Sickle cell disease and malaria are perhaps the biggest public health challenges in many parts of Africa. Countless organizations are tackling these two diseases, but quantifying and tracking disease burden remains tough. The team behind SMART (Sickle Cell and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing) hopes that they can help. SMART is a point-of-care test for both […]
Tag: Diagnostics
Science Fiction Inspired Handheld Diagnostic Device
A team of researchers at Glasgow University, UK have developed a portable rapid diagnostic device that could be used to detect a number of conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Inspired by the famous Star Trek medical tricorder, the research team behind the innovation set out to create a “multicorder” device. The handheld diagnostic device consists […]
Smartphone App and Portable Lab Kit Can Rapidly Detect Pathogenic Bacteria
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a point-of-care diagnostic kit that can detect pathogenic bacteria in patient samples in as little as one hour. The technology is inexpensive and portable. It consists of a small box of basic lab equipment and a smartphone, that can achieve sensitive and specific identification of a variety of […]
Precipio Announces ICEme Kit for Lung Cancer Mutation Detection
Earlier this year, Medgadget heard from Precipio CEO Illan Danieli on how his company uses advanced diagnostics and personalized medicine to reduce the prevalence of cancer misdiagnosis. Over 1 million patients globally and about 200,000 patients in the U.S. are annually diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This week, the company announced the launch ICEme, a new […]
New Faster, Cheaper, Better Test Platform for Nucleic Acid Identification of Diseases
At the National University of Singapore, scientists have developed a portable, point-of-care nucleic acid test platform that can be used to diagnose a variety of diseases. It comes in the form of a cartridge that does not need to be kept refrigerated or handled specially in any other way and once used it provides results faster […]
New Fiber Optic Sensor for In Vivo Photoacoustic Imaging
Researchers at Jinan University in China have tinkered with the design of optical fibers to create a novel new type of sensor for photoacoustic imaging. Because the technology uses flexible fibers, it may have applications for implantable, wearable, and diagnostic medical devices. Photoacoustics involves using laser light to create ultrasound waves within tissue. This is […]
Looking Deep Into Living Brain Using Photon Counter on Laser Scanning Microscope
New technology has been developed at Tel Aviv University in Israel that significantly improves 2D and 3D imaging of neuronal activity in the brains of living animals. The technology should help make new findings possible about the workings of the brain and how neurological diseases operate. PySight, as the technology is called, uses open-source software […]
Deton is Developing “Aerosol Biopsy” to Detect Lung Diseases
Biopsies and bronchoscopies are the gold standard for diagnosing lung diseases, including pneumonia and cancer. However, these procedures are difficult to provide, requiring general anesthesia and an operating room. Deton hopes to simplify the process. The Pasadena-based company takes advantage of the lung’s natural reaction to bacteria or particles — coughing it out. Rather than […]
Immunexpress Saving Lives with Improved Sepsis Diagnosis: Interview with Rolland Carlson PhD, CEO
Sepsis is the overwhelming response of the body’s immune system to infection, leading to life-threatening tissue and organ damage. The condition is poorly understood, hard to diagnose, and currently kills 30-50% of those with a confirmed diagnosis in the developed world and 60-80% of those diagnosed in developing countries. Sepsis is estimated to be the […]
HP’s BioPrinters Going to Work to Fight Antibiotic Resistance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has partnered with HP to use the company’s new BioPrinters to test bacterial pathogens for resistance to specific antibiotic samples. The HP D300e Digital Dispenser BioPrinters are being used as part of the Antibiotic Resistance Lab Network to create better tools to address developing antibiotic resistance in emerging bugs. […]
Legos, Smartphone, and Novel Chemicals Unite to Detect Nerve Agents
Though nerve attacks are, thankfully, very rare, when they do happen first responders need a way to quickly identify the agent that was used. Researchers at University of Texas at Austin have brought together both simple and advanced technologies to create a system for detecting nerve agents such as VX and sarin. Previously, members of […]
Microscopic Photonic Biosensor Measures Oxygen in Organ-On-Chips
Since oxygen is an essential chemical throughout our body, its presence must therefore be properly mimicked in any realistic organ-on-chip devices. Some cells consume oxygen readily while others not so much, but because this happens on such a small scale, measurement of oxygen consumption on the cellular level has been very difficult. Engineers at North […]
Custom 3D-Printed Microfluidics for Cell-Based Health Research
Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (yes, there is such a thing) have developed a method to 3D print functional and inexpensive microfluidic probes for cancer research. The technique could make microfluidics more accessible, allowing researchers to easily design and produce their own devices, and conduct cell-based healthcare research, such as studying cancer cells, more easily. […]
Wristband Performs Blood Cell Counts to Monitor Health Anywhere
The popularity of smart watches, activity trackers, and other wearable devices is in large part due to the hope that such tools can help monitor health. While new products keep coming out, progress on embedding sensors that can monitor things other than one’s heart rate and activity level has stalled. Now researches at Rutgers University […]
Microsoft’s Glasses to Monitor Blood Pressure
A number of approaches have been tried in the past to accurately measure blood pressure, but the upper-arm cuff remains the standard used in hospitals, clinics, and by patients at home. People that require frequent daily checks of their blood pressure know that it can often be inconvenient to have to have a cuff-based pressure […]
Microfluidic Device Manipulates Droplets with Ultrasound: May Revolutionize Diagnostics
Microfluidic devices are a major topic of research lately, partly because they have the potential to scale down existing devices and to make new diagnostic tools possible. Typically, microfluidic systems consist of scaled-down versions of conventional tubes, pumps, and valves. While effective for many applications, conventional components often get quickly clogged and lose their function […]
Twisters Inside a Lab-on-a-Chip Trap Viruses, DNA, Biomolecules
At Purdue University engineers have developed a new type of optical nanotweezers that can be used to grab onto and inspect viruses, DNA strings, and other important biomolecules. The innovative lab-on-a-chip device relies on a “nanostructured plasmonic metafilm” created out of a very thin gold sheet with nano-scale holes drilled into it. When light is […]
Nano-Optic Endoscope Allows High-Resolution Imaging
Researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new type of endoscopic imaging catheter. The catheter uses metalenses, which contain nanostructures to focus light, to achieve higher resolution imaging than conventional catheter imaging systems. So far, the researchers have used the new system to image deep into tissue samples and see tissue […]
Microfluidic Device Detects Bacteria in Tiny Samples
Canadian researchers at McGill University and University of Toronto have come up with a new device for rapid detection of small concentrations of pathogenic bacteria within tiny samples. The technology may help to spot diseases early, and so allow clinicians to better treat their patients while slowing down the spread of infection. The device consists […]
Clinical Grade Urinalysis at Home with Your Smartphone
Smartphones have become surprisingly useful in medicine, but they still remain mostly as assistants to the core process of medicine. They make it easy for clinicians to communicate, absorb information, take notes, and do so many other things. They’re still rarely used for diagnostics, but that’s changing too. Healthy.io, a company out of Tel Aviv, […]