Optic Nerve Stimulation Device Could Provide Visual Aid for Blind People
Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed a new type of intraneural electrode to bypass the eyeball and send messages directly to the brain through the optic nerve. The technique could provide a visual aid for permanently blind people.
Using retinal implants to treat blindness is a developing field. The concept involves allowing users to have the sensation of observing light, which is experienced as white patterns. While this isn’t the same as full vision, it can serve as a visual aid for blind people as they go about their daily lives. In many cases, retinal implants...
Source: Medgadget - August 20, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Neurology Neurosurgery Ophthalmology Rehab Source Type: blogs
Postdoc at Duke -- ECoG with Cogan
The Cogan Lab (PI: Gregory Cogan) at Duke University is seeking a postdoctoral research scientist to join the lab.Research in the lab focuses on understanding the neural computations that underlie speech, language, and cognition. We use a combination of invasive recordings in adult and pediatric epilepsy patients: stereo-electroencephalography - SEEG, and electrocorticography – ECoG, and non-invasive recordings in healthy participants: electroencephalography – EEG. We also collaborate closely with the Viventi Lab (viventi.pratt.duke.edu - Department of Biomedical Engineering) to develop high density/channel count ...
Source: Talking Brains - August 13, 2019 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Unknown Source Type: blogs
Wireless Brain Implant Controls Mice Using Drugs and Light
Optogenetics is a quickly evolving field that allows scientists to activate specific neurons using bursts of light. The technique may help to uncover the basis of neurological diseases and how to tame them. Using optogenetics to assess how different drugs affect the central nervous system may offer a powerful new scientific tool.
To that end, scientists at KAIST, South Korea’s national research university, created a wireless neural implant that can deliver multiple drugs and simultaneously activate neurons specially modified for optogenetics. The device features a Bluetooth transmitter, allowing the researchers to...
Source: Medgadget - August 7, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Medicine Neurology Neurosurgery Source Type: blogs
Back Brace Simulator Uses 3D Prints of Patient Spine and Rib Cage
The development of innovative back braces has stagnated a bit. In part, this is because different patients have unique needs and there isn’t a comprehensive platform to test how new braces will help support different anatomies.
Now, a team of engineers at Lancaster University in the U.K. has developed a torso simulator that can help researchers to design new back braces that are perfectly tuned to the needs of different people.
The device mimics a male torso, including its mechanical characteristics, and the spine and rib cage are 3D printed from CT scans of actual patients. This gives the device the ability to...
Source: Medgadget - August 6, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Orthopedic Surgery Rehab Source Type: blogs
Device for Opioid Overdoses Releases Naloxone Automatically
Opioids can bind to brain receptors that are responsible for breathing, causing hypoventilation, and all too frequently leading to death in those that overdose. Naloxone (aka Narcan) is an antidote that prevents opioids from binding to brain receptors, but when a person does overdose it’s often too late for them to administer the life-saving drug themselves, as they may be incapacitated.
Now, researchers at Purdue University have developed a smart system, which includes an implantable naloxone-releasing device, that can automatically halt an overdose without anyone’s intervention.
“The antidote is alway...
Source: Medgadget - July 26, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs
Next: Monitoring the body ’s electrical signalling to enhance brain health
Researchers are seeking to record and interpret the body’s electrical signals. Picture: ZEISS Microscopy/Flickr
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READING THE BODY’S ELECTRICAL SIGNALS TO TREAT ILLNESS (University of Melbourne):
“Chemical electricity is how we move, think, and remember.
And increasingly, as technology miniaturises and computer power multiplies, it’s how we are treating chronic illness.
Since the fully implantable pacemaker was developed in the 1950s to keep a patient’s heart beating in rhythm using electrical impulses, engineers have now gone on to develop devices that can be implanted directly in the brain, under the scal...
Source: SharpBrains - June 5, 2019 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Technology brain chronic-illness electrical-impulses epilepsy mental illnesses Source Type: blogs
Tripod Prosthetic Foot for More Stability on Rough Terrain
Researchers at Stanford have developed an unusual tripod-like prosthetic foot equipped with sensors to monitor movement and the surrounding environment. The device provides more stability for users when walking on rough terrain. The research team designed the prototype device using a prosthetic emulation system that allowed them to rapidly modify and optimize their designs, without having to go through a lengthy manufacturing process.
Approximately 500,000 people in the US have had a lower limb amputation. Such people are at increased risk of falls, and current prostheses are difficult to use safely on uneven or rough terr...
Source: Medgadget - June 3, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Rehab Source Type: blogs
Intestine Chip to Study Human-Microbiome Interactions
Researchers at the Harvard Wyss Institute have developed a microfluidic chip that allows bacteria and human epithelial cells to be co-cultured. The device will allow researchers to study how the gut and bacteria interact, helping them to identify the role of the microbiome in health and disease.
With reported involvement in a huge array of diseases, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, infections and inflammatory diseases, the human microbiome is receiving increasing attention from researchers. However, one of the major hurdles in studying how the microbiome affects the body is the tendency of bacteria to quickly overwhe...
Source: Medgadget - May 14, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Genetics GI Materials Pathology Source Type: blogs
Cardiovascular Patch to Limit Damage After Heart Attack
Researchers from Brown University have utilized computational models to design a new viscoelastic patch to reduce damage to heart tissue after a heart attack. They utilized a special blend of starch to help provide mechanical support to the heart tissue, which typically stretches after heart attack and results in poor heart function.
“Part of the reason that it’s hard for the heart to recover after a heart attack is that it has to keep pumping,” said Huajian Gao, a professor of engineering at Brown and a co-author on the paper. “The idea here is to provide mechanical support for damaged tissue, which hopefully give...
Source: Medgadget - May 9, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Cardiology Materials Source Type: blogs
Machine Learning Helps Design Complex Immunotherapies
This study demonstrates the potential of machine learning to support the bioengineering process, especially where there are many design variables and potential interplay between them.
Study in Nature Biomedical Engineering: Exploration of the nanomedicine-design space with high-throughput screening and machine learning
Via: Northwestern University… (Source: Medgadget)
Source: Medgadget - May 8, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Informatics Medicine Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
Looking to the Future of Neuro Devices: Exclusive Interview with Alcyone Lifesciences CEO PJ Anand
Alcyone Lifesciences is a medical technology company based out of Lowell, MA, which specializes in central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery platforms for targeted infusions of the brain or spinal cord. Their Thecaflex DRx System was recently awarded Breakthrough Device designation by the FDA, for spinal infusion of therapeutic medications.
Medgadget had the opportunity to speak with Alcyone Lifesciences CEO, PJ Anand, about his inspiration for cutting edge medical technology and the future direction of neurological devices.
Kurt Yaeger, Medgadget: Great to talk to you, PJ. Please first give us a sense of your back...
Source: Medgadget - May 7, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Kurt Yaeger Tags: Exclusive Neurology Neurosurgery Pain Management Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
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(see:Startup uses phone, light and AI to detect cervical cancer)Israeli startup MobileODT has created the Eva System, which uses an Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) algorithm that it says can detect cervical cancer by simply examining an image of the cervix (Courtesy) Israeli startup MobileODT has created the Eva System, which uses an Automated Visual Evaluation (AVE) algorithm that it says can detect cervical cancer by simply examining an image of the cervix (Courtesy) Israeli start-up MobileODT says it can detect cervical cancer more accurately and inexpensively than the standard colposcopy method used today, by creatin...
Source: Lab Soft News - April 17, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Source Type: blogs
Vector Flow Imaging Used to See Blood Flow in Humans for First Time
Vector flow imaging (VFI) is a technology that utilizes ultrasound to visualize the direction and speed of blood flow, independent of the orientation of the ultrasound probe. It works in any direction and at any angle, but its application in clinical practice has been slow because of limitations of the technology. Now researchers at the University of Arkansas, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Stanford, and Cincinnati Children’s have for the first time used vector flow imaging to analyze the hemodynamics in children with congenital heart defects.
Doppler ultrasound can provide a good deal of information about the velo...
Source: Medgadget - April 8, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiology Radiology Source Type: blogs
CRISPR-Chip Can Detect Genetic Mutations Within Minutes
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the Keck Graduate Institute of The Claremont Colleges have developed a hand-held device that can detect genetic mutations, such as those causing genetic diseases or affecting how people respond to certain drugs, in just minutes. The device employs a combination of CRISPR and graphene transistors to achieve this. The researchers hope that it could make the process of diagnosing genetic conditions and predicting drug responses easier and more accessible, potentially leading to point-of-care DNA analysis.
The researchers have called their device the “CRISPR-Chip&...
Source: Medgadget - March 26, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Genetics Materials Medicine Pathology Source Type: blogs
Interview with Tom Reeves, CEO of Interface Biologics
Interface Biologics Inc (IBI) is a company from Toronto, Ontario, Canada that develops medtech and pharmaceutical materials. Their surface modification technology is called Endexo, which involves fluorine-based additives that migrate to a material’s surface during polymerization. This non-stick fluorination prevents platelets and bacteria from sticking, keeping the biomaterial clot-free and clean. The Endexo additive technology has significant advantages over competitive offerings, including heparin coatings. It’s easier to manufacture (no change in the manufacturing, low cost, wide compatibility) and easier to use (pe...
Source: Medgadget - March 20, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Ben Ouyang Tags: Anesthesiology Cardiology Critical Care Exclusive Materials Source Type: blogs
