By emulating nature’s design principles, a team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has created nanodevices made of DNA that self-assemble and can be programmed to move and change shape on demand. In contrast to existing nanotechnologies, these programmable nanodevices are highly suitable for medical applications because DNA is both biocompatible and biodegradable. The work appears in the June 20 advance online Nature Nanotechnology.

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Using lab mice genetically bred to express immune cell proteins in different fluorescent colors, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) have developed a new imaging system that differentiates protective and destructive T-cells. This has enabled them to assess the health of transplanted tissue by visualizing immune cell responses in real time.

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Medtronic, Inc. has announced the launch of iPro™2 Professional CGM, a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system used by physicians to help improve diabetes management, in 49 countries around the world. This simplified, yet more advanced fourth-generation CGM system is valuable for detecting high and low glucose fluctuations that can lead to dangerous health complications, which often go undetected with traditional A1C tests and glucose meter measurements.

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Data from the first phase III clinical trial of NovoCure’s NovoTTF device for treatment of patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) were presented as a late breaking abstract during the Neuro-Oncology session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. Study results show that NovoTTF, a portable medical device, may be as or more effective than the best available chemotherapies for GBM, but without the toxicity usually associated with cytotoxic or targeted treatments.

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Intel Corporation has announced the Intel(R) Health Guide, a care management tool designed for healthcare professionals who treat patients with chronic conditions, for the UK. The Intel Health Guide represents Intel’s entry into a new category of personal health systems that go beyond the simple remote patient monitoring systems available today. The Intel Health Guide, a regulated device that carries the CE mark under the EU Medical Device Directive, is a comprehensive personal health system that combines an in-home patient device – the Intel Health Guide PHS6000 – as well as the Intel(R) Health Care Management Suite.

Olympus has come up with  its new Enzymatic Creatinine assay, that can be used across the range of Olympus diagnostic analyzers. Developed to determine the quantity of creatinine in human urine, serum and plasma, the novel assay makes use of an enzymatic method to attain greater precision, interfering lesser and lesser with antibiotics and bilirubin. It compliments the Jaffe technique, currently in use, measuring creatinine more exactly for specific cases in which the potential interference exists from diabetes, liver failure, renal failure and jaundice.

Medtronic, Inc.’s Discyphor Direct™ Catheter System is now available in United States. Doctors use the second-generation catheter system to get more information on detecting the disc that causes discogenic low back pain. The system uses the company’s innovative Functional Anaesthetic Discography™ Procedure. Each disc is anesthetized individually for diagnosis of the disc that causes pain. Spine surgeons often use the procedure’s benefit in the form of diagnostic results to determine the best treatment for patients.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are working on developing a spectral imaging system that could reduce the operating times for infants undergoing surgery for Hirschsprung’s disease, according to a mouse study published in the Journal of Biophotonics. Apart from the diagnostic capabilities, the system could provide an “optical biopsy,” enabling surgeons to determine the exact location of a needed intervention.

Photo by Mat Culpepper

Masimo has been granted FDA approval for its breakthrough noninvasive and continuous total hemoglobin monitoring technology (SpHb). The technology should make hemoglobin measurement more convenient and available to clinicians in hospital and outpatient settings, according to the company. It is designed to improve patient safety and decrease costs. Noninvasive total hemoglobin monitoring will be offered as part of the upgradable Masimo Rainbow SET technology platform. The company expects the technology to be available to select customers by the third quarter of this year.

Scientists at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and Peking University in Beijing have received a U.S. patent for their virtual telemicroscope. This software may be used by offsite pathologists to diagnose diseases in patients located elsewhere. Chinese company Motic has used the patent to create a microscope that scans the slides at different magnifications and the compressed images produced thereafter are emailed to various required locations.