Materials/​Biomaterials

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft recommendations to medical product manufacturers for providing consumers with more accurate information about products not made with natural rubber latex (NRL), which can cause sensitivity or allergy in users.

Ultrasound technology could soon be improved to produce high-quality, high-resolution images, thanks to the development of a new key material by a team of researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station. The engineered material, known as a "metamaterial,"...

A physicist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, invented a new material, a type of silicone rubber that is both rigid and fluid, called a “viscoelastic” solid, that can act like a memory foam, but with stretch and bounce. He foresees that it may have applications as a packaging tape, as a shoe insole,...

Researchers at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, have successfully coated polymer implants with a bioactive film that, they say should improve the success rate of the implants, typically used in spinal surgeries. The polymer contained in these implants, called Polyetheretherketone...

Remoras attach themselves to larger marine animals for transportation, protection, and food but just how they attach and detach from hosts without appearing to harm them has inspired a team of researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, to study the structure and tissue properties of...

Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore,in collaboration with IBM Research say that they have developed the first-ever antimicrobial hydrogel that can break apart biofilms and destroy multidrug-resistant superbugs upon contact. Tests have demonstrated the...

As reported to the American Chemical Society (ACS), University of Minnesota researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized way that degradation can occur in silicone-urethane plastics often used in medical devices. Their study, published in ACS' journal Macromolecules, could have implications...

In Brussels, Belgium, the PVCMed Alliance was launched to promote the use and value of PVC in healthcare applications. PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is the third-most widely produced plastic. The PVCMed Alliance is a coalition of PVC resin and plasticizer producers and PVC converters. The Alliance’s...

Within all polymers, there are structural flaws at the molecular level. In an ideal network, each polymer chain would bind only to another chain. In reality, though, many of the chains bind to themselves, forming floppy loops that can weaken the network. A team of chemical engineers at Massachusetts Institute of...