Acquandas is a thin-film device manufacturer that’s now partially owned by brain-computer interface developer Synchron. Rodrigo Lima de Miranda founded Acquandas in 2012 based on microsystem technology he developed for his doctoral thesis, where he was trying to develop a shape memory material made with thin-film deposition. The Kiel, Germany-based contract manufacturer now uses the…
Cerenovus President Mark Dickinson on the future of stroke care
Cerenovus President Mark Dickinson forecasts the innovative technologies that will advance stroke care in the coming years. It’s getting harder to beat aspiration systems for fast and simple thrombectomies to remove blood clots that are blocking oxygen from a stroke patient’s brain. That’s according to Cerenovus Worldwide President Mark Dickinson, who discussed the future of…
Medtronic execs: renal denervation for AFib could be on the horizon
Medtronic renal denervation leaders Jason Weidman and Sean Salmon discuss RDN’s potential to help patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib). As if treating an epidemic-level condition like hypertension wasn’t enough, renal denervation (RDN) also shows potential for atrial fibrillation (AFib) and other conditions related to high blood pressure. In interviews with Medical Design & Outsourcing, Medtronic…
What Medtronic learned on its long road to RDN approval
It took Medtronic nearly 13 years to win FDA approval for renal denervation (RDN) since buying Ardian and its hypertension-treating technology. Jason Weidman, the Medtronic SVP who is also president of coronary and RDN, has a more personal measure of the long road to approval for the world’s largest medical device manufacturer. “The first meeting…
Researchers develop first wearable for continuous monitoring of body sounds
Northwestern University researchers have developed wearable devices for continuously monitoring the sounds made by a patient’s body, such as breathing, heartbeats and digestion. The soft devices stick to a patient’s skin and use two high-performance, digital microphones to listen to sounds inside and outside the body. One of the microphones faces inside the patient, while…
Shunt device startup wants to break barriers in nitinol and heart sensing
Medical devices have yet to tap nitinol’s shape memory properties, but that’s just one breakthrough Adona Medical hopes to achieve with its adjustable, bi-atrial-sensing heart shunt. Adona Medical co-founder and CEO Brian Fahey’s presentation on his shunt device startup’s aspirations elicited palpable interest from the cardiologists in the room at CSI Frankfurt. “You plan to…
3D-printed COVID-19 breath test takes two breaths and one minute
A 3D-printed COVID-19 breath test delivers results within 60 seconds from just one or two breaths, according to Washington University in St. Louis researchers. It’s the same team that recently developed an air monitor that can detect the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus in the air within minutes. Researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the…
80-cent device prototype uses smartphone to monitor blood pressure
University of California San Diego engineers have prototyped an inexpensive device that clips onto a smartphone to monitor a user’s blood pressure. The 3D-printed device uses the smartphone’s camera and flash paired with an algorithm on an app to take systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. “We’ve created an inexpensive solution to lower the barrier…
MIT researchers develop silk-based system to replace microplastics
As scrutiny of microplastics mounts for their health and environmental impacts, a team of researchers are looking into silk protein as a naturally biodegradable alternative. Silk protein fiber can be used as a nontoxic, delayed-release coating that’s safe for medical use instead of microplastics. That’s according to findings recently published in the journal Small by…