Medical Implants: Zwitterions Coating Could Prevent Blood Clotting

Zwitterions sound likes a distant cousin of Twitter (X), but in fact they are a common macromolecule found in human cells. Scientists at the University of Sydney are also now using zwitterions to create materials that could stop blood clots from forming in medical devices and implants. Read on to learn more.

Product Focus: Laser Marking/Machining

See where the product focus is this month: laser marking and machining.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including precision metering pumps from Circor International; a high-performance gantry robot with an integrated slip roller conveyor system from Dispense Works; XP Power's range of compact, low-profile AC-DC power supplies with flexible cooling options; Festo's updated mass flow controller; and much more.

Space-Based Tech for Home Health Monitoring

Technologies from NASA, federal labs, and universities have found commercial applications in the medical industry. Read on, as this article highlights some of those spin-off innovations.

Parallel Fluidics Produces Ultra-Precise Microfluidics Prototypes with CYROLITE® MD

The field of microfluidics is a key technology for the medicine of the future. Having already revolutionized the world of laboratory medicine by enabling samples to be analyzed much faster, it also plays a major role in the development of new drugs. Read on to learn about Parallel Fluidics, which specializes in rapid manufacturing of microfluidics prototypes for the life sciences sector.

New Implant May Help Patients Regenerate Their Own Heart Valves

Georgia Tech researchers have created a 3D-printed heart valve made of bioresorbable materials and designed to fit an individual patient’s unique anatomy. Once implanted, the valves will be absorbed by the body and replaced by new tissue that will perform the function that the device once served. Read on to learn more.

Scientists Develop ‘Smart Pajamas’ to Monitor Sleep Disorders

Researchers have developed comfortable, washable smart pajamas that can monitor sleep disorders such as sleep apnea at home, without the need for sticky patches, cumbersome equipment or a visit to a specialist sleep clinic. Read on to learn more.

Fine-Tuned Brain-Computer Interface Makes Prosthetic Limbs Feel More Real

A team recently published papers in Nature Biomedical Engineering and Science documenting major progress on direct, carefully timed electrical stimulation of the brain that can recreate tactile feedback to give nuanced feeling to prosthetic hands. Read on to learn more.

The Rising Potential of Human-Machine Collaborations

Advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and sensor fusion drive robotics functionality across many applications, including healthcare. Read on to learn what this means.

Custom Rupture Disk Prototypes for Medical Devices

Medical equipment designers rely on rupture disk devices for pressure relief and pressure release of gases and liquids for essential diagnostic, life safety, and analytical instrumentation. Read on to learn more about them.

Tiny Spectral Sensor Identifies Materials

Researchers have combined miniaturized hardware and intelligent algorithms to create a cost-effective, compact powerful tool capable of solving real-world problems in areas like healthcare. Read on to learn more.

Interlocking Metasurfaces Improve Structural Strength

Researchers have significantly improved a new joining technology, interlocking metasurfaces, designed to increase the strength and stability of a structure in comparison to traditional techniques like bolts and adhesives, using shape memory alloys. Read on to learn more.

Miniature Intra-Bone Implants Promote Healing

Research engineers are developing smart implants that can both monitor and promote healing in fractured bones. Read on to learn more.

Prosthetic Hand Adjusts Its Grasp

Engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds. Read on to learn more.

Blockchain Could Empower Patient Data Management

Researchers are leveraging informatics approaches to tackle persistent challenges in data management and sharing, enabling real-world healthcare applications to enhance data security and accessibility. Read on to learn more.

Pacifier Monitors NICU Babies

Researchers have developed a pacifier designed to monitor a baby’s electrolyte levels in real time, potentially eliminating the need for repeated invasive blood draws. The team constructed a tiny tunnel, or microfluidic channel, into the body of the pacifier. Read on to learn more.

Transforming Respiratory Imaging: Mapping Airway Cilia in Real Time

Researchers at the F-OCT Group have developed an imaging technique that can monitor and measure small, mobile cilia structures in human airways. This SEIM system, supported by negative-stiffness vibration isolation, has been validated as a means of finding CBF in human upper airway mucosa. Read on to learn more.

Technology

March 3rd is recognized as World Hearing Day. One of the most significant medical device innovations for hearing impairment is the cochlear implant. In what year was the first commercially available multi-channel cochlear implant...

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.