California Institute of Technology

Other

Stratatech Corporation

University of California

Clarkson University

Stratech Corporation

Michael R Hoffmann

Allen R Comer

Lynn Allen-Hoffmann

Yang Yang

Xiao Huang

Oleh Weres

Gregory N Stephanopoulos

Richard C Flagan

B Lynn Allen-Hoffmann

Marc Madou

Cody E Finke

Paul Barth Conrad

Lynn-Allen Hoffmann

Bruce C Daube, Jr

Kangwoo Cho

Clement A Cid

Cathy Ann-Rasmussen Ivarie

Sunny Jiang

Hamsa Gowda

Xunyi Wu

Anastasia K Hanan

Robert G Arnold

Donald Harvey Pinkston, Iii

Kai Liu

Michael Christopher Vanier

A water purification electrode composed of a porous carbon material is disclosed. The electrode may be used as a flow-through cathode in an electro-peroxone process providing high HOproduction activity for electrochemical wastewater treatment. The porous carbon material is a binding agent-free carbon structure that enables HOto be electro-generated in situ at cathode. The porous carbon material may be synthesized from resorcinol and can provide a relatively large reaction surface area of 200-800 m/g. The porous carbon material also achieves low energy consumption as well as a wide pH working range, making it suitable for treating many types of organic, inorganic, and biological contaminants in water. The electrode may be integrated with an anode, ozone generator, and other components into a compact, integrated water purification system.

Water purification using porous carbon electrode

A heterojunction anode for electrolysis is disclosed. The anode has a first conductive metal oxide (FCMO) layer, a second semiconductor layer contacting the FCMO layer, and one or more islands of a third semiconductor contacting the second semiconductor layer. The FCMO layer may be formed on a metallic base, such as titanium. The FCMO layer may include iridium, the second semiconductor layer may include titanium oxide, and the third semiconductor may include tin oxide. The anode may be manufactured using spray pyrolysis to apply each semiconductor material. The anode may be configured such that when placed in an electrolyte at least a portion of the second semiconductor layer and the islands are in direct physical contact with the electrolyte. The second semiconductor interlayer and third semiconductor islands enhance the production of reactive chlorine in chlorinated water. A water treatment system and method using the anode are also disclosed.

Electrolysis electrode and methods of manufacture and using same in water purification system

A method and system are disclosed for detecting microbial pathogens in a sample suspected of containing the pathogens. The method includes combining loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reagents and a polymer gel, such as a hydrogel, together with the sample to form a mixture. The gel polymerizes over a short time to immobilize the viral particles within the mixture. If target DNA/RNA are present in the sample, amplicons are produced. The target microorganisms are detected by visually detecting the presence or absence of the amplicons. The target microorganism concentrations may be determined based on the number of fluorescent amplicon dots after the reaction using a smartphone or a fluorescent microscope. The method may be employed for rapidly and inexpensively quantifying microbial pathogens in environmental water samples with high sensitivity.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) based assay for detecting microbes

Aspects of the invention include a porous and water-permeable electrode for electrocatalysis comprising: a porous and water-permeable reactive electrochemical membrane ('REM') comprising: a porous and water-permeable support membrane; wherein the support membrane comprises a titanium metal; and an electrocatalytic coating on at least a portion of the metal support membrane, the electrocatalytic coating being a tin oxide bilayer comprising: a first layer adjacent to and directly contacting the metal support membrane; wherein the first layer comprises tin oxide doped with antimony; and a second layer adjacent to and directly contacting the first layer; wherein the second layer forms a surface of the REM such that the second layer is in direct contact with an aqueous solution when the REM is in contact with the aqueous solution; wherein the second layer comprises tin oxide doped with antimony and nickel or cerium. Preferably, the support membrane is formed of a titanium metal.

Reactive electrochemical membrane for wastewater treatment

A skid wheel system that has a shoe with two wheels attached. The first wheel is positioned adjacent to one side of the shoe and the second wheel is positioned adjacent to the other. The skid shoe has at least one connection opening to connect the skid shoe to a snow removal device. The circumferential edges of the wheels extend past at least the bottom, and protrude beyond the sides of the skid shoe, so as to protect the bottom, front and rear of the housing of the snow removal device from contact with concrete seams, and other uneven surfaces. The wheels can also, extend past the top of the shoe, so the system can be removed, rotated, and reattached in the event the bottom of the shoe wears to the point of no longer protecting the bottom of the snow removal device.

Skid wheel system

An electrolysis electrode includes a metal-doped array of nanotubes formed on a substrate. The nanotube array (NTA) may be a stabilized metal-doped black TiONTA formed on a titanium substrate, and the metal dopant may include any suitable metal, for example, cobalt. The metal dopant improves the reactivity of the electrode and enhances its service life. The metal-doped NTA electrode may provide improved chlorine evolution and/or oxygen evolution activity for electrochemical wastewater treatment. The electrode may also be useful for water splitting applications. Increasing the loading of the metal dopant may lead to the formation of a metal oxide layer on top of the NTA, which improves oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotential.

Electrolysis electrode featuring metal-doped nanotube array and methods of manufacture and using same

A self-diagnostic maintenance system for wastewater treatment employs unique environmental sensor configurations to link operational states of a water treatment system with unique failure modes of the system. Upon detection of failure modes, the maintenance system alerts users and operators via a short messaging service (SMS) of the problem, and can display step-by-step pictorial repair instructions for the operator to replace broken or malfunctioning parts, without the operator needing to diagnosis the problem or understand the detailed workings of the wastewater treatment system.

Maintenance self-diagnosis and guide for a self-contained wastewater treatment system

A portable pathogen analysis system (PPAS) designed to detect microbial pathogens at the point-of-sample collection. The system comprises a concentration tube used for the concentration of microbes in large volumes of water samples using super absorbent polymer (SAP) beads and a hand-powered centrifuge; and a processing component, which functions as a portable lab-on-a-disc droplet digital nucleic acid amplification system, which integrates DNA extraction, nucleic acid amplification, and post-amplicon analysis in a single unit. The present invention provides a fast, cost-effective, and user-friendly solution for microbial water quality analysis in low-resource settings.

Portable pathogen analysis system for detecting waterborne pathogens

A water purification anode has a first semiconductor contacting a second semiconductor at a heterojunction. The second semiconductor includes TiOand excludes bismuth and niobium. The first semiconductor includes iridium. In some instances, the anode includes a current collector in direct physical contact with the first semiconductor. The anode can be arranged in water such that at least one face of the second semiconductor is in direct physical contact with the water.

Electrolysis electrode

The present invention relates to in vitro cultured skin substitutes, and in particular to in vitro cultured skin substitutes that have improved barrier function. In some embodiments, improved barrier function is a result of improved culture conditions, while in other embodiments, improved barrier function results from genetic modification of keratinocytes. Improved culture conditions to improve barrier function include organotypic culture in the presence of linoleic acid and/or linoleic acid at about 75% humidity. Suitable genetic modifications for improving barrier function includes transfection with a DNA construct capable of expressing GKLF.

Skin substitutes with improved barrier function

The present invention relates to in vitro cultured skin tissue, and in particular to cultured skin tissue comprising exogenous genes encoding angiogenic growth factors. In some embodiments, the keratinocytes express exogenous angiopoietin-1 or a member of the VEGF family, preferably VEGF-A. In particularly preferred embodiments, the keratinocytes are incorporated into cultured skin tissue.

Keratinocytes expressing exogenous angiogenic growth factors

The present invention relates to in vitro cultured skin substitutes, preferably to in vitro cultured skin substitutes that have improved barrier function. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of such skin substitutes for irritancy testing. The present invention provides improved methods of screening compounds for irritancy activity, as well for identifying novel irritant responsive genes.

Growing community of inventors

South Pasadena, CA, United States of America

Michael R Hoffmann