DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
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 […]
UCSD’s Joe Wang has developed a soft, flexible, pacifier-based biosensor that continuously monitors glucose levels in saliva to detect diabetes in babies. Until now, continuous glucose monitoring in newborns, available only in major hospitals, requires piercing the infant’s skin to reach interstitial fluid. The team created a proof of concept pacifier where small amounts of saliva […]
Imperial College’s Timothy Rawson has developed a non-invasive microneedle bionsor patch capable of detecting antibiotic levels in the body. The goal is to reduce the need for blood sampling and analysis, optimize dosage, reduce drug-resistant infections and offer personalized drug delivery, both inside and outside of the hospital. A recent study showed that the accuracy of the real-time […]
Northwestern’s John Rogers has developed a biodegradable optical sensor that can be implanted after brain injury and not require a second surgery for removal. According to Rogers: “Optical characterization of tissue can yield quantitative information on blood oxygenation levels. Fluorescence signals can reveal the presence of bacteria as a diagnostic for the formation of an […]
Georgia Tech’s Woon-Hong Yeo has developed a 3D-printed, stretchable, battery-free, wireless sensor, implanted in brain blood vessels to measure incoming blood flow, to evaluate aneurysm healing. The tiny device wraps around stents or diverters implanted to control blood flow in affected vessels. It is believed to be the first demonstration of aerosol jet 3D printing to […]
Zhenan Bao‘s adhesive, unobtrusive wearables continue to change the way health is monitored. Her new BodyNet system tracks pulse, respiration, and other physiological signs using small, screen printed stickers around the body, and a wireless receiver clipped to clothing. The research was published in Nature Electronics last week. Her goal is to “create an array […]
John Arkwright and Flinders University colleagues have developed a tiny, low cost, fiber-optic sensor to monitor blood flow through the aorta in real-time. The goal is continuous monitoring during prolonged intensive care and surgical procedures. Current blood flow measurement, using ultrasound or thermo-dilution, is intermittent, averaging every 30 minutes. The device is inserted through a […]
MIT’s Subramanian Sundaram has developed a sensor glove that identifies objects through touch. This could improve assistive robot performance and enhance prosthetic design.The cheap “scalable tactile glove” includes 550 tiny, pressure-capturing sensors. A neural network uses the data to classify objects and predict their weights. No visual input is required. In a Nature paper, the system […]
Hatice Altug and EPFL BIOS Laboratory colleagues are developing photonic chips that count individual biomolecules and determine their location. This could identify trace amounts of undesirable biomarkers in blood or saliva and serve as an early-warning system for disease. The technology consists of an ultra-thin and miniaturized optical chip that, coupled with a standard CMOS camera […]
Riyi Shi and Purdue colleagues have developed a tiny, spinal cord-implanted, 3D printed sensor that quickly and accurately tracks glutamate in spinal trauma and brain disease. The goal is to monitor drug effectiveness, and predict migraine headaches in humans, although it has only been tested on animals. Glutamate spikes are often missed. Damaged nerve structures allow glutamate […]