Due to its high accuracy, lab-based PCR testing is the gold standard for infectious disease diagnostics. Yet PCR's availability is limited, especially in low-resource settings. New research suggests a new kind of test could be more streamlined without sacrificing performance.

Bioengineering researchers at Rice University have developed ultrasmall, stable gas-filled protein nanostructures that could revolutionize ultrasound imaging and drug delivery. Unlike current microbubbles or nanobubbles that are too large to cross biological barriers effectively, the novel diamond-shaped 50-nanometer gas vesicles (50-NM GVs) — approximately the size of viruses — are believed to be the smallest stable, free-floating structures for medical imaging ever created. Source: Rice University News

To date, nine medical device developers participating in the RADx® Tech Independent Test Assessment Program have received emergency use authorization for at-home and point-of care test products that simultaneously detect COVID-19 and flu A/B.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have created innovative soft robots equipped with electronic skins and artificial muscles, allowing them to sense their surroundings and adapt their movements in real-time. These features make soft sensory robots highly adaptable and useful for enhancing medical diagnostics and treatments.  Source: UNC Chapel Hill 

Malignant primary brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer deaths among children and young adults with few therapeutic options. A preclinical study in Pharmaceutics shows that combining focused ultrasound with microbubbles opened the blood brain barrier to deliver immunotherapy into the brain of a large animal model.