Researchers at Vanderbilt University announced last week that they developed a surgical robot with steerable needle equipped with wrists smaller than 2 mm thick for use during micro-laproscopic, or needlescopic, surgeries. The device is designed to provide greater dexterity to the microscopic tools, something they currently lack. The new wrists would allow surgeon-operators to perform […]
Research & Development
Researchers 3D print hearts to improve LAA operations
Researchers in Australia are creating 3D replicas of patient’s hearts to plan out left atrial appendage closures using Boston Scientific‘s (NYSE:BSX) Watchman device, according to a new report from heartwire. Creating the 3D replica is useful in patients with complicated cardiovascular anatomy, where even advanced imaging methods can make it difficult to quantify the area […]
Cleveland Clinic biz dev guru Fingerhut out in FBI probe
Cleveland Clinic’s Gary Fingerhut is out after the FBI contacted the clinic to inform them that financial transactions had been made that violated the hospital system’s internal policies. Fingerhut was executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the commercialization arm of the clinic that supports new business developments around innovative medical processes and treatments developed at […]
Major healthcare players form diabetes consortium
Four major players in healthcare said today they inked a collaborative partnership to develop a phone-based, low-cost diabetes platform for Type II patients worldwide. Gentag, Mayo Clinic, NovioSense and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems will partner for the consortium, combining their resources and over 75 issued patents for the development, the groups said. “By pooling […]
Helius Medical wins US Army deal
Helius Medical Technologies said yesterday its subsidiary NeuroHabilitation Corporation inked a cost sharing contract with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command to support a trial of its portable neuromodulation stimulator. The device is designed to treat balance disorder in patients with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury, the Newton, Penn.-based company said. “This important contract represents […]
Diabetes: Medtronic furthers the quest for an artificial pancreas
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Intarcia Therapeutics were in the spotlight at the American Diabetes Assn.’s annual scientific sessions conference in Boston last week, revealing new medical device developments in the fight against diabetes. Medtronic took center stage, announcing new developments for its artificial pancreas program, touting positive data from a user study of its MiniMed 640g and revealing plans to collaborate […]
Innovation in Medtech: harnessing “big data”
Big data – from electronic health records, bio-feedback from wearables and remote monitoring systems that communicate with medical implants – is changing how medical devices are created and designed. MassDevice.com spoke to a pair of researchers at Battelle – David Giles, senior director of medical devices and health analytics and Stephanie Kute, platform lead for the […]
Medtech startups outsource R&D
Starting a medtech company comes with a host of challenges, from regulation to financing to reimbursement. One way that companies can overcome those challenges, according to 2 industry experts, is to outsource some of the research and development work – and in the process, create a leaner, more flexible company.
Philips inks 5-year, $25m research deal with MIT
Zebra Medical raises $8m, launches imaging research platform
Pacemakers learn from wristwatches to ditch batteries
Swiss researchers are taking a page from their country’s most iconic products to change how pacemakers are powered inside the body.