A collaboration between researchers at University of Cambridge in the UK and École Nationale Supérieure des Mines and INSERM in France has developed a device that can sense electrical brain activity and deliver a pre-loaded drug dose in response. It has already been tried on mice undergoing seizures, releasing a native brain chemical (Read more...)
Tag: Materials
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 develo (Read more...)
Stanford Researchers Print Patient Specific Heart Mapping Sensors
Interventional cardiologists dealing with atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia, tend to seek out and ablate the tissue generating aberrant electrical signals. This is done with mapping catheters, the shape of which is designed to maximize contact with the heart to best gather the heart’s intrinsic electrical signals. Each patient i (Read more...)
Flexible Self-Powered Knee Sensor for Rehab Monitoring
Engineers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a self-powered knee sensor to help monitor patients undergoing rehabilitation therapy. The device has a tubular shape and it generates its own electricity every time it’s flexed, enough so to power not only the sensor, but the electronics, and an antenna for wireless data transm (Read more...)
Researchers 3D Print Prototype “Bionic Eye”
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have 3D printed a light receptive array, consisting of silver particles and semiconducting polymers, on a glass hemispherical surface. The printed material can convert light to electricity, and the researchers hope that it could one day, with more research, end up serving as a bionic eye. “Bioni (Read more...)
Nanoparticles Packed with Iron as Powerful MRI Agents
While improving MRI machines is one way of making the clinical images look better, another is improving the injectable contrast agents that are compatible with magnetic resonance. Gadolinium-based MRI contrast agents are the most commonly used now, but they carry safety concerns and they don’t have alternatives for some tests. Rice University (Read more...)
Paper Test Spots Fake Antibiotics
Antibiotics are some of the most commonly faked medications out there, plus many end up being diluted before reaching patients. Though this is unusual in richer countries, it is a serious problem in less well off places. To help address this issue, researchers at Colorado State University have created a paper-based test that can quickly […]
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 (Read more...)
Mechanoceuticals to Replace Chemical Drugs by Tugging on Cells
Chemicals, delivered in the form of drugs, are the most common way of influencing the activities of cells in our bodies. While great in many ways, there are a myriad of limitations and side effects for clinicians and patients to grapple with. UCLA bioengineers are investigating whether targeted physical manipulation could serve as an additional [&h (Read more...)
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, inc (Read more...)
Drowning in Drugs: An Interview with Carnegie Mellon’s Diane Nelson
One of the most engaging areas of research these days is improving drug delivery. Here at Medgadget, we often share news about technological advances in nanomedicine that promise improved delivery to tumor sites, or newly designed gadgets that increase drug delivering efficacy. Rarely do we hear about attempts to improve drug delivery in the lungs. (Read more...)
Flexible and Conductive Mesh for Implantable and Wearable Bioelectronics
Researchers at the Institute of Basic Science in South Korea have developed a highly stretchable bioelectronic mesh patch which can monitor electrophysiological signals, such as heart muscle electrical activity, and can apply electrical and thermal stimulation for therapeutic purposes. The mesh can be implanted, such as around the heart, or can be (Read more...)
3D Printed Silicone and Stem Cell Implant to Treat Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are notorious for the disabilities they cause and for the difficulty of finding a way to fix them. At the University of Minnesota researchers are pointing to a potential solution in the form of 3D printed scaffolds seeded with neuronal stem cells. The team has already created a prototype device, made of […]
Highly Sensitive Electronic Skin Detects Touch and Temperature Changes
The University of Texas at Arlington has obtained a patent for a highly sensitive electronic skin that may one day give prosthetic devices a keen sense of touch. The e-skin features a dense forest of flexible zinc oxide nanowires on its surface. As it comes in contact with something, each nanowire generates a small electric […]
Genotype-Specific Microparticle Treatment for Brain Cancer
Researchers from Harvard and MIT have developed microparticles that can treat a specific genetic subtype of glioma, a brain cancer. The microparticles slowly release a drug that specifically targets cancer cells that rely on a particular enzyme. During surgery to remove the brain tumor, clinicians can conduct a rapid (30 min) genetic test on a [&he (Read more...)
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 t (Read more...)
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 ca (Read more...)
Biodegradable Paper-Based Batteries May Power Short-Life Medical Implants
The future of advanced implantable medical devices may depend on whether new, biocompatible sources of power can be developed. Batteries that work inside the body and eventually disintegrate may be important for devices that themselves can be resorbed. Researchers at Binghamton University have now developed a fully biodegradable battery that, thoug (Read more...)
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 [&he (Read more...)