Sensor Measures Pressure in Digestive Tract

As food moves through the digestive tract, contracting muscles along the tract keep things flowing smoothly. Loss of this motility can lead to acid reflux, failure of food to move out of the...

Platform Monitors Gut Microbiome

Scientists are developing a platform that can monitor and model the real-time processing of gut microbiome serotonin activity.

Sensor Can Detect Scarred or Fatty Liver Tissue

Diagnosing liver damage earlier could help to prevent liver failure in many patients.

Device Improves Performance of Underactive Bladders

Researchers have developed a technology that can monitor bladder volume in real time and can effectively empty a person’s bladder.

Device Simulates Filtering and Ion Transport Functions of Human Kidney

The technology could transform treatment options for people in the final stage of renal disease.

‘Smart’ Toilet Monitors for Signs of Disease

The smart toilet automatically sends data extracted from any sample to a secure, cloud-based system.

Machine Keeps Human Livers Alive for One Week Outside of the Body

Breakthrough may increase the number of available organs for transplantation.

Implantable Bioartificial Kidney Achieves Preclinical Milestone

Scientists successfully implanted a prototype kidney bioreactor containing functional human kidney cells in large animals without significant safety concerns. The device, which...

Hydration Sensor Could Improve Dialysis

A new portable sensor can accurately measure patients’ hydration levels using a technique known as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry. Such a device could be useful for not only dialysis...

Probe Detects Kidney Failure Early

Researchers have developed a type of imaging probe that allows for earlier detection of acute kidney failure, a rapidly developing condition that can be fatal. The new renal probes, which have been...

3D Printed Pill Samples Gut Microbiome to Aid Diagnosis and Treatment

A research team led by Tufts University engineers has developed a 3D printed pill that samples bacteria found in the gut — known as the microbiome — as it passes...

New Optical Endoscopy Using Ultrasound Could Replace Scopes

One day, scopes may no longer need to be inserted into the body — such as down the throat or under the skin — to reach the stomach, brain, or any other organs for...

Miniature Robot Could Check Colons for Early Signs of Disease

Engineers have shown it is technically possible to guide a tiny robotic capsule inside the colon to take micro-ultrasound images. Known as a Sonopill, the device could one day...

Swallowable Self-Inflating Capsule Tackles Obesity

Researchers have developed a self-inflating weight management capsule that could be used to treat obese patients. The prototype capsule, called the EndoPil, contains a balloon that can be...

Acoustic Waves Offer Treatment for Kidney Stones

Researchers are investigating the use of time reversal (TR) signal processing to focus waves sound with high amplitudes in a room. In biomedical applications, focused ultrasound can be...

Electronic Capsule Measures Gases in the Gut

An electronic capsule that measures gases in the gut to revolutionize the diagnosis of gut disorders could be available within four years, following an agreement between RMIT and Atmo...

Ingestible ‘Bacteria on a Chip’ Diagnoses Disease

Researchers have built an ingestible sensor equipped with genetically engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach or other gastrointestinal problems.

Noninvasive Wearable System Monitors Stomach Activity

A team of engineers and physicians has developed a wearable, noninvasive system to monitor electrical activity in the stomach over 24 hours — essentially an electrocardiogram but for...

Lighting the Way for Cancer Treatment

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has largely been limited to surface cancers due to its inability to penetrate deeper than a centimeter of tissue. A new approach wirelessly delivers doses of light into...

Plasmonic Biosensors Enable Development of Easy-to-Use Health Tests

A plasmonic biosensor can detect diseased exosomes even by the naked eye. Exosomes, important indicators of health conditions, are cell-derived vesicles that are present in...

Synthetic Hydrogels Deliver Cells to Repair Intestinal Injuries

By combining engineered polymeric materials known as hydrogels with complex intestinal tissue known as organoids— made from human pluripotent stem cells — researchers have...

New, More Accurate Tool Helps Surgeons Find Liver Tumors

Surgeons can swab a patient’s exposed liver lightly on the surface with a special stylus, capturing the shape of the organ during surgery, and a computer can match that image with...

Hydrogel Material Improves Success of Transplanting Islet Cells

Combining a new hydrogel material with a protein that boosts blood vessel growth could improve the success rate for transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into persons with...

Nanoparticle Technology Enhances Effectiveness of Radiotherapy

The nanoscale is creating a massive paradigm shift. Referring to structures of between 1 and 100 nm, the nanoscale is marked as the point where the properties of a material...

Device Combines Ultrasound and Photoacoustics to Improve Imaging

University of Twente Enschede,
The Netherlands
www.utwente.nl

In collaboration with various companies, scientists at the University of Twente's MIRA biomedical...

Fluorescent Sensor Provides Low-Cost Diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis

New device provides a cheaper, easier way to detect levels of chloride in sweat.

Scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder...

Creating a Slippery Slope on the Surface of Medical Implants

Implanted medical devices such as left ventricular-assist devices for patients with heart failure or other support systems for patients with respiratory, liver, or other end organ...

Edible Battery Could Power Ingestible Medical Devices

Nontoxic, edible batteries could one day power ingestible devices for diagnosing and treating disease. One team reports new progress toward that goal with their batteries made with...

Device Can Diagnose Helicobacter from Exhaled Air

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. Espoo, Finland www.vttresearch.com/media/news

In the future, selected illnesses will be quickly and painlessly diagnosed by the optical...