Explore more about: Assistive Devices

The new technique is capable of printing the models 10-50 times faster than the industry standard—in minutes instead of hours— a major step in the quest to create 3D-printed replacement organs.

In Made of Stronger Stuff, psychologist Kimberley Wilson and doctor Xand van Tulleken learn how Jason became the first person in the world with a neural enabled prosthetic hand, and as a result, regained the sensation of touch in his fingers. Source: BBC Radio Podcast.

Researchers have designed a skin-like device that can be attached to the face and measure small movements such as a twitch or a smile. With this approach, patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) could communicate a variety of sentiments with small movements that are measured and interpreted by the device.

Researchers demonstrated how a deep learning framework they call 'Brain-NET' can accurately predict a person's level of expertise in terms of their surgical motor skills, based solely on neuroimaging data.

A million Americans with injury or age-related disabilities need someone to help them eat. Now engineers have taught a robot to pick up food with a fork and gingerly deliver it to a person’s mouth.

Projects focused on providing simple, low-cost modifications to surgical techniques that could reduce pain or damage from these procedures dominated this year’s Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) challenge.

Hari Shroff, Ph.D., chief of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering’s lab section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI), and his team have spent the last few years developing optical microscopes that produce high resolution images at very high speed. After his lab develops these new microscopes, they release the plans and software for free, so any researcher can replicate the advances made at NIH. This latest microscope builds on previous improvements that Shroff’s lab had made with selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM).

Scientists have observed that more aerobically fit individuals have better memories. To investigate this phenomenon, they used magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), which measures the firmness and elasticity of organs, and found that fit individuals had a firmer, more elastic hippocampus—a region of the brain associated with memory. The method could provide early diagnosis and potential interventions in the initial stages of neurodegenerative disease.

NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a revolutionary 3-D printer that paves the way for direct printing of biomedical devices onto human skin. The printer builds flexible electronic sensors that measure pressure.  They’re expected to improve sensation in prosthetic hands and surgical robotic arms.

Engineers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have developed glasses with liquid-based lenses that “flex” to refocus on whatever the wearer is viewing.