Implants & Prosthetics

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently received $5.6 million from the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an implantable neural interface that can record and stimulate neurons within the brain to treat neuropsychiatric...

Recognizing that the need for effective cybersecurity to ensure medical device functionality has become more important with the increasing use of wireless, Internet- and network-connected devices, and the frequent electronic exchange of medical device-related health information, the FDA has issued a draft...

A team of researchers from Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital report their study results in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that reveals that the latest version of a bionic pancreas device was successfully tested in type 1...

Researchers at Stanford University say that they used electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce the same patterns of activity that occur when the retina sees a moving object. They say that this is a step toward restoring natural, high-fidelity vision to blind people.

The natural mechanical properties of natural joints are considered unrivalled. Cartilage is coated with a special layer of lubrication that allows joints to move virtually friction-free, even under high pressure. Using simulations on supercomputers, scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany...

The NIH’s Bionic Man site helps viewers visually explore some of the latest bioengineering creations from research funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. From prosthetics to artificial kidneys, these technologies are changing lives now and in the future.

A team of microsystems engineers and neurosurgeons at the University of Freiburg in Germany are working to develop a new implantable cuff equipped with electrodes that, they say, can lower blood pressure without causing side effects. While doctors usually prescribe drugs against high blood pressure, in...

Move over Iron Man! There’s a new engineering superhero who’s part bionic, able to change his height, and scale vertical rock and ice walls with a simple change of leg prosthetics that he designed himself. Not only that, but he designs bionic limbs for others, too.

A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a tiny microchip that, they say, may save joint implants before they’re overcome by infection. This chip, which is engineered to detect pH levels in the body, can alert doctors to encroaching bacterial infection, which causes acidosis, a...

An international team of engineers from Penn state University, University Park, PA, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia, have discovered that saliva-powered micro-sized microbial fuel cells can produce minute amounts of energy—enough to run on-chip applications, they say. This...