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Using a 3D bioprinter, a group of engineers at Chalmers University of Technology have created objects made entirely by cellulose. The additive manufacturing process could be used to build patient-specific implants, new sensors, and wound dressings that communicate with healthcare workers.

A new study from Montreal's Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) found that a commonly used plasticizer known as DINCH exerts biological effects on the metabolic processes of mammals. DINCH is found in products that come into close contact with humans, such as...

The electromagnetic radiation caused by wireless technology can interfere with electronic medical equipment and lead to serious clinical consequences for patients. New research from Concordia University helps to define safety parameters for health-care workers carrying Wi-Fi...

By integrating two common imaging techniques, experts from Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital have produced a three-dimensional anatomic model of a patient’s heart. The hybrid prototype could provide better diagnostic capability and improved interventional and surgical...

Using nanowires, Purdue University researchers has created a new implantable drug-delivery system that can be wirelessly controlled. The nanowires respond to an electromagnetic field generated by a separate device, which can be used to release a pre-loaded drug. The engineering team says that...

Changchun "Chad" Zeng from Florida State University's High Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) has developed a new auxetic foam. Prosthetic socks made from the foam will help amputees adjust prosthetic devices to their specific limb shape and volume.

Using a 3D printer and detailed computer simulations, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology produced soft material with controllable surface textures that can be varied by squeezing. By creating smooth, ridged, or custom-patterned surfaces at will, the technique will allow...

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created thin, flexible electronic devices that efficiently harvest the mechanical energy from natural motions of the human body. In addition to advances in materials processing to enable fabrication of these thin film devices, accurate analytical models...

A team of scientists from the University of Twente in The Netherlands has discovered a way to 3D print structures of copper and gold, by stacking microscopically small metal droplets. These droplets are made by melting a thin metal film using a pulsed laser. They say that this technology would allow...

A robotic glove built by a team of engineers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) could assist patients suffering from loss of hand motor control.

An injectable hydrogel from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science helps skin wounds heal more quickly. An instant scaffold created by the material allows new tissue to latch on and grow within the cavities formed between linked spheres of gel.

University of Illinois engineers have created heat-activated self-destructing electronic devices. A radio-controlled trigger remotely prompts the process on demand.

Columbia Engineering researchers have designed a new technique to build a single-molecule diode. Their results achieved rectification ratios as high as 250, fifty times higher than earlier designs.

Through a clinical collaboration between Caltech, Keck Medicine of USC, and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, a man paralyzed from the neck down can use a robotic arm to perform a fluid hand-shaking gesture, drink a beverage, and even play "rock, paper, scissors." The...

A microfluidic device called the Cluster-Chip, developed by a team of scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the first designed specifically to capture clusters of two or more rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs), rather than single cells. The ability to isolate intact clusters, they say, can enable...

Researchers at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, recently acquired a 3D bioprinter with which they plan to “print” synthesized nerve tissue. The key, they say, is developing the right “bioink” or printable tissue. One of the team member’s research on cellulose nanocrystals as...

University of Washington engineers hacked a teleoperated surgical robot to test how easily a malicious attack could hijack remotely controlled operations. Incorporating security measures will be critical to the safe adoption and use of the robotic technology.

A group of researchers from Italy's Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies created a robotic arm that bends, stretches, and squeezes through cluttered environments. Inspired by the eight arms of an octopus, the device allows surgeons to easily access remote, confined regions of the body and, once there,...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn 47 draft guidance documents published before December 31, 2013, which were never finalized or acted on. The announcement was posted in the Federal Register, stating that this move was made to improve the efficiency and transparency of the guidance...

Computer scientists at Stony Brook University are developing a virtual-heart platform to help improve and accelerate medical device development and testing. The CyberHeart project is part of the National Science Foundation’s initiative to advance the state-of-the-art in...

Implanted biomedical devices used for drug delivery, tissue engineering, or sensing can help improve disease treatment. But, often these devices are susceptible to attack by the immune system. To help reduce that immune-system rejection, a team of scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,...

CT scans provide valuable details of bones and dense body parts that strongly absorb X-rays, however, the techniques struggle with the visualization of soft tissues and organs. A Compact Light Source (CLS) from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory enables computer tomography scans...

A new smartphone microscope uses video to automatically detect and quantify parasites in a drop of blood. The CellScope technology, developed by UC Berkeley engineers, could revive efforts to eradicate debilitating filarial diseases in Africa.

A team of scientists from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, developed a chest strap device for the long-term monitoring of patients with heart and circulatory problems. The new system records an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the wearer.

A smartphone app created by students at Rice University regulates the flow of blood through the heart. The combined software-hardware interface works with an Android application to monitor and control a high-tech pump residing in the aorta.

Georgia Institute of Technology engineers have built a multi-modality cellular sensor. Arranged in a standard CMOS process, each sensor pixel concurrently monitors multiple different physiological parameters of the same cell and tissue samples.

Scientists from the Pohang University of Science and Technology have developed a simple, thermometer-like device that could help doctors diagnose heart attacks. The technology detects troponin, a protein that rises when blood is cut off from the heart and muscle is damaged.

Using a compact synchrotron source, researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed a technology that measures X-ray absorption, phase shifts, and radiation scattering. The technology will help doctors and scientists distinguish between healthy tissue and tumors.

A University of Illinois research team developed a new method of soldering gaps in atomically small wires. The more flexible transistor technology, carbon nanotube wires, shows promise in replacing silicon devices.