This invention is a means of delivering a drug, or payload, to cells using non-covalent associations of the payload with nanoengineered scaffolds; specifically, functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and their derivatives where the payload is effectively sequestered by the...

Each year, upwards of 1.5 million cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) occur in the United States. Conventional imaging methods don't always provide physicians with as much detail as they would like when it comes to determining how the injury damaged the patient's brain tissue, predicting how the...

Although often curable if detected early, melanoma causes the deaths of nearly 9,000 Americans each year. The incidence of melanoma is increasing at a rate faster than that of any of the seven most common cancers. A new medical diagnostic device invented by John A. Viator, Ph.D, an...

Following an orthopedic procedure, surgeons usually rely on X-rays or MRIs to monitor the progress of their patients' recovery. A new implantable sensor developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could provide surgeons with detailed, real-time information from the actual...

Simulated surgeries are a great tool for training surgical residents — but does a tool exist to determine precisely when a surgical resident is ready to move on to operate on a human patient? With this question in mind, an interdisciplinary team of University of Houston computer scientists and...

Texas...home of Johnson Space Center, the NSBRI, good BBQ, and now, for the first time, the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) show. Last week, in Fort Worth, TX, local exhibitors demonstrated evidence of the Lone Star State as an important hotspot for medical device development.

Nanotechnology, the science of manipulating matter on a molecular scale, offers obvious advantages for the medical market. However, the question of nanotoxicology — the study of the toxicity of nanomaterials — may also play a role in the future of this technology. In 2006, the FDA formed the...

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a 3D paper sensor that may be able to test for diseases such as malaria and HIV for less than 10 cents a pop. One-dimensional paper sensors, such as those used in pregnancy tests,...

An integrated microfluidics-waveguide sensor developed at Stanford University School of Medicine has the potential to simplify the diagnosis of diseases ranging from life-threatening immune deficiencies to the common cold. The device sorts and counts cells in small samples of...

A marriage between the endoscope and a new field of medical imaging — Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging (CLI) — may allow surgeons to more completely remove cancerous tumors. The technique, called Cerenkov Luminescence Endoscopy (CLE), offers advantages over both traditional endoscopic and imaging...

The first gateway to the detection of potentially cancerous tumors or lesions often occurs during the physical exam at the doctor's office, which is performed through touch. As one might imagine, conclusions made from such a test could be very subjective, depending on the physician's experience...