Author: lisaweiner

  • Genetic “Ageotypes” predict health as we age

    Genetic “Ageotypes” predict health as we age

    Stanford’s Michael Snyder has categorized how humans age into different classes called “ageotypes”: metabolic, immune, hepatic and nephrotic. 43 healthy men and women between the ages of 34 and 68 were profiled, with extensive measurements of certain microbes and biological molecules, such as proteins, metabolites and lipids, taken at least five times over two years.…

  • George Church on reversing aging | ApplySci @ Harvard

    George Church on reversing aging | ApplySci @ Harvard

    George Church again keynoted the ApplySci Boston conference, this year at Harvard Medical School on November 14, 2019. Click to view his groundbreaking talk on reversing aging. Join ApplySci at the 13th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Silicon Valley conference on February 11-12, 2020 at Quadrus Sand Hill Road.  Speakers include:  Zhenan Bao, Stanford – Vinod…

  • Joe Wang on next-generation biosensors

    Joe Wang on next-generation biosensors

    Joseph Wang is the SAIC Endowed Chair professor, Chairman of the NanoEngineering Department and Director of the Center for Wearable Sensors at University of California, San Diego, and Editor-in-chief of the journal Electroanalysis. A prolific researcher with more than 1,200 papers and 100,000 citations, he recently developed an ultrasound patch to monitor blood pressure; self-propelled and targeted drug delivery; and continuous…

  • AI for (much) earlier breast cancer detection – Constance Lehman

    AI for (much) earlier breast cancer detection – Constance Lehman

    Connie Lehman — Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School; Chief of Breast Imaging, radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Co-director of AVON Breast Center, Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital; and Director, Breast Imaging Research Center, Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital spoke at ApplySci’s recent conference at Harvard Medical School. Click to listen to her talk on using AI to discover breast cancer 5 years…

  • 3D-printed, remote-controlled lab on chip for quicker, more accurate monitoring

    3D-printed, remote-controlled lab on chip for quicker, more accurate monitoring

    Imperial College’s Martyn  Boutelle has developed a 3D printed, remote-controlled Lab on a Chip for real-time monitoring with improved personal care. Previous ‘Lab on a Chip’ devices have required large external support systems. Sensor deterioration over time inhibited their clinical effectiveness. The device can monitor chemical fluctuations, giving quicker and more accurate results, and potentially…

  • Stretchable, degradable semiconductors for health monitoring

    Stretchable, degradable semiconductors for health monitoring

    Zhenan Bao has developed stretchable, degradable semiconductors, with the ability to conform to internal organ surfaces, and dissolve and disappear when no longer needed. This is the first example of a material that simultaneously possesses the three qualities of semiconductivity, intrinsic stretchability and full degradability. Other attempts resulted in semiconductors that either did not break down…

  • Sweat sensor monitors metabolites to detect gout, metabolic and other disorders

    Sweat sensor monitors metabolites to detect gout, metabolic and other disorders

    Caltech’s Wei Gao has developed a wearable sensor that monitors metabolites and nutrients in blood by analyzing sweat. Previously developed, less sensitive, sweat sensors mostly target electrolytes, glucose, and lactate. Gao develops devices based on microfluidics, which minimize the influence of sweat evaporation and skin contamination on sensing accuracy.  Previous microfluidic-based wearable sensors were mostly fabricated with a…

  • Wireless, wearable sticker adds a sense of touch to VR

    Wireless, wearable sticker adds a sense of touch to VR

    John Rogers, Yonggang Huang and Northwestern colleagues have developed an “epidermal VR” system that adds a sense of touch to any virtual reality experience. The device incorporates a distributed array of 32 individually programmable, millimeter-scale actuators, each of which generates a discrete sense of touch at a corresponding location on the skin. Each resonates most strongly…

  • Study: Focused ultrasound reduced essential tremor symptoms for 3 years

    Study: Focused ultrasound reduced essential tremor symptoms for 3 years

    In a recent study, Casey Halpern and  colleagues used ultrasound to relieve symptoms of essential tremor, for up to three years. The treatment is used when medication does not work. 76 people with an average age of 71 who had essential tremor for an average of 17 years were studied. 56  received focused ultrasound thalamotomy, and…

  • Silk patch measures 6 biomarkers in sweat

    Silk patch measures 6 biomarkers in sweat

    Wenya He, Yingying Zhang, and Tsinghua and Northwest School colleagues  have developed a silk-based wearable patch which measures glucose, ascorbic acid, lactate, potassium, sodium ions and uric acid concentrations in sweat. Sensors are embedded in a woven graphite-silk fabric. Conductivity is enhanced using graphite doped with nitrogen atoms. The flexible patch is applied to the…

  • Remote, robotic surgery for aneurysm, stroke

    Remote, robotic surgery for aneurysm, stroke

    Vitor Mendes Pereira at Toronto Western Hospital and Krembil Brain Institute .used a Siemens Healthineers-developed robot arm to help remove an aneurysm.  A catheter was guided to the patient’s brain from an incision made near the groin in the interventional procedure. The CorPath GRX robotics platform is controlled by joysticks and a touchscreen. A bedside  technician…

  • 3D printed skin, with blood vessels

    3D printed skin, with blood vessels

    Pankaj Karande and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute colleagues have developed 3D printed living skin, with blood vessels. which could integrate with host cells in grafts. Until now, a significant barrier to integration has been the absence of a functioning vascular system. Karande previously made two types of living human cells into “bio-inks,” and print them into a skin-like…