Monday, May 9th, 2016

Time	Event
10:59a	New material temporarily tightens skin Scientists at MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Living Proof, and Olivo Labs have developed a new material that can temporarily protect and tighten skin, and smooth wrinkles. With further development, it could also be used to deliver drugs to help treat skin conditions such as eczema and other types of dermatitis. The material, a silicone-based polymer that could be applied on the skin as a thin, imperceptible coating, mimics the mechanical and elastic properties of healthy, youthful skin. In tests with human subjects, the researchers found that the material was able to reshape “eye bags” under the lower eyelids and also enhance skin hydration. This type of “second skin” could also be adapted to provide long-lasting ultraviolet protection, the researchers say. “It’s an invisible layer that can provide a barrier, provide cosmetic improvement, and potentially deliver a drug locally to the area that’s being treated. Those three things together could really make it ideal for use in humans,” says Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). Anderson is one of the authors of a paper describing the polymer in the May 9 online issue of Nature Materials. Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute, is the paper’s senior author, and the paper’s lead author is Betty Yu SM ’98, ScD ’02, former vice president at Living Proof. Langer and Anderson are co-founders of Living Proof and Olivo Labs, and Yu earned her master’s and doctorate at MIT. Mimicking skin As skin ages, it becomes less firm and less elastic — problems that can be exacerbated by sun exposure. This impairs skin’s ability to protect against extreme temperatures, toxins, microorganisms, radiation, and injury. About 10 years ago, the research team set out to develop a protective coating that could restore the properties of healthy skin, for both medical and cosmetic applications.   “We started thinking about how we might be able to control the properties of skin by coating it with polymers that would impart beneficial effects,” Anderson says. “We also wanted it to be invisible and comfortable.” The researchers created a library of more than 100 possible polymers, all of which contained a chemical structure known as siloxane — a chain of alternating atoms of silicon and oxygen. These polymers can be assembled into a network arrangement known as a cross-linked polymer layer (XPL). The researchers then tested the materials in search of one that would best mimic the appearance, strength, and elasticity of healthy skin. “It has to have the right optical properties, otherwise it won’t look good, and it has to have the right mechanical properties, otherwise it won’t have the right strength and it won’t perform correctly,” Langer says. The best-performing material has elastic properties very similar to those of skin. In laboratory tests, it easily returned to its original state after being stretched more than 250 percent (natural skin can be elongated about 180 percent). In laboratory tests, the novel XPL’s elasticity was much better than that of two other types of wound dressings now used on skin — silicone gel sheets and polyurethane films. “Creating a material that behaves like skin is very difficult,” says Barbara Gilchrest, a dermatologist at MGH and an author of the paper. “Many people have tried to do this, and the materials that have been available up until this have not had the properties of being flexible, comfortable, nonirritating, and able to conform to the movement of the skin and return to its original shape.” The XPL is currently delivered in a two-step process. First, polysiloxane components are applied to the skin, followed by a platinum catalyst that induces the polymer to form a strong cross-linked film that remains on the skin for up to 24 hours. This catalyst has to be added after the polymer is applied because after this step the material becomes too stiff to spread. Both layers are applied as creams or ointments, and once spread onto the skin, XPL becomes essentially invisible. High performance The researchers performed several studies in humans to test the material’s safety and effectiveness. In one study, the XPL was applied to the under-eye area where “eye bags” often form as skin ages. These eye bags are caused by protrusion of the fat pad underlying the skin of the lower lid. When the material was applied, it applied a steady compressive force that tightened the skin, an effect that lasted for about 24 hours. In another study, the XPL was applied to forearm skin to test its elasticity. When the XPL-treated skin was distended with a suction cup, it returned to its original position faster than untreated skin. The researchers also tested the material’s ability to prevent water loss from dry skin. Two hours after application, skin treated with the novel XPL suffered much less water loss than skin treated with a high-end commercial moisturizer. Skin coated with petrolatum was as effective as XPL in tests done two hours after treatment, but after 24 hours, skin treated with XPL had retained much more water. None of the study participants reported any irritation from wearing XPL. “I think it has great potential for both cosmetic and noncosmetic applications, especially if you could incorporate antimicrobial agents or medications,” says Thahn Nga Tran, a dermatologist and instructor at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research. Living Proof has spun out the XPL technology to Olivo Laboratories, LLC, a new startup formed to focus on the further development of the XPL technology. Initially, Olivo’s team will focus on medical applications of the technology for treating skin conditions such as dermatitis.     Other authors of the paper include Fernanda Sakamoto and Rox Anderson of MGH; Soo-Young Kang of Living Proof; Morgan Pilkenton and Alpesh Patel, formerly of Living Proof; and Ariya Akthakul, Nithin Ramadurai, and Amir Nashat ScD ’03, of Olivo Laboratories. (Comment on this)
12:00p	Moving spectacle They arrived via water and over land, by raft and hydrofoil, on foot and in experimental vehicles. Some paddled. Some danced. Some walked alongside robots. In all, hundreds of members of the MIT community on Saturday celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Institute’s move from Boston into Cambridge, Massachusetts with a unique procession across the Charles River, fueled by humor and creativity. The “Crossing the Charles” parade and competition, the centerpiece of MIT’s May 7 Moving Day celebrations, took place simultaneously in the water and on the bridge that carries Massachusetts Avenue over the river. In the river, a festive flotilla of watercraft journeyed across, including an electric hydrofoil craft, a motorized swarm of kayaks, a bamboo raft, and a pedal-powered floating platform in the shape of the dome from MIT’s main building. Simultaneously, a colorful parade of students, faculty, staff, and alumni — plus a robotic cheetah — marched across the bridge, some with large floats in tow. Neuroscientists transported an 8-foot-high brain model, made out of plywood and set on wheels; MIT Libraries staff carried a fabric “river on sticks,” adorned with books and a laptop; undergraduates guided a “StrandBeaver,” a massive kinetic sculpture; and MIT’s Casino Rueda salsa dancers, a student club, stopped to perform. Hundreds of alumni marched across at the end of the parade. “The diversity of the MIT community was on full display,” said John Ochsendorf, professor of civil and environmental engineering and architecture, and a faculty co-chair of the event. “You saw it all, from the brain to the bamboo.” At an award ceremony following the crossing, MIT President L. Rafael Reif said he wanted to “thank the city of Cambridge for their generosity for 100 years” and joked that the city resembled a tolerant host enduring the visit of a long-running house guest. “We are glad you stayed,” responded Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, in remarks following Reif’s comments. Simmons also called MIT “a blessing and not a burden” and, in the spirit of the day, noted how useful it was to “keep a sense of humor” intact. Nearby, a 30-foot-high replica of a stone megalith bobbed in the river while a mechanical goose sauntered across Memorial Drive. A noodle raft, a cheetah, and Oliver Smoot, of course Moving Day, and the parade across the Charles River, was created in homage to MIT’s ceremonial 1916 crossing of the river, when the Institute’s charter was transported across on a barge, the Bucentaur. The 2016 celebration continued into the evening, with a multimedia extravaganza in Killian Court, followed by dance parties around campus whose themes traced 100 years of music and culture. Moving Day is part of the series of “MIT 2016” celebrations that have been ongoing this year, commemorating MIT’s first century in Cambridge and launching the Institute’s next century of engagement with the world. MIT was founded in 1861, in Boston, before relocating to the Kendall Square area of Cambridge. The idea behind the river-crossing event was to “let people do whatever they want and express their technical creativity,” said Annette Hosoi, a professor of mechanical engineering, and the other faculty co-chair of the event. “And people responded — really the whole community.” Indeed, the parade and competition consisted of 26 entries on the water and 28 groups crossing the bridge. The more conventional water entries included boats from the MIT varsity sailing team and star rower Veronica Toro ’16, an Olympic hopeful. There were also folding kayaks, a “noodle raft” lashed together from pool noodles and kickboards, and a jet-powered boat from MIT’s International Design Center. “All the watercraft stayed afloat,” Ochsendorf noted approvingly. (For the record: Participants wore lifejackets and safety personnel were on hand.) Up on the bridge, members of MIT’s Emergency Medical Services drove an ambulance that is dedicated to the memory of MIT police officer Sean Collier, while experimental vehicles of all kinds dotted the parade. MIT students and alumni demonstrated an aluminum-powered car, cutting-edge wheelchair designs, and a bamboo bicycle, among other entries. Meanwhile MIT’s robotic cheetah, which can run at over 13 miles per hour, strolled across at a leisurely pace. The parade’s grand marshal was Oliver Smoot ’62, a familiar name in local lore. As multitudes of area runners and walkers have noticed, the sidewalk over the bridge is marked in increments of “Smoots” — after a 1958 MIT prank in which Smoot’s friends got him to lie down, repeatedly, until they had crossed the entire bridge. For the record, Smoot is 5 feet 7 inches tall, and the bridge is 364.4 Smoots long. Before the parade, Smoot reenacted lying down on the bridge’s sidewalk but noted that it had been easier for him to do so as an undergraduate. “We were faster and lighter then,” he joked. Awards gala A panel of six members of the MIT administration serving as judges gave out four awards to the participants, after what MIT Provost Martin A. Schmidt termed “careful deliberation.” Brain researchers from three different MIT institutes and departments won the soon-to-be-prestigious Da Vinci Award, given for “creativity and wonder,” for their supersized brain model. Students from Course 4.032 (Design Studio: Information and Visualization) took home the Bosworth Award for “beauty and elegant design,” for their large zooplankton-motif structure, “Time Spirit and the Masquerade of Power,” which also featured printed images from MIT’s campus and history. Researchers from MIT’s Pappalardo Lab won the Tech Pioneer Award for the “most innovative” craft in the flotilla; they transformed an obstacle course for robots from Course 2.007 (Design and Manufacturing) into a floating vessel. And the MIT Libraries team won the Beaver Spirit Award for the entry best exemplifying school spirit. The brain researchers’ team, led by Julie Pryor of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, built their float over two months, with 50 people participating. The plywood vehicle, called “A Beautiful Mind,” consists of 22 coronal “slices” of the brain, based on the personal data of team member Rosa Lafer-Sousa, a researcher in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS). Ben Bartelle, also of BCS, personally cut the plywood slices at MIT’s hobby shop. “We’re MRI people,” Bartelle told MIT News. “We see slices like that all the time.” So what is it like to see a giant plywood replica of one’s brain, on wheels, crossing the bridge over the Charles River? “It’s pretty special,” Lafer-Sousa acknowledged. “I couldn’t sleep last night. It felt a little like Christmas.” Mens, manus, cor: A spectacle on Killian Court As dusk later fell over the Institute, several thousand students, faculty, staff, and friends filed into MIT’s Killian Court to witness a spectacular pageant of singing, dancing, computer art, and the embodiment of the MIT spirit. With an illuminated MIT dome serving as a beacon for anyone within eyeshot, the event began with a procession of students bearing oars, a symbol of the 1916 river-crossing, and a parade of drummers welcoming onlookers to the fête. Over the next hour, characters representing the living spirits of MIT’s motto, “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”) — and the two individuals on the MIT seal — guided the audience through the story of MIT from its humble beginnings in Boston through the Institute’s move to Cambridge a century ago and into the present. “Mens,” representing the theoretical, scientific, humanistic elements of MIT life, and “Manus,” representing the practical applications of these disciplines, spatted over what they thought was the most important aspect of life at MIT: theory or practice. The two took turns making their case, bringing out, for example, human-sized bobbleheads featuring some of the most noted MIT faculty and alumni from each “side” of the mind-or-hand debate and recounting successes over the previous century — from the 19th-century application of chemical engineering to the new science of home economics by Ellen Swallow Richards to the 2015 detection of gravitational waves led by MIT Professor Emeritus Rainer Weiss. Guided by a robot voiced by MIT alumnus and “Car Talk” host Ray Magliozzi, the duo eventually realized that only with both mind and hand working in unison — and with the addition of “cor,” or “heart” — could MIT have developed into the thriving institution it is today. Appropriately for the day’s weather — which had a distinctly wintry feel, with chilly temperatures, a brisk wind, and some rain — the event’s finale featured an undulating umbrella dance, which led, finally, into an impressive fireworks display over the Charles River. When it was all over, a roar of applause and hooting filled Killian Court, as attendees grabbed their own umbrellas and made their way to various dance parties hosted across the Institute to cap the day’s festivities. Oliver Smoot, who has retired to Southern California, noted that he, for one, wasn’t bothered by the elements. “It’s all been great,” he said. And his friend Peter Miller ’62, who rode with Smoot in the grand marshal’s car during the afternoon parade, explained how he had ignored the cold: “From the warmth of all the people waving, and watching, and jumping up and down.” Maia Weinstock contributed to this story. (Comment on this)
4:30p	Researchers find unexpected magnetic effect A new and unexpected magnetic effect has taken researchers by surprise, and could open up a new pathway to advanced electronic devices and even robust quantum computer architecture.  The finding is based on a family of materials called topological insulators (TIs) that has drawn much interest in recent years. The novel electronic properties of TIs might ultimately lead to new generations of electronic, spintronic, or quantum computing devices. The materials behave like ordinary insulators throughout their interiors, blocking electrons from flowing, but their outermost surfaces are nearly perfect conductors, allowing electrons to move freely. The confinement of electrons to this vanishingly thin surface makes then behave in unique ways.  But harnessing the materials’ promise still faces numerous obstacles, one of which is to find a way of combining a TI with a material that has controllable magnetic properties. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere say they have found a way to overcome that hurdle.  The team at MIT, led by Jagadeesh Moodera of the Department of Physics and postdoc Ferhat Katmis, was able to bond together several molecular layers of a topological insulator material called bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) with an ultrathin layer of a magnetic material, europium sulfide (EuS). The resulting bilayer material retains all the exotic electronic properties of a TI and the full magnetization capabilities of the EuS.   But the big surprise was the stability of that effect. While EuS itself is known to retain its ability to hold a magnetic state only at extremely low temperatures, just 17 degrees above absolute zero (17 Kelvin), the combined material keeps those characteristics all the way up to ordinary room temperature. That could make all the difference for developing devices that are practical to operate, and could open up new avenues of device design as well as research into a new area of basic physical phenomena.  The findings are being reported in the journal Nature, in a paper by Katmis, Moodera, and 10 others at MIT, and a multinational, multidisciplinary team from Oak Ridge, Argonne National Laboratories, and institutions in Germany, France, and India.  The room-temperature magnetic effect seen in this work, Moodera says, was something that “wasn’t in anybody’s wildest expectations. This is what astonished us.” Research like this, he says, is still so near the frontiers of scientific knowledge that the phenomena are impossible to predict. “You can’t tell what you’re going to see next week or what’s going to happen” in the next experiment, he says.   In particular, novel combinations of two materials with very different properties “is an area with very little depth of research.” And getting clear and repeatable results depends on a high degree of precision in the preparation of the surfaces and joining of the two materials; any contamination or imperfections at the interface between the two – even down to the level of individual atomic layer – can throw off the results, Moodera says. “What happens, happens where they meet,” he says, and the careful and persistent effort of Katmis in making these materials was key to the new discovery.  The finding could be a step toward new kinds of magnetic interactions at the interfaces between materials, with stability that could result in magnetic memory devices which could store information at the level of individual molecules, the team says.   The effect, which the researchers call proximity-induced magnetism, could also enable a new variety of “spintronic” devices based on a property of electrons called spin, rather than on their electrical charge. It might also provide the first practical way of producing a kind of particle called Majorana fermions, predicted by physicists but not yet observed convincingly. That in turn could help in the development of quantum computers, they say.  “A nice thing about this is that it shows both very fundamental physics and also takes us forward to many possible applications,” Katmis says. He says the effect is somewhat similar to unexpected findings a decade ago in the interfaces between some oxide materials, which has triggered a decade of intensive research.  This new finding, coupled with other recent quantum behavior observed in TIs, can lead to many possibilities for future electronics and spintronics, the team says.   “This beautiful work from Moodera’s group is a very exciting demonstration that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Philip Kim, a professor of physics at Harvard University, who was not involved in this work. “Topological insulators and magnetic insulators are two completely dissimilar materials. Yet they produce very unusual emergent effects at their atomically clean interface,” he adds. “The enhanced interfacial magnetism shown in this work can be very relevant to building up novel spintronics devices that can process information with low energy consumption.” The team also included associate professor of physics Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and postdoc Peng Wei at MIT, and researchers at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Bochum and the Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics in Dresden, both in Germany; the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris; and the Institute of Nuclear Physics, in Kolkata, India. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Department of Energy. (Comment on this)

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