At the University of California Los Angeles, scientists have developed a handheld lab kit that can conduct automated pooled testing for viral diseases, including COVID-19. The technology consists of a microfluidic platform that relies on swarms of magnetic discs, which the researchers have termed “ferrobots”, to shuttle samples through the device and mix them with reagents before reaching an area where a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay takes place.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a nanotechnology platform that can make cancer cells more vulnerable to immune attack in the body. The researchers call their system the bispecific tumor-transforming nanoconjugate (BiTN) platform.

Engineers at MIT have developed a system that could let users of robotic prostheses to more sensitively control their bionic limbs. The technology involves implanting pairs of small magnetic beads into muscles. When the muscles contract, the beads move closer together, allowing prosthetic devices to more precisely calculate a user’s intentions and mirror these.

Preceptis Medical, a medtech company based in Minnesota, created the Hummingbird Tympanostomy Tube System. The device allows ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons to insert ear tubes in the comfort of their office. The procedure requires only local anesthetic and is intended to be less distressing for pediatric patients than the conventional approach, which requires general anesthesia.

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a low-cost hearing test for newborns. Traditionally, the equipment for such testing is quite expensive. As newborns cannot let us know if they can hear something, the test is based on creating a noise within the ear canal and then listening to the vibrations created by the specialized hair cells within.

Scientists at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a technique that lets them improve the coating of nanoparticles when using cell membranes. Cell membranes offer a lot of benefits as a coating for synthetic nanoparticles, including shielding from the immune system, prolonged circulation times and improved tumor accumulation. However, current approaches to coating nanoparticles with cell membranes often result in an incomplete covering.

Medical Microinstruments, a medtech company with offices in Pisa, Italy and Delaware, USA, has developed the Symani Microsurgical Robot. The robotic system is designed to assist with microsurgical procedures, and it boasts a variety of advanced features to achieve this goal.

At the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, researchers have developed micelle technology that can detect minute amounts of SARS-CoV-2 in the air. This new capability could provide invaluable monitoring systems to detect viral contamination in healthcare facilities and beyond. Micelles are somewhat similar to liposomes in that they are both like tiny lipid bubbles. In this instance, the researchers incorporated molecularly imprinted polymer molecules into the wall of the micelles. These molecularly imprinted molecules can bind to the viral spike protein.