Google wearables to add to planned bioinformatics database

Google isn’t just searching the Internet.  The company will soon search the insides of people’s bodies for new biomarkers by collecting their urine, blood, saliva and tears as part of its Baseline Study initiative.

NIH to spur innovation in new therapeutic areas

The National Institutes of Health is launching three new programs in emerging areas with the lofty goal of transforming biomedical research in the next 5 to 10 years.

Wearable optical device detects diabetic complication

Complications of diabetes are more easily treated when they are found early.  Researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital have developed a wearable optical device to detect diabetic autonomic neuropathy, a common diabetic complication, that could be better than existing detection methods.

CDC takes steps to improve lab safety after anthrax, flu scares

In response to back-to-back incidents involving government laboratories, a top official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned, and the agency has assembled a safety board to address concerns that have arisen after workers were potentially exposed to anthrax and H5N1 flu.

FDA final guidance modifies 510(k) rules, discourages use of multiple predicate devices

In a new final guidance issued in July, the FDA announced that it will frown upon the use of multiple predicate devices in 510(k) submissions, unlike when it cleared metal-on-metal hip implants, which the Agency later said can damage surrounding bones and contaminate the body by releasing ions into the bloodstream.

3-D printing grows to scale within industry

Over the past two decades, 3-D printing has grown from a niche technology to a multibillion-dollar industry.  The manufacturing process was developed in the 1980s as a way to produce small volumes of scale models but has since expanded to include the manufacturing of medical devices and implants for surgical and clinical use.  The process, also known as additive manufacturing, uses computer models to build three-dimensional objects by printing materials like plastic, polymers, metals and powders in layers.