4TH YOUNG INVENTORS AWARDS: FINALISTS

Exciting Ideas Offer Solutions

This year's top 12, in fields from biotech to bioengineering, offer inventions with potential in medicine, the environment and more

By Michael Somers/HONG KONG

Issue cover-dated January 15, 2004

BONE BREAKTHROUGH
Eileen Fong Wen Mei, postgraduate research in materials engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Tough, lightweight titanium is used as a bone replacement. But two problems hinder its use--bone doesn't bond to titanium without an adhesive coating, and constant movement between bone and metal can wear down the bone. Fong has developed a new, inexpensive coating for titanium that provides a friendly surface on which bone does bond. Unlike existing coatings, Fong's--a biomaterial with minuscule holes called hydroxyapatite--promotes a good, strong bond. This breakthrough material helps the body's natural healing process.

FUEL OF THE FUTURE
Sangjin Han, doctorate in chemical engineering, Seoul National University

Fuel cells have huge potential as alternative energy sources, but because they use platinum they are too expensive for widespread use. Han could have an answer. He's created a new carbon material called "carbon nanocoils." This new form of carbon conducts electricity so well that it reduces the need for platinum--and the cost of fuel cells.

CLEARING THE FOG
Stephen Scott-Young, doctorate in geomatics, University of Melbourne

Imagine a driver in thick fog being able to picture the road ahead and proceed in safety. Scott-Young is working on a system that could make this a reality. He believes that his Intelligent Augmented Reality Driver Assistance system (iARDA) could improve road safety by preventing accidents in poor visibility. iARDA uses the same kind of Global Positioning System technology used in in-car-navigation systems to take fixes on the car's position as it moves. At the same time, it superimposes stored data on a real-time visual feed taken from a dashboard-mounted camera. The combined image of the virtual road and real conditions is then displayed on the windscreen.

FAR-OUT DRUGS
Kumar Selvarajoo, final year, doctoral studies in computational modelling in biological networks, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

At first glance, aeronautical engineering and medicine have nothing in common. But Selvarajoo has found a way of applying the computational simulations that are used in solving problems like heat transference between different materials used in aircraft to the interacting systems of the human body, such as the nervous and digestive systems. He has replicated biological processes using his own mathematical model, which predicts the effect a new drug may have on human cells.

HANDY SECURITY
Kong Wai-Kin Adams, master's degree in computing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Kong Wai-Kin Adams could have a solution to security problems in the palm of his hand--and yours. He has developed a palm-print identification system for access points, such as building entrances and passport-control stations. His system takes low-resolution images of the palm and, employing his own algorithm, quickly and accurately reads and matches the textural detail with palm prints in a database. Kong says his system is cheaper, faster and more accurate than other methods such as fingerprinting and biometrics.

BODY BUILDING BLOCKS
Ryuji Inai, graduate programme in bioengineering, National University of Singapore

Ryuji Inai has gone one better than most others in making nanofibre scaffolds, minuscule frames which are used to grow human tissue. He has modified a technique called electrospinning in a way that allows him to build a framework on which he can control the direction in which the human tissue grows. It also allows thick tissue to grow over large areas. It hasn't been possible to achieve this with present scaffold-building techniques. Inai believes his technique could eventually be used to grow organs within the body to replace diseased organs. The scaffolds themselves dissolve over time.

SOLID STUFF
Deorex David A. Navaja, bachelor's degree in materials engineering, The University of the Philippines-Diliman

People in Musuan, in the southern Philippine province of Bukidnon, know the sour side of sugar: Two main solid waste by-products of sugar cane--bagasse ash and filter cake--can cause respiratory disease, and turn farmland into dumps. Navaja believes his method of purifying these wastes makes it all sweet again. He has found a way to make commercial-grade cement from the filter cake and bagasse ash.

UNDER PRESSURE
Michael Toribio, master's degree in chemical systems engineering, University of Tokyo

Storing carbon dioxide deep in the Earth's crust, known as carbon sequestration, is one way scientists believe may help reduce the amount of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Toribio has devised a laboratory simulation that allows him to observe the behaviour of carbon dioxide when it is injected at high pressure into coal seams that experts consider are too deep to mine. This data can be applied to real coal seams to assess whether they are viable storage areas.

MINI-MECHANIC
Zhang Han, doctorate in mechanical engineering, National University of Singapore

They may be small, but nanostructures are the modern building blocks of life. These minute frames are used by doctors to grow human cells and tissue. Zhang has developed a robot with minuscule grips that can automatically construct nanostructures from tiny blocks of special polymers, which will either be absorbed into the body or dissolve once the new tissue is strong enough to support itself. Zhang's robot lets her build nanostructures--or scaffolds--into which three-dimensional tissue can grow, such as bone where a graft is needed.

DENGUE DETECTOR
Chung-yin Lin, doctoral studies in chemical engineering, National Taiwan University

Dengue fever has four strains, making it difficult to develop a vaccine. And though the death rate from classical dengue is low, it can escalate to killer forms--dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome--making early detection vital. Lin has devised a test using an artificial antibody to quickly detect a specific protein that is present in the blood--and in all strains of dengue--in the early stages of infection.

A FINE CROP
Joanna Tan Hwa Lay and Ginny Tan Jue Hui, diploma in biotechnology, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore

Aeroponics is a process of feeding plants with a nutrient-saturated fine mist. But the drawback is that crops can be damaged by heat generated by the pumps used to deliver the spray, and the chillers used to cool the plant roots. The two scientists figured it was best not to generate heat in the first place. They employed simple physics--using tubes of varying diameter to manipulate the speed of the air through the tubes, altering the pressure of the air and sending a fine spray of nutrients to the roots. Their smaller pump generates little or no heat.

NUCLEAR STORAGE
V.V. Balaji Viswanathan, bachelor's degree in engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, India

To death and taxes add the need for more data-storage capacity as only the third sure thing in life. Viswanathan has found a way to use low-energy nuclear waste to encode compact discs, making it cheaper to store more data on a smaller surface. The binary code is written by exposing a disc to low-energy gamma rays, which change its chemical composition. This way, space-hungry data--like medical images--can be kept more economically. The binary code is read using a special microscope, which interprets an ionized block as "1" and an unexposed block as "0."
 

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