November 2015

Incorporating Electronics Into Medical Device Consumables

November 29, 2015

In a simple world, medical consumables are made of plastic and plastic only. Electronic components would remain separate in the durable device. In the real world, though, that’s rarely the case. You might want to install fluid pumping [more...]

Sequencing Algae’s Genome May Aid Bio-fuel Production

November 29, 2015

Close-up view of Chrysochromulina tobin. (Image: Rose Ann Cattolico) There’s an ancient group of algae that evolved in the world’s oceans before our backboned ancestors crawled onto land. They are so numerous that their [more...]

An Optofluidic Chip for Single-cell Sorting Based on Mechanical Properties

November 29, 2015

A monolithic optofluidic chip fabricated by femtosecond laser extracts highly metastatic cells from a heterogeneous population on the basis of optical stretching measurements. The past decade has seen an increasing interest in the analysis [more...]

Determining What Stays on the Device, and What Goes in the Consumable

November 29, 2015

Image credit: Eric Schneider, Keytech Inc Because most medical devices include both a durable instrument and a consumable, product developers often face a pivotal question during the early design process: What stays on the instrument [more...]

Detecting Cancer Cells Before They Form Metastases

November 25, 2015

Target cells (green) stick to the microarray platform (red). (Credit: Michael Hirtz / KIT) Many tumors spread: Single cancer cells migrate with blood flow through the body before they settle in new tissue. In this way, metastases may be [more...]

Dime-Sized Electric Chip Removes Nanoparticles from Blood with Ease

November 25, 2015

An artist’s representation of the nanoparticle removal chip developed by researchers in Professor Michael Heller’s lab at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. An oscillating electric field (purple arcs) separates [more...]

Catching Circulating Tumor Cells

November 25, 2015

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) give a valuable insight into tumor progression and metastasis. Therefore, it is important to detect, capture, and analyze CTCs in the blood of patients with malignant tumors. In their review, Yong-Qiang Li [more...]

Cheap DNA Sequencing Is Here. Writing DNA Is Next

November 23, 2015

At Twist Bioscience’s office in San Francisco, CEO Emily Leproust pulled out of her tote bag two things she carries around everywhere: a standard 96-well plastic plate ubiquitous in biology labs and her company’s invention, a silicon [more...]

CETONI GmbH

November 22, 2015

About the company: System-Oriented High-End Solutions for Research and Production. Based on its range of ultra-precise and pulsation-free neMESYS syringe pumps and expanded by a full line of modular Qmix micro-reaction devices, CETONI has [more...]

Visualizing Single Cell Growth Dynamics

November 15, 2015

Using a robust microfluidic system for visualizing cellular dynamics The Science Asymmetrical growth is a property of many types of cells in organisms as diverse as algae, fungi, plants and animals. Among the organisms that employ [more...]

Implantable Insulin Pump Now Possible With MEMs Technology

November 15, 2015

MEMS TECHNOLOGY Would you use an implantable insulin Pump? Debiotech is a medical device company, based in Switzerland. The development of innovative medical tech is their main business and, since its inception, the company designed many [more...]

Analyzing DNA on Chip: Carving the PCR Toolbox in Silicon

November 15, 2015

Silicon-based PCR chip (Credit: Tim Stakenborg, Senior Scientist, imec) The PCR technique has given medical doctors and researchers a powerful tool to detect specific DNA sequences in a sample. With PCR, they can determine, for example, [more...]

Using Microfluidic Devices to Sort Stem Cells

November 11, 2015

An overview of the process. After the cell sample is pumped through the device, the sorted single cells are collected at the outlet and cultured in a low serum media to promote differentiation. While there are no cures for neurological [more...]

Chinese Researchers Develop Process to Laser 3D Print Microcavity Processing Technologies

November 9, 2015

Whispering-gallery modes are the phenomena of waves traveling along the curve of a concave surface without degrading. The concept was first explained by Lord Rayleigh in 1878 as he explained the effect that produced traveling whispers in [more...]

Femtosecond Laser Processing Of Metal And Plastics In The Medical Device Industry

November 8, 2015

Authors: Steven Hypsh, Jenoptik, and Geoff Shannon, Miyachi America Microsecond (ms) fiber lasers have been successfully used for medical device applications like hypo tube and stent cutting for many years. While precise and fast, these [more...]

Laser Microfabrication Takes on Diagnostic Consumables: Part 1

November 8, 2015

Figure 1: A diagram of a multi-functional microfluidic chip. (This sketch is not intended to represent a real device; it is or illustration purposes only) Advances in laser technology is leading to a wave of progress in diagnostic [more...]

An Easy Test for Sickle Cell Disease

November 8, 2015

A new device developed by University of Connecticut biomedical engineers provides a simple, inexpensive, and quick test for the diagnosis and monitoring of sickle cell disease using a common smartphone. (Credit: Peter Morenus/UConn Photo) [more...]

Laser Microfabrication Takes on Diagnostic Consumables: Part 2

November 8, 2015

Figure 1. Sequential and parallel laser micromachining Fundamentals of Laser Micromachining The microfabrication of diagnostic platforms uses many different manufacturing techniques such as photolithography, micro-molding, etching, and [more...]

Microscopic Pumps Made From Trapped Bacteria

November 4, 2015

Five confined bacteria create a measurable fluid flow, as shown by the colour-coded trajectories on the right Scientists in China have trapped bacteria in 3D-printed structures and used them to pump materials along customised paths. [more...]

Drug Delivery On The Go: Device Design Considerations

November 3, 2015

Wearable devices are changing the world of drug delivery, emerging as solutions for chronic disease management and offering patients reprieve from the burden associated with frequent injections and bulky ambulatory devices. Diabetes care [more...]