Diabetes culprit may be a single enzyme

Sciientists have linked a single enzyme to the development of diabetes, a finding that could help develop new treatments for the more than 120 million Americans that have diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Can insect venom be harnessed to fight cancer?

Bees give us honey, painful stings…and cancer-fighting drugs, if scientists can figure out how to extract and deliver the venom’s cancer-fighting compounds.  University of Illinois Bioengineering Professor Dipanjan Pan says he has developed nanoparticles that can carry insect toxins directly to tumors, sparing the rest of the body from nasty side effects, including damage to the heart, bleeding underneath the skin and unwanted clotting.

New Imaging Pen Helps Identify Cancerous Skin Lesions

A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose skin cancer; however, having good confidence that a lesion is cancerous before a biopsy can reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies performed.  A new tool developed by researchers at University of Texas at Austin uses three different mechanisms to image a lesion, potentially providing a new way to identify suspected tumors.  It is currently undergoing pilot clinical trials.

Earbuds: The wearable med device of the future? Apple, Intel think so

Several companies are developing wearable biosensors in the form of wristbands; however, the co-founder of biosensing technology company Valencell says the ear is the best to place collect vital signs, and giants Intel and Apple have earbud ambitions as well.

Japanese researcher found dead amid a swirling stem cell research scandal

One of the authors of a controversial and now-retracted paper purporting a stem cell breakthrough has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide, according to numerous reports, following an investigation that has alarmed researchers and rattled one of Japan’s most respected institutions.

FDA names 107 devices it will exempt under new guidelines

List is for products that are ‘understood’ and do not present ‘risks’;  The FDA released a list of 107 medical devices it will exempt from its 510(k) Premarket Notification Regulations as part of the agency’s efforts to streamline its approval process for products similar to those that have already undergone testing and trials.