Electronic Sonotweezers: Particle Manipulation with Ultrasonic Arrays
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Dundee
Department Name: Division of Imaging & Technology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
- University of Dundee (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Penn State University (Collaboration)
- St. Andrews University (Collaboration)
- Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Project Partner)
- Loadpoint (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Piezo Composite Transducers (PCT) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Danaher (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Weidlinger Associates (United States) (Project Partner)
Publications
[39] S.Cochran, C.R.P.Courtney And C.Demore
(2012)
"Ultrasonic Transducers: Materials, Design and Applications"
Bernassau A
(2009)
Progress towards wafer-scale fabrication of ultrasound arrays for real-time high-resolution biomedical imaging
in Sensor Review
Bernassau A
(2013)
Integrated ultrasonic particle positioning and low excitation light fluorescence imaging
in Applied Physics Letters
Brodie GW
(2014)
Optically transparent piezoelectric transducer for ultrasonic particle manipulation.
in IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control
C. Courtney
(2012)
"Manipulation of microparticles using circular ultrasonic arrays"
in IEEE Int. Ultrasonics. Symp. Proc.
C.Demore
(2010)
"Transducer Arrays for Ultrasonic Particle Manipulation"
in Proc. IEEE Int. Ultrason. Symp.,
Courtney C
(2014)
Independent trapping and manipulation of microparticles using dexterous acoustic tweezers
in Applied Physics Letters
Courtney C
(2013)
Dexterous manipulation of microparticles using Bessel-function acoustic pressure fields
in Applied Physics Letters
Courtney CR
(2010)
Manipulation of microparticles using phase-controllable ultrasonic standing waves.
in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
| Description | Acoustic tweezers, i.e. tweezers that use sound as their means of manipulation, existed but were generally quite crude prior to the work funded through this award. By developing new techniques, including with arrays of ultrasonic devices rather than single devices, our key contribution was that we were able to show the true versatility of acoustic tweezing. With proper perspective, it can be seen that the work led to numerous interesting innovations including manipulation of electronic components for circuit assembly; rapid manipulation of particles optically illuminated by an external source as a way to visualise 3D objects; an electronic means to establish touch without conventional physical contact; and a way to hold objects such as living organisms in an extremely stable fashion so as to permit microscopy whilst also properly nourishing the organism. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of the funding have already been taken forward in both commercial entities (e.g. Ultraleap, www.ultraleap.com) and in a thriving academic community with its own conferences and sessions at other, multifacted conferences. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | The Sonotweezers programme in Dundee had two major outcomes: - In popular science / education, the possibility to establish a sonic screwdriver and an acoustic tractor beam were established. These linked to popular culture through the Doctor Who television series and the Star Trek television and film series respectively. - Our technical results generated commercial interest, which has not yet been taken forward. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Education,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Economic |
| Description | Sonotweezers - Agilent Technologies Foundation Research Project Gift |
| Amount | $36,500 (USD) |
| Funding ID | 2219-UK10 |
| Organisation | Agilent Technologies |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 03/2011 |
| End | 02/2012 |
| Title | Highly stable contactless sample holding for simultaneous nutrient / drug delivery and optical visualisation |
| Description | The use of acoustic tweezers has been demonstrated as a way to hold biological samples in fluid, including complete, viable, macroscopic organisms, with sufficient stability for optical visualisation with techniques such as light-sheet microscopy, whilst simultaneously delivering nutrients and drugs that maintain the organism and allow the effects of the drugs to be observed. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Full impact is still to be felt as the Nature Communications paper describing the research method and illustrating its capabilities was published only in 2019. |
| URL | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08514-5 |
| Description | Academic collaboration with Penn State University |
| Organisation | Penn State University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | My research team has engaged in collaboration with the team in MRI at Penn State to explore the functionality of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers for micromanipulation. Researchers in Glasgow have prepared device designs which have been fabricated at Penn State. The Glasgow researchers have then tested the devices and validated their performance, before application demonstrations at Penn State. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Penn State researchers have collaborated in device design, carried out fabrication, and done application-oriented measurements. |
| Impact | It is still early for outcomes but publications are expected to emerge shortly. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Academic partnership with University of Edinburgh |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Department | School of Informatics Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The University of Edinburghhosting a PhD student, Mr Rui Song, who worked on electronics for integration with piezoelectric devices ultimately to form large scale arrays for dexterous acoustic particle manipulation. I and my research team provided knowhow in electronics and piezoelectric devices and some physical devices for use in this work. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The specialism of Prof. Underwood and his team at SMC is in integration of electronics with other devices. Hence, Prof. Underwood and Dr Song engaged particularly with electronics design, including development of an application specific integrated circuit and related electronics that allowed prototype acoustic tweezers to be demonstrated. |
| Impact | This collaboration involved physics, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Collaboration with the University of St Andrews |
| Organisation | St. Andrews University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I and my research team, principally Dr Yongqiang Qiu, provided key knowledge of acoustic devices and their operation to allow the partnership to progress. |
| Collaborator Contribution | St Andrews University, through both Physics and Biology, contributed optical visualisation and biological techniques. |
| Impact | The key output was a paper published in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08514-5 |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Dundee Science Festival Open Doors 2013, 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presenting the general concepts of medical ultrasound to the public Generated questions and informal discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |