Whether in front of the computer or TV, driving on long commutes, or attending a sporting event, the average person spends more than 12 hours a day sitting. This can take a serious toll on your body in a variety of ways, but muscle and joint pain can be the most immediately apparent. Sitting all […]
Author: Medgadged
Catheter-Deliverable Biomaterial Sealants: Interview with Natalie Artzi, Co-founder of BioDevek
BioDevek, a medtech company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has developed a biomaterial adhesive that acts to seal internal wounds and incisions. The material is designed to be sprayed through a catheter, and the primary application for the technology so far is to act as a sealant following colonic polyp resection. At present, following polyp re (Read more...)
Airway Chip as Benchtop Model of Cystic Fibrosis
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute created a microfluidic chip that mimics the airway of patients with cystic fibrosis. By including lung airway cells from cystic fibrosis patients within the device, the team was able to reproduce many of the hallmarks of the disease, including a thick mucus layer, inflammation, and bacterial growth. The (Read more...)
Laser Kills Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria for Wound and Blood Decontamination
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an ultrashort-pulse laser that can kill multidrug-resistant bacteria and their spores, and without damaging human cells. The laser works by vibrating and breaking protein structures within the bacterial cell, resulting in biochemical disruption and eventual death. Th (Read more...)
Wireless Electronic Sensor to Monitor Bone Health
Engineers and orthopedic specialists at the University of Arizona built an ultra-thin wireless sensor that is designed to monitor bone health over long periods of time. The battery-free device is intended to measure a variety of physiological parameters, such as temperature and bone strain, and could be useful for patients with osteoporosis or to m (Read more...)
3D Blood Vessel Map Reveals Location of Stem Cells
Scientists at Johns Hopkins used a combination of molecular labeling and imaging techniques to create a three-dimensional map of the blood vessels in the mouse skull. Their approach also reveals niches where stem cell populations lurk, which could help researchers to understand how blood vessels and cells behave in various states of disease or inju (Read more...)
Voxel-Based Technique to Streamline Bioprinting
At the University of Virginia researchers developed a new bioprinting technique based on voxels. Voxels are 3D cubes that form basic building blocks in computer graphics, similar to what pixels are for 2D, and have been popularized by games such as Minecraft. The new technique involves printing discrete spherical blobs of bioink (as the voxels) [&h (Read more...)
Fish-Shaped Microrobots to Deliver Chemotherapy to Tumors
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, working with outside collaborators, have developed shape-shifting microrobots that are designed to be guided to a target area in the body using magnets, and then release a drug cargo in response to the local environment. The application that the researchers have pursued involves gu (Read more...)
Imaging Technique Generates 3D Images of Bacteria for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing
Researchers at the University of Connecticut have developed a highly sensitive imaging sensor that can rapidly and accurately monitor bacterial growth. The technique involves shining laser light through a bacterial sample and taking images at multiple orientations, before reconstructing the diffracted light patterns, to produce a 3D image of the ba (Read more...)
Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier Using Lasers and Gold Nanoparticles
Delivering drugs to the brain remains a challenge due to the blood-brain barrier, a specialized endothelial layer that is highly selective in what it permits into the neural tissue beyond. At the University of Texas at Dallas, researchers have developed a technique that allows therapeutics to cross the blood-brain barrier, potentially allowing for (Read more...)
Washable Fabric Measures Electrical Activity of Muscles
Researchers at the University of Utah engineered a wearable fabric that can function as a biosensor, measuring electrical activity of muscles. The technology could be useful for physical rehabilitation, allowing clinicians and physical therapists to monitor patients’ progress. The fabric contains a network of silver flakes and gold nanopartic (Read more...)
Cold Cap Therapy for Chemo Patients: Interview with Kate Dilligan, CEO of Cooler Heads Care
Cooler Heads Care, a medtech company based in San Diego, created Amma, a cold cap therapy device that aims to help chemotherapy patients to preserve their hair. Hair loss is a very common side-effect of chemo, and poses a significant psychological challenge for patients who are already struggling with their diagnosis and treatment. Simply cooling [ (Read more...)
Personalized Exosuit Uses Ultrasound to Adapt to User’s Needs
At Harvard University a team of scientists and engineers developed an exosuit that uses ultrasound to measure muscle activity. The capability allows for rapid calibration of the suit for users’ needs. The soft wearable device continuously assists when walking or running, reducing the energy required to perform these tasks, which could be very (Read more...)
Synthetic Peptides Jump Around to Repair Spinal Injuries
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed an injectable therapeutic that consists of synthetic peptide sequences intended to regenerate spinal tissue. The team designed the material so that it would allow the peptides to ‘dance,’ with such movements increasing the chance that they will find and interact with receptor protein (Read more...)
Wireless Blood Pressure and Hemodynamic Monitoring: Interview with Jeff Pompeo, CEO, Caretaker Medical
Caretaker Medical, a company based in Virginia, developed the VitalStream wireless patient monitor, and the company recently announced that the device has received FDA clearance. The technology is intended to improve on traditional blood pressure cuffs that provide only a snap-shot of blood pressure data, while being an alternative, in many cases, (Read more...)
Medgadget Reviews the Sleep Number i10 360 Smart Bed
Ten years ago, Sleep Number gave Medgadget the opportunity to try out their advanced beds. As you’ve probably seen on numerous TV commercials and in retail outlets, Sleep Number beds are known for their adjustable firmness, accomplished by changing the air pressure inside their mattresses. We had enjoyed sleeping on the bed, but found that [& (Read more...)
Chip for Investigation of Coronavirus Intestinal Infection
At Harvard’s Wyss Institute researchers used an intestine-on-a-chip to study the way a coronavirus infects the intestines, and the influence of various drugs and immune cells on this process. The intestine chip revealed that remdesivir, a drug that received FDA emergency use authorization for COVID-19 treatment, actually damaged the intestina (Read more...)
Multistep Lateral Flow Devices Perform Advanced Assays
Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a lateral flow test platform that can perform advanced assays that would otherwise require a laboratory. By controlling the flow of liquid through the lateral flow test, the research team designed it so that it can perform advanced multistep assays that do not require sophisticated lab equipment and signif (Read more...)
Cactus Spine-Inspired Sweat Collection Technology
A team of researchers at the Pohang University of Science & Technology in South Korea created a passive sweat collection device that is inspired by cactus spines. The device is intended as a means to collect sweat for biomedical analysis; for instance, to measure glucose levels in patients with diabetes. Having the ability to operate […]
(Read more...)A Handheld X-Ray System: Interview with Evan Ruff and Gregory Kolovich, Co-Founders of OXOS Medical
OXOS Medical, a medtech spin-off out of Georgia Tech, has created the Micro C, an FDA cleared handheld X-ray system that is designed to image the distal extremities, from the shoulder to the hand and from the knee to the foot. The device is intended to prevent situations in which clinicians have to handle and […]