EPOXY RESIN

~ also known as polyepoxides; EP 828 acrylate; ED 20 acrylate; E 44, acrylate; YD 128 acrylate; Pacrosir VE 196, etc. is a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups.

Epoxy resins may be reacted either with themselves through catalytic homopolymerization, or with a wide range of co-reactants including polyfunctional amines, acids, phenols, alcohols, and thiols. These co-reactants are often called hardeners or curatives, and the cross-linking reaction is referred to as curing. Reaction of polyepoxides with themselves or with polyfunctional hardeners forms a thermosetting polymer. As of 2006, the epoxy industry amounts to more than US$5 billion in North America and about US$15 billion worldwide.

Chemical structure:  C₂₁H₂₅ClO_5. Epoxy resins are lo...

This is an impression of a biological cell (brown) inside the artificial cell (green). Credit: Imperial College London

Researchers have fused living and non-living cells for the first time in a way that allows them to work together, paving the way for new applications. The system, created by a team from Imperial College London, encapsulates biological cells within an artificial cell. Using this, researchers can harness the natural ability of biological cells to process chemicals while protecting them from the environment. This system could lead to applications such as cellular ‘batteries’ powered by photosynthesis, synthesis of drugs inside the body, and biological sensors that can withstand harsh conditions.

Previous artificial cell design has involved taking parts of biological cell ‘mac...

This Hubble image reveals the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy, one of the best known examples of “grand design spirals”, and its supergiant star-forming regions in unprecedented detail. The image is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy ever released from Hubble. Credit: ESA/NASA

Astronomers have discovered that all galaxies rotate once every billion years, no matter how big they are. The Earth spinning around on its axis once gives us the length of a day, and a complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun gives us a year. “It’s not Swiss watch precision,” said Professor Gerhardt Meurer from the UWA node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)...

Tests showed that subcutaneous implants, left, of a hydrogel developed at Rice University encouraged blood vessel and cell growth as new tissue replaced the degrading gel. Credit: Hartgerink Research Group/Rice University

A synthetic, injectable hydrogel developed to deliver drugs and encourage tissue growth turns out to have therapeutic properties all its own. Researchers in the Rice lab of chemist and bioengineer Jeffrey Hartgerink had just such an experience with the hydrogels they developed as a synthetic scaffold to deliver drugs and encourage the growth of cells and blood vessels for new tissue.

To do so, they often tested the gels by infusing them before injection with bioactive small molecules, cells or proteins...