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...)
Tag: Pathology
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 (Read more...)
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 consi (Read more...)
Drop of Blood Enough for This Device to Diagnose Brain Injury
Brain injuries, particularly the milder ones, are difficult to accurately diagnose. CT scanners can help, but often they just don’t have the resolution for clinicians to identify unusual aberrations in the image. Moreover, they expose patients to radiation, are not always available, and the process of using them and evaluating the images prod (Read more...)
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 bio (Read more...)
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 diagr (Read more...)
New Device Captures Circulating Tumor Cells Directly Within Blood Vessels
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in the blood of people suffering from most cancers, but because of their rarity their presence is very difficult to spot. A number of technologies have been developed in the past to capture and count CTCs (see flashbacks below), but they tend to still have a number of limitations. […]
New Nano Microscope Gives Detailed New Look at Alzheimer’s Brains
Alzheimer’s disease seems to develop over many years, if not decades, before symptoms begin to show up. In order to better understand its development, researchers have been looking for new ways to track the formation of amyloid plaques within the brain, which are the best known biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. Researchers at Purdue University (Read more...)
Scientists Use Organ on Chip to Grow New Kidney Cells
Scientists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have come up with a way of growing podocytes, kidney cells that filter out blood, from induced pluripotent stem cells inside a special chamber that replicates the glomerulus of a kidney. These cells, provided an environment similar to their natural one, have shown remarkable identity to their a (Read more...)
Plasmonic Patch Improves Sensitivity of Fluorescent Diagnostic Testing
A great deal of life science research relies on using fluorescent markers to track molecular biological activity. It’s extremely effective as long as the light signal coming back from a sample is strong enough, but if the light is dim, as with highly sensitive, low concentration tests, fluorescent markers are often insufficient. Now researche (Read more...)
Latest Air-Powered Robot for Breast Biopsies Inside MRI Unveiled (Video)
Most breast biopsies are currently performed using ultrasound and handheld needles, guided by previously taken radiological images. The problem is that humans aren’t always perfect and what is imaged during an MRI scan or mammography may look different later under ultrasound. Performing a biopsy right inside the MRI machine may provide incred (Read more...)
Liquid Biopsy Separates Tumor Cells from Blood Faster Than Ever Before
Biopsies are a sure way to find out if a patient really has a neoplastic tissue in the body. While highly accurate, biopsies are only useful if one has a lesion to sample. Many tumors are well hidden and difficult to reach, making traditional biopsies effectively impossible. But, tumors tend to shed cells that end […]
New Method for Monitoring Biomarkers at Ultra Low Concentrations
Many chemical biomarkers within our bodies, such as proteins and DNA fragments, are found in extremely low concentrations, making it difficult to monitor their behavior. At the Eindhoven University of Technology, researchers have now developed an exciting new method for continuous, live monitoring of individual molecules within blood. The researche (Read more...)
New Microscopy Technique Can Image Living Tissues in Real Time
Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new microscopy technique that can image living tissue in real time, without the need for chemical stains or dyes. The technique can achieve significant detail, such as allowing researchers to see the movement of vesicles, which are tiny transport packages, between cells. This approach could (Read more...)
Hairy Frosted Glass Slides Capture Circulating Tumor Cells for Screening and Early Diagnosis
Biopsies are typically the way prostate cancer is identified, but prostate cancers also release circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that are telltale signs of the presence of the disease. Because they’re so rare and difficult to separate from whole blood, CTCs remain rarely used for establishing diagnoses. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of S (Read more...)
Automatic Robot Draws Blood, Performs Hematology Analysis
Rutgers University researchers have created a desktop system that can automatically take patient blood samples (robotic phlebotomy) and process them without any human intervention. Making such technology available for hospitals and clinics may have significant consequences, as blood draws are the most common clinical procedures. Though they may see (Read more...)
Chip Pairs Bacteria with Antibiotics to Spot Drug Resistance, Points to Best Therapy
Patients presenting with a bacterial infection can be surprisingly challenging to treat if drug resistance is present and/or if sepsis develops. Using the right antibiotic as early as possible, and identifying if the infection is resistant to the drugs, can often make the difference between life and death. Yet, the time it takes currently to [&hell (Read more...)
Mauna Kea’s Cellvizio Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy Cleared in U.S. for Neurological Procedures
Mauna Kea‘s (Paris, France) Cellvizio 100 series F400 and F800, with a new Confocal Miniprobe called CranioFle, has been granted FDA clearance to be used in neurological procedures targeting brain and spinal tumors. The confocal laser endomicroscopy system allows clinicians to analyze the cellular structure and characteristics of tissues righ (Read more...)
Monitoring Your Health is No Sweat with Eccrine Systems’ Sweatronics Wearable
Biofluids can be a goldmine of valuable information about our health. However, most of them require sharp needles, diuretics, or sappy romance dramas (blood, urine, and tears) to produce in useful quantities. One Cincinnati area startup has developed a device that samples a biofluid that everyone produces continuously while sleeping or awake &ndash (Read more...)
Blood Test for Quick and Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is notoriously famous for being a merciless killer, but the reality is that our current inability to diagnose it early is what makes it so intractable. Earlier diagnosis would allow therapies to be initiated before the cancer becomes untreatable. Researchers at University of California, San Diego may have just developed a blo (Read more...)