Novel needle could cut medical complications
Device borrows from oil industry to keep jabs on target
Elizabeth A. Thomson, News Office
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people suffer medical complications from hypodermic needles that penetrate too far under their skin. A new device developed by MIT engineers and colleagues aims to prevent this from happening by keeping needles on target.
Going under the (robotic) knife
Engineering students design robots to remove tumors
Anne Trafton, News Office
Photo / Donna Coveney
Senior Paul Blascovich watches surgical robot operating from left,
while teaching assistant Lael Odhner plays with arm. Junior Tony
McDonald watches from back, Junior Ian Rust and instructor Harrison
Chin watch from center and right of "patient."
Caltech Researchers Use Electron Cryotomography to Get First 3-D Glimpse of Bacterial Cell-Wall Architecture
Findings represent important advances in both biology and imaging technology
PASADENA, Calif.--The bacterial cell wall that is the target of potent antibiotics such as penicillin is actually made up of a thin single layer of carbohydrate chains, linked together by peptides, which wrap around the bacterium like a belt around a person, according to research conducted by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This first-ever glimpse of the cell-wall structure in three dimensions was made possible by new high-tech microscopy techniques that enabled the scientists to visualize these biological structures at nanometer scales.
Improving Circulation: Prosthetic Vein Valve Designed to Improve Blood Flow Shows Promising Pre-Clinical Results
Engineers at Georgia Tech developed the prosthetic vein valve
shown here to help improve the lives of those suffering from a
condition known as chronic venous insufficiency.
Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek
Caltech Bioengineers Develop "Microscope on a Chip"
PASADENA, Calif.--Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have turned science fiction into reality with their development of a super-compact high-resolution microscope, small enough to fit on a finger tip. This "microscopic microscope" operates without lenses but has the magnifying power of a top-quality optical microscope, can be used in the field to analyze blood samples for malaria or check water supplies for giardia and other pathogens, and can be mass-produced for around $10.
First human use of new device to make arrhythmia treatment safer
On June 16, 2008, Barbara Ganschow of Palatine, IL, became the first person in the world to be successfully treated with a new device designed to make it safer and easier for heart specialists to create a hole in the cardiac atrial septum. The hole, created by the NRGTM Transseptal Needle, allows cardiac catheters to cross from the right side of the heart to the left side.
Balance problems? Step into the iShoe
MIT grad student's invention could one day prevent falls
Anne Trafton, News Office
Your grandmother might have little in common with an astronaut, but both could benefit from a new device an MIT graduate student is designing to test balancing ability.
Researchers design model for automated, wearable artificial kidney
UCLA–VA signs patent-licensing agreement with Singapore company
By Enrique Rivero
Two researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have developed a design for an automated, wearable artificial kidney, or AWAK, that avoids the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis.
Communicating with Cells: Biologically-inspired Coating on Titanium Improves Joint Replacements
Georgia Tech research technician Kellie Burns (left) and graduate student Tim Petrie
display a piece of titanium coated with a bio-inspired polymer that enhances bone formation
around the metal after implantation. Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek
Researchers develop neural implant that learns with the brain
DiGiovanna and Sanchez
University of Florida researchers Jack DiGiovanna, left, and
Justin Sanchez worked with colleagues to develop and test a
brain-machine interface system that adapts to changes in brain
patterns over time. The College of Engineering and College of
Medicine researchers tested a model of this system in rats trained
to move this robotic arm with their minds.
High-res technology shows significant differences in stem cell lines
By Kim Irwin
UCLA stem cell researchers using a high-resolution technique to examine the genome of a pair of human embryonic stem cell lines have found that while both lines could form neurons, they differed in the numbers of certain genes that could control such things as individual traits and disease susceptibility.
PANTHER sensor from MIT Lincoln Laboratory quickly detects pathogens
Anne Trafton, News Office
Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed a powerful sensor that can detect airborne pathogens such as anthrax and smallpox in less than three minutes.
Radio frequency identification technology, or RFID, has inspired many novel applications of late, including efforts to study magazine reader patterns, access restricted areas, locate stolen vehicles and track luggage at major airports.
Penn Researchers Engineer First System of Human Nerve-Cell Tissue Implications for Nerve Repair and Implantation
PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that living human nerve cells can be engineered into a network that could one day be used for transplants to repair damaged to the nervous system. They report their findings in the February issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.
MIT researcher addresses biomedical engineering challenges
David Chandler, MIT News Office
Much of the work in MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer's prolific lab sounds like something straight from the pages of science fiction, but its products are already saving lives around the world in a variety of ways.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A new energy-capturing knee brace can generate enough electricity from walking to operate a portable GPS locator, a cell phone, a motorized prosthetic joint or an implanted neurotransmitter, research involving the University of Michigan shows.
MIT applies engineering approach to studying biological pathways
Anne Trafton, News Office
An MIT team has used an engineering approach to show that complex biological systems can be studied with simple models developed by measuring what goes into and out of the system.
PASADENA, Calif.-- If humans had see-through skin like a jellyfish, spotting disease like cancer would be a snap: Just look, and see a tumor form or grow.
