Researchers at University College London and at the University of Ghana have developed a smartphone-based system that can detect anemia through simple photos taken using the phone’s camera. The technology is intended for use in low- and middle-income countries where access to routine medical diagnostics may be unreliable. The process involves obtaining images of areas […]
Author: Medgadged
Ultrasound Catheter to Treat Hypertension
Researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Université de Paris, France, have tested an ultrasound denervation catheter in its potential to treat hypertension. The technology is called the Paradise ultrasound denervation device and it has been developed by ReCor Medical, a medtech company with offices in California and the UK. The concept is […]
Alpha TAU Killing Tumors With Highly Targeted Alpha Radiation
Radiation is commonly employed in hospitals around the world to treat tumors, typically using gamma ray beams of high energy photons, with a relatively long range, that penetrate all the tissues on the way to and from the tumor. This leads to substantial damage to healthy tissues and too often results in poor outcomes. An […]
Bacteria Create Protein Nanowires for Biosensing
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a biosensor that is based on protein nanowires that are created by bacteria. The protein nanowires are highly sensitive to ammonia, in this case, which is present in the breath of patients with kidney disease, but it is likely possible to create nanowires for a huge […]
Patient-Specific Soft Robotic Heart Replicas for Treatment Planning
Researchers at MIT have developed soft robotic heart replicas that closely match the anatomy of real people. The researchers used medical images of patient hearts to construct computer models that are suitable for 3D printing. Once printed with a soft material, the patient-specific heart models can be actuated using external inflatable sleeves, in the style […]
Neuroimmune Modulation for Inflammatory Disease: Interview with Dr. Simhambhatla, President and CEO of SetPoint Medical
SetPoint Medical, a medtech company based in California, is developing a neuromodulatory device that is intended to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The overlap between the nervous and immune systems is increasingly appreciated, and this technology aims to capitalize on this to create a new treatment for inflammatory disease. The neuromodulation device is intended to be implanted […]
Ovarian Organoids to Study Reproductive Health
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute are collaborating with a biotechnology company called Gameto to develop human ovarian organoids that will allow the study of reproductive and other health issues using tissues that closely mimic those in human patients. Another application may lie in allowing people with fertility issues to conceive. To date, ovarian organoids […]
Wearable Device Senses When Vocal Fatigue Sets in
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a wearable that can detect when someone is talking or singing, and tallies this information up to provide a warning when the wearer might be at risk of vocal fatigue. Overusing your voice in a short space of time can lead to vocal fatigue and even injury. This technology […]
HIV Vaccine Candidate Stops Virus As it Enters Body
Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute are developing a vaccine candidate against HIV. The vaccine is intended to block HIV entry into the body and is administered to the mucosal lining of the rectum and vagina to achieve this. The formulation then stimulates antibodies against HIV in precisely the areas where the virus first […]
Electrostatic Face Mask Self-Charges with Breathing
Researchers at City University of Hong Kong have developed an electrostatically charged face mask that can replenish its charge through the wearer’s breathing action. The electrostatic charge helps the mask to adsorb tiny particles, such as SARS-CoV-2 viruses. However, such masks typically lose their charge and ability to bind particles over time, particularly in humid […]
NextGen COVID-19 Antibodies Destroy Spike Protein
Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia have developed a new generation of antibodies to treat COVID-19. So far, the antibodies have been shown to neutralize several of the viral variants behind COVID-19, and the researchers hope that they will form an effective treatment for at-risk patients. Previously developed antibody treatments for […]
Raman-Based Urine Sensor Detects Cancer Metabolites
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) creaetd a Raman-spectroscopy-based urine test that can detect metabolic compounds that are produced by pancreatic and prostate cancers, potentially allowing for rapid and convenient cancer screening. The technology consists of a paper strip onto which a urine sample can be added. The paper contains ‘coral-shaped’ structures […]
Exclusive Look at HandX Robotic-Assisted Surgical Device from Human Xtensions
Surgical robotics is dominated by various versions of the da Vinci system from Intuitive Surgical, a competent but expensive tool that’s become a standard in modern advanced hospitals. It took Intuitive about 30 years to achieve this status, but there are systems from J&J, Medtronic, CMR Surgical, and others that are chipping away at the […]
Personalized CAR-T Cell Therapy
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a new method to prepare chimeric antigen receptor-T cells (CAR-T cells) for leukemia patients that could result in more effective treatment. CAR-T cells start life as T cells that are isolated from cancer patients, are stimulated and primed to recognize and attack […]
Ingestible Sensor Reveals Gastric Motility
Researchers at MIT have developed an ingestible sensor that can reveal gastrointestinal motility issues, such as gastroparesis and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The technology is intended for use as an easy at-home method to diagnose such issues, which typically require more invasive and inconvenient procedures, such as endoscopy or X-ray imaging. This new technology is based […]
Automated Mass Spec Technique to Detect Antidepressants
Scientists at Brown University have designed an automated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) system that allows clinicians to rapidly and easily process patient samples to determine levels of antidepressant drugs in the body. Getting the correct dose of antidepressant drugs into the bloodstream is important to ensure efficacy and avoid side-effects. However, current assays […]
Acoustic Stimulation for Insomnia
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have tested a closed-loop acoustic stimulation neurotechnology in its ability to treat insomnia. The device in question has been developed by Cereset, a medtech company headquartered in Arizona. Insomnia is not just unpleasant, but can have significant long-term health consequences, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, […]
Self-Assembling Peptides as a Bioink
Researchers at Rice University have developed a bioprinting method that uses self-assembling peptides as a bioink. The technique involves using “multidomain peptides” that are hydrophobic at one end and hydrophilic at the other. When the peptides encounter water, they flip over each other to create hydrophobic sandwich structures that stack together to form fibers, creating […]
Automated Feeding Platform to Study Mosquito Disease Transmission
A team at Rice University has developed an automated feeding platform for mosquitoes that allows researchers to test different types of repellent and investigate mosquito-borne disease transmission. Traditionally, such mosquito research would require human volunteers or animal subjects for the mosquitos to feed on, but this is obviously inconvenient and a little distasteful. This new […]
Electrochemical Sensor for Detailed SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Data
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed an electrochemical device, called the eRapid sensor, that can assist clinicians in quickly characterizing someone’s COVID-19 infection, including identifying the infecting viral variant and the nature of someone’s immunity to the virus in terms of whether it is vaccine-mediated or natural immunity. Monitoring these characteristics could help […]