Researchers at MIT have developed a kirigami-style stent that can provide localized drug delivery through needle-like projections that pop out when the stent is extended. The ‘spines’ on the stent’s surface deliver drug-loaded microparticles into the surrounding tissue, allowing for sustained drug release for an extended period. T (Read more...)
Author: Medgadged
Anti-Restenotic Drug Delivery with the AGENT Drug-Coated Balloon: Interview with Dr. Ian Meredith, Global CMO, Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific recently announced a clinical trial of its AGENT drug coated balloon. The device is coated with paclitaxel, an anti-restenotic drug, and aims to deliver the medication to the affected vessel wall during a percutaneous procedure. Coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) is caused by occlusive scar tissue that develops in the stented port (Read more...)
High-throughput 3D Bioprinting for Drug Development
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a high-throughput technique for 3D bioprinting. Using the new technology, the researchers can very quickly print large numbers of custom tissue samples that are suitable for drug screenings. Their printing method can yield a 96-well plate with tissue samples in each well in as lit (Read more...)
Battery-Free Smart Fabrics to Monitor Health
Researchers at Purdue University have developed a technique to create smart garments that can harvest electrical power from nearby Wi-Fi networks and radio waves in a process known as magnetic resonance coupling. This power can then be used to energize on-board electrical systems, including body monitors. The fabrics are water repellent, breathable (Read more...)
Localized Prostate Cancer Therapy: Interview with Shyam Natarajan, CEO of Avenda Health
Avenda Health, a medtech company based in Santa Monica, California has developed the Focal Therapy System. It provides AI-powered prostate cancer therapy with the aim of treating only tumorous tissues, while reducing side-effects compared with conventional therapies. The system recently received FDA breakthrough designation. At present, ther (Read more...)
Non-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation Using Ultrasound and Genetic Modification
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique they call sonothermogenetics, which combines ultrasound and genetic modification to achieve non-invasive neural control in deep brain regions. The technique involves using viral vectors to introduce genetic material encoding for ion channels to specific neurons in the brai (Read more...)
Diagnosing Acute Compartment Syndrome: Interview with Charles Allan, CEO of MY01
MY01, a medtech company based in Montreal, has developed the Continuous Compartment Pressure Monitor, a sterile, single-use device for the diagnosis of acute compartment syndrome. If undiagnosed and untreated, acute compartment syndrome, a condition caused by high pressure around muscles typically following an injury, can have significant consequen (Read more...)
AirPop Active+ Halo Smart Mask: Medgadget Review
It’s often said that “necessity is the mother of invention,” and that has certainly shown to be true with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One medical product that has seen a re-innovation of sorts, in both fashion and function, is the face covering. What has been historically an item seen primarily in healthcare and industrial sett (Read more...)
When HIPAA is Outpaced by Technology and the Cyber-Elephant We Need Confront: Exclusive with CEO of VigiTrust
Mathieu Gorge is the author of The Cyber-Elephant in the Boardroom, as well as CEO and founder of VigiTrust, which provides Integrated Risk Management SaaS solutions to clients in 120 countries across various industries. He helps CEOs, CxOs, and boards of directors handle cyber accountability challenges through good cyber hygiene and proactive cybe (Read more...)
PerQseal+ for Large Diameter Arterial Closure: Interview with Andrew Glass, CEO of Vivasure Medical
Vivasure Medical, a medtech company based in Galway, Ireland, has developed the PerQseal device, a synthetic implant designed to seal large bore blood vessel punctures. The implant has utility in a wide variety of transcatheter endovascular procedures, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEV (Read more...)
Reverse 3D Printing to Make Tiny Medical Implants
Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have developed a new 3D printing technique that allows them to create incredibly small and complex biomedical implants. The approach involves printing glue molds that can then be filled with biomaterial filler. Once the mold is dissolved away, the biomaterial structure remains. Excitingly, the technique u (Read more...)
Cardiac Organoids Self-Organize to Mimic Human Heart
Researchers at the Austrian Academy of Sciences have developed the most realistic cardiac organoids to date. The tiny structures self-organize from pluripotent stem cells to form a hollow chamber that can beat. The method to create the ‘cardioids’ involves stimulating a variety of signaling pathways in stem cells and does not rely on co (Read more...)
Magnetic Cilia to Propel Soft Biomedical Robots
Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands have developed artificial cilia that can beat just like the real thing. The tiny projections typically adorn the outside of certain cells in nature, and this artificial version could help to propel tiny biomedical robots or power microfluidic pumps. The artificial cilia rely o (Read more...)
Engineered Surfaces Reduce Bacterial Attachment and Growth
Researchers at Monash University in Australia have developed a technique to create 3D engineered surfaces that reduce bacterial growth. Their approach could lead to frequently touched surfaces in healthcare facilities that result in less bacterial transmission. This should lead to a reduction in the incidence of hospital acquired infections, such a (Read more...)
Electrospun Nanofibers Filter 99.9% of Coronavirus Aerosols
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a nanofiber filter that is highly effective at removing coronavirus aerosols from air. As a major source of COVID-19 transmission, aerosols pose an ongoing threat. Technologies to remove aerosols from the air in buildings or as part of personal protective equipment are being deve (Read more...)
Brain Stimulation Lets User Feel Robotic Arm
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that providing direct sensory feedback into the brain dramatically enhanced an impaired patient’s control of a robotic arm. The arm was operated through a brain-computer interface, but the system also included brain implants in an area of the brain responsible for sensory feedback. (Read more...)
Electrochemical Device Detects SARS‑CoV‑2 Spike Protein in 1 Second
Researchers at the University of Florida and the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan have developed a microfluidic device that can detect the SARS‑CoV‑2 spike protein in a saliva sample within one second. The electrochemical device employs antibodies against the spike protein to detect the virus, and could allow for ultra-rapid COV (Read more...)
GARNET Pathogen Filter to Treat Sepsis: Exclusive with Nisha Varma, COO of BOA Biomedical
Sepsis is caused by an uncontrolled spread of infectious pathogens and release of toxins that can lead to systemic inflammation, multi-organ failure, and even death. The pathogens responsible for causing sepsis are usually difficult to identify, and patients are routinely treated with broad spectrum antibiotics. However, dead pathogens remaining in (Read more...)
Gene-Silencing Nanoparticles to Treat COVID-19
Researchers at City of Hope, a research center based in California, and Griffith University in Australia have collaborated to create a new experimental anti-viral therapy that can treat COVID-19. The therapeutic consists of small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules encapsulated within lipid nanoparticles. When delivered into the bloodstream, the nano (Read more...)
Trojan Horse Virus Makes Tumors Destroy Themselves
Researchers at the University of Zurich have developed a virus-based therapy that causes a tumor to destroy itself. They modified an adenovirus, which is a common virus that typically infects the respiratory tract and which is already widely used in medicine, to deliver genetic material that codes for an anti-cancer protein. In a sneaky move, [&hel (Read more...)