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Researchers are developing microelectronic circuitry to guide the growth of axons in a brain damaged by an exploding bomb, car crash, or stroke. The goal is to rewire the brain connectivity and bypass the region damaged by trauma, in order to restore normal behavior and movement.

Engineers at UC Berkeley have developed a pressure-sensitive electronic material from semiconductor nanowires. The material functions like human skin, incorporating the ability to feel and touch objects, said Ali Javey, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and head of the UC Berkeley...

When undergoing medical treatment, physicians frequently determine that a patient's vital signs — such as blood pressure and heart rate — need to be closely monitored. For most patients today, this means a variety of wires and sensors will be attached to their bodies. But thanks to technology developed at NASA,...

Implanted medical devices such as glucose-level sensors, pacemakers, catheters, and others add quality of life, deliver lifesaving medicine, or protect the lives of patients who need them - but those same devices are at risk from the patients themselves. "One of the biggest problems with...

Using chemical "nanoblasts" that punch tiny holes in the protective membranes of cells, Georgia Tech researchers have demonstrated a new technique for getting therapeutic small molecules, proteins, and DNA directly into living cells. The work is believed to be the first to use activation of reactive carbon nanoparticles by lasers for...

A sniffing-based device developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel may enable disabled people to navigate wheelchairs or communicate with loved ones. The system identifies changes in air pressure inside the nostrils and translates these into electrical signals. In the future, researchers predict that this...

A new vaccine-delivery patch based on hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin could someday allow people without medical training to painlessly administer vaccines. The new patch could also help prevent unsafe reuse of hypodermic needles, particularly in parts of the world with poor medical infrastructure.

An obstacle to successful cancer drug therapy is the existence of drug delivery barriers, which result in insufficient and heterogeneous drug delivery to the tumor tissue. This drug delivery problem not only limits the clinical application of existing chemotherapeutics,...

Silicon-based nanoporous particles as biodegradable drug carriers are advantageous in permeation, controlled release, and targeting. The use of biodegradable nanoporous silicon and silicon dioxide, with proper surface treatments, allows sustained drug release within the target site over a...

University of Florida engineers have developed a prototype of a "tattletale pill" by adding a tiny microchip and digestible antenna to a standard pill capsule. The prototype opens up the possibility that mass-produced pills will someday be equipped to inform doctors and loved ones that patients have ingested their medication.

A computer-controlled, programmable control interface allows safe, intuitive manual control for motorized wheelchairs that operate in variable terrain. The key feature of this technology is its proprietary computer program that enables an operator to manage a load as if it were light and on a smooth...

A ceramic body consisting of the phases of tricalcium phosphate and/or hydroxyapatite provides biocompatibility with hard tissues. When such a ceramic body is implanted in a bone, direct connection is formed between the bone and the ceramic body without intervention of any fibrous...

Blood loss is a major cause of death among combat casualties, accounting for nearly half of all deaths on the battlefield. The great majority of these deaths is due to intracavitary hemorrhage that cannot be controlled by traditional methods such as tourniquets or pressure...

Researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Pennsylvania are the first to demonstrate a flexible silicon electronics device used for a medical application. The device produced high-density maps of a beating heart's electrical activity, providing a potential...