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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...

Researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, have developed an imaging system enclosed in a capsule about the size of a multivitamin pill that creates detailed, microscopic images of the esophageal wall and has several advantages over traditional...

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, have created a new polymer film that can generate electricity by drawing on water vapor. The new material changes its shape after absorbing tiny amounts of evaporated water, allowing it to repeatedly curl up and down. Harnessing this continuous...

Researchers at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, have embedded needle-like carbon nanofibers into an elastic silicone membrane, creating a flexible “bed of nails” that may open the door to the development of new drug-delivery systems, they say.

Northwestern University's Center for Device Development (CD2), Chicago, IL, is offering one-year paid fellowships to clinicians and engineers to team up and develop their medical device idea at Northwestern in a supportive environment with entrepreneurial and innovative mentors.

It may have taken more than 10 years for this nanotechnology breakthrough, but when it came, it was still a shock say researchers at Rice University, Houston, TX. A team of scientists from Rice, the Dutch firm Teijin Aramid, the U.S. Air Force, and Israel's Technion Institute unveiled a new...

Surgeons may soon be able to use a system in the operating room that recognizes hand gestures as commands to a computer to browse and display medical images of the patient during a surgery. Researchers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, are creating a system that uses depth-sensing cameras and...

Scientists at The University of Manchester in the UK developed a camera that can take powerful three-dimensional color X-ray images, in near real-time, without the need for a synchrotron X-ray source. Its ability to identify the composition of the scanned object could radically improve medical imaging, as well as...

The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, has been instrumental in growing the medical device industry in Minnesota. Still, translation of device innovations from university labs to the marketplace has been challenging in today’s economic environment. Since the technologies developed at the university...

Breathing sensors built into onesie infant bodysuits could help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), where a sleeping infant suddenly stops breathing. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Berlin used an integrated sensor system made from a...

It is common knowledge among astronauts living aboard the International Space Station, that they grow up to 3 percent taller while living in microgravity. Then, when they return to Earth, they return to their normal height. Studying the impact of this change on the spine and advancing...

Using two successive pairs of specialized CT scans, a team of Dutch radiologists working with researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, has produced real-time images of liver tumors dying after direct injection of anticancer drugs into the tumors and their surrounding...

Using an MRI can effectively and non-invasively screen patients for Alzheimer's disease, to determine the root cause of a person's dementia, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Using an MRI-based algorithm effectively...

A new device about the size of a business card, developed by scientists at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, could let healthcare providers perform up to 50 tests for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even viral or bacterial infection all from one...

Using a focused beam of sound as a scalpel? That's not as far off as it sounds, according to a group of University of Michigan at Ann Arbor engineering researchers, whose research shows that a carbon-nanotube-coated lens that they developed converts light to sound and can focus high-pressure sound waves to finer...

A new device about the size of a business card, developed by scientists at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, could let health care providers perform up to 50 tests for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even viral or bacterial infection all from one...

Digital devices can provide games, e-books, and learning apps to everyone who can operate them. But what if you can't work even the easiest of controls? Engineers at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, are working with children who have limited mobility that makes it difficult for them to perform...

A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh (UP) School of Medicine and UPMC (Medical Center) are working with a woman with longstanding quadriplegia to accomplish "ordinary" tasks that once seemed impossible. Together, they have demonstrated, for the first time, that a person with...