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NIH has granted Sandia $6 million to build the prototype medical device that would make magnetoencephalography (MEG) — a type of noninvasive brain scan — more comfortable, more accessible and potentially more accurate.

Engineers have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs. Their research results suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on some complex medical tasks.

Scientists report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals' immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune system 'uncloaking' device directly to cancer cells.

A team created an adaptable, wearable and stretchable fabric embroidered with conductive threads that provides excellent signal-to-noise ratio for enhanced MRI scanning.

Experts believe that tuberculosis, or TB, has been a scourge for humans for some 15,000 years, with the first medical documentation of the disease coming out of India around 1000 B.C.E. Today, the World Health Organization reports that TB is still the leading cause of death worldwide from a single infectious agent, responsible for some 1.5 million fatalities annually.

Medical researchers can now use label-free microscopic techniques to visualize extracellular vesicles, which are associated with cancer.

By adding infrared capability to the ubiquitous, standard optical microscope, researchers hope to bring cancer diagnosis into the digital era. Pairing infrared measurements with high-resolution optical images and machine learning algorithms, the researchers created digital biopsies that closely correlated with traditional pathology techniques and also outperformed state-of-the-art infrared microscopes.

A team of engineers has created an ultra-small, wireless, battery-free device that uses light to record individual neurons so neuroscientists can see how the brain is working.

A new synthetic biology toolkit developed at Northwestern Engineering will help researchers design mammalian cells with new functionalities. The toolkit, called the Composable Mammalian Elements of Transcription (COMET), could result in new therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases, like cancer.