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Ultrasound technology could soon be improved to produce high-quality, high-resolution images, thanks to the development of a new key material by a team of researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station. The engineered material, known as a "metamaterial,"...

Research is being conducted at the Chevy Chase Clinical Research facility in Chevy Chase, MD, on a device that can measure the amount of force applied to the colonoscope during a colonoscopy, in order to make a colonoscopy safer and less uncomfortable. Dr. Louis Korman of Capital Digestive Care and Artann Laboratories...

A bedside electronic device that measures eye movements can be used to quickly determine whether the cause of severe, continuous, disabling dizziness is a stroke or something benign, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD. To distinguish stroke from a more benign condition, such as...

A physicist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, invented a new material, a type of silicone rubber that is both rigid and fluid, called a “viscoelastic” solid, that can act like a memory foam, but with stretch and bounce. He foresees that it may have applications as a packaging tape, as a shoe insole,...

A new study by researchers at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, examined how bacteria clogs medical devices, and found that the microbes join to create slimy ribbons that form tangles, trapping other bacteria, and creating a full blockage in a very short period of time. Their findings, they say, could...

A team of neuroengineers based at Brown University, Providence, RI, has developed a fully implantable and rechargeable wireless brain sensor capable of relaying real-time broadband signals from up to 100 neurons in freely moving subjects. Several copies of the novel low-power device, described...

The demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has led to the miniaturization of a variety of technologies, but energy-storage units, such as batteries and capacitors, have lagged behind. Now, researchers at UCLA say that they have developed an innovative technique using a DVD burner to...

Researchers and students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, are trying to change how medical equipment is sterilized in remote clinics using sunlight, an abundant commodity. Their pilot project, conducted in Nicaragua has begun to show promising results. To care for a nation of six...

Researchers at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, have successfully coated polymer implants with a bioactive film that, they say should improve the success rate of the implants, typically used in spinal surgeries. The polymer contained in these implants, called Polyetheretherketone...

Electromagnetic devices all require an electric current to create the magnetic fields that allow them to function. But as devices become smaller, being able to efficiently deliver a current to create magnetic fields becomes more difficult. Researchers at UCLA say that they have developed a method to switch...

Remoras attach themselves to larger marine animals for transportation, protection, and food but just how they attach and detach from hosts without appearing to harm them has inspired a team of researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, to study the structure and tissue properties of...

A team of bioengineers and physicians at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, have created an artificial external ear, using 3D printing and injectable molds, that looks and acts like a natural ear. This could give new hope to children born with a congenital ear deformity, or to those who have lost all or...

Researchers at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and the University of Illinois have demonstrated a stretchable lithium-ion battery can power their innovative stretchable electronics. The stretchable electronic devices now could be used anywhere, including inside the human body, they say,...

Scientists at King's College London say they have demonstrated the ability to deliver a dried live vaccine to the skin without using a traditional needle. They also state that this technique is powerful enough to enable specialized immune cells in the skin to kick-start the immunizing...

Scientists at King's College London say they have demonstrated the ability to deliver a dried live vaccine to the skin without using a traditional needle. They also state that this technique is powerful enough to enable specialized immune cells in the skin to kick-start the immunizing...

Doctors regularly check patients’ hand-eye coordination to monitor any neuromuscular deficits, particularly as they age or when they are injured, but the tests may be subjective and qualitative. To more clearly assess changes, researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired...

Engineers at Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN, are using a system of models to extract specific information from huge collections of data and then reconstructing images in order to improve the performance of technologies ranging from medical CT scanners to digital cameras. Their new approach is...

A specialized 3D printing process, using human stem cells, could pave the way to building custom replacement organs for patients, eliminating the need for organ donation, immune system suppression, and possible transplant rejection. Sound fantastic? The new valve-based technique, developed by the biomedical...

Scientists at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), Canada, a world-renowned biomedical research center, were the first to conduct a trial comparing a dual-hormone artificial pancreas with conventional diabetes treatment using an insulin pump. Their research showed improved glucose...

Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore,in collaboration with IBM Research say that they have developed the first-ever antimicrobial hydrogel that can break apart biofilms and destroy multidrug-resistant superbugs upon contact. Tests have demonstrated the...

Neurological imaging experts at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, have figured out how owls, which can rotate their heads by as much as 270 degrees in either direction, do so without cutting off blood supply to their brains and without damaging the delicate blood vessels in their necks and...

Using a device that supplies humidified oxygen is more effective than a technique that reduces positive airway pressure delivered to the lungs to wean patients from a ventilator to breathe on their own, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The research...

University of California-Irvine neuroscientists have developed a unique method to stop severe episodes of epileptic seizures with fiber optic light signals. Using a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy, the research team created an EEG-based computer system that activates hair-thin optical strands implanted in...

Vaccines usually consist of inactivated viruses that prompt the immune system to launch a strong defense if it encounters an active virus. But, for certain viruses, like HIV, even this is taking too much of a chance. In recent years, scientists have been exploring DNA as a potential alternative vaccine....

Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University, New York, using his previously developed lab-on-a-chip and developed a way to check a patient’s HIV status anywhere in the world, and synchronize the results automatically and instantaneously with...

A team of engineers at Duke University, Durham, NC, are layering atom-thick lattices of carbon with polymers to create unique materials with a broad range of applications, including artificial muscles. Because of its unique optical, electrical, and mechanical properties, graphene is used in electronics,...

Scientists from Rice University, Houston, TX, used magnetic levitation to grow very realistic lung tissue, which could lead to faster and more effective toxicity tests for airborne chemicals. The research is part of an international trend in biomedical engineering to create laboratory techniques...

At Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, scientists have demonstrated a new way of taking high-resolution, 3D images of the brain's inner workings by a three-fold improvement in the depth limits of multiphoton microscopy, a fluorescence-based imaging technique.

A group of researchers at Umeå University Center for Molecular Medicine in Sweden have developed a new biomedical imaging method using optical projection tomography (OPT) to study insulin-producing cells in diabetes. Initially the method could only be used on relatively small preparations, but five years ago...