Tag: Neurology

Empowering Stroke Survivors: Interview with Kirsten Carroll, General Manager at Kandu Health

Kandu Health, a digital health company based in California, has developed a platform to assist stroke survivors with aftercare. Healthcare for stroke patients is primarily focused on acute care to limit the damage caused by the stroke. However, the company has identified that stroke survivors are frequently underserved after hospital discharge, and (Read more...)

Scientists Grow Electrodes Inside The Body

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have developed a method whereby the body can ‘grow its own’ electrodes. The minimally invasive technique involves injecting a hydrogel that is laden with enzymes into target tissues. The enzymes interact with molecules that are present in the tissue to change the structure of the gel an (Read more...)

Neuroimmune Modulation for Inflammatory Disease: Interview with Dr. Simhambhatla, President and CEO of SetPoint Medical

SetPoint Medical, a medtech company based in California, is developing a neuromodulatory device that is intended to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The overlap between the nervous and immune systems is increasingly appreciated, and this technology aims to capitalize on this to create a new treatment for inflammatory disease. The neuromodulation device (Read more...)

Focused Ultrasound Releases Brain Biomarkers

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique that can release difficult-to-access biomarker proteins from the brain. At present, the researchers are focused on releasing tau proteins that are implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. These proteins are typically locked behind speci (Read more...)

Neural Chip Detects, Suppresses Neurological Symptoms

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have designed an advanced neural chip that can detect and suppress symptoms from a variety of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s and epilepsy. The closed-loop neuromodulation system, which the researchers have called NeuralTree, includes soft impla (Read more...)

Pop-Up Electrode for Improved Neural Interfaces

Researchers at Penn State designed a pop-up electrode for brain monitoring and other applications requiring neural interfacing. The pop-up design starts life as a folded two-dimensional structure with a rigid outer coating that makes it easy to insert into the brain. Once in place, the hard coating dissolves, revealing a softer and more flexible ma (Read more...)

Ultrasound Tornado Rapidly Disrupts Blood Clots

A team of researchers at North Carolina State University have developed an ultrasound transducer that can disrupt blood clots in the brain quickly by creating an ultrasound vortex or ‘tornado’. The transducer is designed to be housed in a catheter that can be advanced through the vasculature until it reaches the site of a blood [&hellip (Read more...)

Artificial Neuron Uses Ions Like the Real Thing

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden have developed artificial neurons that demonstrate 15 of the 20 characteristics of biological neural cells and can communicate with natural neurons in the body. The researchers call their device the “conductance-based organic electrochemical neuron,” or c-OECN, and it is based on materi (Read more...)

Hydrogel Scaffold Makes a Living Electrode

A team of researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed a soft, hydrogel scaffold that can function as a living electrode for brain-computer interface applications. The researchers used electrically conductive materials and created a porous and flexible scaffold using a freeze-drying process. They then seeded the scaffold with human neur (Read more...)

Non-Invasive Spinal Modulation for Cerebral Palsy

SpineX, a medtech company based in California, has developed the Spinal Cord Innovation in Pediatrics (SCiP) device, a non-invasive spinal cord neuromodulation technology that is intended to treat children with cerebral palsy. The technology is designed to be used in conjunction with activity-based neurorehabilitation therapy with the goal of impro (Read more...)

Flexible Catheter for Brain Access Bioinspired by Wasps

Researchers at Imperial College London in the UK have developed a flexible catheter system that is designed to enable access and treatment of the deep areas of the brain. At present, catheters intended for such applications can suffer from rigidity, making it difficult to access the brain safely and effectively. This latest technology includes a [& (Read more...)

Wearable EEG Patch Measures Brain Activity

Researchers at Osaka University in Japan engineered a wearable electroencephalography (EEG) device that can measure brain activity, potentially letting clinicians monitor conditions such as depression or dementia. At present, assessing brain activity requires a trip to a facility with bulky and expensive equipment, making long-term monitoring diffi (Read more...)

Scientists Teach Neurons to Play Pong

Scientists at Cortical Labs in Melbourne, Australia, along with international collaborators, have developed “DishBrain”, which is essentially a collection of neurons in a dish that have demonstrated learning and, incredibly, can play the classic computer game Pong. The findings could create exciting new opportunities to understand the h (Read more...)

Screening App to Diagnose Parkinson’s, COVID-19 from Voice

Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed an app that is intended to provide early diagnosis for Parkinson’s disease and severe COVID-19. The artificial intelligence-powered technology works by analyzing voice recordings, having previously been trained to recognize the vocal hallmarks of these diseases by listenin (Read more...)

Nanoprinted Microelectrode Array for Brain Computer Interfaces

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used a nanoscale 3D printing technique that allows them to customize the microelectrode arrays used for brain computer interfaces. The approach is called Aerosol Jet 3D printing, and the researchers used it to create three-dimensional microelectrode arrays that can be customized for particular patient (Read more...)

Video Games to Improve Cognition in Older Adults

Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have developed a suite of video games that have been designed to improve cognition in older adults who are otherwise healthy. The games aim to recreate common activities, such as banging a drum or driving a car. They also include a sophisticated algorithm that automatically adjusts the [&hel (Read more...)

AI Device Monitors Breathing to Diagnose Parkinson’s

Researchers at MIT have developed an AI system that can diagnose Parkinson’s disease and track its progression, simply by monitoring someone’s breathing patterns as they sleep. The device looks like an internet router and can be mounted on the wall in a bedroom. It emits radio waves and then a neural network analyzes the reflected [&hel (Read more...)