Biology & Biomedical
Effective biological and biomedical research requires specific control of the cellular microenvironment and biomaterial characteristics. Plasma treatment cleans and activates the surfaces of biomaterials through the introduction of functional groups without affecting the bulk. Increased hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity of material surfaces increase the adhesion, coverage and proliferation of cells or induce the formation of spheroids respectively. In addition, plasma treatment has been shown to improve biocompatibility characteristics for numerous applications. As a result plasma treatments is used extensively for cell seeding, protein adsorption, biomaterial coating and implant surface activation. This page contains brief application summaries and relevant articles concerning the use of plasma treatment in biological and biomedical research.
Research Spotlight: Blood Plasma Separation
Blood plasma separation is a vital process for the detection of biomarkers which can indicate diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Centrifuges, the most commonly used method of separation, requires large amounts of time and blood. Additionally,...
Research Spotlight: Membrane Distillation
Many desalination plants around the world rely on membrane distillation to extract drinkable water from seawater. However, membrane distillation is also used to treat industrial wastewater prior to discharging it into the environment. Industrial...
Research Spotlight: Rewritable Graphene Oxide Holograms
Security holograms are a vital anti-counterfeiting measure on banknotes, ID cards, and passports. A recent hologram fabrication method involving graphene oxide reduction explores new materials which can be used as holographic substrates. In this...
ASCB-2023
The Harrick Plasma team is pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) conference 2023 in collaboration with Alvéole! We will join Alvéole at booth 508 to discuss the benefits of pairing plasma...
C. Elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. Elegans) is an invaluable model organism in cell biology due to its simplicity, transparency, genetic tractability, and the conservation of many cellular processes. It has contributed significantly to our understanding of...
Microrobotics
Microrobotics is an emerging technology attractive to the biotechnology industry and environmental sciences because of its versatility and vast potential. While microrobot design and function varies widely, they are defined by their small size and...
Thin Film Electronics
Thin film electronic devices made using flexible materials, such as plastics, metals, or polymers, are growing in popularity. Their ability to be bent, folded, and rolled as well as being lightweight and durable makes them ideal for a variety of...
Alveole Primo
Harrick Plasma is thrilled to announce a new collaboration effort with Alvéole, makers of PRIMO: Bioengineering Technology. PRIMO is a maskless photopatterning platform that offers precise control over the cellular microenvironment. Applications of...
Porous Metal Nanoshells
Hollow porous nanoshells can be tailored to have unique physical and chemical properties for potential use in catalysis and biosensor applications. Plasma treatment can be applied to facilitate nanoshell fabrication and alter physical properties and morphology....
Zinc Oxide Films
Creative Commons license. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an exciting alternative wide bandgap semiconductor that has promising use in sensors and flexible electronics. Plasma treatment can be applied to prepare surfaces for ZnO deposition, improve electrical properties through...
Graphene Transfer
Graphene is commonly deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on a growth substrate followed by transfer onto a target substrate appropriate for its specific application. Plasma treatment can be applied to support and facilitate various graphene...
Nanowires
Conductive nanowires have been extensively studied recently for their potential use as transparent conducting electrodes in flexible electronics, wearable biosensors (wearable electronics), organic light emitting diodes OLEDs, and solar cells [1-3]....
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), or deep sequencing, provides researchers and clinicians with extensive genetic data with a multitude of applications. By fragmenting genetic materials and performing millions to billions of reads simultaneously,...
Covid-19 Research
The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has required unprecedented efforts by the research community to understand, diagnose, and treat the Sars-Cov-2 virus. Harrick Plasma is proud to have its plasma cleaners involved in this groundbreaking...
3D Printing
3D printing is ubiquitous in modern professional and academic laboratories, where researchers continue to find innovative applications. Its essential function is to rapidly provide complex 3D structures with high precision. The technology is now...
Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (Cryo EM)
Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (Cryo EM) is a technique used to study the structure and function of macromolecules with near atomic resolution. Structural biologists employ Cryo EM to identify and map individual atoms, in the pursuit of understanding...
Single Cell Sequencing
Single cell RNA sequencing (ScRNA-seq) is a powerful tool developed to identify gene expression of individual cells in complex biological tissues. Conventional assays assume homogeneity, averaging gene characteristics across all cells within a...
Featured Distributor: SmarTeam
Harrick Plasma is happy to announce our renewed exclusive distributor relationship with SmarTeam, our sole exclusive agent to offer Harrick Plasma products in Taiwan. With offices in Taipei and Taichung, SmarTeam offers professional sales and...
Graphene-based Sensors
Graphene, a single atomic layer of carbon with a hexagonal crystal structure, is especially appealing for use in sensor applications because of its high surface area and abundance of active sites for analyte capture, favorable semiconductor properties such as high...
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a versatile tool that directly measures and maps intermolecular forces with atomic resolution. AFM is used across a wide range of disciplines to characterize mechanical properties, to generate 3D surface profiles,...