0000000000315516
AUTHOR
Tomás Torroba
NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Explosives Detection
As of 2017, there are an estimated 100 million abandoned land mines littered across 61 countries. Following the wars in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine, there has been a rise in casualties due to the triggering of previously-abandoned explosive devices. The above institutions combined specialties to develop a remotely-operable, multisensor, robotic device for the detection of land mines, UXO (1), and IEDs (2). The robotic detection device uses novel subsurface radar with imaging and target classification to differentiate between threatening landmines and innocuous clutter. The expected outcome of this research is the creation of a multi-sensor system on a semi-autonomous vehic…
New Chromogenic Probes into Nanoscopic Pockets in Enhanced Sensing Protocols for Amines in Aqueous Environments
A new sensory MCM-41-based material for the colorimetric sensing and discrimination of amines has been developed.
Fishing for G-quadruplexes in solution with a perylene diimide derivative labeled with biotins
A new fluorescent, non‐cytotoxic perylene diimide derivative with two biotins at the peri position, PDI2B, has been synthesized. This molecule is able to interact selectively with G‐quadruplexes with scarce or no affinity towards single‐ or double‐stranded DNA. These features have made it possible to design a simple, effective, safe, cheap, and selective method for fishing G‐quadruplex structures in solution by use of PDI2B and streptavidin coated magnetic beads. The new cyclic method reported leads to the recovery of more than 80 % of G‐quadruplex structures from solution, even in the presence of an excess of single‐stranded or duplex DNA as competitors. Moreover, PDI2B is a G4 ligand that…
Scientific and Technical Contributions from Research Projects
The main goal of this project is to demonstrate the advantages of sensor integration on a remotely controlled robotic platform for increasing operator safety and improving the classification of explosive targets. This is accomplished by combining the imaging provided by radars and an optoelectronic sensor, a time-of-flight (ToF) depth camera. An additional aim is to demonstrate the operability and practicality of the system in a field with landmine simulants having plastic cases.