Portable, Blood-Based Device Detects Colon Cancer

Screening methods for the cancer can be unreliable and result in false positives. To remedy this problem, scientists are developing a less-invasive portable device that would use blood...

Proposed Surgical Devices Standard Covers Properties for Nickel Titanium Alloy

ASTM International’s medical and surgical devices committee (F04) is developing a proposed standard for a wrought nickel-titanium alloy. The alloy covered by the...

Minuscule Robots Provides Targeted Drug Delivery

In the future, delivering therapeutic drugs exactly where they are needed within the body could be the task of miniature robots.

Nano Drug-Delivery System Improves Drug Development

A team of researchers has created an innovative drug-delivery system with potential to improve drug development. The drug-delivery system is a coordination network composed of only metal...

Boston Scientific to Acquire SoniVie Ltd.

Boston Scientific Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SoniVie Ltd., a privately held medical device company that has developed the TIVUS™ Intravascular Ultrasound System....

Guest Editorial: The Power of One When Choosing Stent and Catheter Partners

As device designs become increasingly sophisticated, medtech companies are understandably seeking contract design and manufacturing partners that can accompany them on...

Guest Blog: Business Goals Drive Shifts in Materials

The medical device industry constantly evaluates product and packaging materials and designs to meet business objectives, sustainability targets, and changing consumer preferences. Tactics...

Smart Sensor Enables Better Wound Healing

A major challenge in self-powered wearable sensors for healthcare monitoring is distinguishing different signals when they occur at the same time. Researchers have addressed this issue by uncovering...

Bioprinting Artificial Organs in Space to Benefit Human Life on Earth

Recent successes in cultivating human heart tissue, knee cartilage, and pharmaceutical crystals in space have relied on technology that was initially developed decades ago with support from NASA.

Interoperability in IoMT: Overcoming the Connectivity Barriers

Overcoming IoMT connectivity barriers with ultra-low-power wireless technologies.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Excelitas Technologies' platform for high-precision medical illumination and diagnostic applications such as endoscopy and surgical visualization.

Reimagining Psychiatric Care: How Wearable Technology Is Transforming Mental Health Treatment

Wearable technology is transforming psychiatric care at home by offering real-time insights that help care teams make informed decisions faster. With constant monitoring, these devices help identify early signs of distress or deterioration, enabling timely interventions that can prevent hospitalizations and promote better patient outcomes. Read on to learn more.

Is Digital Health Evolving Too Quickly?

Digital health is evolving in leaps and bounds, which could be threatening its success. Digital healthcare faces a significant challenge: it is evolving too rapidly for its target market. Read on to learn more about the situation.

Elevated CO2 Levels on the ISS: Unmasking a Hidden Risk of DNA Damage for Astronauts

While DNA damage caused by space radiation exposure has long been recognized as a major threat to astronaut health, a recent study published in Redox Biology reveals an unexpected culprit in the atmosphere of the ISS itself: elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. In this study, mice were sent into space where they spent 5–6 week aboard the ISS. Read on to learn more.

Biomimetic Speaking Valve Increases Safety of Tracheostomized Patients

A research team from the University of Freiburg and the Medical Center – University of Freiburg has developed a novel biomimetic speaking valve technology that could significantly increase the safety of tracheostomized patients. Read on to learn more.

Product Focus: Sensors

See where the product focus is this month: sensors, including a programmable IMU-based sensor system from Bosch Sensortec; tactile force sensors from Tekscan; capacitive sensors from EBE sensors + motion; and Introtek's noninvasive air bubble sensor that incorporates the latest ultrasonic technology.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including a new reciprocating head for medical tubing from Guill Tool; EpoxySet's state-of-the-art UV adhesives, the UV-8675, specifically designed for bonding PVC tubing in medical devices; Mahr Inc.'s expanded length measurement product line; Zeus' latest addition to its StreamLiner series of ultra-thin-walled catheter liners; and more.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on a thin film that combines an electrode grid and LEDs and can both track and produce a visual representation of the brain’s activity in real-time during surgery; one on an implantable piezoelectric ultrasound stimulator (ImPULS) that generates an ultrasonic focal pressure of 100 kPa to modulate the activity of neurons; one on AiSee, an AI-powered ‘eye’ for visually impaired people to ‘see’ objects; and more.

Boston Scientific Improves Cardiac Monitoring Component with Heimatec Speeders

Boston Scientific is a market leader in pacemakers, defibrillators, monitoring equipment, spinal and brain stimulation, stents, catheters, and ablation devices. Read on to learn how the company improved upon cardiac monitoring.

Low-Cost Laparoscope Designed for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Despite its advantages, laparoscopic surgery remains largely inaccessible in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to the high cost of equipment and other logistical challenges. To bridge this gap, researchers recently developed the KeyScope, an affordable laparoscope designed specifically for LMICs. Read on to learn more.

Laser-Made, Ultra-Thin Material Enables Precise, Self-Powered Tracking of Healing Wounds

A major challenge in self-powered wearable sensors for healthcare monitoring is distinguishing different signals when they occur at the same time. Researchers from Penn State and China’s Hebei University of Technology addressed this issue by uncovering a new property of a sensor material. Read on to learn more about it.

Smart Textile Senses Light, Pressure, Smell, and Even Taste

Researchers have developed a multifunctional sensor based on semiconductor fibers that emulates the five human senses. The technology developed in the study is expected to be utilized in fields such as wearables, Internet of Things (IoT), electronic devices, and soft robotics. Read on to learn more.

Diagnostic Kit Provides Early Diagnosis of Bladder Cancer

A research team led by Dr. Youngdo Jeong of the Center for Advanced Biomolecular Recognition the Korea Institute of Science and Technology has developed a urine-based diagnostic kit for bladder cancer that can be conveniently used at home. This kit can accurately detect bladder cancer biomarkers without any preprocessing of urine samples. Read on to learn more.

Bioprinting Method Replicates Heart Tissues

Researchers at University of Galway have developed a way of bioprinting tissues that change shape as a result of cell-generated forces, in the same way that it happens in biological tissues during organ development. The breakthrough science focused on replicating heart tissues, bringing research closer to generating functional, bioprinted organs. Read on to learn more.

Multifunctional Biomedical Robot for Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment

Researchers have successfully developed what they believe is the world’s smallest multifunctional biomedical robots. Capable of imaging, high-precision motion, and multifunctional operations like sampling, drug delivery, and laser ablation, the robot offers competitive imaging performance and a tenfold improvement in obstacle detection. Read on to learn more.

Soft, Bioelectronic Sensor Implant Monitors Brain

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development. Read on to learn more.

From the Editor - The 2024 Product of the Year

In December, we asked Medical Design Briefs readers to cast their ballot to choose from our eight Products of the Month the technology they felt was the most significant new introduction to the design engineering community in 2024. Here is the winner of the 2024 Medical Design Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. Read on to learn more.