Health, Medicine, & Biotechnology

2022 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Category Winner — The Novel Squid Glaucoma microShunt

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness, affecting 80 million patients globally including 3 million patients in the U.S.

New Battery Technology Could Power Wearable, Self-Sustaining Fever Detector

Public temperature checks have become common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at Texas A&M University hope to make it possible to check the temperatures of large groups of people more quickly and at a less expensive cost than allowed by current methods.

Smart Textiles Powered by Soft Transmission Lines

The fibers measure subtle and complex fabric deformations.

Novel Chemical Glucose Sensing Method Based on Boronic Acids and Graphene Foam

Since it is a chemical sensor instead of being enzyme-based, the new technology is robust, has a long shelf-life and can be tuned to detect lower glucose concentrations than current systems.

Implantable Sensor Safely Biodegrades

The flexible, stretchable sensor biodegrades into materials that are absorbed by the body.

Antimicrobial Coating for Orthopedic Implants Prevents Dangerous Infections

The coating is customizable to individuals and requires less than 10 minutes to prepare and use.

Noninvasive Therapy for Cartilage Regeneration

The PEMF device could be wrapped around synovial joints where cartilage-degrading inflammation is located.

Extraction of Largely Unexplored Bodily Fluid Could Be a New Source of Biomarkers

Fluid could provide a new source of information for routine diagnostic testing.

Test Your Knowledge About Wearable Technology

See how much you know about wearable technology and the progress it has made.

Future Wearable Health Tech Could Measure Gases Released from Skin

Some wearable devices are already capable of measuring pulse rates or temperatures, but this team’s method would allow the technology to sense biomarkers related to metabolic disorders, like heart disease or diabetes.

Light-Emitting Tattoo

The OLEDs are fabricated onto temporary tattoo paper and transferred to a new surface by being pressed onto it and dabbed with water.

An Accurate and Inexpensive COVID-19 Testing Device

The device could transform public health officials’ ability to quickly detect and respond to the coronavirus — or the next pandemic.

Nano-Thermometers for Temperature Imaging

The final product could make temperature measurements that are 10 times more precise than state-of-the-art techniques, acquired in one-tenth the time in a volume 10,000 times smaller.

COVID-19 Test Uses Smartphone Cameras to Spot Virus RNA

Unlike other tests, this test gives an estimate of viral load or the number of virus particles in a sample, which can help doctors monitor the progression of a COVID-19 infection and estimate how contagious a patient might be.

Smartphone-Powered Microchip Enables At-Home Medical Diagnostic Testing

The innovation opens the door for faster and more affordable at-home medical testing.

Flexible Backing Improves Brain-Computer Interface

Adding a flexible backing to this kind of brain-computer interface allows the device to more evenly conform to the brain’s complex curved surface and to more uniformly distribute the microneedles that pierce the cortex.

New Imaging Technology Reduces Need for Skin Biopsies

Instead of surgically removing a sample of skin, sending it to a lab, and waiting several days for results, your dermatologist takes pictures of a suspicious-looking lesion and quickly produces a detailed, microscopic image of the skin. This could become routine in clinics.

Miniature Optical Fiber Treatment Device Offers More Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy, one of the most important and promising therapies for cancer treatments, is being used by oncologists to treat patients suffering from many different cancers including breast, cervical, colon, stomach, and skin.

Smart Skin Mimics the Sensing Capabilities of Natural Skin

Study confirms that hydrogels work in a similar way to how humans detect pressure, paving the way for more ionic devices.

Artificial Intelligence Tech Set to Transform Heart Imaging

The team compared its AI approach, known as virtual native enhancement, with contrast-enhanced CMR scans now used to monitor hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common genetic heart condition.

Smart Microrobots Walk Autonomously

A collaborative effort has installed electronic “brains” on solar-powered robots that are 100 to 250 micrometers in size — smaller than an ant’s head — so that they can walk autonomously without...

Novel Chemical Glucose Sensing Method Based on Boronic Acids and Graphene Foam

Since it is a chemical sensor instead of being enzyme-based, the new technology is robust, has a long shelf-life and can be tuned to detect lower glucose concentrations than current systems.

Light-Sensing 3D-Printed Device Could Help People with Lupus

A team of engineers and doctors at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have designed a unique 3D-printed light-sensing medical device that is placed directly on the skin and...

Electronic Skin Anticipates and Perceives Touch from Different Directions for the First Time

Scientists develop a new approach for miniaturization of soft ultra-compact and highly integrated sensor units for directional tactile sensitivity in e-skin systems.

Future Wearable Health Tech Could Measure Gases Released from Skin

Scientists have taken the first step to creating the next generation of wearable health monitors.

Thin, Stretchable Biosensors Could Make Surgery Safer

Researchers formulated and synthesized the bio-inks, with the goal of creating create an ultra-soft, thin, and stretchable material for biosensors that is capable of seamlessly interfacing with the surface of organs.

New Technology Could Make Biopsies a Thing of the Past

MediSCAPE is a highspeed 3D microscope capable of capturing images of tissue structures that could guide surgeons to navigate tumors and their boundaries without needing to remove tissues and wait for pathology results.