A rapid and highly efficient system for transferring large molecules, nanoparticles, and other agents into living cells opens new avenues for disease research and treatment.
Researchers administered a new method for treating chronic wounds using a novel ultrasound applicator that can be worn like a band-aid. The applicator delivers low-frequency, low-intensity ultrasound directly to wounds, and was found to significantly accelerate healing in five patients with venous ulcers.
NIBIB-funded scientists and engineers are teaming up with neurosurgeons to develop technologies that enable less invasive, image-guided removal of hard-to-reach brain tumors. Their technologies combine novel imaging techniques that allow surgeons to see deep within the brain during surgery with robotic systems that enhance the precision of tissue removal.
NIBIB-funded researchers at Texas A&M are using the unique contraction and expansion properties of shape memory polymer foam to design a much improved treatment for brain aneurysms, which cause severe neurological damage or death for 30,000 Americans each year.
Detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood can play an important role in early diagnosis, characterization of cancer subtypes, treatment monitoring and metastasis. NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a microfluidic system that isolates CTCs more efficiently than current technologies.
Skin cancer surgery involves successive removal of tissue, which is processed using a 45 minute procedure to determine if residual cancer remains and is often repeated several times. Now, NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a microscopic technique that identifies residual cancer tissue in 90 seconds, promising to dramatically reduce the length, inefficiency, and cost of this common surgery.
There are many reasons some people may not get a flu shot, but would they be more likely to do so if there was a simple device that could be mailed directly to them, was easy enough to use by themselves, and provided at least the same level of protection as a traditional flu shot without the pain of a needle jab? A recent NIBIB-funded study suggests the answer is yes.
Four people with paraplegia are able to voluntarily move previously paralyzed muscles as a result of a novel therapy involving electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.