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Rensselaer engineer receives $1.4M NIH grant to study new method to heal traumatic nerve damage

Injuries to the nervous system affect large numbers of people globally. Such injuries can result in loss of feeling or movement. With a new $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Deanna Thompson, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will investigate a promising new method to heal traumatic nerve damage, using electrical stimulation to prime and pump neuronal growth.

10 Nov 2011

Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System successfully implanted in advanced Retinitis Pigmentosa patient

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., the world's leading developer of retinal prostheses for the blind, announced that the first ever commercial implantation of such a prosthesis was successfully completed on Saturday, October 29th in Pisa, Italy.

2 Nov 2011

Non-invasive rtACS treatment can reduce partial blindness

It has long been thought that blindness after brain lesions is irreversible and that damage to the optic nerves leads to permanent impairments in everyday activities such as reading, driving, and spatial orientation. A new study published in Elsevier's Brain Stimulation suggests that treating such patients with low levels of non-invasive, repetitive, transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS) for 10 days significantly reduces visual impairment and markedly improves vision-related quality of life.

1 Nov 2011

UV light improves biosensing by immobilizing antibodies

From detecting pathogens in blood samples to the study of protein synthesis, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensors have many uses in modern biology. In this technique, antibodies anchored to gold electrodes on a piece of quartz crystal act like the "hooks" on the sticky side of a Velcro strap, grabbing molecules of interest as they pass by.

1 Nov 2011

Researchers shed light on inner workings of endocycle

An international team of researchers led by investigators in the U.S. and Germany has shed light on the inner workings of the endocycle, a common cell cycle that fuels growth in plants, animals and some human tissues and is responsible for generating up to half of the Earth's biomass.

31 Oct 2011

Mayo Clinic researchers share latest findings at child and adolescent psychiatry meeting

Mayo Clinic researchers are sharing their latest research findings this week at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Meeting in Toronto.

22 Oct 2011

NIST, CU develop novel low-power transport microchip

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado Boulder (CU) have developed a low-power microchip that uses a combination of microfluidics and magnetic switches to trap and transport magnetic beads. The novel transport chip may have applications in biotechnology and medical diagnostics.

20 Oct 2011

NEP successfully inserts specific doses of anti-cancer gene into leukemia cells

For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without a needle.

18 Oct 2011

Latest breakthroughs in lasers and optics to be discussed at 95th OSA meeting

Scientists and engineers from around the world will gather in the heart of Silicon Valley next week to discuss some of the latest breakthroughs in lasers and optics and their applications to cutting-edge science, the development of new materials, and medicine.

13 Oct 2011

Novelda announces two new antennas for CMOS Impulse Radar Transceiver Development kits

Novelda AS announced today two new antennas for its CMOS Impulse Radar Transceiver Development kits.

7 Oct 2011

MRI-based technique allows researchers to follow neural stem cells in vivo

Carnegie Mellon University biologists have developed an MRI-based technique that allows researchers to non-invasively follow neural stem cells in vivo.

30 Sep 2011

New research reveals how brain devotes time to reflect on tough choices

Take your time. Hold your horses. Sleep on it. When people must decide between arguably equal choices, they need time to deliberate. In the case of people undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease, that process sometimes doesn't kick in, leading to impulsive behavior. New research into why that happens has led scientists to a detailed explanation of how the brain devotes time to reflect on tough choices.

26 Sep 2011

Henry Ford Hospital performs DBS procedure inside iMRI to treat Parkinson's

Henry Ford Hospital became the third hospital in the United States to perform a Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) procedure inside an Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner, or iMRI.

20 Sep 2011

Human gliomas release excess levels of glutamate and trigger seizures

Glioma, one of the most deadly and common types of brain tumor, is often associated with seizures, but the origins of these seizures and effective treatments for them have been elusive. Now a team funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that human gliomas implanted in mice release excess levels of the brain chemical glutamate, overstimulating neurons near the tumor and triggering seizures.

12 Sep 2011

New technique can precisely locate subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's patients

Deep brain stimulation stops limb tremors in Parkinson's patients. But positioning the stimulation electrode in the brain must be done very precisely to avoid undesired side-effects.

7 Sep 2011

St. Jude Medical's Genesis neurostimulation device receives European CE Mark approval

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced it has received the industry's first and only regulatory approval for the use of an implanted neurostimulation device for patients with intractable chronic migraine.

7 Sep 2011

Researchers develop new nano-structured glass optical elements for medical imaging

University of Southampton researchers have developed new nano-structured glass optical elements, which have applications in optical manipulation and will significantly reduce the cost of medical imaging.

16 Aug 2011

Positive data from Inovio's VGX-3400X Phase I study against H5N1 influenza

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that significant T cell and antibody responses were generated in its Phase I clinical study of VGX-3400X, a SynCon DNA vaccine for the prevention of avian H5N1 influenza delivered using intramuscular (IM) electroporation.

14 Jul 2011

New low-energy method for terminating cardiac fibrillation

An international team of scientists from the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Cornell University the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the University Medicine Göttingen, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Institut Non-Linéaire de Nice have developed a new low-energy method for terminating life-threatening cardiac fibrillation of the heart.

14 Jul 2011

New less painful technique to end life-threatening heart fibrillations

Cornell scientists, in collaboration with physicists and physician-scientists in Germany, France and Rochester, N.Y., have developed a new - and much less painful and potentially damaging - method to end life-threatening heart fibrillations.

14 Jul 2011