Researchers at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) creaetd a Raman-spectroscopy-based urine test that can detect metabolic compounds that are produced by pancreatic and prostate cancers, potentially allowing for rapid and convenient cancer screening. The technology consists of a paper strip onto which a urine sample can be added. The…
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Surgical robotics is dominated by various versions of the da Vinci system from Intuitive Surgical, a competent but expensive tool that’s become a standard in modern advanced hospitals. It took Intuitive about 30 years to achieve this status, but there are systems from J&J, Medtronic, CMR Surgical, and others that are chipping away at the company’s dominance. All of these systems operate under the “master-slave” concept, which involves a surgeon sitting behind a console, away from the patient, who manipulates the mechanical arms of the robot via some kind of joystick-like device. Thanks to kind support from Biomed Israel, the leading…
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Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a new method to prepare chimeric antigen receptor-T cells (CAR-T cells) for leukemia patients that could result in more effective treatment. CAR-T cells start life as T cells that are isolated from cancer patients, are stimulated and primed to recognize and attack cancer cells, expanded in number, and then reintroduced to the cancer patient with the goal that the cells will destroy their cancer. However, the technique works better in certain patients, and the researchers behind this latest technique have realized that T-cells from cancer patients do […]…
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Researchers at MIT have developed an ingestible sensor that can reveal gastrointestinal motility issues, such as gastroparesis and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The technology is intended for use as an easy at-home method to diagnose such issues, which typically require more invasive and inconvenient procedures, such as endoscopy or X-ray imaging. This new technology is based on the concept that a magnetic field produced by an electromagnetic coil becomes weaker the further away you move from the coil. This change in field signal is predictable, allowing researchers to calculate the distance accurately by measuring the magnetic field. The ingestible sensor measures […]…
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Scientists at Brown University have designed an automated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) system that allows clinicians to rapidly and easily process patient samples to determine levels of antidepressant drugs in the body. Getting the correct dose of antidepressant drugs into the bloodstream is important to ensure efficacy and avoid side-effects. However, current assays to measure the levels of such drugs in the blood are cumbersome, require large blood samples, and involve multiple time-consuming steps, limiting their use by clinicians. This new system requires very small sample volumes, and employs a robot liquid handling system that is commonly found […]…
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Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have tested a closed-loop acoustic stimulation neurotechnology in its ability to treat insomnia. The device in question has been developed by Cereset, a medtech company headquartered in Arizona. Insomnia is not just unpleasant, but can have significant long-term health consequences, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. This technology works by monitoring brain waves through scalp sensors and then translating these waves into auditory tones that are played back to the wearer through ear buds. The researchers describe the technology as “allowing the brain to listen to itself”, leading […]…
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Researchers at Rice University have developed a bioprinting method that uses self-assembling peptides as a bioink. The technique involves using “multidomain peptides” that are hydrophobic at one end and hydrophilic at the other. When the peptides encounter water, they flip over each other to create hydrophobic sandwich structures that stack together to form fibers, creating the base structure of the printed hydrogel. This self-assembly helps the printed material to rapidly form a structure, and it will also reform after deformation. What makes the peptides highly suited for use in implanted constructs is their track record of safe use in the […]…
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A team at Rice University has developed an automated feeding platform for mosquitoes that allows researchers to test different types of repellent and investigate mosquito-borne disease transmission. Traditionally, such mosquito research would require human volunteers or animal subjects for the mosquitos to feed on, but this is obviously inconvenient and a little distasteful. This new system dispenses with the need for human volunteers and associated laborious data collection and analysis. The technology consists of 3D printed synthetic skin with real blood that flows through small vessels. Mosquitos can feed through the skin and are kept in place in a surrounding […]…
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Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed an electrochemical device, called the eRapid sensor, that can assist clinicians in quickly characterizing someone’s COVID-19 infection, including identifying the infecting viral variant and the nature of someone’s immunity to the virus in terms of whether it is vaccine-mediated or natural immunity. Monitoring these characteristics could help to personalize treatment for individuals and also provide data for drug development and inform government decisions on the best way to manage COVID-19 in the community. When antibodies from a blood sample bind within the device, it precipitates a biochemical cascade that affects the electrical […]…
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Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have developed a nanowire assay that can be used to capture and detect specific extracellular vesicles in a urine sample that indicate the presence of a brain tumor. These extracellular vesicles are naturally excreted in the urine but techniques to capture and analyze them have been complex, requiring different pieces of equipment, until now. This all-in-one assay uses a simple well plate that has been coated with zinc oxide nanowires that extracellular vesicles are attracted to because of their surface electrical charge. Then, the researchers can detect tumor-specific extracellular vesicles in each well using […]…
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