Yanfeo Li

Authors: Yanfei Li ¹, Steffen Junginger ², Norbert Stoll ² , Kerstin Thurow ¹
1) celisca - Center for Life Science Automation
2) Institute of Automation, University of Rostock

In Life Science Automation, it becomes more and more important to ensure the availability of desired assays and automated workflows in advance, especially for large high-end projects. This study presents a 4D simulation system, which synthesizes technologies including workflow, database, advanced CAD, programming and dynamic simulation technology, to realize a real-time simulation for the laboratory workflow of Life Science Automation. In addition, the system can also check the validity of the simulation results, and tell the PCS to drive the real devices to accomplish the scheduled assay automatically when the result is right.

See Poster- Yanfei Li

TLT Sensor for BP Measurement

This piece only peaks curiosity, but it tells of a British company, Tarilian Laser Technologies (Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England) developing a cuffless, optoelectronic blood pressure sensor that can take BP readings from any part of the body via a sapphire laser. The description and video do not tell how the device actually works, though it might be guessable.  We’ll follow this until it’s clear that a true breakthrough is in the making. MORE

Image Credit:  Tarilian Laser Technologies

Despite almost a quarter century of being able to isolate blood progenitor stem cells, it wasn’t until last summer that a transfusion of lab grown blood was tested in the human. Researchers at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris carried out the trial and showed that no malignancies resulted and the blood was safe.  While the quantity of transfused blood was small, the proof of principle was a significant step toward a new source of blood supply.   MORE

Michio Kaku PhD

Physicist Michio Kaku predicts how today’s breakthroughs in medicine and healthcare-organ regeneration, nanoparticle drug delivery, implantable robots, “smart” bathrooms, sensored clothing, et al-may come together to make health much more achievable in another two generations.  Actually, identifying wonders and worries is much easier than getting the timing right.  Take a look at the video with this piece.  MORE

Image Credit: City College of New York and mddionline.com

You’ll have to go to the journal Molecular Pharmaceuticals to get the full text of this nanomedicine review, but there you’ll find descriptions of existing nanoparticles, nanorobots and nanoelectronic devices that are currently in medical use, as well as a look at things to come, along with considerations about safety and efficacy.  MORE

Visualizing cancer cells with "spray"

Cancer gets its name from the crab because of its resemblance to a mass with many legs. Surgical resection has to remove all the “legs” even though they are nearly impossible to see down to the last cell.  To address this problem, National Cancer Institute researchers have developed a fluorescent spray that targets an enzyme which is abundant in tumor cells, but not in normal ones.  When the spray and enzyme interact, the fluorescence agent remains with the cancer cells and shows their location. MORE

Image Credit:  Science Translational Medicine and Technology Review

Not long after Banting and Macleod won a 1923 Nobel Prize for discovering insulin, scientists began investigating tears as an alternative to blood for measuring glucose levels.  Today, a Google search under “tear glucose” turns up many researchers on the subject, including a group at the University of Michigan that has developed an electrochemical sensor for that use.  Their device relies on immobilizing glucose oxidase on a platinum/iridium wire; when exposed to tear fluid, an electrical current causes a reaction, releasing hydrogen peroxide, which gives the reading.  MORE

Doris Taylor PhD

Regenerative medicine took a leap when Doris Taylor, at the Univ. of Minnesota, grew a rat’s stem cells into a beating heart, but human applications have been slow in coming.  A consortium of Chinese and American researchers, however, believes the time is fairly near when it will be possible to grow a natural tissue pacemaker and strips of heart muscle from human embryonic stem cells to repair broken hearts.  MORE

VIDEO of CREATING A NEW HEART

Image Credit:   University of Minnesota

Sebastian Neubert

Authors: Sebastian Neubert ¹, Sabine Behrendt ², Mohit Kumar³, Regina Stoll ²

1) celisca - Center for Life Science Automation; 2) Institute for Preventive Medicine  3) Institute of Automation, University of Rostock

The acquisition of physiological parameters for preventive medicine studies makes high demands on the flexibility of the used measuring system. The focus of interest is especially the use afield during usual daily routine (e.g. at work or during leisure time) and the continuous monitoring of a subject’s status. Moreover, the aim is the reduction of effort and time exposure of the medical staff by a fully automated analysis of the subject’s raw data.

See Poster   S. Neubert-

Telemedicine

Leona Helmsley will be remembered at “the Queen of Mean,” and for saying that “only the little people pay taxes,” but she was an active health philanthropist, and now $100m from the Leona B. and Harry M. Helmsley Charitable Trust is funding several telemedicine initiatives in South Dakota (the home state of their grandson and trustee).  From a hub in Sioux Falls, virtual trauma and intensive care units are serving several remote locations in the state. Besides the support this brings patients, it also allows hospitals to have their most experienced nurses supervise those with less training.  MORE

Image Credit: Avera McKennan Hospital