Living and breathing lung on a chip: Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute created a living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip. The device mimics the alveolar membrane, the border between air and the bloodstream. Scientists imitated the membrane using a micro-fabrication process that uses clear rubbery materials to create a porous membrane between layers of living cells. Gas exchange does not happen in the synthetic organ yet, but it does respond to bacteria or airborne pollutants the same way a lung in a living body responds. The device is intended to be used to test the effect of drugs and toxins on lung tissue.
News Well
Neuros Medical wins $1.5 million DoD grant
By Mary Vanac
Neuros Medical Inc. plans to double — maybe even triple — its employment over the coming year as it uses a $1.5 million U.S. Dept. of Defense grant to speed development of its neurostimulation device to block chronic pain.
Regulatory compliance vs. innovation: Does it have to be either-or?
Arne Carlson, the former governor of Minnesota, recently contributed an opinion column to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, voicing concerns about increased Food & Drug Administration regulation of the medical device industry stifling innovation. The column came as Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices & Radiological Health, prepared to visit the state — one of the country’s biggest medical device hubs — for a town hall meeting to discuss CDRH’s 2010 Strategic Imperatives and hear feedback from industry officials.
Weird Health News: The X-ray pinup calendar
Beauty that’s truly more than skin deep
German imaging display manufacturer EIZO put out a pinup calendar. Thanks to our friends at MedGadget.com, you can see the calendar images. We’re not sure if it’s NSFW, but be warned: These models literally bare it all.
The iPhone app for ED
Perfinity drums up $4.7 million
Stealthy mass spectrometry company Perfinity Biosciences has raised $2.3 million in an equity offering, just over a month after it pulled in nearly the same amount, according to regulatory filings.
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More defib trouble for Medtronic’s Physio-Control division
Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE:MDT) headache over its Physio-Control Inc. subsidiary is turning into a veritable migraine, as it reveals another issue with its LifePak line of defibrillators.
Redmond, Wash.-based Physio-Control said it issued a "field correction" for some of its LifePak 20/20e defibrillators, after discovering that some of the devices might lose battery power while in operation.
Diagnostic Hybrids wins Chinese OK for virus test
Ohio University spinoff Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. has received Chinese regulatory approval to sell a respiratory virus testing kit.
The company’s D3 Ultra DFA Respiratory Virus Screening and ID Kit screens and identifies the following viruses: Influenza A, Influenza B, Parainfluenza 1, 2, & 3, Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Adenovirus.
Mira Dx boosts Series A round with $1 million from Connecticut Innovations
Mira Dx landed a $1 million investment from Connecticut Innovations.
The stake in the New Haven, Conn.-based biomarker technology firm’s $4 million Series A round will help the company launch its PreOvar ovarian cancer test.
What motivates salespeople?
2009 was not a banner year for sales achievement in most industries. Economic conditions certainly played a role. Staying motivated through such a tough economy is probably one of the chief issues salespeople and sales leaders faced last year. Some salespeople steeled themselves by “refusing to participate” in the recession and found ways to exceed their quotas and grow their business. Many individuals and companies did not.
Bilski ruling may reveal frivolity of certain biotech patents
The Supreme Court issued a unanimous and somewhat surprising decision limiting the scope of business methods patents. The ruling in In Re Bilski upheld a lower court decision that invalidated two inventors’ patent on a method of hedging weather-related risk in energy prices. The high court said it couldn’t be granted because the process wasn’t “tied to a particular machine or apparatus” and it didn’t “transform a particular article into a different state or thing.”