Prashanta Dutta, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, is trying to thread the eye of a tiny needle. But, instead of the 1,230 microns of an average-sized needle eye, Dutta’s is only 10 microns wide, and the “thread’’ is five microns wide. Dutta and his colleagues recently received a grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for the development of a novel biosensor that would identify biological materials more quickly than current methods. The research could have applications for human health, environmental monitoring and homeland security. During the past several years, researchers have sequenced … » More …