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 […]
Tag: Genetics
Microscopic Implantable Sensors Measure Dopamine in Brain
Dopamine is a neural signaling molecule seemingly involved in nearly every aspect of the brain’s activity. Yet, there hasn’t been a practical way to monitor the long term levels of dopamine in lab animals, let alone in humans. The main problem is that sensors developed so far degrade in the brain within a matter of […]
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 […]
Microfluidic Device Corrals Viable Sperm for IVF
Researchers at Cornell University have developed a microfluidic device to rapidly isolate the strongest and fastest sperm from a sperm sample. The technique should help technicians during the IVF process, as the current method of isolating the most viable sperm is painstaking and can take hours for the manual effort to pay off. During IVF, […]
Magnetic Nanoparticles Pull Cancer Biomarkers from Whole Blood
MicroRNA molecules are short RNA strings that bind to certain messenger RNAs, in the process blocking messenger RNAs from being translated to create new proteins. When microRNAs aren’t operating properly, cancer may be the cause, but this connection has been poorly studied for clinical applications because microRNAs are so difficult to isolate in a blood […]
DNA Empowerment for Lifestyle Changes: Interview with Wellness by Science CEO, Harry Blustein III
As genetic screening technologies continue being developed and offered at ever cheaper prices, members of the general public are growing increasingly curious about what lies hidden in their DNA. While many have elected to sample their genome out of pure curiosity and to get better insight into their family history, the resultant data could often […]
New Device for Studying Bacterial Biofilm Formation
Biofilms are large groups of bacterial cells that stick together and protect each other like a Roman legion. Drugs and other therapies can poke at the exterior of a biofilm, but killing the mass can be extremely challenging. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan decided to look more closely at the […]
3D-Printed Placenta-on-a-Chip Mimics Structure of Placental Membrane
Researchers at TU Wien in Vienna have developed a placenta-on-a-chip microfluidic device which uses a femtosecond laser-based 3D-printing method to create a customized hydrogel membrane. The printed membrane is populated with placental cells and mimics the microstructure of the placental barrier. This allows researchers to study how substances, including drugs and nutrients such as glucose, […]
Automation of Patch Clamp Technique to Speed Brain Studies
The patch clamp technique, for which the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded, is widely used to study the electrical activity of individual cells. It is particularly useful in neuroscience because electricity is the language through which neurons communicate. But it is slow and tedious since it requires a trained specialist to […]
New Device for Testing Immunotherapies on Tumor Fragments
Immuno-oncology, a rapidly developing field that harnesses the body’s immune system to attack cancers, lacks effective methods of testing potential therapies. In addition to animal studies, tiny bits of tumors are placed, along with chemical compounds being tested, within multiwell plates and watched over using a number of techniques. While this has allowed the field […]
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. […]
Molecular Sensor to Detect if Cancer Drug is Working
Being able to monitor the chemical content of cancer cells may help scientists develop new anti-cancer medications. Additionally, it may also lead to personalized drug therapies for cancer patients that all too often end up trying multiple medications before finding one that works. Chemists at MIT have come up with just such a tool for […]
Optogenetic Cochlear Implants Aim to Improve Quality of Sound
At the University of Göttingen in Germany researchers have managed to use light to stimulate the auditory nerves of gerbils, in the process allowing the deaf animals to hear sounds. The technology is being developed to improve the audio quality of cochlear implants, devices that can bring hearing to people with several types of hearing […]
Genetics Blockchain Platform Shivom Partners with SingularityNET (Interview)
With an abundance of innovation already taking place in the field of genomics, the addition of blockchain technology opens the door to even more opportunities. Blockchain-based genomics platform Shivom and it’s partners are positioning themselves to step through that door. Last month, Shivom announced a partnership with SingularityNET, another blockchain-based platform and marketplace for AI. The goal of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Turbulent French Press Bioreactor Makes Platelets from Stem Cells
Researchers at Kyoto University have developed a technique to produce platelets from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS cells). Platelets are formed when small fragments break off from large cells called megakaryocytes within blood flow. The technique involves creating IPS megakaryocytes and then culturing them in a specialized bioreactor. The bioreactor mimics the turbulence of normal […]
Map’s Connectivity Map Traced by Artificial Neural Networks
Our brains are composed of billions of nerve cells and each of those cells can be connected to thousands of other individual cells, making for an incredibly complex network. While three-dimensional electron microscopy is used to image cells and their connections, typically manual observation and mapping is used to create the connectivity diagrams of small areas […]
Artificial Model of Heart Ventricle for Studying Cardiac Diseases, Drugs, Therapies
Custom-built artificial hearts are still something from science fiction, but the engineering knowledge to get there is already being assembled in labs around the world. One important piece of the puzzle has just been reported on by researchers at Harvard University, who have built a model of the heart’s left ventricle, seeded with living heart […]