Monthly Archives: December 2006

Blogging is Sharing!

Blogging is all about sharing Information with each other through World Wide Web. The aim of starting Natural Log of Exun (i.e. lnexun) was to create an environment, where ALL the Exun Members share their Exploration of Knowledge not only among themselves but to ALL those who are enthusiastic to know more and more in the field of Technology.

Blogging is an Art, which gets energized with the Information Sciences. Presenting articles on the Blog seems to be very simple – but realizing its potential readership plays most important role. Here are some tips to make a good post on the Blogs:

  • Use Arial Family Fonts [Arial/Tahoma/Verdana/Trebuchet] for the normal Text.
  • Use Courier Font for the Text illustrating some programming Code.
  • Use Normal size font, unless it is essentially required to highlight special points.
  • While COPY-PASTE of Text from any Web Page or Pre-Formatted Document – It is advisable to PASTE the Text in a NOTEPAD (or any Text Editor), it will help you to remove the earlier formatting from the Text.
  • It is advisable to Justify the Text, unless it is required to Right/Center/Left align it for some specific reason/purpose.
  • It is advisable to provide a link with proper Link Caption, wherever Reference is required.
  • If you are planning to insert a photograph in the Post, make sure that the Photo/Picture is of reasonably good quality and reasonably sized (suggested size 320 px X 240px around 20 KB).
  • Allow your real name to appear with your Posts – It helps people to know you more (Nicknames always shrink you into a smaller group) .
  • At last make sure, you are posting an article without any Objectionable content/language (Avoid Slangs).

Happy Posting in the NEW YEAR

Ink Jet Technology to Help Make Muscle and Bone Cells

Printed ‘bio-inks’ could revolutionize range of replacement tissues for disease, injury

A Pittsburgh-based research team has created and used an innovative ink-jet system to print “bio-ink” patterns that direct muscle-derived stem cells from adult mice to differentiate into both muscle cells and bone cells. Technology could revolutionize the design of replacement body tissues and one day benefit millions of people whose tissues are damaged from a variety of conditions, including fatal genetic diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), wear and tear associated with aging joints, accidental trauma, and joint deterioration due to autoimmune disorders.

“Previously, researchers have been limited to directing stem cells to differentiate toward multiple lineages in separate culture vessels. This is not how the body works: the body is one vessel in which multiple tissues are patterned and formed. The ink-jet printing technology allows us to precisely engineer multiple unique microenvironments by patterning bio-inks that could promote differentiation towards multiple lineages simultaneously,” explained Phil Campbell, research professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Complex Engineered Systems.

“Controlling what types of cells differentiate from stem cells and gaining spatial control of stem cell differentiation are important capabilities if researchers are to engineer replacement tissues that might be used in treating disease, trauma or genetic abnormalities,” said Lee Weiss, research professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute.

The custom-built ink-jet printer, developed at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, can deposit and immobilize growth factors in virtually any design, pattern or concentration, laying down patterns on native extracellular matrix-coated slides (such as fibrin). These slides are then placed in culture dishes and topped with muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs). Based on pattern, dose or factor printed by the ink-jet, the MDSCs can be directed to differentiate down various cell-fate differentiation pathways (e.g. bone- or muscle-like).

The long-term promise of this new technology could be the tailoring of tissue-engineered regenerative therapies. In preparation for preclinical studies, the Pittsburgh researchers are combining the versatile ink-jet system with advanced real-time live cell image analysis developed at the Robotics Institute and Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center to further understand how stem cells differentiate into bone, muscle and other cell types.

Link
Now for all those who were thinking to throw their inkjet cartridges away, hold on you may need them later.

ACCESS 2006 – Overall Winners

Perfection proved once again.

Senior Quiz
First

  • Manas Gautam
  • Bharat Agarwal

Group Discussion
First

  • Radhika Malik

Senior Programming
First

  • Anant Jain
  • Abhijit Das

Software Display
Second

  • Gaurav Misra

Junior Quiz
Second

  • Sajal Jain
  • Ananth Govind Rajan

Third

  • Akriti Gaur
  • Arshiya Sibia

Congractulations to all the winners.

We have won the holy four this year(in addition to five others):-

  • Exun
  • Access
  • Code Wars
  • MINET

Code Wars – Ovarall Winners!

That’s what the trophy said!

After two years of painfully close second positions, that trophy has finally come to its rightful owner. Ah the sweet taste of victory!

Quiz

First

  • Manas Gautam
  • Raghav Khullar
  • Bharat Agarwal

Second

  • Kartikeya Asthana
  • Vansh Muttreja
  • Ananth Govind Rajan

Crossword

First

  • Manas Gautam
  • Bharat Agarwal

Techathlon

Second

  • Entire Team

N-Crypton

Second

  • Anant Jain
  • Raghav Khullar

Digital Imaging

Second

  • Gaurav Misra

Animathlon

Third

  • Rijul Jain
  • Gaurav Misra