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crobial solid touch surface to help protect against bacteria. MD-Cu29 antimicrobial
copper features an economical surface that kills more than 99.9% of MRSA, E. coli,
and other bacteria within two hours of exposure. The school converted door handles,
door push plates, and locker pulls to MD-Cu29 antimicrobial copper. Other installa-
tions include retrofitting existing surfaces to reduce the cost of purchasing new com-
ponents. MD-Cu29 copper delivers continuous and ongoing antibacterial action,
continuing to kill 99% of bacteria even
after repeated contaminations.
.
Researchers print
their own syringes
A team led by Michigan Technological
University (MTU), Houghton, published
an open-source library of designs that will
let scientists design syringe pumps, which
are used to dispatch precise amounts of
liquid in applications such as drug deliv-
ery or mixing chemicals in a reaction. Sy-
ringe pumps often cost hundreds or even
thousands of dollars. MTU’s Joshua Pearce
and his team created the free library of
pump designs, which anyone can make on
a RepRap 3D printer for only the cost of the
plastic filament. Designs are completely
customizable.
“Not only have we designed a single
syringe pump, we’ve designed all future
syringe pumps,” says Pearce. “Scientists
can customize the design of a pump for
exactly what they are doing, just by
changing a couple of numbers in the soft-
ware.” The library includes recipes for
most components of a syringe pump. A
small electric stepper motor that drives
the liquid, some simple hardware, and the
syringe itself must be purchased, but are
all inexpensive.
The team also went a little further, in-
corporating a low cost, credit card-sized
Raspberry Pi computer as a wireless con-
troller. “That way, you can link the syringe
pump to the network, sit on a beach in
Hawaii, and control your lab,” explains
Pearce. “Plenty of people can have access,
and you can run multiple experiments at
the same time. Our entire single-pump
system costs only $50 and can replace
pumps that typically run between $250
and $2500.” For more information: Joshua
Pearce, 906.487.1466, ,
,
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2014 7
MD-Cu29 door plates
protect against bacteria.
Courtesy of PRNewsFoto/
Hussey Copper.