Interest in the design of new drug delivery systems focuses on releasing the drug at a controlled rate and desired time. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have shown great potential for use in biomedicine due to their ability to get close to biological entities such as cells, viruses, proteins, and...

A main limitation in deployment of prosthetic technology is the integration of the prosthetic device into the body. Using current procedures, effective prosthetic integration often requires 18 months and multiple surgeries. A new technique involves merging tissue...

Adhesives Research (Glen Rock, PA) offers non-silicone, low-trauma PSA technology that mimics the gentle properties of silicone adhesive platforms with the added benefit of offering aggressive, intimate skin contact with virtually painless and residue-free removal. Unlike some silicones, this technology also exhibits good...

University of Illinois researchers have developed a technique to computationally correct for aberrations in optical tomography, which could provide faster, less expensive, higher-resolution tissue imaging to a broader population of users. Real-time, 3D microscopic tissue imaging may be useful for medical...

"Blindsight is a condition that some patients experience after having damage to the primary visual cortex in the back of their brains. What happens in these patients is they go cortically blind, yet they can still discriminate visual information, albeit without any awareness." explains Tony Ro, a neuroscientist at...

In a conventional cochlear implant, there are three main parts that are worn externally on the head behind the ear: a microphone to pick up sound, a speech processor and a radio transmitter coil. These external components may be undesirable because they raise reliability issues, prevent patients from swimming, and...

Sandia National Laboratories distinguished technical staff member Juan Elizondo-Decanini developed a new configuration for neutron generators by turning from conventional cylindrical tubes to the flat geometry of computer chips. The Neutristor is an ultra-compact, disposable, neutron generator...

Bioengineers from the Jacobs School of Engineering at University of California, San Diego have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds - as easily as Velcro - and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has many potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted...

Julia Kubanek, an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Biology, describes research into antifungal compounds found on the surfaces of tropical seaweed collected in the Fiji Islands. The compounds may have possible applications for treating malaria.

By asking an individual to walk a short distance in front of a radar system while saying the months of the year in reverse order, researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute can determine if that person is impaired and possibly suffering from a concussion. This simple test, which could be...

Each summer at Stanford University, the Army High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) invites a select group of undergraduates from across the country to gather for a two-month immersion into advanced computing. New Mexico State University student Adam Duran worked with mentors Adrian Lew, an assistant...

Proteins control nearly all of life's functions, but how they self-assemble - or fold - is an unsolved problem in biology. Understanding how folding goes awry could lead to cures for diseases caused by protein misfolding, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Stanford University chemistry Professor Vijay Pande's project...

Stanford electrical engineers have created a tiny wireless chip - driven by magnetic currents - that's small enough to travel inside the human body. They hope it will someday be used for a wide range of biomedical applications, from delivering drugs to cleaning arteries.

Tabletop femtosecond lasers are already used in eye surgery, but researchers believe that they may be the future of microsurgery, offering benefits in applications inside the body, ranging from repairing the vocal cords to removing small tumors in the spinal cord or other tissues. Scientists at the University of Texas...

A simple, unobtrusive wrist sensor could gauge the severity of epileptic seizures as accurately as electroencephalograms (EEGs) do — but without the ungainly scalp electrodes and electrical leads. The device could make it possible to collect clinically useful data from epilepsy patients as...

A next-generation bottled liquid scanner from Los Alamos National Laboratory called MagViz BLS is demonstrated at the Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are developing an implantable system for a third-generation artificial retina as part of a U.S. Department of Energy project to produce an "retinal prosthesis" that could restore vision to millions of people suffering from eye diseases.

Ames Laboratory scientist Song Zhang explains his real-time 3D imaging technology. The technique can be used to create high-resolution, real-time, precise, 3D images for use in healthcare, security, and entertainment applications.

A team from Georgia Tech, led by Post Doctorate Fellow Mario Romero of the School of Interactive Computing, has designed BrailleTouch for touchscreen mobile devices. The prototype app allows visually impaired people to easily type and opens the door for everyone to text or type without looking at the...

At the Ames Laboratory, the same atomization effect seen in a fuel injector is being applied to titanium metal resulting in fine titanium powders that are less than half the width of a human hair. Titanium melts above 3000°F and is highly corrosive - requiring specialized containers. The liquid titanium is poured...

Access to patient-specific information is key to delivering more personalized treatment. A team of biomedical engineers and hematologists at the University of Pennsylvania has conducted large-scale, patient-specific simulations of blood function under the flow conditions found in blood vessels,...

Most medical device inventions start out as a single great idea, but how does that idea become a marketed medical device? This video provides a brief overview of how a medical device, which can range from a contact lens to a knee implant to an MRI machine, begins with an idea and ends with its submission...

This video shows how the FDA solved a complex problem involving Huber needles, based on scientific investigations conducted by FDA's Office of Science and Engineering Labs.

Dr. Marvin Warner, a research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been researching the individual pieces of antibodies to set up a chemical reaction that will give off light just by mixing reagents together with a sample that contains an explosive molecule.

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory helped the Seattle-based company Blood Cell Storage develop an innovative optical sensing device designed to measure the pH of platelet products without compromising blood storage bags. The florescence sensor integrated with a platelet storage bag allows...

Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the company Simplex Scientific have collaborated to develop a first-of-its-kind instrument that allows the study of live cell responses to physical, chemical, or biological stimuli in real time - solving an important research problem that...

In recent years, researchers have investigated hydrogels' potential in drug delivery, engineering them into drug-carrying vehicles that rupture when exposed to certain environmental stimuli. However, it's difficult to predict just how hydrogels will rupture, and up until now it's been...

A team of Rice University students has developed a transcutaneous energy-transfer (TET) unit to power a minimally invasive ventricular assist device (VAD) being created by a Houston compay. The VAD is a tiny pump inserted into the aorta via a catheter that helps increase blood flow and...

Migraine pain sits at the upper end of the typical pain scale – an angry-red section often labeled “severe.” At this intensity, pain is debilitating. Yet many sufferers do not get relief from – or cannot tolerate – over-the-counter and commonly prescribed pain medications. Recently, a team...

Could the demise of the scalpel be close at hand? Researchers in Europe are developing innovative micro-robotics technology could make surgeries less complicated, invasive, and costly — benefiting surgeons and patients alike.