Category: New products

  • Nanoparticles Shown to Target Tumors, Avoid Adjacent Cells

    22 March 2016. A small-scale clinical trial shows cancer drugs formulated into nanoparticles accumulate in solid tumors in humans, while avoiding adjacent healthy tissue. The team from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena published its findings yesterday (21 March) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The CalTech team, led by chemical engineering…

  • 23andMe Creates Research Software for iPhone Apps

    21 March 2016. The personal genetics company 23andMe wrote a software module for Apple’s ResearchKit platform that makes it possible to add genetics data to iPhone apps used in medical research. The module, says 23andMe, in Mountain View, California, also supports genetics data from other sources, with three research apps now using the software to…

  • Implant Developed to Deliver Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy

    18 March 2016.  A neuroscience team from Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL, in Switzerland designed and implanted a capsule that in lab mice generates antibodies to reduce amyloid beta plaque accumulations in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers from the lab of Patrick Aebischer, also EPFL’s president, published its findings in the…

  • EKG Technology Integrated into Apple Watch Band

    16 March 2016. Owners of an Apple Watch will soon be able to track their heart rhythms, using electrocardiogram or EKG sensors built into the wrist band for the device. The Kardia Band and supporting Apple Watch app are made by AliveCor Inc. in San Francisco, a developer of medical devices adapting smartphone technology for…

  • Technique Speeds, Eases Bone Marrow Stem Cell Collection

    16 March 2016. A lab in Australia developed a process that makes it easier and faster to harvest blood-forming stem cells for treating diseases such as leukemia. The team led by Susan Nilsson at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria published its findings in yesterday’s (15 March) issue of the journal Nature Communications. Transplants of hematopoietic…

  • Injected Drug Forms Anti-Cancer Nanoparticles in Tumors

    15 March 2016. Medical researchers developed a drug delivery technique that in lab mice forms anti-cancer nanoparticles inside metastatic tumors, promising much more potent cancer treatments. The team led by Mauro Ferrari and Haifa Shen at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas published its findings in yesterday’s (14 March) issue of Nature Biotechnology; paid subscription…

  • Beta Cell Patch Designed to Control Blood Glucose Levels

    14 March 2016. A patch device made of beta cells — the cells that produce insulin — was shown to produce insulin on demand in lab mice induced with diabetes. A team from the biomedical engineering department jointly hosted by University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh published…

  • Biomarker Profiles Shown to Improve Ovarian Cancer Survival

    14 March 2016. A clinical trial of people with ovarian cancer shows patients receiving treatments matching their particular molecular profiles survived an average of 9 months longer than those receiving one or more drugs not matching their biomarkers. Results of the study, conducted by Caris Life Sciences at 6 cancer care hospitals in the U.S.…

  • Vibration Technology Developed to Diagnose Back Pain

    11 March 2016. Researchers at University of Alberta adapted engineering technologies using vibrations to develop a new way to diagnose spinal problems causing back pain.  The team led by Alberta physical therapy professor Greg Kawchuk reported results of tests comparing its technology to MRI in today’s (11 March) issue of the journal Scientific Reports. Kawchuk…

  • Process Devised for Plastics from Carbon Dioxide, Plants

    10 March 2016. Producing common plastics like polyester today often needs large inputs of fossil fuel derivatives. A chemistry lab at Stanford University in California developed a low-carbon alternative to polyester that combines recycled carbon dioxide with inedible plant matter, such as agricultural waste, as reported in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Matthew Kanan…