Transmission electron microscopic images show the structure of BioNanomatrix, a natural, peptide-based nanofiber material developed by Endomimetics to inhibit the proliferation of smooth muscle cells and prevent platelets from clotting.Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States today, resulting in the implantation of more than two million stents each year. Although stents are lifesavers, however, they are far from trouble free. While 15 to 45% of all bare-metal...

The three blind mice immortalized in nursery rhyme could have had entirely different fates today, thanks to a breakthrough in retinal implants that has restored sight in blind mice. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have cracked the code for both a mouse and a monkey retina's neural code, which has enabled them to develop a working artificial retina for mice that they hope will pave the way for a similar device that will restore sight in humans.When caused by diseases of the retina,...

Home to Warsaw, IN—also known as the "Orthopedic Capital of the World"—Northeast Indiana boasts $12 billion in total regional orthopedic device industry revenues in addition to nearly 100 life sciences, orthopedic, and medical device companies. Looking to leverage and support these local thriving orthopedics and life sciences sectors, Northeast Indiana's Whitley County Economic Development Corp. is now launching an initiative to cultivate a medical device and disposables packaging cluster....

Innovative and tech-savvy university researchers have been pioneering the development of low-cost medical devices that leverage cell phones, which are often much more accessible in developing countries than traditional medical devices or technologies. Continuing to push progress in this area, student researchers at Johns Hopkins University have created an inexpensive technology that converts a healthcare worker's cell phone into an anemia-detection device for pregnant women and newborns that is...

Former Vante CFO Adam Smith brought some unexpected controversy to the doorstep of his employer, a supplier to the medical device industry, this past week. Smith gained national attention when he posted a video on YouTube that went viral showing him berate an employee of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A for working for the company, whose president, Dan Cathy, has openly opposed same-sex marriage. Smith was fired and issued an apology following the uproar. In other news, MPMN explores the driving...

At the micron scale, objects have difficulty swimming because the viscosity of water prevents objects from relying on momentum to maintain forward motion. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) have used complex computational models to design swimming microrobots that could overcome these challenges. Ultimately, the researchers' work could contribute to the development of robots capable of serving as drug-delivery vehicles.Designed by Alexander Alexeev, an assistant...

When you think of the biotech and medical device manufacturing industries in the United States, California's Silicon Valley, Massachusetts's high-tech clusters, and Minnesota's LifeScience Alley immediately come to mind. It is unlikely, however, that you’ll give much thought to Birmingham, AL. At least I didn’t before visiting the area in May as part of a press tour organized by the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA).Unbeknown to many, however, Alabama’s largest city is an important and up-and-...

Forbes reports that FDA's current surveillance system tracks such faulty medical devices as pacemakers, insulin pumps, defibrillators, and respiratory technologies. What the system does not do, however, is track such devices as Web-connected sensors and connectivity technologies used in such applications as wireless patient-data storage.Based on "Security and Privacy Qualities of Medical Devices: An Analysis of FDA Postmarket Surveillance," a report in the journal PLOS, the Forbes article notes...

The use of fluorescent nanoparticles loaded with organic light-emitting dyes are expected to transform live-animal imaging technologies because they are optically stable and nontoxic. In addition, they can be easily modified with functional groups, making them suitable when targeting specific tissues. However, traditional dyes aggregate and lose their emission intensity when incorporated into nanoparticles at high concentrations. In response, researchers at the A*STAR Institute of Materials...