Elijah Morgan
Research Mentor(s): Jens-Christian Meiners
Mentor Department: Biophysics / Physics
Authors: Elijah Morgan, Jens-Christian Meiners
Session: Session 4 (1:00pm – 1:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 108
Abstract
Gas bubbles can form in the body when the ambient pressure rapidly changes, this is commonly known as Decompression Sickness (DCS). The bubbles form around nucleation sites through diffusion from supersaturated tissues within the body and forcefully expand with the change in pressure. We hypothesize that these nucleation sites are nanobubbles within the body, causing the formation of larger bubbles. We are conducting experiments with agarose gel phantoms to simulate the spinal cord to elucidate the nature of the nucleation sites, including pressurizing the gel to crush the nanobubbles, exposing the gel in its liquid state to vacuum to pull the bubbles out, and now centrifuging it to push the bubbles to the surface. Noticeable changes occurred when the gel underwent these conditions, providing support for the hypothesis that nanobubbles are indeed the nucleation sites for decompression bubbles. These results suggest ways of suppressing the nucleation of these bubbles to potentially prevent or limit the effects of DCS on the human body.
