Glossary of Terms

H

• half-life

  The time it takes for a substance to decrease to half of its original value.

• Haptic Technology

  A technology that provides the sense of touch to the user through forces, vibrations or motions. For medical procedures, haptic interfaces can improve minimally-invasive surgery by relaying the sense of pressure and touch through the instruments used by the surgeon. Haptic technology has been introduced into the design of prosthetics to provide sensory feedback to the user.

• harmonize

  the process of unifying data that is collected from multiple sources into a single format

• Human Microbiome

  The microbiome is the community of microorganisms (such as fungi, bacteria and viruses) that exists in a particular environment. In humans, the term is often used to describe the microorganisms that live in or on a particular part of the body, such as the skin or gastrointestinal tract.

• Hydrogel

  A biomaterial made up of a network of polymer chains that are highly absorbent and as flexible as natural tissue. Hydrogels have a number of uses including as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as sustained release drug delivery systems, and as biosensors that are sensitive to specific molecules such as glucose.

• hydrophobicity

  physical property of a substance that describes its propensity to repel water