As everyone knows, early diagnosis brings the best chance of fighting cancer. At ETH Zurich, a Swiss technical university, researchers genetically modified skin cells to produce a tattoo that makes itself visible only when the person wearing it has signs of cancer. The technology consists of a “synthetic gene network” that activates the (Read more...)
Tag: Diagnostics
4Dx Uses Algorithms to Better Visualize Lung Function
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects millions of people in the United States. The main method of diagnosis is the pulmonary function tests (PFTs), in which a patient breathes into a machine that measures pulmonary parameters. The disadvantage, however, is that pulmonary function tests take an “average” of a patient’s lung (Read more...)
Non-Invasive Skin Patch Sucks Glucose Through Skin, Measures Blood Sugar Levels
Scientists at University of Bath in the UK have developed and successfully tested an electronic patch capable of measuring glucose in the interstitial fluid without actually penetrating the skin. The transdermal patch features a tiny electronic pixel array made either via graphene-based thin-film or screen printing techniques. The patch is abl (Read more...)
Sugar-Coated Nanosheets Can Selectively Bind Pathogens
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed sugar-coated ultrathin self-assembling nanosheets that can selectively bind to pathogens, and which have potential to serve as a diagnostic technology or a way to inactivate pathogens. The researchers developed the structures using bioinspired (Read more...)
LexaGene’s New LX6 Rapid Pathogen Detection System: Interview with CEO Dr. Jack Regan
With the ever-growing list of potentially harmful pathogens being discovered, the systems needed to detect different strains need to become more sophisticated as well. Enter LexaGene, a biotechnology company developing automated and sensitive solutions for efficient pathogen detection. LexaGene’s unique microfluidics approach to pathogen dete (Read more...)
Profusa’s Tiny Implantable Sensors Keep Working in Patients Even After Four Years
Tiny, flexible, and biocompatible implantable sensors that are smaller than a grain of rice have been successfully worn for over four years now by human subjects, as was reported by Profusa, a South San Francisco firm, at the just concluded American Chemical Society’s 254th National Meeting. The wireless and battery-free implants are des (Read more...)
Partial Wave Spectroscopy Spots Cells Turning to Cancer
Detecting cancer in the body usually happens when the disease is already well underway to being mortally dangerous. Although there’s a myriad of cancers and ways to detect them, diagnostic tests typically look for biomarkers produced by tumors. And the bigger the tumor, the more biomarkers it releases, so the bigger it is the easier [… (Read more...)
Flexible Sensor Could Replace Frequent Blood Tests with Continuous Sweat Monitoring
Researchers at the University of Glasgow, UK have created a wearable sensor that is capable of measuring sweat pH, which could help patients with chronic conditions avoid the need for finger-prick blood tests. The flexible sensor, which measures around 10×10 mm can stretch with natural movements and elongate by up to 53% without compromising (Read more...)
Nanoplasmonic Sensor Can Count Dividing Cells and Detect Biomolecules
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan have developed a nanoplasmonic sensor that can measure cell division over extended periods and detect biomolecules with high sensitivity. The device has potential as a diagnostic test for disease biomarkers, or as a research tool to screen the effects of therapeutic molecules o (Read more...)
Google’s Deep Learning Software Analyzes Retinal Images for Signs of Cardiovascular Risk
Google has been tinkering in the field of medicine over the last few years, including developing a prototype electronic contact lens. The company’s latest health project involves detecting cardiovascular conditions by analyzing the vasculature of the retina. The researchers built a deep learning system that processed data from two datasets co (Read more...)
Paper Towels Seeded with Carbon Nanotubes Work as Disposable Sensors
Cheap, high-quality specialized sensors can be difficult to create for a number of reasons, because of a reliance on expensive materials, complicated functionality, or inherent reliability issues. Researchers at University of Washington have been working on developing mechanical movement sensors that are so cheap that they can be thrown away a (Read more...)
Electronic Skin Heals Thyself While Measuring Pressure, Temperature, Humidity
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have developed an “electronic skin” that is able to heal itself when damaged, and when no longer needed it can be fully recycled. E-skins can provide new capabilities in the form of medical and athletic devices, as well as mimic tactile and other sensing within advanced prostheses. The (Read more...)
Microfluidic Mixer Combines Fluids without Backflow to Make Advanced Portable Diagnostics Practical
Lab on a chip devices are designed to perform advanced diagnostics and drug testing using small samples of blood and other body fluids. We’ve written about many such devices, including for assessing the effectiveness of chemo and for picking out circulating tumor cells, but microfluidic technologies that rely on capillary or vacuum powered te (Read more...)
Soft, Transparent, and Comfortable Contact Lens Measures Glucose, Intraocular Pressure
A team of researchers in South Korea has developed a soft electronic contact lens capable of measuring glucose and intraocular pressure, a development that may help diabetes and glaucoma patients monitor their conditions. There have been previous attempts by ambitious companies and universities to do so in the past, but the results were not very [& (Read more...)
Biomeme’s Portable PCR System Expands Research Possibilities
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most widely used techniques in biological research and testing, allowing researchers to amplify and identify even small quantities of DNA or RNA. It serves a wide variety of uses, from genetic testing to infectious disease identification to forensics. Thermal cyclers, the machines that run PCR, are a [& (Read more...)
Biodegradable Pressure Sensor Doesn’t Need to be Removed After Implantation
Researchers at the University of Connecticut have developed a biodegradable pressure sensor that can be implanted in the body and help clinicians to monitor a variety of conditions over extended periods of time. What makes this sensor different from existing ones is that it doesn’t need to be removed and will eventually dissolve in the [&hell (Read more...)
New Device Combines Different Ophthalmology Equipment Into Single Instrument
Patients receiving comprehensive eye exams have to go from one imaging device to another in order to properly assess their vision. In addition to the hassle, there are costs associated with maintaining and housing multiple pieces of equipment of which only one is usually used at any one time in a typical ophthalmology office. Now […]
Proximity Tags Emit Radio Waves to Monitor Heart, Lungs, Blood Pressure
Contact-free measurement of vital signs is already a reality, but with a few important limitations some of which researchers at Cornell University may be able to overcome. Currently used devices typically require the patient to be in close proximity to the sensor, and they’re only able to measure the breathing and heart rates, along with [&he (Read more...)
Sensor Pulls Sweat from Skin to Measure Multiple Biomarkers
Researchers from École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a Swiss company called Xsensio have presented at last week’s International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco a new sweat sensor capable of detecting a number of useful chemical biomarkers, as well as the sweat’ pH level and temperatu (Read more...)
New Imaging Modality Uses Scanning Electric Current to View Heart
Researchers from École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan have developed a way of imaging biochemicals in the body using electric current. The technique, named scanning electrochemical microscopy, has already been used to map out hemoglobin t (Read more...)