Categories
BCI Brain

Real time brain-to-brain interface demonstrated

In another Nicolelis Lab breakthrough,  networks formed by multiple animal brains, cooperating and exchanging information in real time through brain-to-brain interfaces, was demonstrated. The “Brainet” technology could provide the core of a new organic computer.

In the recent study, four adult rat brains were interconnected. Brainets  concurrently recorded extracellular electrical activity generated by cortical neurons from multiple rats implanted with multi-electrode arrays. Cortical neuronal activity was recorded and analyzed in real time, and delivered to the somatosensory cortices of other animals using intracortical microstimulation.

Brainet architectures solved several computational problems, including discrete classification, image processing, storage and retrieval of tactile information, and weather forecasting.

Brainets consistently performed at the same or higher levels than single rats. Nicolelis believes that Brainets could be used to investigate animal social behaviors and to test applications of organic computers.

Categories
Cancer Sensors

Sensor chip for prostate cancer diagnosis

University of Birmingham researchers are developing a sensor chip that they believe can improve the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis.

Prostate cancer is normally diagnosed by tests that rely on antibodies, making them vulnerable to degeneration by environmental changes. They are known to give false positive readings at a high rate.

The sensor chip works by identifying glycoprotein molecules frequently used as biomarkers for diseases, including prostate cancer.  Detection techniques have focused on the protein of the molecule, which does not always change when the body is affected by disease.

The new chip uses  synthetic receptors along a 2D surface to identify specific, targeted glycoprotein molecules that are differentiated by their modified carbohydrate chains.  This shows subtle differences in healthy and diseased patients.

Categories
Diabetes Monitoring Pregnancy

Smartphone fluid sensors to detect pregnancy, STDs, diabetes

Kort Bremer and Bernhard Roth at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies are developing lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones to monitor blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath.  This could enable phone based detection and monitoring of pregnancy, STDs, or diabetes, among other applications.

The surface plasmon resonance sensors  detect biomolecular interactions when polarized light strikes an electrically conducting surface at the interface between two media,

Categories
Wearables

Long term drug delivery chip implant

MIT spinout Microchips Biotech and Teva are developing a long-term drug delivery chip implant.

The microchip array  can be implanted in the body and programmed to release controlled doses of drugs over months or years. Dosage or frequency can be changed wirelessly from an app. The company claims that the device can deliver medications for 16 years.

It is a self-contained hermetically-sealed device, implanted and removed in a doctor’s office.  The chip can store hundreds of therapeutic doses, and releases each at precise times. The implant has been clinically validated in human studies delivering parathyroid hormone in osteoporosis patients.

This could represent a painless replacement to daily injections, or simply improve patient compliance.

Categories
Skin

Electric fields induce nanoscale deficits to rejuvenate skin

Harvard and Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a non-invasive tissue stimulation technique, utilizing microsecond-pulsed, high-voltage, non-thermal electric fields, to produce scarless skin rejuvenation.  Already effective in tumor removal and wound disinfection, the technique may revolutionize the treatment of degenerative skin diseases.

Current skin therapies use  physical and chemical methods to affect cells and the extracellular matrix, but induce scarring. Pulsed electric fields only affect the cell membrane, preserving the extracellular matrix architecture and releasing multiple growth factors to spark new cell and tissue growth. By inducing nanoscale defects on the cell membranes, electric fields cause the death of a small number of cells in affected areas. The released growth factors increase the metabolism of the remaining cells, generating new tissue.

Categories
Autism Brain

Reaction to smells, autism, linked

Weizmann Institute of Science researchers may have developed a test to detect autism based on a child’s reaction to smells.

The study suggests that children with autism spectrum disorder don’t adjust their sniffing instinctively when they encounter pleasant or foul scents. 18 children with an autism diagnosis, and 18 typically developing children, were presented with pleasant and unpleasant odors, and their sniff responses were measured.  Typically developing children adjusted their sniffing within 305 milliseconds. Children with autism did not respond as quickly

The researchers, who had not been told which children had autism, were able to identify those with autism 81 percent of the time. They also found that the farther removed an autistic child’s sniff response was from the average, the more severe the child’s symptoms were.

The goal is to be able to diagnose and address autism as early as possible.

Categories
Heart

“Microswimmer” robots clear arteries intravenously

Drexel and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute researchers are developing microscopic, magnetic, robotic beads that will allow physicians to clear blocked arteries intravenously.

MinJun Kim leads the team investigating the chains of iron oxide beads, which are linked together via chemical bonds and magnetic force. The chains are small enough­­ to navigate in the bloodstream, and are put in motion by an external magnetic field that causes each of them to rotate. Linked together, their individual rotations cause the chain to twist like a corkscrew, which propels the microswimmer.

The speed and direction of the micro swimmers are determined by controlling the magnetic field. The magnetism also allows separate strands of micro swimmers to be joined  together, enabling them to be propelled with greater force.

Categories
Cancer Pain

Remote controlled nanowire drug delivery

An image of a field of polypyrrole nanowires captured by a scanning electron microscope is shown. A team of Purdue University researchers developed a new implantable drug-delivery system using the nanowires, which can be wirelessly controlled to release small amounts of a drug payload. (Purdue University image/courtesy of Richard Borgens)

Purdue researchers have created an implantable drug-delivery system using nanowires that can be controlled wirelessly.

The nanowires respond to an electromagnetic field generated by a device used to control the release of a preloaded drug. Tubes and wires required by other implantable devices are eliminated, minimizing the risk of infection and  complications.

According to lead author Richard Borgens: “This tool allows us to apply drugs as needed directly to the site of injury, which could have broad medical applications, The technology is in the early stages of testing, but it is our hope that this could one day be used to deliver drugs directly to spinal cord injuries, ulcerations, deep bone injuries or tumors, and avoid the terrible side effects of systemic treatment with steroids or chemotherapy.”

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Categories
Heart Wearables

Heart monitoring t-shirt

Imec and Holst Centre researchers have developed a smart t-shirt that monitors heart rate, heart rate variability, activities performed and calories burned.  The data is shared via the cloud to a user or doctor’s phone, tablet or computer.

The fabric contains miniaturized electronic modules with high accuracy and ultra-low power multi-sensor data acquisition chips. Processing, battery and bluetooth are embedded. The module can be removed to wash the shirt or charge the battery.

The original properties of the fabric are preserved, and the t-shirt remains flexible, stretchable, breathable, lightweight and washable.

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Categories
Monitoring Sensors Wearables

Clinical trial wearable by Google

Google X has built a clinical grade health wearable intended for use in clinical trials.  It measures pulse, heart rhythm, skin temperature, light exposure, and noise levels.  The device can collect trial data both inside and outside of the lab.  Google’s life science head, Andrew Conrad, first described the wearable to Bloomberg this morning.

The company is researching several potential uses for the device, including monitoring patients discharged from hospitals.

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Categories
Prosthetics

“Lifelike” bionic hand for women and teenagers

bebionic by steeper is a small,  “lifelike” bionic hand created for women and teenagers.  It is designed around an accurate skeletal structure with 337 mechanical parts.  Its 14  grip patterns and hand positions mimic real hand functions.

Its first user, Nicky Ashwell, was born with out a right hand.  After being fitted with the prosthetic, she was able to ride a bicycle and lift weights for the first time.

The prosthetic’s sensors are triggered by user muscle movements that connect to microprocessors and  motors in each finger. It weighs  1 pound and is 6.4 inches long.

WEARABLE TECH + DIGITAL HEALTH NYC 2015 – JUNE 30 @ NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.  REGISTER HERE.

Categories
Heart Sensors Wearables

Necklace, scale, cuff to monitor vitals, help manage CHF

toSenses‘s CoVa necklace, and prototype floor pad and cuff/handle combination, measure pulse oximetry, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate and temperature.  The various forms of monitoring are meant to improve compliance and ease of use.

CoVa has received FDA clearance, and is primarily used as a congestive heart failure alert/management system.

The scale-like pad uses bioimpedance and ECG to measure thoracic fluid levels and also measures weight.

The cuff/handle device measures vital signs, plus blood pressure. The user holds the device at the stomach to measure thoracic impedance, and inflatable bladders in the arm cuff compress the radial artery to measure blood pressure.

WEARABLE TECH + DIGITAL HEALTH NYC 2015 – JUNE 30 @ NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.  REGISTER HERE.