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 diagrams of small areas […]
Tag: Pathology
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 recently developed […]
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 all-real cousins in their transcriptomic […]
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 researchers from Washington […]
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 incredibly accurate targeting of […]
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 researchers were able to use it […]
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 be […]
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 Scientists have now […]
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 seem simple from the patient’s perspective, they’re […]
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 […]
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 right in the operating room. The […]
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 – sweat! During […]
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 blood test that […]
Advanced Cancer Diagnostics Reduce Frequency of Misdiagnoses: Interview with Precipio CEO Ilan Danieli
According to 2010-2012 data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 40% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. In all its forms, cancer is known to be a clinically and emotionally challenging disease to manage. Despite the fact that each year 455 men and women per 100,000 patients are diagnosed […]
Smartphone System Detects Food Borne Pathogens
At Purdue University, a team of engineers and food scientists has developed a smartphone-powered device, and accompanying underlying technology, for detecting food borne pathogenic bacteria. The technology relies on using specially designed phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. These phages are mixed into water that was used to wash a sample of produce. A […]
Smartphone System Detects Food Borne Pathogens
At Purdue University, a team of engineers and food scientists has developed a smartphone-powered device, and accompanying underlying technology, for detecting food borne pathogenic bacteria. The technology relies on using specially designed phages, which are viruses that infect bacteria. These phages are mixed into water that was used to wash a sample of produce. A […]
IonStar Delivers Nearly Perfect Proteomics in Large Groups of People
Measuring the amount of specific proteins present in the body can help to diagnose diseases that are otherwise difficult to identify. This has been a challenge and even the best existing technology, known as MaxQuant, is not great at measuring low concentrations of proteins and performs poorly in certain situations. Now researchers at State University of New […]
MasSpec Pen Spots Cancer on Surgical Samples
Most people undergoing a tumor excision go in knowing that the entirety of the offending tissue may not be removed successfully. Typically, tumors look just like healthy tissue and it takes quite a bit of time between when a sample is sent to the pathology lab and when the results come in. Therefore, repeat surgeries […]