par6 alpha regulates Myosin II motor activity, shedding light on how the machinery is regulated. Additional studies will explore that regulation mechanism further.
Basic understanding of the migration machinery could have important clinical implications.
"If we more clearly understand how neurons migrate in neural development, we will have a better framework to explain the basis of neuronal migration defects in children," Solecki said. "Also, cell migrations may contribute towards the spread of brain tumors in children. If we can understand how normal neurons migrate, we might be able to dissect the machinery of the migration of brain tumor cells."
Other authors of the paper are Niraj Trivedi (St. Jude); and Eve-Ellen Govek and Mary Hatten (The Rockefeller University, New York). The research was supported in part by the March of Dimes, the National Institutes of Health, a Cancer Center Support Grant and ALSAC.
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