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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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has withdrawn 47 draft guidance documents published before December 31, 2013, which were never finalized or acted on.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.

New wireless retinal implants from Stanford University researchers convert light transmitted from special glasses into electrical current. The resulting current stimulates the retinal neurons known as bipolar cells.

Vienna University of Technology and Vienna Medical University researchers have created artificial blood vessels from a special elastomer material. To produce the vascular prostheses, polymer solutions were spun in an electrical field to form very fine threads and wound onto a spool. The prostheses can...

A portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device from the Los Alamos National Laboratory uses low-power magnetic fields to image the brain and other soft-tissue anatomy. The lightweight technology could be deployed on the battlefield and in the world's poorest regions.

Manufacturing researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have identified important challenges for powder bed fusion, the chief method for "printing" metal parts. By identifying the factors that influence the manufacturing process, professionals will improve the creation of...

A portable device, developed in part by EPFL researchers, monitors one's breath to quickly detect the presence of head and neck cancer. The technology, equipped with extremely sensitive sensors, has been tested on patients and operates with a computer or even a mobile phone.

Using a single laser pulse, a group of researchers at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands has devised a method that allows silicon, in the polycrystalline form used in circuitry, to be produced directly on a paper substrate from liquid silicon ink. The process can be expanded to create...

A new potential manufacturing approach from Purdue University researchers harnesses inkjet printing to create devices made of liquid alloys. The resulting stretchable electronics are compatible with soft machines, such as robots that must squeeze through small spaces, or wearable electronics.

Using an inexpensive silicon chip less than a millimeter square in size, a nanophotonic coherent imager (NCI), developed by California Institute of Technology researchers, provides 3D maps with high depth-measurement accuracy.

A biosensing platform from Florida Atlantic University could be used to diagnose disease, remotely monitor patients, and determine treatment options for HIV, E-coli, Staphylococcus aureas, and other bacteria. Using a drop of blood from a fingerprick, the platform provides clinically relevant...

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University researchers have developed gas-sensing capsules that send data from inside the gut directly to a mobile device. To measure the concentration of selected intestinal gases, the capsule includes a built-in gas sensor, microprocessor, and wireless high-frequency...

Engineers at Oregon State University have used additive manufacturing to create an improved glucose sensor for Type 1 diabetes patients. Matched with portable infusion pumps, the new system monitors blood glucose concentrations, delivers insulin, and maintains safe hormone levels.

Using MRI, Johns Hopkins researchers developed a cancer detection method that does not rely on injected contrast dyes. The technique noninvasively finds telltale sugar molecules shed by the outer membranes of cancerous cells.

To address brain damage caused by explosions and neurotoxin exposure, researchers at the VA Boston Healthcare System are testing the effects of light therapy. Veterans in the study wear a helmet lined with light-emitting diodes that apply red and near-infrared light to the scalp. Diodes, placed in...