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New Implant May Help Patients Regenerate Their Own Heart Valves

Georgia Tech researchers have created a 3D-printed heart valve made of bioresorbable materials and designed to fit an individual patient’s unique anatomy. Once implanted, the valves will be absorbed by the body and replaced by new tissue that will perform the function that the device once served. Read on to learn more.

Medical Implants: Zwitterions Coating Could Prevent Blood Clotting

Zwitterions sound likes a distant cousin of Twitter (X), but in fact they are a common macromolecule found in human cells. Scientists at the University of Sydney are also now using zwitterions to create materials that could stop blood clots from forming in medical devices and implants. Read on to learn more.

Technology

March 3rd is recognized as World Hearing Day. One of the most significant medical device innovations for hearing impairment is the cochlear implant. In what year was the first commercially available multi-channel cochlear implant...

Minuscule Robots Provides Targeted Drug Delivery

In the future, delivering therapeutic drugs exactly where they are needed within the body could be the task of miniature robots.

Nano Drug-Delivery System Improves Drug Development

A team of researchers has created an innovative drug-delivery system with potential to improve drug development. The drug-delivery system is a coordination network composed of only metal...

Sensitive Ceramics for Robotics, Prosthetics

Researchers are developing soft sensor materials based on ceramics. Such sensors can feel temperature, strain, pressure, or humidity, for instance, which makes them interesting for use in medicine, but also in the field of soft robotics. Read on to learn more.

Soft, Bioelectronic Sensor Implant Monitors Brain

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development. Read on to learn more.

Bioprinting Method Replicates Heart Tissues

Researchers at University of Galway have developed a way of bioprinting tissues that change shape as a result of cell-generated forces, in the same way that it happens in biological tissues during organ development. The breakthrough science focused on replicating heart tissues, bringing research closer to generating functional, bioprinted organs. Read on to learn more.

FDA Approves Medtronic's Adaptive DBS System for Parkinson's

FDA has approved Medtronic’s BrainSense™ Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) and BrainSense™ Electrode Identifier (EI) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Medtronic...

Panther Life Sciences Partners with BioForge to Accelerate Development and Manufacturing of Microarray Patches

Panther Life Sciences, which develops shelf-stable treatments to deliver better health for all, has formed a strategic alliance...

Cardiology

In 1952, what device was successfully implanted in a human, making medical history?

Prosthetic Material Could Help Reduce Infections from Intravenous Catheters

Published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers have created realistic, skin-like replicas made of Ecoflex, a type of silicone rubber that can potentially serve as a platform to evaluate risks of bacterial infections from intravenous catheters and test wearable sensors, among other biomedical applications. Read on to learn what the study found.

A Tabletop Robot May Revolutionize Physical Therapy Delivery

Mohammad Habibur (Habib) Rahman, Director of the BioRobotics Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his team have been developing a portable, assistive robotic arm that therapists can use to assess and treat patients whether or not they are not in the same location.

Bioinspired Capsule Pump Drugs into Walls of GI Tract

Researchers have developed an ingestible capsule that releases a burst of drugs directly into the wall of the stomach or other organs of the digestive tract. This capsule could offer an...

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.

2024 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Grand Prize Winner - NETrolyze

Learn more about the 2024 Create the Future Design Contest Medical Grand Prize Winner: NETrolyze, a Novel Immunotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

2024 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Category Winner - A Smart Contact Lens for Glaucoma Management

Learn more about the 2024 Create the Future Design Contest Medical Category Winner: A Smart Contact Lens for Glaucoma Management.

Drug Delivery

November is national diabetes awareness month. What was the first so-called artificial pancreas approved for commercial use in the United States?

2024 Product of the Year

Voting for Medical Design Briefs’ 30th Annual Readers’ Choice Product of the Year Awards is now closed. Winners will be announced in the March issue of Medical Design Briefs magazine.

Implantable Device Prevents Death from Opioid Overdose

Researchers have developed a device that may rescue people from overdose without bystander help. In animal studies, the researchers found that the implantable device detects an...

Hydrogel Implant Treats Endometriosis

Researchers have now developed the first hydrogel implant designed for use in fallopian tubes. This innovation performs two functions: one is to act as a contraceptive, the other is to prevent the recipient from developing endometriosis in the first place or to halt the spread if they do. Read on to learn more.

Bioink Mimics Human Skin

A new bioink has been designed for engineering human skin constructs using norbornene-pullulan-based hydrogels. The researchers introduced a novel photocrosslinkable bioink designed for engineering human skin constructs, based on thiol-norbornene-pullulan (N-PLN) formulations combined with various crosslinkers. 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.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on advanced manufacturing processes; one on immune cells called regulatory T-cells; one on a bridge recombinase mechanism, a precise and powerful tool to recombine and rearrange DNA in a programmable way; and one on drug-loaded 3D printed films, which could change cancer treatments forever.

An Inside Look at Designing Drug-Delivery Pumps

A look at the unique drive assembly challenges that drug-delivery pumps present and how to mitigate those challenges.

Making Bandages from Artificial Spider Silk

Researchers have made their own version of fake spider silk, but this one consists of proteins and heals wounds instead of haunting hallways. The artificial silk is strong enough to be woven into...

Emerging Trends in Drug Delivery

A look at drug-delivery innovations that will shape the landscape and improve therapeutic outcomes for patients in the future.

Pens and Autoinjectors as Drug-Delivery Options

In the future of drug delivery, pens and autoinjectors will provide convenience, accuracy, and improved patient outcomes.

The Evolution of Precision Drug Delivery

A look at the transformative journey of drug-delivery devices, from traditional syringes to cutting-edge technologies, exploring the evolution of precision in administering medications for enhanced patient experience.