Medical Engineering

Fat may have finally met its match: laser light. Researchers at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) have shown, for the first time, that a laser can preferentially heat lipid-rich tissues, or fat, in the body without harming the overlying skin. Laser therapies based on the new research could treat a variety of health conditions, including se

Today a new hearing aid in the form of a pair of glasses was unveiled. These hearing-glasses are called ’Varibel’ and offer older people the chance to stay active longer – free from the aesthetically unpleasing and technologically limited traditional hearing aids. Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands originally developed the hearing-glasses. Varibel developed these glasses into a consumer product in partnership with Philips, Frame Holland, the design agencies MMID and Verhoe

Optical scientists have developed eyeglass lenses that switch focus in a blink of an eye. Optical scientists at The University of Arizona have developed new switchable, flat, liquid crystal diffractive lenses that can adaptively change their focusing power. That’s great news for those old enough to wear bifocals. And it’s great news for anyone with imperfect vision, for it opens the way for next-generation “smart” eyeglasses — glasses with built-in automatic focus.

Medical lasers are like science fiction heat rays that can vaporize tumors. The problem has been getting the lasers to where they are needed inside the body while protecting healthy tissue. Now “perfect mirror” technology, developed by MIT researchers, is being used to shoot a laser through a spaghetti-thin, flexible fiber to attack tumors and other diseased tissue in highly targeted, minimally invasive surgery. OmniGuide fiber, licensed through MIT’s Technology Licens

Rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes are caused by enzyme deficiencies and typically have crippling, even fatal, consequences starting at very early ages. Now a team of University of Washington scientists has developed a relatively simple screening process to detect enzyme deficiencies in newborns that will allow treatment to begin before too much damage has been done.

“All of the damage from these diseases is permanent, so if you can start treatmen

Endoscopic surgery brings many advantages for patients but is very difficult for the surgeon. Working at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, Joris Jaspers has developed two instruments which make this approach easier and also cheaper than with existing surgical robotics. Jaspers is awarded his doctorate on Wednesday 22 March at Delft University of Technology.

Endoscopic operations (or keyhole surgery) are much less stressful for the patient and give a better cosmetic result than ‘open