Medgadget » in the news…

Biological Computer Performs Decryption of Images

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:38:53 +0000

A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in California and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology have created a purely biological computer that can decrypt images stored on DNA chips.

The actual computer is a transparent liquid full of small bits of DNA, DNA enzymes and ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) to power the device.

Gene Therapy Helps Restore Oligodendrocytes in Demyelinating Diseases

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:37:00 +0000

A number of neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, end up with damaged oligodendrocytes that make myelin that in turn protects axons of nerve cells.

The consequences are debilitating and cause all kinds of terrible side effects, but researchers at Caltech have developed a therapy, so far tested in a mouse model, that can help replace damaged oligodendrocytes.

Innovation Day at Children’s Hospital Boston

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:08:28 +0000

For those in the Boston area trying to find something to be cheerful about ever since last Sunday’s Superbowl, Children’s Hospital Boston will be hosting its first, and hopefully annual, Innovation Day. The afternoon event scheduled for next Tuesday will feature short talks and presentations of breakthrough medical technologies from about a dozen researchers that are implementing them at the hospital.

More info: Innovation Day 2012: a time to inform and inspire…

Optical Detection of Electric Signals May Herald Next Generation MRI Machines

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:56:56 +0000

Researchers from Joint Quantum Institute (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland, College Park), the Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Harvard University have described a theoretical system that may allow the detection of very small electrical signals by utilizing laser light.

The technology framework uses a nano scale mechanical membrane that vibrates in response to an electrical signal, with the frequency proportional to the signal strength. Shining a laser onto the membrane will let you measure the vibration frequency, identifying the nature of the original signal. Because these sensors can be very small and remain cool, it may be possible to reduce the size, energy requirements, and improve all sorts of characteristics of MRI machines when their superconducting magnets are no longer necessary.

World’s First Titanium Mandible Created, 205 More Bones Needed for a Complete Terminator

Gavin Corley — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:37:13 +0000

A multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians led by The Functional Morphology Research Group at the University of Hasselt BIOMED Research Institute has created what they believe to be the very first complete 3D-printed lower jaw. The implant was manufactured by Layerwise NV, a company based in Leuven, Belgium that specializes in additive manufacturing.

Following an MRI scan of the patient’s own diseased mandible, the new mandible was created using laser printing of titanium powder to create a custom 3D implant. The implant is a little heavier than a natural lower jaw weighing in at approximately 107 grams. It was printed in a matter of hours before being sprayed with an artificial bone coating and finally being polished.

Nanodiamond-Toughened Orthopedic Implants Show Promise in Study

Brian Klein — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:17:33 +0000

Metal-on-metal implants have been making headlines in publications such as The New York Times as a result of adverse events associated with them, which include bone and tissue damage. The debris produced by the implants is frequently linked to such problems.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are working to limit such wear by investigating the use of nanodiamond coatings on metal implants. In an early study published in the journal Acta Biomaterialia, the researchers found that the “[n]anostructured diamond coatings improve smoothness and wear characteristics of the metallic component of total hip replacements and increase their longevity.”

NASA’s Smartphone Attachment Smells, Identifies Chemical Compounds

Gene Ostrovsky — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:02:41 +0000

Gizmodo is profiling work being done at NASA Ames Research Center to develop a mobile phone powered sensor that could be used for a variety of applications from detecting chemical attacks in future military conflicts to testing blood glucose indirectly by measuring acetone in exhaled breath.

The device takes advantage of the same kind of nanosensors that are already in use on the International Space Station detecting chemicals that are effectively dangerous pollutants in the orbiting enclosed space. It works as an attachment to a smarphone (looks like an iPhone), and we are excited to hopefully one day see this technology built right into the body of the phone to provide basic diagnostic capabilities.

A Quick and Beautiful Online Course About Bone Biology from Amgen

Gene Ostrovsky — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:18:44 +0000

Amgen has unveiled a new website that aims to educate patients, the lay public, and maybe even some clinicians about bone biology. The various animations in the site titled New Insights into Bone Biology are visually quite striking and really show off the biological processes involved. If you like this style of learning, do check out their other site that teaches about angiogenesis: Pioneering New Frontiers into Angiogenesis.

New Insights into Bone Biology provides a virtual tour of the human skeleton and the cellular and physiological processes involved in the formation of bone. Through six detailed panels and nine movies, visitors to the site can learn:
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Technology Harvests Energy from Within a Cockroach

Gene Ostrovsky — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:16:10 +0000

If we can harvest energy from within the body, we may spur the development of a new generation of implantable devices that can work as long as the patient is alive and not require bulky batteries, a typical stumbling block for biomedical engineers. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University managed to generate electricity from naturally occurring chemicals within the abdomen of the false death’s head cockroach.

The researchers envision sensor-enabled roaches to perform odd jobs, but we’re instinctively terrified of the possibility of roaches controlled externally by a real human. We prefer to see this kind of technology powering an implantable defibrillator that doesn’t have to be changed every ten or so years.

Health Hack Day Invites Developers for an App Challenge

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:19:32 +0000

Hoa’s Tool Shop and Psykologifabriken, two Swedish firms working in the field of behavior change, will be hosting a Health Hack Day at Hoa’s Stockholm offices.

The 24 hour event, broken into three days on a May weekend, will be organizing software developers in a challenge to develop health app prototypes that may become useful tools for patients and clinicians in the future.