Features

From Shortages to Solutions: Engineering Strategies for Supply Stability in Medical Devices

This article explores how engineering and innovation are becoming the primary tools for building a more resilient and reliable medical device supply chain. Read on to learn more.

Improving Device Efficiency with Tunable Lasers

Tunable optical parametric oscillators (OPO) lasers can be tuned to a wide spectrum of specific wavelengths across the UV, visible, and infrared. The laser light can then be directed, or transmitted over fiber, to physically interact with matter by depositing short, intense bursts of energy into a sample. Read on to learn more about them.

Material Choices That Make or Break Manufacturability in Miniaturized Medical Devices

Medical devices are shrinking rapidly while becoming more complex. Sensors, processors, optics, and connectivity are now routinely packed into form factors that would have been impractical just a decade ago. While this miniaturization unlocks new clinical value, it also exposes a persistent design challenge: many of the materials still being specified were developed for an earlier era of electronics. Read on to learn more.

Case Study: RenAM 500Q Powers Mass Production of Medical Components for Permedica

For many years, the medical industry has used additive manufacturing to develop low-volume parts, such as medical prototypes, bespoke implants, and surgical implants and aids. Global engineering technologies company, Renishaw, has collaborated with medical devices specialist, Permedica, to develop AM processes for the mass production of medical components in the healthcare industry. Read on to learn more.

Video Spotlight on Products and Services

See where the video spotlight is: Micromolding, hybrid laser systems for advanced manufacturing, web converting machines, light-cure conformal coatings, and much more.

From the Editor

In December, we asked Medical Design Briefs’ readers to cast their ballot to choose from our eight Products of the Month the technology they felt was the most significant new introduction to the design engineering community in 2025. This year, our winner reflects the industry’s need to lower costs and minimize material usage. Read on to learn the winner of the 2025 Medical Design Briefs’ Readers’ Choice Products of the Year.

MD&M West

With multiple co-located expos, a dense education schedule, and a show floor spanning the entire medical device lifecycle, success at MD&M West depends less on seeing everything than on seeing the right things. Read on for a guide that takes a tactical view of the event — highlighting role-based education paths, newly emphasized features, and practical strategies for navigating the show efficiently.

From Consensus Oncology to Individualized Biology

While a breakthrough may someday arrive, betting everything on a single answer overlooks what is already within reach. The real opportunity lies at the intersection of biology, technology, artificial intelligence, and drugs working synergistically together, not as isolated components. Read on to learn more.

Why Medical Device Loyalty Depends on Services, Not Features

Product features alone no longer command premium prices or defend against commoditization. The path to differentiation and margin protection now runs through service quality and customer relationships. Read on to learn more.

Medical Podcasts

Listen to the newest medical podcasts, including one on ensuring safety when materials or processes change; one on how advanced manufacturing using techniques such as automation and AI is streamlining production processes in the medical device industry; one on exploring how 3D printing is transforming the design and production of medical devices; and more.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: SABIC's LNP™ and EXTEM™ thermoplastic resin grades engineered for compact medical components requiring high thermal and electrical performance.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including an AI-driven platform for preparing global medtech regulatory submissions from Pure Global; a collaborative commercial strategy platform for biopharma launches from Nmblr; safety syringes and companion reusable autoinjectors from Owen Mumford; and more.

Product Focus: Sensors

See where the product focus is this month: Sensors.

Printable Nanoparticles Enable Mass Produced Biosensors

Engineers have developed a technique for inkjet printing arrays of special nanoparticles that enables the mass production of long-lasting wearable sweat sensors. These sensors could be...

Under-the-Skin Electrode for Epilepsy Tracking

Researchers have demonstrated that seizures can be tracked in the home environment, giving clinicians access to data that could have a dramatic impact on the way in which epilepsy is treated in...

Terahertz Wave Control for Enhanced Biomedical Technology

A spintronic THz emitter with a microscale stripe pattern enables the modulation of chirality during THz wave generation. Unlike traditional THz sources that rely on external optical...

Stretchable Waveguides Maintain Stable Transmission Even When Bent

Stretchable waveguides maintain efficient, stable signal transmission of surface plasmon polaritons even when bent, twisted, or stretched. These plasmonic waveguides could make...

Wearable Monitors Heart Rate Recovery to Predict Risk

Scientists used a “smart” shirt equipped with an electrocardiogram to track participants’ heart-rate recovery after exercise and developed a tool for analyzing the data to predict...

Customizable Finger Brace for Injury Recovery

Researchers have developed a fully customizable finger brace that can, with the push or flex of a finger, easily switch from stiff to flexible. Along with its versatility, the brace can be 3D...

Retina-Mimicking Eye Phantom Replicates Human Retinal Structures

A retina-mimicking eye phantom replicates the structural layers and micro-vascular network of the human retina. The innovation, developed by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, provides a new reference for objectively evaluating and calibrating ophthalmic imaging devices, paving the way for more accurate and reliable diagnosis of retinal diseases. Read on to learn more.

From Tariffs to Tactics: How Medtech Firms Are Adapting

"Few issues test the operational discipline of medtech companies quite like trade policy volatility. Tariffs are not new to this industry, but the pace and scale of recent changes have elevated them from a background risk to a strategic concern." Read on to learn Editor and Director of Medical Content Sherrie Trigg's opinion on the matter.

Faster From Lab to Patient to Win the Race Against Time

This article explores the essential ingredients of pharmaceutical success, from research and design to development, production and ultimately, the patient. Read on to learn more.

Engineering for the Future: The Trends Transforming Medtech in 2026

Success in 2026 will favor organizations that address these shifts directly: designing for interoperability, validating at the individual level, building security to keep pace with threats, and engineering for real-world clinical use. The innovations that define this year will not only improve device capabilities but reshape how healthcare itself is delivered. Read on to learn more.

MD&M West Show Preview

Returning to Anaheim this February, MD&M West 2026 brings the global medical device community together for three days of engineering insight, manufacturing expertise, and technology breakthroughs. As one of the largest gatherings of medtech professionals in North America, the event showcases the full spectrum of product development. Read on to learn all about it.

Inside the OEM: Medtronic’s Growth and Next Wave of Innovation

When Thierry Piéton stepped into the role of executive vice president and chief financial officer of Medtronic earlier this year, he entered one of the largest and most complex organizations in the medical technology industry. Read on to go inside the OEM.

Product Focus: Motors/Motion Control

See where the product focus is this month: On Moticont's miniature linear servo motor; PI's expanded PICMA encapsulated piezo stack actuator series; Teknic's precision planetary gearboxes for stepper and servo motor applications; and more.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: COMSOL's version 6.4 of its COMSOL Multiphysics simulation platform with expanded NVIDIA GPU acceleration for large, coupled models.

New Products and Services

See the new products and services, including Syensqo's medical-grade polyphthalamide; non-PFAS low-retention additives for pipette tips from Avient; Binder's expanded M8 connector portfolio; fiber laser marking systems for UDI and traceability codes from FOBA; and more.

Wearable Health Tech Brings Research to People

Researchers are exploring new ways to utilize microwave technology in monitoring and assessing health conditions. The results of experiments conducted with realistic models are promising. Bras that detect breast cancer, leg sleeves that identify blood clots, and a helmet that monitors the effects of radiation therapy offer a glimpse into what future healthcare might look like. Read on to learn more.