Stories
Briefs: Medical
A team of engineers and scientists have developed an artificial skin capable of detecting temperature changes using a mechanism similar to the one used by the organ that...
R&D: Medical
Chitosan, a substance extracted from crustacean shells, has antibacterial and wound-healing properties. Although the fiber is considered a valuable material for functional clothing, chitosan is...
Briefs: Materials
For the first time, biomedical engineers have woven a “smart” fabric that mimics the sophisticated and complex properties of one of nature's ingenious...
R&D: Medical
Each cell produces a tissue-specific extracellular matrix (ECM), depending on the environment needed. A bone matrix, for example, contains minerals to provide firmness; a skin...
Features: Medical
Today’s medical device designers and OEMs are challenged to meet a wide, and sometimes conflicting, range of requirements. These targets stem not only from regulatory restrictions,...
Briefs: Medical
Glass fibers do everything from connecting us to the Internet to enabling keyhole surgery by delivering light through an endoscope. But as versatile as today’s fiber optics are,...
Features: Medical
The 14th annual “Create the Future” Design Contest for engineers, students, and entrepreneurs worldwide, sponsored by COMSOL and Mouser Electronics, attracted more than...
Briefs: Medical
Researchers have developed a technique for coating polymer implants with a bioactive film that significantly increases bonding between the implant and surrounding bone in an animal model. The advance could...
Briefs: Medical
A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado has determined that carbon-fiber composites, which are stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, can be easily and cost-effectively...
Features: Medical
Many of today’s medical applications use high-quality silica optical fiber. Because a broad range of optical fibers is available to serve this market, users must carefully choose the...
Features: Medical
Fasteners and threaded parts are among the many small, precision-machined components found in medical devices. Because threaded parts can play a critical role in the...
R&D: Medical
Engineers Improve Sepsis Treatment Device
An improved blood cleansing device from Harvard University's Wyss Institute mimics the actions of the spleen. The sepsis treatment technology cleanses pathogens and toxins from blood circulating through a dialysis-like circuit.
R&D: Medical
Novel Fibers Maintain Electrical Resistance When Stretched
University of Texas at Dallas researchers have made electrically conducting fibers that can be reversibly stretched to over 14 times their initial length. Electrical conductivity of the fibers increases 200-fold when stretched.
Briefs: Medical
Chemists at the University of Chicago in collaboration with other researchers at Northwestern University have developed the first...
R&D: Medical
Engineers Put New Spin on Spider Silk
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have produced samples of strong, resilient spider silk. The spun samples could lead to a variety of biomedical materials, including sutures and scaffolding for organ replacements.
R&D: Medical
New Manufacturing Method Produces Low-Cost Nanofibers
Researchers at the University of Georgia have found a low-cost way to manufacture extraordinarily thin polymer strings. The nanofibers can be used to create advanced wound dressings, regenerate tissue, and deliver drugs directly to the site of an infection.
Features: Medical
Musculoskeletal ailments are a primary cause of disability in the United States. As reported by the United States Bone and Joint Initiative (http://www.usbji.org), with a nearly...
Technology Leaders: Medical
The medical device market is undergoing an unprecedented period of growth due to a dramatic global population boom, an expanding middle class,...
Features: Manufacturing & Prototyping
With the recent release of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s final unique device identifier (UDI) ruling, the race is on for medical manufacturers to comply with the newly proposed...
R&D: Medical
Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, say that they have created tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver...
Applications: Materials
One of the most promising surgical options for treating spinal injury and deterioration of spinal discs is the use of artificial discs to replace the patient’s natural...
Features: Materials
The cardiovascular device market is growing, with research forecasting that the cardiac implant medical device market alone will exceed $27 billion...
Briefs: Medical
Plastic Optic Fiber (POF) is an established, continually evolving technology available since the early 1980s. From the outset, it was a technology not highly visible for years. At times, it was...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Engineers at Stanford University have developed and demonstrated a prototype single-fiber endoscope that, they say, quadruples the resolution over existing designs, which might lead to the development...
Briefs: Materials
Formerly used only in the aerospace arena, Flexeon is a radical departure from the rigid carbon fiber materials found in most prosthetic feet. It’s a specially- formulated reinforced...
Applications: Photonics/Optics
Silica optical fibers are used more and more for delivering laser power in numerous medical applications. Many therapies require the reliable delivery of high laser power to ablate tissue....
Features: Medical
Regenerative medicine (RM) holds the potential to address some of society’s most intractable health problems and restore or establish normal bodily function. Today, regenerative...
Mission Accomplished: Medical
An Albuquerque physician teamed with a Sandia National Laboratories engineer to improve the design of doctors' trauma shears so emergency personnel can get to the injuries...
Briefs: Medical
A non-woven absorbable scaffold has been designed for implant devices in orthopedics, cardiology, and general surgery, as well as other in vivo applications. Where classic...
Top Stories
INSIDER: Medical
Ultrathin Nanotech Promises to Help Tackle Antibiotic Resistance
Quiz: Medical
Medical Technology on the PGA Tour
INSIDER: Medical
Breaking Barriers in Drug Delivery with Better Lipid Nanoparticles
Features: Materials
Hydrogels as a Drug-Delivery Medium
Features: Medical
Overcoming Blockers to Digitizing Manufacturing Operations
INSIDER: Medical
Ask the Expert
Ralph Bright on the Power of Power Cords
Understanding power system components and how to connect them correctly is critical to meeting regulatory requirements and designing successful electrical products for worldwide markets. Interpower’s Ralph Bright defines these requirements and explains how to know which cord to select for your application.
Webcasts
Webinars: Medical
Scan-Based and Project Design for Medical
Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Precision, Control and Repeatability: Harnessing the Power of UV...
Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Here's an Idea: Medtech’s New Normal
Podcasts: Materials
Here's an Idea: A Plant-Based Gel That Saves Lives
Webinars: Medical
Adaptable Healthcare Solutions Designed for Safety and Security
Podcasts: Medical
Inside Story
Rapid Precision Prototyping Program Speeds Medtech Product Development
Rapid prototyping technologies play an important role in supporting new product development (NPD) by companies that are working to bring novel and innovative products to market. But in advanced industries where products often make use of multiple technologies, and where meeting a part’s exacting tolerances is essential, speed without precision is rarely enough. In such advanced manufacturing—including the medical device and surgical robotics industries — the ability to produce high-precision prototypes early in the development cycle can be critical for meeting design expectations and bringing finished products to market efficiently.