The Canadian Space Agency will soon be testing a new device to rapidly diagnose the health of astronauts in space on the International Space Station (ISS). Microflow, a miniature flow cytometer that uses a unique fiber optics technology to test for diseases and bacterial infection within minutes, will...

With this article, we will begin posting a semi-monthly online wrap-up of Industrial Leadership, Expansions, and Mergers and Acquisitions short news items of interest to our readers. If you have news items that should be included in this category, please feel free to send them to the editor, Beth G....

Two engineers and a Harvard Medical School student have teamed up to enhance the human capabilities of touch with a robotic sensor glove. The glove could take the potential of a diagnosis altering physical exam and put it into the hands of patients. Its primary goal, they say, is to bring the glove...

As diabetes becomes more prevalent across the globe, it is clear that a new method to test blood glucose levels needs to be found. Sampling with needle pricks is pricks is unpleasant at best and places a significant burden on the patient population. Researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette,...

Electrical and computer engineers at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, are developing a technology to predict when a person might fall. They created a small prototype wireless sensor that analyzes posture and gait, and sends an alert when there is a break in routine. The alert could signal muscle or vision changes, or may...

Three blind mice? No longer, say two researchers in the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Cornell Medical College who deciphered a mouse's retina's neural code. Then, they linked this information to a novel prosthetic device that restored sight to blind mice. In addition, they say that they...

To head off possible postoperative problems, undergraduate biomedical engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have invented a disposable suturing tool. Their invention, called FastStitch, guides the placement of stitches and guards against accidental puncturing of internal organs after abdominal...

Scientists in the schools of Pharmacy and Molecular Medical Sciences at the University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, have discovered what they say is a new class of polymers that are resistant to bacterial attachment. These new materials could lead to a significant reduction in hospital infections and medical...

Computer scientists at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, are working to develop a wearable electronic device that identifies a person’s unique physiological responses, such as heart rate, skin response, or other physiological data. The worn device could then use that information to coordinate and protect the...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) holds great promise to treat neurological disorders ranging from Parkinson's disease to depression. But the current electrode used for implanting in DBS tend to induce an immune response in patients that reduces the treatment's efficacy. over time....

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional economic organization consisting of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam is developing a combined regulatory system for medical devices to cover all member countries. The ASEAN Medical...

A team of engineers at the University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) have built a laboratory-scale device that sensitively detects what are called “soft X-rays” that they say offers tremendous potential in breast cancer detection and treatment. There’s nothing available on the market that...

Pulse oximetry is widely accepted as a standard measurement of a patient’s oxygen saturation and heart rate because it can give clinicians an early warning of low arterial oxygen saturation levels. But low body temperature and low blood perfusion can cause conventional pulse oximeters to report inaccurate...

Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA), the country’s medical device market regulator, has implemented new rules in order to expedite market access for lower-risk medical devices. The rules will exempt all Class A medical devices (except sterile Class A products) from HSA registration...

On Monday, Aug. 6, University of Southern California Computer Science Professor Jernej Barbič released the world's most comprehensive library of 3D deformable modeling software for free open source download. The package, called Vega, allows users to simulate and move complex objects, bending,...

Scientists at Clemson University (Clemson, SC) have designed and built a knee simulator on which specimens from cadavers can be mounted to study the effects of different unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) alignment and ligament configurations on movement, as well as contact pressure distributions...

Thousands of veterans return to the U.S. with limb amputations, and for many, standard prosthetics are not an option due to skin issues or short remaining-limb length. These amputees require something other than the typical socket-type attachment systems. Researchers and surgeons from the University of Utah and...