Politecnico di Milano

11 articles published in JoVE

• Engineering

  
  Multiplex Chemical Imaging Based on Broadband Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy Alejandro De la Cadena¹, Federico Vernuccio¹, Benedetta Talone¹, Arianna Bresci¹, Chiara Ceconello¹, Subir Das¹, Renzo Vanna², Giulio Cerullo^1,2, Dario Polli^{1,2 1}Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, ²Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN-CNR) We present a protocol to acquire chemical images with broadband stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy. Based on an SRS microscope that operates with differential multichannel-lock-in detection, the protocol describes the sample preparation, adjustment of the SRS apparatus, and chemometrics to disentangle different constituents of chemically heterogeneous samples.

• Medicine

  
  International Expert Consensus and Recommendations for Neonatal Pneumothorax Ultrasound Diagnosis and Ultrasound-guided Thoracentesis Procedure Jing Liu^1,2, Dalibor Kurepa³, Francesco Feletti^4,5, Almudena Alonso-Ojembarrena⁶, Jovan Lovrenski⁷, Roberto Copetti⁸, Erich Sorantin⁹, Javier Rodriguez-Fanjul¹⁰, Karishma Katti³, Andrea Aliverti⁴, Huayan Zhang^11,12, Misun Hwang¹³, Tsu F. Yeh¹⁴, Cai-Bao Hu¹⁵, Xing Feng¹⁶, Ru-Xin Qiu^1,2, Jing-Han Chi¹⁷, Li-Li Shang¹⁸, Guo-Rong Lyu¹⁹, Shao-Zheng He²⁰, Yan-Fen Chai²¹, Zhan-Jun Qiu²², Hai-Ying Cao^2,23, Yue-Qiao Gao^1,2, Xiao-Ling Ren^1,2, Guo Guo^1,24, Li Zhang^1,2, Ying Liu^1,2, Wei Fu^1,2, Zu-Lin Lu^1,2, Hong-Lei Li^{1,2 1}Department of Neonatology and NICU, Beijing Chaoyang District Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital, ²The National Neonatal Lung Ultrasound Training Base, ³ Pneumothorax is a common emergency and critical disease in newborn infants that needs rapid, clear diagnosis and timely treatment. Diagnosis and treatment based on chest X-rays are associated with delayed management and radiation damage. Lung ultrasound (US) provides useful guidance for rapid, accurate diagnosis and the precise thoracentesis of pneumothorax.

• Biology

  
  Exploiting Live Imaging to Track Nuclei During Myoblast Differentiation and Fusion Giorgia Careccia*^1,2, Federica Colombo*^1,3, Mario Tirone¹, Alessandra Agresti¹, Marco E. Bianchi^1,2, Samuel Zambrano*^1,2, Emilie Vénéreau*^{1 1}Chromatin Dynamics Unit, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) San Raffaele Scientific Institute, ²Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, ³Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano Skeletal muscle differentiation is a highly dynamic process, which particularly relies on nuclear positioning. Here, we describe a method to track nuclei movements by live cell imaging during myoblast differentiation and myotube formation and to perform a quantitative characterization of nuclei dynamics by extracting information from automatic tracking.

• Chemistry

  
  From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding Gabriella Cavallo¹, Duncan W. Bruce², Giancarlo Terraneo¹, Giuseppe Resnati³, Pierangelo Metrangolo^{1 1}Laboratory of Supramolecular and Bio-Nanomaterials (SBNLab), Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano, ²Department of Chemistry, University of York, ³Laboratory of Nanostructured Fluorinated Materials (NFMLab), Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano A protocol for the synthesis of a new type of mesogens, based on the halogen-bonded supramolecular anion [CnF2n+1-I···I···I-CnF2n+1]⁻, is reported.

• Chemistry

  
  Laser-heating and Radiance Spectrometry for the Study of Nuclear Materials in Conditions Simulating a Nuclear Power Plant Accident Dario Manara¹, Luca Soldi^1,2,4, Sara Mastromarino^1,3,5, Kostantinos Boboridis¹, Davide Robba¹, Luka Vlahovic¹, Rudy Konings^{1 1}European Commission, Joint Research Centre, ²Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, ³Department of Chemical Physics, Sapienza - Università di Roma, ⁴CEA Saclay, ⁵TU Delft We present experiments in which real nuclear fuel, cladding, and containment materials are laser heated to temperatures beyond 3,000 K while their behavior is studied by radiance spectroscopy and thermal analysis. These experiments simulate, on a laboratory scale, the formation of a lava-phase following a nuclear reactor core meltdown.

• Environment

  
  Image-based Lagrangian Particle Tracking in Bed-load Experiments Alessio Radice¹, Sankar Sarkar², Francesco Ballio^{1 1}Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, ²Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute The manuscript presents a protocol for the conduction of bed-load sediment transport experiments where the moving particles are tracked by image analysis. The experimental facility, the procedures for run realization and data processing, and finally some proof-of-concept results are presented here.

• Bioengineering

  
  The Synthesis of RGD-functionalized Hydrogels as a Tool for Therapeutic Applications Emanuele Mauri¹, Alessandro Sacchetti¹, Filippo Rossi^{1 1}Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "Giulio Natta", Politecnico di Milano We present a protocol for the synthesis of RGD-functionalized hydrogels as devices for cell and drug delivery. The procedure involves copper catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) between alkyne-modified polyacrylic acid (PAA) and a RGD-azide derivative. The hydrogels are formed using microwave-assisted polycondensation and their physicochemical properties are investigated.

• Bioengineering

  
  Transport Properties of Ibuprofen Encapsulated in Cyclodextrin Nanosponge Hydrogels: A Proton HR-MAS NMR Spectroscopy Study Monica Ferro*¹, Franca Castiglione*¹, Carlo Punta¹, Lucio Melone^1,2, Walter Panzeri³, Barbara Rossi⁴, Francesco Trotta⁵, Andrea Mele^{1 1}Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "G. Natta", Politecnico di Milano, ²Università degli studi e-Campus, ³ICRM, CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, ⁴Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, ⁵Department of Chemistry, University of Torino The motion regimes of ibuprofen encapsulated in β-cyclodextrin nanosponges polymer network are investigated using pulsed-field-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR technique. Synthesis, purification, drug loading, implementation of the NMR pulse sequence and data analysis to work out the mean square displacement of the drug at several observation times are described in detail.

• Bioengineering

  
  Optical Control of Living Cells Electrical Activity by Conjugated Polymers Nicola Martino¹, Caterina Bossio¹, Susana Vaquero Morata¹, Guglielmo Lanzani^1,2, Maria Rosa Antognazza^{1 1}Center for Nano Science and Technology @PoliMi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, ²Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano A method for stimulation of in-vitro cell cultures electrical activity with visible light, based on the use of organic semiconducting polymers is described.

• Bioengineering

  
  Engineering 3D Cellularized Collagen Gels for Vascular Tissue Regeneration Sébastien Meghezi¹, Dawit G. Seifu^1,2, Nina Bono^1,3, Larry Unsworth^2,4,5, Kibret Mequanint⁶, Diego Mantovani^{1,2 1}Laboratory for Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Department Min-Met-Materials Eng & CHU de Québec Research Center, Canada Research Chair I for the Innovation in Surgery, Laval University, ²NSERC CREATE Program for Regenerative Medicine (NCPRM), Laval University, ³Department Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, ⁴Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, ⁵National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council (Canada), ⁶Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario In this work, we present a technique for the rapid fabrication of living vascular tissues by direct culturing of collagen, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. In addition, a new protocol for the mechanical characterization of engineered vascular tissues is described.

• Engineering

  
  Fabrication of Nano-engineered Transparent Conducting Oxides by Pulsed Laser Deposition Paolo Gondoni¹, Matteo Ghidelli¹, Fabio Di Fonzo^1,2, Andrea Li Bassi^1,2, Carlo S. Casari^{1 1}Department of Energy and NEMAS - Center for NanoEngineered Materials and Surfaces, Politecnico di Milano, ²Center for Nano Science and Technology, Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia We describe the experimental method to deposit nanostructured oxide thin films by nanosecond Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) in the presence of a background gas. By using this method Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films, from compact to hierarchically structured as nano-tree forests, can be deposited.