Exosomes are tiny vesicles that are released by the body’s myriad of cells and that are found in blood, urine, and other bodily fluids. Their role within our bodies is still largely a mystery, but there’s already considerable evidence that they may be biomarkers of disease and indicators that certain processes are happening within the [ (Read more...)
Tag: Pathology
$40 Keychain Device Detects Food Allergens
For those with allergic reactions to certain foods, cross-contamination or accidental mislabeling can lead to reactions ranging from annoying to life-threatening. To address this health need, researchers at Harvard Medical School have made a device that can quickly, inexpensively, and accurately detect common food antigens. The integrated exogenous (Read more...)
Scientists Develop Cheap, Highly Sensitive and Accurate Test for Biomarkers
Scientists at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital have developed a cheap, sensitive, and highly accurate way of detecting protein biomarkers. The technology may very well revolutionize diagnostics, disease monitoring, and help stop the spread of infectious pathogens. The nanoswitch-linked immunosorbent (Read more...)
Athelas Device Provides Accurate CBC Testing – From Home
For high-risk patients or those with diseases that require constant blood monitoring, going to the doctor for blood tests may soon be a thing of the past. Athelas, a company based in Mountain View, California, announced the launch of a new blood test that has been clinically validated and can be used in the patient’s […]
Hologic’s Brevera Breast Biopsy with Built-in Imaging Now Available in U.S.
Hologic is releasing in the U.S. its Brevera breast biopsy system that works to improve the accuracy of biopsies while reducing procedural time. It features so-called Cor-Lumina imaging technology that feeds slices taken by a slicer at the tip of the biopsy needle directly into a multi-section cartridge. After excising each slice, the phy (Read more...)
Rapid Hepatocellular Carcinoma Test Can be Administered Anywhere
Researchers at the University of Utah have developed a rapid and highly portable liver cancer screening test, that can be administered anywhere. One of the biggest challenges in treating liver cancer is that often symptoms don’t appear until the disease is in the later stages, meaning it is important that people are tested rapidly when [&hell (Read more...)
Cheap Electrochemical Diagnostic System Featuring a Triboelectric Generator
Scientists at Purdue University have developed cheap, portable, and self-powered devices for performing electrochemical analysis for diagnostic purposes. Made mostly of paper, these devices can be produced in large quantities and used by just about anyone with minor training. The current prototype of the device is able to detect glucose, (Read more...)
Deep Sequencing of Loose DNA in Blood for Early Detection of Many Cancers
A collaborative project between scientists in the U.S., Denmark, and The Netherlands has developed a way of spotting bits of DNA in blood that derive from tumors deep in the body. The technology may allow for early detection of cancers before any symptoms arise and earlier than any other existing approach. Though the fact that tumors [… (Read more...)
Paper Test for Zika Powered by Gold Nanoparticles
Zika is often a silent disease that might not display any symptoms in infected persons, making screening particularly important. In the developing world, mobile testing systems that can be easily transported and used are not available, so sending a sample to a lab is still required to detect Zika infected individuals. Researchers at Washington Univ (Read more...)
Handheld Device Coupled with Tissue Clearing to Analyze Biopsy Samples
A team of researchers at UCLA may have come up with a method that will introduce tissue biopsy analysis to places where medical systems currently can’t afford conventional pathology lab equipment. The technology relies on Clarity, a way of removing fat and other materials from tissue samples while leaving proteins and DNA behind, as (Read more...)
Smartphone-Powered Diagnostic Spectrum Analyzer Shrinks a Hospital Lab Into Portable Device
Bioengineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have turned a smartphone into a portable diagnostic laboratory capable of performing a range of spectrum analyses that is currently done using large and expensive stationary machines. The investigators built a smartphone attachment that utilizes the smartphone’s camera to analyze (Read more...)
Microscopy Technique Produces High Res 3D Scans of Live Embryos
When imaging histology samples using a microscope at high resolution, 3D scans are often acquired by shining a flat beam of light through the target volume. While this has allowed for a multitude of discoveries, the technique still suffers greatly from the light scattering through the sample and washing out the sharpness of the image. This [&h (Read more...)
Microscopy Technique Produces High Res 3D Scans of Live Embryos
When imaging histology samples using a microscope at high resolution, 3D scans are often acquired by shining a flat beam of light through the target volume. While this has allowed for a multitude of discoveries, the technique still suffers greatly from the light scattering through the sample and washing out the sharpness of the image. This [&h (Read more...)
New Cervical Biopsy Device Showing Promise in Improving Comfort, Quality of Results
Following a suspicious-looking pap smear, a colposcopy is often required. In addition to a visual inspection, a sample of cervical cells has to be taken, a painful procedure that involves an imposing looking instrument. A new device is now being tried in a clinical setting at the University of California, Riverside that will hopefully pro (Read more...)
Non-Destructive Mass Spectrometry Helps Identify Tumor Margins Inside OR
Determining where a tumor margins are is one of the greatest challenges for surgeons treating cancer. Tumors have nearly all the same characteristics as healthy tissue, and so it’s standard practice to send biopsy samples of tissue to the pathology lab for margin inspection. This takes time, and often too long for the patient under […]
(Read more...)Expansion Microscopy Swells Samples for Better Imaging
When trying to use light and conventional optics to image a biological sample at great detail, one eventually encounters the fact that objects smaller than the light’s wavelength cannot be resolved. While technological tricks have been developed to overcome this limitation in some ways, a team of researchers from MIT and Harvard have ins (Read more...)
New Microfluidic Chip Detects Circulating Tumor Cells in Real Time
At the Rovira i Virgili University in Catalan, Spain, researchers have developed and patented a microfluidic device for detecting circulating tumor cells within whole blood that originate from breast cancer tumors and which are responsible for metastasis. The device, reported on in journal Scientific Reports, and already tested on blood (Read more...)
New Imaging Technique Provides Molecular Orientation in Samples to Help Study Neuro Diseases
A team of French scientists has developed a high speed imaging technique that provides them an unprecedented view of the chemical nature of biological samples. Not only does it provide an analysis of the chemical content, it also provides information about the orientation of the molecules detected. The newly available perspective of the molecular d (Read more...)
High Speed Automated Whole Brain Slicing and Imaging System Revealed in Japan
AT Osaka University in Japan researchers have developed a new high speed system that slices and images brains significantly faster than previous approaches. These days it can take up to a week to slice, stain, image, and reconstruct brains in lab studies at a subcellular resolution. The number of slices is astounding, but by automating […]
Sepsis-Detecting Point-of-Care Microfluidic Chip Developed
Sepsis is common and often deadly. Early detection of sepsis can be incredibly useful in preventing its full onset by allowing in-time administration of antibiotics. A couple of biomarkers of oncoming sepsis is leukocyte count and neutrophil 64 (CD64), a neutrophil surface antigen. Researchers at the University of Illinois have now reported in jour (Read more...)