Medical Technology
Microtransistor prototypes map the mind
April 12, 2013 9:42 am | by Blaine Friedlander, Cornell University | News | Comments
To make better mind maps, a group of French scientists—building on prototypes developed at the Cornell University NanoScale Science and Technology Facility—have produced the world’s first microscopic, organic transistors that can amplify and record signals from within the brain itself.
Columbia University licenses 3D segmentation software to Varian
May 21, 2013 8:19 am | News | Comments
Columbia University has signed a licensing agreement with Varian Medical Systems for...
Protected data cloud to analyze cancer data
May 20, 2013 9:16 am | News | Comments
The University of Chicago has recently launched the first secure cloud-based...
Stem cells recovered from cloned human embryos
May 16, 2013 12:38 pm | News | Comments
Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding...
Evaluating a new way to open clogged arteries
May 21, 2013 7:30 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOver the past few decades, scientists have developed many devices that can reopen clogged arteries, including angioplasty balloons and metallic stents. While generally effective, each of these treatments has drawbacks, including the risk of side effects. A new study analyzes the potential usefulness of a new treatment that combines the benefits of angioplasty balloons and drug-releasing stents, but may pose fewer risks.
Computational tool simplifies complex data into 2D images
May 20, 2013 9:30 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Columbia University and Stanford University have developed a computational method that enables scientists to visualize and interpret "high-dimensional" data produced by single-cell measurement technologies such as mass cytometry. A sophisticated algorithm converts difficult-to-interpret data into visual representations similar to two-dimensional "scatter plots".
Engineers monitor heart health using paper-thin flexible 'skin'
May 15, 2013 3:21 pm | News | CommentsEngineers combine layers of flexible materials into pressure sensors to create a wearable heart monitor thinner than a dollar bill. The skin-like device could one day provide doctors with a safer way to check the condition of a patient's heart.
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
May 14, 2013 12:24 pm | News | CommentsIt’s a familiar scenario—a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system. Expensive medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body’s natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response.
Regulator keeps vaccines at right temperature
May 10, 2013 12:04 pm | News | CommentsRice University students have created a way to help health care workers track vaccines and keep them at a safe temperature. The SAFE Vaccine senior engineering design team assembled a device to regulate the temperature of any standard refrigerator to keep it within a range that’s safe for vaccines. Their invention also tracks vaccine stock, usage, and expiration dates and, as a result, takes a load of paperwork off the backs of nurses.
Wearable robots getting lighter, more portable
May 9, 2013 3:26 am | by CARLA K. JOHNSON - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsWhen Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.
Device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes
May 6, 2013 1:15 pm | News | CommentsTake a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device. University of Washington engineers and NanoFacture, a Bellevue, Wash., company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient, and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.
Medtronic launches two new implanted heart devices
May 6, 2013 10:51 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsMedtronic has put two new implantable heart devices on the market after receiving approval from federal regulators. The FDrA approved the sale of the Viva heart resynchronization devices and Evera implantable cardioverter defibrillators. Cardiac resynchronization therapy devices are used to treat heart failure and implantable defibrillators are used to treat rapid heartbeats.
Zinc: The perfect material for bioabsorbable stents?
May 1, 2013 9:49 am | by Marcia Goodrich, Michigan Technological University | News | CommentsIn 2012, more than 3 million people had stents inserted in their coronary arteries. But the longer a stent is in the body, the greater the risk of late-stage side effects. Studies have investigated iron- and magnesium-based bioabsorbable stents, but iron rusts and magnesium dissolves too fast. Recent research shows that a certain type of zinc alloy might be the answer.
Material loss protects teeth against fatigue failure
May 1, 2013 9:07 am | News | CommentsComputer simulations conducted in Germany have shown that the reduction of natural dental wear might be the main cause for widely spread non-carius cervical lesions—the loss of enamel and dentine at the base of the crown—in our teeth. The discovery was made by examining the biomechanical behavior of teeth using finite element analysis methods typically applied to engineering problems.
Antibacterial hydrogel offers protection from stubborn infections
April 24, 2013 5:00 pm | News | CommentsCoating medical supplies with an antimicrobial material is one approach that bioengineers are using to combat the increasing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. A research team in Singapore has now developed a highly effective antimicrobial coating based on cationic polymers. The coating can be applied to medical equipment, such as catheters.
Scientists learn what makes nerve cells so strong
April 16, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsHow do nerve cells—which can each be up to three feet long in humans—keep from rupturing or falling apart? Recent research reports that axons, the long, cable-like projections on neurons, are made stronger by a unique modification of the common molecular building block of the cell skeleton. The finding may help guide the search for treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
X-ray approach devised to track surgical devices
April 16, 2013 8:20 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a new tool to help surgeons use X-rays to track devices used in “minimally invasive” surgical procedures while also limiting the patient’s exposure to radiation from the X-rays.
Researchers turn skin cells directly into the cells that insulate neurons
April 15, 2013 1:00 pm | News | CommentsStanford University School of Medicine scientists have succeeded in transforming skin cells directly into oligodendrocyte precursor cells, the cells that wrap nerve cells in the insulating myelin sheaths that help nerve signals propagate. The research was done in mice and rats, but if the approach also works with human cells, it could eventually lead to cell therapies for a variety of diseases of the nervous system.
Cheers for a comfy chair
April 11, 2013 10:34 am | News | CommentsA new chair developed by engineering students at Rice University will make radiation therapy sessions for cancer patients more comfortable and more effective. In cooperation with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, five Rice students have developed a seat that helps patients relax as they stay perfectly still while precise beams of radiation attack tumors.
Implanted 'bracelet' helps treat chronic heartburn
April 11, 2013 10:31 am | by MARILYNN MARCHIONE - AP Chief Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA tiny magnetic bracelet implanted at the base of the throat is greatly improving life for some people with chronic heartburn who get limited relief from medicines. It's a novel way to treat severe acid reflux, which plagues millions of Americans and can raise their risk for more serious health problems.
Doctors use brain scans to “see” and measure pain
April 11, 2013 3:24 am | by Marilynn Marchione, AP Chief Medical Writer | News | CommentsIn a provocative new study, scientists reported Wednesday that they were able to "see" pain on brain scans and, for the first time, measure its intensity and tell whether a drug was relieving it. Though the research is in its early stages, it opens the door to a host of possibilities. For example, scans might be used someday to tell when pain is hurting a baby, someone with dementia, or a paralyzed person unable to talk.
Overcoming barriers to medical use of microrockets and micromotors
April 11, 2013 2:13 am | News | CommentsAn advance in micromotor technology akin to the invention of cars that fuel themselves from the pavement or air, rather than gasoline or batteries, is opening the door to broad new medical and industrial uses for these tiny devices, scientists said here today. Their update on development of the motors—so small that thousands would fit inside this "o"—was part of the American Chemical Society national meeting.
Robot hot among surgeons but US taking fresh look
April 9, 2013 2:02 pm | by LINDSEY TANNER - AP Medical Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsThe biggest thing in operating rooms these days is a million-dollar, multi-armed robot named da Vinci, used in nearly 400,000 surgeries in America last year—triple the number just four years earlier. But now the high-tech helper is under scrutiny over reports of problems, including several deaths that may be linked with it, and the high cost of using the robotic system.
Innovative method to treat Alzheimer's in mice
April 5, 2013 4:57 pm | News | CommentsResearchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute report that they successfully used a virus vector to restore the expression of a brain protein and improve cognitive functions, in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Because it is impossible to deliver genes directly to the brain without surgery, the researchers injected the virus in the left ventricle of the heart, as this provides a direct route to the brain.
ORNL's awake imaging device moves diagnostics field forward
April 4, 2013 12:13 pm | News | CommentsA technology being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory promises to provide clear images of the brains of children, the elderly, and people with Parkinson's and other diseases without the use of uncomfortable or intrusive restraints. Awake imaging provides motion compensation reconstruction, which removes blur caused by motion, allowing physicians to get a transparent picture of the functioning brain without anesthetics that can mask conditions and alter test results.
Scientists develop biomaterial that mimics squid beak
April 3, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsResearchers led by scientists at Case Western Reserve University have turned to an unlikely model to make medical devices safer and more comfortable—a squid's beak. Many medical implants require hard materials that have to connect to or pass through soft body tissue. This mechanical mismatch leads to problems such as skin breakdown at abdominal feeding tubes in stroke patients and where wires pass through the chest to power assistive heart pumps. Enter the squid.
Telerobotic system designed to treat bladder cancer
April 3, 2013 9:18 am | by David Salisbury, Vanderbilt University | News | CommentsAlthough bladder cancer is the sixth most common form of cancer in the U.S. and the most expensive to treat, the basic method that doctors use to treat it hasn’t changed much in more than 70 years. A research team may soon be changing that dramatically after having developed a prototype telerobotic platform designed to be inserted through natural orifices—in this case the urethra—that can provide surgeons with a much better view, making it easier to remove tumors.
Obama to propose $100M brain mapping project
April 2, 2013 9:46 am | by NEDRA PICKLER - Associated Press - Associated Press | News | CommentsPresident Barack Obama is proposing a new research investment to map the human brain in hopes of eventually finding treatments for traumatic injuries and disorders like Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. The president planned to propose an initial $100 million investment next year during remarks Tuesday morning. The White House said in a statement that the goal of the project—called the BRAIN Initiative for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies—is "to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind" and create jobs.
3D scaffolds a new tool to fight cancer
April 1, 2013 4:16 pm | News | CommentsPorous polymer scaffolds fabricated to support the growth of biological tissue for implantation may hold the potential to greatly accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics. Researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Mount Sinai Medical Center reported that 3D scaffolds used to culture Ewing's sarcoma cells were effective at mimicking the environment in which such tumors develop.
