Medical Insights from Industry

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"Insights from Industry" is a dynamic series of interviews at the cutting edge of the medical industry. Every interviewee is a leader in their particular field and is handpicked to give an informative and accessible insight into their chosen field. These interviews are guaranteed to keep you in the know in a rapidly changing industry.

Turning a smartphone into an otoscope

The traditional device manufacturers used by doctors such as Welch Allyn, Keeler and Heine aren’t digital. It means that they have an external light source (with a battery) and are used to look into the ears but the doctors can’t capture the images.

13 Feb 2017

Advances in prosthetic knee technology

These prosthetics are a big change from traditional models. The knees are designed with a programmable computer that is built in to the joint. This battery powered technology continuously controls both the swing and the stance phase of the prosthetic through real time data that the computer receives from its built-in sensors.

6 Feb 2017

NMR and metabolic phenotyping: an interview with Dr Hartmut Schäfer

The Phenome Center Birmingham is a large, state-of-the-art, £8M metabolic phenotyping facility that has been established as part of a stratified medicine initiative led by the Medical Research Council. It is mainly located in the School of Biosciences

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 31 Jan 2017

Improving 1 µL UV-Vis Spectrophotometry Sample Results

Prior to microvolume spectrophotometry, UV-Vis quantification of biomolecules was performed using quartz cuvettes with a 10mm pathlength. Cuvettes had a number of key limitations that made them unsuitable for the requirements of then newly emerging life science techniques such as microarrays.

From DeNovix Inc. 30 Jan 2017

First symptoms of meningitis

Thankfully, meningitis is a rare condition. Although it can occur in anyone, it's more prevalent in babies and young children, with young people and students being the next most at risk group. In the early stages, it can be very difficult to tell meningitis apart from milder diseases, as it often resembles other common viral illnesses. Symptoms of the disease can develop very quickly.

19 Jan 2017

Metabolomics and NMR

Bruker has been involved in the Phenome Center network since its beginning. Several years ago, the whole visionary concept of a global phenome network was actually born with Professor Jeremy Nicholson and Bruker BioSpin has been part of it since the early stages.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 17 Jan 2017

Technological advancements in hearing implants

Hearing aids capture sound, make the sound louder and then send the sound down the ear canal, through the middle ear to the inner ear where the hearing nerves are located. They are most beneficial for people with mild to moderate hearing loss...

14 Dec 2016

Combatting Antibiotic Resistance, the role of POC Diagnostics

During the winter months, patients frequently present with respiratory symptoms like coughing, sneezing and fever that could be caused by one of several bacterial and viral infections including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or bacterial pneumonia.

From Alere Inc. 9 Dec 2016

Synthetic sgRNA for CRISPR genome editing

Chemically synthesized single guide RNA is the best way to do CRISPR genome editing. It is more pure than biological methods of creating guide RNAs, like in vitro transcription or plasmids. As a result, sgRNA leads to more consistency and higher quality.

8 Dec 2016

Selecting the correct microscope camera in digital pathology

Recent advances in technology have allowed camera systems take advantage of faster protocols, and to use sensor chips with greater light sensitivity and reduced output noise to deliver better image quality, detail, and response to the pathologist.

From Lumenera Corporation 7 Dec 2016

Honey profiling for impurities and falsifications

Without testing commercially available honey, it is impossible to guarantee that is safe, natural and authentic. This is because bees are free agents, they cannot be restricted to a specific region, or to a type of plant that you would like them to pollinate.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 6 Dec 2016

Applying quantitative microscopy to live cells

Microscopy's got a long history. It was developed about 350 years ago for scientists to visualize things they could discern, but not describe. The two pioneers of microscopy were Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, who developed the first microscope and soon after the renowned scientist, Robert Hooke.

From BioTek 2 Dec 2016

How old is your heart?

There have been a number of ways to measure the biological health and age of your heart, which has been done conventionally in the past. Blood pressure is one indicator. Other risk indicators include family history of heart disease, level of cholesterol and exercise testing, where you can get heart rate...

From iHeart 1 Dec 2016

Iron deficiency: an interview with Dr Thierry Teil

Iron deficiency is, in fact, one of the most common nutritional disorders. It affects between three and five billion people, which is between half and two-thirds of the world population (about seven billion). Iron deficiency anemia is a subset of iron deficiency, that is about two billion people according to the WHO...

From Vifor Pharma Ltd 30 Nov 2016

How toxic is your stress?

The term “stress” originates not in our minds or bodies, but from physics. It is the internal forces generated in an object in response to an external load. In the 1950s, Hans Selye adopted the term to characterize how living organisms change...

16 Nov 2016

Identifying foods that trigger IBS: an interview with Dr Bill Chey

IBS is a common medical condition which is diagnosed in the presence of characteristic gastrointestinal symptoms including recurring bouts of abdominal pain and diarrhea and/or constipation. IBS patients also commonly report bloating and abdominal distension or swelling.

15 Nov 2016

Spinal cord rehabilitation and repair: an interview with Quentin Barraud

There are many grades of spinal cord injuries, in terms of range of movement, from small disabilities to becoming wheelchair bound for the rest of your life, the range is very broad.

From Logos Biosystems 15 Nov 2016

dsDNA quantification for next generation sequencing quality control: an interview with Andrew Jones

Quantity and quality of input samples are two key considerations in successful library preparation for next generation sequencing. The ultimate success or failure of a library preparation is often...

From DeNovix Inc. 10 Nov 2016

Advances in POC diabetes testing: an interview with Gavin Jones

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is well recognized as a reliable measure for glycemic control. The role of HbA1c testing in the management of patients with diabetes has been well established for several decades. HbA1c levels reflect the average circulating glucose concentration over the lifespan of...

From EKF Diagnostics 4 Nov 2016

Using deep learning to update the drug discovery paradigm: an interview with Professor Jackie Hunter

With the current drug discovery paradigm, it takes up to 15 years to translate an idea, such as hypothesizing a certain protein is important in a disease and testing this with targeting the protein with a drug, all the way through to proof of concept...

2 Nov 2016