Optimisation of chemical lysis protocol for point-of-care leukocyte differentiation

The full blood cell (FBC) count is the most common indicator of diseases. At present hematology analyzers are used for the blood cell characterization, but, recently, there has been interest in using techniques that take advantage of microscale devices and intrinsic properties of cells for increased automation and decreased cost. Microfluidic technologies offer solutions to handling and processing small volumes of blood (2-50 uL taken by finger prick) for point-of-care(PoC) applications. Several PoC blood analyzers are in use and may have applications in the fields of telemedicine, out patient monitoring and medical care in resource limited settings. They have the advantage to be easy to move and much cheaper than traditional analyzers, which require bulky instruments and consume large amount of reagents. The development of miniaturized point-of-care diagnostic tests may be enabled by chip-based technologies for cell separation and sorting. Many current diagnostic tests depend on fractionated blood components: plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets. Specifically, white blood cell differentiation and counting provide valuable information for diagnostic purposes. For example, a low number of WBCs, called leukopenia, may be an indicator of bone marrow deficiency or failure, collagen- vascular diseases, disease of the liver or spleen. The leukocytosis, a high number of WBCs, may be due to anemia, infectious diseases, leukemia or tissue damage. In the laboratory of hybrid biodevices, at the University of Southampton,it was developed a functioning micro impedance cytometer technology for WBC differentiation and counting. It is capable to classify cells and particles on the base of their dielectric properties, in addition to their size, without the need of labeling, in a flow format similar to that of a traditional flow cytometer. It was demonstrated that the micro impedance cytometer system can detect and differentiate monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes, which are the three major human leukocyte populations. The simplicity and portability of the microfluidic impedance chip offer a range of potential applications in cell analysis including point-of-care diagnostic systems. The microfluidic device has been integrated into a sample preparation cartridge that semi-automatically performs erythrocyte lysis before leukocyte analysis. Generally erythrocytes are manually lysed according to a specific chemical lysis protocol, but this process has been automated in the cartridge. In this research work the chemical lysis protocol, defined in the patent US 5155044 A, was optimized in order to improve white blood cell differentiation and count performed by the integrated cartridge.

Chemical composition modification of casting aluminium alloys for engine applications

The research activities were focused on evaluating the effect of Mo addition to mechanical properties and microstructure of A354 aluminium casting alloy. Samples, with increasing amount of Mo, were produced and heat treated. After heat treatment and exposition to high temperatures samples underwent microstructural and chemical analyses, hardness and tensile tests. The collected data led to the optimization of both casting parameters, for obtaining a homogeneous Mo distribution in the alloy, and heat treatment parameters, allowing the formation of Mo based strengthening precipitates stable at high temperature. Microstructural and chemical analyses highlighted how Mo addition in percentage superior to 0.1% wt. can modify the silicon eutectic morphology and hinder the formation of iron based β intermetallics. High temperature exposure curves, instead, showed that after long exposition hardness is slightly influenced by heat treatment while the effect of Mo addition superior to 0,3% is negligible. Tensile tests confirmed that the addition of 0.3%wt Mo induces an increase of about 10% of ultimate tensile strength after high temperature exposition (250°C for 100h) while heat treatments have slight influence on mechanical behaviour. These results could be exploited for developing innovative heat treatment sequence able to reduce residual stresses in castings produced with A354 modified with Mo.

Chemical Loop Reforming dell'etanolo: studio della reattività di ferriti modificate

Modified ferrites with a generic formula of MFe2O4 (where M=Co, Cu, Mn and their combination: Cu/Co, Cu/Mn and Co/Mn) were studied as potentially attractive ionic oxygen and electron carrier materials for the production of “clean H2” via the Chemical Loop Reforming (CLR) of bio-ethanol. The conventional CLR process consists of 2 steps: 1st - the reduction step with ethanol; 2nd - the re-oxidation step with water. The synthesized materials were tested in a laboratory plant in terms of both redox properties and catalytic activity to generate hydrogen during the re-oxidation step with water steam over previously pre-reduced samples. The obtained results showed that CuFe2O4, Cu0.5Co0.5Fe2O4, Cu0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 and CoFe2O4 within 20 min of ethanol reduction reached almost a complete reduction, and, as a consequence, the higher yields to H2 produced during the re-oxidation step with steam. On the other hand, incorporation of Mn-cations greatly affects the redox properties of a resulted spinel (MnFe2O4 and Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4) leading to its lower reducibility, caused by the formation of a hardly reducible layer of MnxFeyO oxide. Moreover, the presence of Mn-cations effectively reduces the amount of coke formed during the anaerobic reduction step with ethanol and hence avoids a fast deactivation of the material. Modification of the conventional CLR process with an addition of the 3rd regeneration step (carried out with air) was done in order to increase the stability of the looping material and to overcome the deactivation problems, such as: a coke deposition/accumulation and an incomplete re-oxidation of M0 during the 2nd step.