Novel battery jolts dangerously misbehaving heart back to normal rhythm

The engineering feat that enables a device to jolt a dangerously misbehaving heart back to its normal rhythm and save millions of lives is featured in a new video from the popular Prized Science series from the American Chemical Society (ACS).

The 2013 series' final episode, titled Building Life-Saving Batteries, features renowned inventor Esther S. Takeuchi, Ph.D., this year's winner of the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. The award, sponsored by ExxonMobil Research & Engineering, recognizes Takeuchi's work on a battery that powers implantable cardiac defibrillators (known as ICDs). These devices monitor patients' heartbeats continuously. When the beats go haywire, it can deliver a life-saving shock to help the heart resume a normal rhythm. Takeuchi is a professor of chemistry and of materials science and engineering at Stony Brook University. She also has a joint appointment at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Takeuchi is a winner of the prestigious National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Previous episodes in the 2013 series feature five other honorees from this year's ACS national awards: Peter J. Stang, Ph.D., winner of the ACS Priestley Medal; Tim Swager, Ph.D., winner of the ACS Award for Creative Invention; Greg Robinson, Ph.D., winner of the F. Albert Cotton Award; Shirley Corriher, winner of the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public; and Isiah Warner, Ph.D., winner of the ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry.

ACS encourages educators, schools, museums, science centers, news organizations and others to embed Prized Science on their websites. The videos discuss scientific research in non-technical language for general audiences. New episodes in the series, which focuses on ACS' 2013 national award recipients, will be issued periodically.

The 2013 edition of Prized Science features renowned scientists telling the story of their own research and its impact and potential impact on everyday life. Colorful graphics and images visually explain the award recipient's research.

The ACS administers more than 60 national awards to honor accomplishments in chemistry and service to chemistry. The nomination process involves submission of forms, with winners selected by a committee consisting of ACS members who typically are technical experts in the nominee's specific field of research.

Source: American Chemical Society