Swiss scientists roll out low-cost portable diagnostic for Ebola

Scientists are racing to develop quick diagnostic devices that can screen for potentially deadly diseases in developing countries.  Now, some researchers moved one step forward in the field with a portable microfluidic device that can screen for the Ebola virus.

Nature Biotech: Researchers 3-D print functional ear, bone and muscle structures

Scientists from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have proven that they can 3-D print living tissue structures, including ear, bone and muscle, which may be used to replace tissue on human patients.  The research team published a paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology showing that they were able to 3-D print human-scale tissues and then effectively implant them in mice to result in vascularized, functional tissue.

FDA releases guidance on improving medical device interoperability

Interoperability is an increasingly important component of med tech, due to the need for communication and data exchange within a networked system of other devices, electronic health records and clinicians.  Poor interoperability is blamed for problems like “alarm fatigue” whereby poorly networked devices produce an excessive number of loud warnings out of an abundance of caution, leading to the risk that a necessary alarm will be ignored.

Mayo Clinic dispatches UV-emitting robots to fight drug-resistant bacteria

With superbug infections proliferating at U.S. healthcare facilities, hospitals are looking for new ways to eliminate potentially deadly bacteria. Mayo Clinic is jumping on the bandwagon, rolling out bacteria-fighting robots that use UV light to kill C. difficile.

NIH commits $313M over four years to sequencing genomics of human disease

The National Institutes of Health has launched a program to explore the role of genomics in common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and autism.  This program, along with the continuation of another program dedicated to the study of genomics underlying rare diseases like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy, has gained a commitment for $313 million in NIH funding from various agencies over the next four years.