Tech Briefs

High-Powered Lasers: A Call for Fiber Delivery

A new feature of the modern high-powered laser is the need to transmit various wavelengths through fiber optics. Fiber optics have emerged as the primary method for transmitting laser light due to its ease of setup and disconnection. Read on to learn more.

Maximizing the Potential of TPU Extrusion in Medical Tubing Applications

Achieving the best results during TPU extrusion is about choosing the right material and dialing in the process by tackling routine challenges like moisture control, extruder setup, and pressure management. When these details are properly accounted for, OEMs can benefit from a smoother, more consistent extrusion that meets stringent medical device requirements. Read on to learn more.

Precision Robotics Offers Hope for Heart Disease Treatment

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of sudden cardiac death among young adults. Sans treatment, a heart transplant remains the only curative option for those living with the inherited condition. Now, a research team has developed a robotic technology that allows scientists to test numerous potential therapeutics, simultaneously, in this condition for the first time.

Device Shows Promise for Noninvasive Treatment of Chronic Pain

Researchers at the University of Utah’s John and Marcia Price College of Engineering and Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine have published promising findings about an experimental therapy that has given many participants pain relief after a single treatment session. Read on to learn more.

Solvent-Free 3D Printing Material Could Enable Biodegradable Implants

In a paper published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, researchers at Duke University have invented a new solvent-free polymer for DLP printing. Besides eliminating the shrinkage problem, the lack of solvent also results in improved mechanical properties of the part while maintaining the ability to degrade in the body. Read on to learn more.

Lifesaving Spongelike ‘Bandage’ Rapidly Stops Hemorrhaging

Without proper medical invention, injuries sustained from traffic collisions, serious workplace accidents, or weapons may result in fatal hemorrhaging. UCF researchers aim to prevent such bleeding in potentially deadly situations with a new hemostatic spongelike bandage with antimicrobial efficacy. Read on to learn more.

Bioelectronic Device Offers New Hope in the Fight Against Bacterial Infections

Researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of California – San Diego have made an exciting breakthrough in the battle against bacterial infections. The labs have developed a cutting-edge bioelectronic device that taps into the natural electrical activity of certain bacteria found on our skin, paving the way for a drug-free approach to managing infections. Read on to learn more.

Exploring Electrosurgery: Current Trends and Challenges

Electrosurgery continues to evolve, driven by advancements in technology and a growing demand for minimally invasive surgical techniques. Pulsed field ablation represents a cutting-edge development in the field, offering a novel approach to tissue ablation with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and other clinical conditions. As research and innovation in electrosurgery progress, the future holds promise for further improving patient outcomes and advancing the practice of medicine. Read on to learn more.

How Printed Electronics Are Transforming Healthcare

The convergence of healthcare and technology is reshaping patient care, and printed electronics are pivotal in this transformation. Printed electronics offer promising solutions, enabling real-time monitoring and proactive patient management for improved outcomes. Read on to learn more.

A Band-Aid for the Heart? New 3D Printing Method Makes This, and Much More, Possible

In the quest to develop lifelike materials to replace and repair human body parts, scientists face a formidable challenge: Real tissues are often both strong and stretchable and vary in shape and size. A CU Boulder-led team has taken a critical step toward cracking that code. They’ve developed a new way to 3D print material that is at once elastic enough to withstand a heart’s persistent beating, tough enough to endure the crushing load placed on joints, and easily shapable to fit a patient’s unique defects. Read on to learn more.

Rapid Test Detects Dopamine

UCF researchers, led by UCF Nano-Science Technology Center professor Debashis Chanda, have developed an integrated optical sensor capable of detecting dopamine directly from an unprocessed blood sample. This sensor may serve as a low-cost and efficient screening tool for various neurological conditions and cancers, ultimately providing better outcomes for patients. Read on to learn more.

Nanoparticle Technology Helps Treat Hearing Loss

Aside from often ineffective steroids, there are currently no drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat hearing loss, and getting the medications into the inner ear, where hearing loss occurs, is a major hurdle. However, the University of Cincinnati’s Daniel Sun, MD, is researching the potential of using of magnetic nanoparticles as a delivery system for drugs to reach the inner ear and treat hearing loss. Read on to learn more.

Implantable Miniature Brain-Machine Interface Offers Low Power Usage

Researchers at EPFL have developed the first high-performance, miniaturized brain-machine interface (MiBMI), offering an extremely small, low-power, highly accurate, and versatile solution. Read on to learn about it.

High-Tech Bandages Could Fend Off Infections, Improve Healing

When wounds happen, we want them to heal quickly and without complications, but sometimes infections and other complications prevent it. Binghamton University Prof. Seokheun “Sean” Choi has some ideas about how to improve the healing process. Read on to learn about them.

Noninvasive Method First to Continually Measure True Blood Pressure

A team of Caltech researchers has figured out a method to noninvasively and continually measure blood pressure anywhere on the body with next to no disruption to the patient. A device based on the new technique holds the promise to enable better vital-sign monitoring. Read on to learn more.

Wearable, Stretchable Sensor Detects Solid-State Skin Biomarkers

Researchers have developed a novel sensor that enables the continuous, real-time detection of solid-state epidermal bio-markers, a new category of health indicators. Read on to learn more.

Streamlining Medical Device Development and Manufacturing Using Silicone Elastomers

This article compares high consistency silicone rubbers, liquid silicone rubbers, and low consistency elastomers, analyzing their characteristics and the implications in selecting each during different phases in the development of silicone medical devices. Read on to learn more.

Tunable Lasers Expand for Time-Resolved Spectroscopy

Many research labs are turning to tunable lasers, or optical parametric oscillators (OPOs), for nanosecond time-resolved spectroscopy. OPOs have long been utilized in sophisticated test and measurement applications such as mass spectrometry and photoacoustic imaging. Read on to learn why these tunable pulsed lasers are being utilized.

Implant Powers Healing after Spinal Cord Injury

A research team has developed a new implant that conveys electrical signals and may have the potential to encourage nerve cell repair after spinal cord injury. Read on to learn more.

New Imaging Device Improves Ear Disease Diagnosis

Read on to learn about a groundbreaking advancement from the University of Southern California’s Caruso Department of Otolaryngology: a portable OCT otoscope that integrates optical coherence tomography with the traditional otoscope, to improve diagnostic capabilities in hearing clinics.

A Look at Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide as a Sterilization Option

The changing regulatory landscape and innovation of medical products is driving an interest in additional options for medical product sterilization. Read on to learn what this means.

Addressing Challenges in Primary Packaging Testing for Medical Devices

Developing and evaluating primary packaging for medical devices continues to be an area ripe for innovation, with ample opportunity to improve existing processes. Read on to learn more about the topic.

Tendon Healing: Nanoparticles for Precision Drug Delivery

Researchers at the University of Rochester and University of Oregon combined their expertise in tendon cell biology and drug-delivery systems to find a better way to deliver therapies that can reduce scar tissue and facilitate improved healing. Read on to learn what they found.

Wearable Devices Get Signal Boost from Innovative Material

An international team of researchers developed the material by embedding clusters of highly dielectric ceramic nanoparticles into an elastic polymer. The material was reverse-engineered to not only mimic skin elasticity and motion types, but also to adjust its dielectric properties to counter the disruptive effects of motion on interfacing electronics, minimize energy loss and dissipate heat.

Researchers Create GPS-like Smart Pills with AI

Beyond the use of this device for early detection of peptic ulcers, gastritis, and gastric cancers, there is potential to monitor brain health. How? Read on to find out.

SCD Device Treats Injury from Sepsis

The FDA has granted a Humanitarian Device Exemption Approval for a therapeutic device invented and developed at the University of Michigan for use in children with acute kidney injury and sepsis or a septic condition requiring continuous kidney replacement (dialysis with the artificial kidney) therapy in the intensive care unit. Read on to learn more about it.

Sensor Packaging: Critical MEMS Considerations

While MEMS sensors are revolutionizing various industries with their precision and miniaturization, they can present unique product development challenges and risks during design, development, and manufacturing. Read on to learn more.

The Role of Sensors in the Big Picture of Sustainability

In the big picture of medical equipment sustainability, sensors play an important role. That’s right, something so miniature can have quite the impact on maintaining and improving sustainability — from the product design phase to use in equipment in the home. Read on to learn more.

Ultrasound Beam Triggers ‘Nanodroplets’ to Deliver Drugs

What if drug delivery could be targeted at exactly the right spot? This would allow the total dose to be dramatically lower, thus minimizing side effects. Now, U.S. scientists have found a way to perfect a promising, emerging method that does just that. Read on to learn more.