The University of Oxford and King’s College London have teamed up to develop and are now testing a new emergency ventilator that consists of devices that commonly exist in clinical spaces and scientific laboratories, and a few simple parts that can be created through 3D printing. Bringing together these devices allows the team to create [&hel (Read more...)
Tag: Materials
Clear Face Masks for The Deaf and Hard of Hearing
There are hundreds of groups around the world making face masks as fast as they can to help slow the spread of COVID-19. While face masks can help to block particulates from entering the nose and mouth, they also make it impossible to see the mouth moving when the wearer is talking. This is actually […]
3D Printed Brain Implants Using Conductive Polymer Ink
Conductive polymers are a fascinating category of materials that are particularly exciting for biomedicine because of their flexibility, conductivity, and biocompatibility. Existing conducting polymers, though, can only be applied to other materials using traditional methods that are not suitable for 3D printing. Now, researchers at MIT have develo (Read more...)
Gold Nanoparticles Help Uncover Fine Structure of Amyloid Fibrils
A team of scientists, based at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) with collaborators at Ulm University in Germany, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy, and MIT, have developed custom nanoparticles for high-resolution detection of amyloid fibrils, those associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinon’s. The newly (Read more...)
Georgia Tech Spearheads Distributed Protective Equipment Manufacturing Effort
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is drawing on its access to engineers, scientists, and people in the manufacturing world, to quickly create and help mass produce a variety of personal protective equipment to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They’re focusing their efforts on using materials that are not already in short supp (Read more...)
Microfluidic Device Simulates Blinking to Study Eye Drugs
Drugs that are used to treat conditions of the eyes, or ones that simply use the eyes as a route into the rest of the body, can be very difficult to test in pre-clinical trials. Rabbits are often utilized for this, as they lack tear ducts and so don’t blink very often, allowing substances to […]
University of Minnesota Develops Simpler, Inexpensive Mechanical Ventilator
With the rise of COVID-19 cases throughout the United States, one of the biggest concerns is the potential shortage of ventilators for patients who have severe viral pneumonia. A team at the University of Minnesota has designed a mechanical ventilator that is inexpensive and made of easy to obtain materials. Unlike traditional ventilators, the Cove (Read more...)
Highly Sensitive Wearable Strain Sensor Uses Light for Detection
Stick-on strain sensors that can accurately measure the flexion of joints, big and small, have turned out hard to make. Piezoresistive devices tend to have a delayed response and are not stable in the long-run, while capacitive sensors are not very sensitive and nearby electromagnetic fields tend to interfere with them. Now researchers at South [&h (Read more...)
Magnetic Beads Trap E. Coli from Body Fluid Samples
While current concern is all about the COVID-19 virus that originated in China and spread around the world, this pathogen will eventually disappear. Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, though, is with us for the long run and it can cause just as much suffering as COVID-19. Researchers at Rutgers University have just reported in journal […]
Washable Face Masks Thanks to Electrospun Nanofibers
One big reason there’s a shortage of face masks that can block the spread of the COVID-19 virus is that they’re single-use devices. The exterior may be contaminated and there’s a good chance that keeping the mask and using it again could transmit the infection, particularly when masks are used around known COVID-19 patients. Becau (Read more...)
Open Source Face Shield to Help Block COVID-19
While face masks that block particles from coming into the lungs via the nose and mouth are important to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the eyes and the rest of the face can also be a pathway for the disease to find its way into the body. There are now a number of projects around […]
Print Your Own Hands-Free Door Opener to Contain Spread of Coronavirus
As hospitals around the world are getting swamped with patients due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there are issues with having clinical facilities becoming easy havens for the disease to spread. Something that technicians with access to 3D printers can now quickly do is turn standard door handles into the kind that can be opened with […]
New Non-Toxic, Printable Biomedical Material Developed
Synthetic dry elastomers are polymeric materials that feature cross-linked networks that form into random and unordered shapes and textures. These materials have a host of properties that are applicable in biomedicine, but the randomness of their internal structures at different scales makes it difficult to actually use these elastomers. Now, resea (Read more...)
Universal Biomedical 3D Printing Ink Developed
3D printing is already used in medicine in many applications, but there’s still a great deal that custom-built implants could offer to patients. Bioinks, the materials from which bespoke implants can printed, may be the most important focus of research aimed at expanding the use of additive manufacturing, another term for 3D printing, in medi (Read more...)
4D Printer to Create Synthetic Biological Surfaces
Researchers at the City University of New York and Northwestern University have developed a printer capable of creating highly detailed surfaces precisely loaded with a variety of organic and biological molecules. The technology allows the researchers to create objects that resemble the surfaces of living cells, something that may prove extremely u (Read more...)
Contact Lenses to Correct Color Blindness
Deuteranomaly is a color blindness that causes green light photoreceptors to react to redder light. Red objects seem greener for patients with the condition, but it has been known for a while that blocking some of the light in the red color range can improve proper color perception. There are glasses that do this, a […]
Device Prints Scaffolds Inside Wounds to Replace Lost Tissue
3D printing of artificial scaffolds intended to replace injured tissues has become a ballyhooed technology that’s yet to prove itself in clinical practice. One issue that complicates things is that the scaffolds have to match the volume that they’ll be replacing, in both shape and the direction in which cells will have to grow. To [&hel (Read more...)
First Noninvasive Cortisol Detector to Monitor Stress, Mental Conditions
Stress related to our mental well-being, including that associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, is difficult to measure in practice. Levels of cortisol, a steroid hormone, are closely linked to changes in one’s mental state and blood tests are available to measure cortisol. But a blood test can raise a person’s stress level itsel (Read more...)
Stretchy Coils to Make MRI Imaging Easier on Patients
When undergoing MRI scanning, many patients have to have the body parts being imaged strapped into rigid radio-frequency (RF) coils. These can be uncomfortable, as they’re not custom-sized for every patient, and since many MRI exams can take a half hour or more to perform, the scanning process can be difficult for many to undergo. […]
Tactile Enhancement to Compensate for Loss of Sensation
A variety of medical conditions, including diabetic neuropathy, infections, and injuries, can lead to a reduced ability to feel touch with one’s skin. This can be frustrating and uncomfortable, but it can also result in an inability to walk in comfort, notice wounds and injuries, and deal with everyday tasks. Now researchers in China are [&he (Read more...)