All articles by Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Remote surgery
Barriers to healthcare are nothing new. Inequalities of different kinds can impact the sort of medical care a person receives, but when it comes to the physical location of a patient being prohibitive of surgical intervention, there’s a technological answer. Remote surgery uses internet connectivity and a suite of robotics equipment to allow surgeons to conduct procedures while thousands of miles away from patients. Monica Karpinski speaks to three experts at the cutting edge of remote robotic surgery to find out how it could transform surgical procedures and make them accessible to more patients.
Safe spaces
The transmission risk associated with SARS-CoV-2 forced numerous changes to the way hospitals operate. Now we’re not dealing with the worst excesses of the virus, how much learning from this experience has been maintained in hospitals through permanent changes to infection control procedures? Professor Lyn Gilbert, former chair of Australia’s Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG), tells Abi Millar her thoughts.
Battling biofilm
There are several reasons why chronic wounds are a blight on the globe’s medical systems, but formation of a biofilm on a wound’s surface is perhaps the most difficult to overcome. This barrier shields bacteria against the body’s immune defences and reduces antibiotic efficacy So how can clinicians breach it? Abi Millar asks Barbara Conway, head of pharmacy at the University of Huddersfield, UK, and co-director of the Institute of Skin Integrity and Infection Prevention; Sarah Rowe-Conlon, a research associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina, and Virginie Papadopoulou, research assistant professor in the UNC-NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.
CRISPR-based detection
The discovery of CRISPR was a pivotal moment in the fi eld of genetic engineering, due to the ability to use it to enable site-specific editing of DNA. It’s been a decade since CRISPR was discovered and this particular application still hasn’t made it out of clinical trials and into the clinic. But that doesn’t mean the tool doesn’t have its uses, as we discovered when a plethora of CRISPR-based Covid-19 tests hit the market during the pandemic. Covid-19 is just a single use case for CRISPR in diagnostics, however, and Oladimeji Ewumi speaks to Bryan Dechario, CEO of Sherlock Biosciences, and Kevin Davies, executive editor of The CRISPR Journal, to learn how the genetic engineering tool is being used to develop improved testing protocols for diseases.
A softer approach to brain monitoring
Abnormal brain activity can be a tell-tale sign of neurological disease, but detecting it is more of a marathon than a sprint. Several limitations, from technology to convenience, prevent clinicians from detecting the signals needed to make a diagnosis, and the result is that patient treatment is delayed. There could be a glimmer of hope for the long-term monitoring necessary to avoid these mistakes, however. Sophie Ash speaks to Jennifer Gelinas, assistant professor of neurology, electrical, and biomedical engineering, and director of the Epilepsy and Cognition lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, to find out how developments in materials science could make constant monitoring a reality for doctors and patients.
Keeping tabs
One of the key components of effective wound management is keeping track of indicators that drive wound pathology and healing. Typically, this is done by assessing how they look and sending swabs to the lab. But there’s a better way on the horizon, and it comes in the form of new technologies that can quickly analyse the state of a wound and allow practitioners to expedite treatment and give patients the best chance to heal. Allison DeMajistre speaks to Benjamin Tee, associate professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the NUS College of Design and Engineering and the NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology; and Simiao Niu, assistant professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University, to learn about how their research could lead to better wound healing.
bioMérieux makes strategic investment in Oxford Nanopore
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc (LSE: ONT) (“Oxford Nanopore”), the company delivering a new generation of nanopore-based molecular sensing technology, and bioMérieux SA, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics (“IVD”) today announce that bioMérieux is making an immediate £70M investment in Oxford Nanopore.
Canon Medical integrates sports, AI and diagnostics in new facility
Canon Medical’s new diagnostic and sports centre in Sheffield is aimed in part at helping to expand the company’s AI capabilities.
Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Just Got Easier with CE Mark Certification of Lucida Medical’s New AI Software
Groundbreaking software by Lucida Medical, Pi™, demonstrates expert level of performance and exceptional promise of improving accuracy, cost, and time required in prostate cancer diagnosis
Smith+Nephew opens new state-of-the-art surgical innovation and training centre in the heart of Munich
Smith+Nephew (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN), the global medical technology company specialising in orthopaedics, advanced wound management and sports medicine, is pleased to announce the opening of the purpose-built Smith+Nephew Academy Munich, a new centre for surgical innovation and training.