Stories
INSIDER: Medical
Implantable Cuff to Lower Blood Pressure
A team of microsystems engineers and neurosurgeons at the University of Freiburg in Germany are working to develop a new implantable cuff equipped with electrodes that, they say, can lower blood pressure without causing side effects. While doctors usually prescribe drugs against high blood pressure, in...
INSIDER: Medical
A clinical study at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, found that patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have significantly lower risk of death and...
INSIDER: Medical
A biomedical engineer from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has come up with a solution to help nurses manage time and alert them when to administer a drug or unhook a medical...
INSIDER: Medical
New Chemistry Enables Longer-Lived Batteries
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee say they have developed a new type of battery chemistry aimed at producing batteries that last longer than previously thought possible.
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Detecting Concussions in Real Time
A team of engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, say they have developed a wireless health-monitoring system that could continuously monitor an entire team of football players for physiological signs of concussion. The system includes a dry, textile-based nanosensor and...
R&D: Medical
Spinal injuries can damage the nerve supply to the bladder, meaning that people cannot tell when their bladder is full and needs to be emptied. This can create excessively high pressure on the bladder,...
R&D: Medical
Astronauts in the Apollo program after just a few days in space, felt dizzy when standing. Tests revealed that each beat of their heart pumped less blood than it had before the...
INSIDER: Imaging
Researchers from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an ultrasound device that, they say, could help identify...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Tasked with developing intelligent prosthetic knee joints that are capable of detecting early failure before a patient suffers, a team of scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de...
INSIDER: Medical
Microchip Can Detect Implant Infections
A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a tiny microchip that, they say, may save joint implants before they’re overcome by infection. This chip, which is engineered to detect pH levels in the body, can alert doctors to encroaching bacterial infection, which causes acidosis,...
INSIDER: Medical
Energy Generator Powered by Saliva
An international team of engineers from Penn state University, University Park, PA, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, have discovered that saliva-powered micro-sized microbial fuel cells can produce minute amounts of energy—enough to run on-chip applications, they say. This...
R&D: Medical
Materials scientists at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany, have examined implants made of nickel-titanium alloy in a long-term study and have determined that the release of nickel...
R&D: Medical
University of Washington, Seattle, scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype...
Products: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Merit Sensor Systems, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, announces its BP Series of medical pressure sensors. These devices are designed to provide a form, fit, and function solution to existing applications and...
INSIDER: Medical
When Is an iPhone an Eye-Phone?
A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, has developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters can allow anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely...
R&D: Medical
Researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, are working to develop portable medical tests and devices, which could be used to monitor conditions such as diabetes, cardiac function, infections,...
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...
INSIDER: Materials
3D Printing Creates Implantable Heart Device
Using an inexpensive 3D printer, biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, say that they have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could treat cardiac disorders.
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
New Laser Could Enable Breath Diagnostics
A team of physics researchers at the University of Adelaide, Australia, say that they have developed a new type of laser that will enable advances in areas as diverse as breath analysis for disease diagnosis and remote sensing of critical greenhouse gases.
INSIDER: Medical
Testing Head-Impact Sensors to Understand Concussions
Hot on the heels of the Super Bowl, comes new research from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on concussions and head hits in football players and how the head reacts to impacts. Using crash test dummies wearing helmets and a laboratory drop tower, the researchers approximated the force...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Rating Differences in Injury Risk Between Football Helmets
When rhinos charge each other, their heavy skulls protect them from serious damage. But football players must rely on helmets that may not prevent concussion or other serious head injuries that may occur. To improve the odds of a safer helmet, researchers at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Using Lightwaves to Improve Brain Surgery
First-of-its-kind research being done at the Innovation Institute at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, shows promise for developing a method of clearly identifying cancerous tissue during surgery on glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a tumor that attacks tissue around nerve cells in the brain.
R&D: Medical
A team of scientists at Penn State, University Park, PA, say that a new type of transistor could make fast, low-power computing devices possible for energy-constrained applications such...
INSIDER: Wearables
Google is currently testing a smart contact lens built to measure glucose levels in tears by use of a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor embedded between two layers of soft contact lens...
INSIDER: Medical
Smart Hydrogels Deliver Medicine on Demand
Researchers at the University of Delaware, Newark, have developed a “smart” hydrogel that can deliver medicine on demand, in response to mechanical force. What’s new about their material, is its ability to release medicine in response to force, a major challenge for people with osteoarthritis,...
News: Medical
Funding Opportunity for Biomedical Product Companies
Administering health care in space demands innovative biomedical solutions. Small companies developing products that can be modified for use in space may be eligible for a unique funding opportunity offered through the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI).
INSIDER: Medical
Electronics Thin Enough to Wrap Around Single Hair
Researchers at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, a leading technology university, say they have developed electronic components that are so thin and flexible they can even be wrapped around a single hair without damaging the electronics. This may open up new possibilities for ultra-thin, transparent...
INSIDER: Medical
Wireless Patch Outperforms Holter Monitor for Tracking Heart Rhythm
A study conducted by the Scripps Translational Science Institute, San Diego, has found that a small adhesive wireless device worn on the chest for up to two weeks does a better job detecting abnormal and potentially dangerous heart rhythms than the traditional Holter monitor,...
R&D: Medical
Approximately two million people, including 400,000 children, in the US are being treated for epilepsy, and, despite treatment, one-third continue to have seizures. In response, RTI International,...
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
Dan Sanchez on How to Improve Extruded Components

Improving extruded components requires careful attention to a number of factors, including dimensional tolerance, material selection, and processing. Trelleborg’s Dan Sanchez provides detailed insights into each of these considerations to help you advance your device innovations while reducing costs and speeding time to market.
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.