Leader of CUPI2D’s Medical and Dental Applications Team Grant Funded
Published: Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Leader of CUPI2D’s Medical and Dental Applications Team Grant Funded
Fernando Luis Esteban Florez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Division Head of Dental Biomaterials at the OU College of Dentistry, is a part of a multidisciplinary team of scientists, led by Adrian Brügger, Ph.D., Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, that recently secured $33.66M from the Department of Energy (DOE) Basic Energy Sciences program.
The grant will fund the development of a novel multi-role neutron imaging beamline, called CUPI2D (Complex, Unique and Powerful Imaging Instrument for Dynamics) to be built at the Second Target Station located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source.
According to Dr. Esteban Florez, who is the leader of CUPI2D’s Medical and Dental Applications Team said, “my involvement as a leader will be to recruit scientists from healthcare divisions and develop several protocols for safety, testing and manipulation of samples. We will also develop fixtures to test a variety of different specimens from synthetic or natural origins that will allow the advanced characterization of materials used in medicine and dentistry.”
This novel and best-of-its-class multimodal time-of-flight neutron instrument will be designed to combine a number of traditional and novel techniques. It will be capable of characterizing materials, engineering as well as natural, from the Å to the cm length scale at acquisition times varying from seconds to minutes. The parallel integration of neutron grating interferometry associated with Bragg edge imaging capabilities will not only allow the measurement of very small structures (10 nm to 25 mm) using small angle neutron scattering but will also allow scientists to quantify lattice strains as well as phase and elemental composition of samples in two- or three-dimensions using either one neutron shot or CUPI2D’s tensorial tomography mode.
“The combination of BEI and nGI will vertically advance the fields of medicine and dentistry because it will reveal how complex mechanics impact the fate and longevity of different types of biomaterials used in Medicine and Dentistry,” said Dr. Esteban Florez. He believes that CUPI2D and advanced neutron imaging will not only precipitate the establishment of strong multidisciplinary teams bridging the fields of medicine, dentistry, materials science and engineering, but also, in a significant mass of high-quality/high-impact publications that will positively influence the development of novel biomaterials with long-term antibacterial and biomimetic properties.
The team anticipates that CUPI2D will have a transformative impact on scientific studies such as energy storage and conversion (e.g., batteries, fuel cells), engineering materials (e.g., additive manufacturing, advanced superalloys), cementitious materials, biology and medical/dental applications.
Dr. Esteban Florez plans to do outreach to fellow scientists to create awareness for the CUPI2D instrument.
For more information regarding this research and CUPI2D , please visit: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanicsand Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY
The OU College of Dentistry is home to the state’s only doctor of dental surgery program and baccalaureate degree program in dental hygiene. More than 70 percent of the state of Oklahoma’s dentists are graduates of the OU College of Dentistry. The college provides general dental care and specialty care to Oklahomans through student, resident and faculty practice clinics. The OU College of Dentistry has established a reputation of training its students to provide the highest quality of clinical care available.