Emma Thomson

Abstract The field of nanopore sensing is now moving beyond nucleic acid sequencing. An exciting new avenue is the use of nanopore platforms for the monitoring of biochemical reactions. Biological nanopores have been used to investigate the dynamics of enzymatic reactions but solid-state nanopore approaches have lagged. This is partially due to the necessity of using higher salt conditions (e.g. 4M LiCl) to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

The sauna is seriously spiritual business in Estonia—a place where people go to not just to relax and cleanse, but to connect with their ancestors, too. “The souls of our ancestors move easiest through water and steam, so when we heat a sauna, it’s not just for the living, but for those that have passed too,” says Eda Veeroja who’s bundled herself into a thick down jacket with a woollen hat pulled down over her ears to guard against the cold bite of January.

Abstract A method is proposed to quantify cerebral blood volume (vb) and intravascular water residence time (τb) using magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF), applied using a spoiled gradient echo sequence, without the need for contrast agent. An in silico study optimised an acquisition protocol to maximise the sensitivity of the measurement to vb and τb changes. Its accuracy in the presence of variations in T1t, T1b, and B1 was evaluated.