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Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have created innovative soft robots equipped with electronic skins and artificial muscles, allowing them to sense their surroundings and adapt their movements in real-time. These features make soft sensory robots highly adaptable and useful for enhancing medical diagnostics and treatments.  Source: UNC Chapel Hill 

Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have improved a gene-editing technology that is now capable of inserting or substituting entire genes in the genome in human cells efficiently enough to be potentially useful for therapeutic applications. Source: The Broad Institute 

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed an artificial lymph node, which is implanted under the skin and designed to act like a learning hub and stimulator to teach immune system T-cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Two undergraduate students at Washington State University who participated in the NIBIB-funded Enhancing Science, Technology, EnginEering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) program were recently recognized for their outstanding contributions to science, technology, engineering and math.   

The two undergraduate students are Brayan Osegueda Velazquez majoring in bioengineering, who won a national Barry Goldwater distinguished scholarship, and Ethan Villalovoz studying computer science, who was named the Outstanding Junior in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture.   

Sources: Washington State University: Three WSU students receive national Goldwater Awards | WSU Insider | Washington State University

Voiland College names 2024 outstanding students | WSU Insider | Washington State University

Penn State researchers recently developed an adhesive sensing device that seamlessly attaches to human skin to detect and monitor the wearer’s health. The writable sensors can be removed with tape, allowing new sensors to be patterned onto the device. Source: Penn State

Diabetic wounds are slow-healing, potentially life-threatening complications with limited treatment options. But a two-step, nanomaterial-based strategy may open doors to better care.

Researchers have, for the first time, visualized the full network of blood vessels across the cortex of awake mice, finding that blood vessels rhythmically expand and contract leading to “waves” washing across the surface of the brain. These findings, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), improve the understanding of how the brain receives blood, though the function of the waves remains a mystery. Source: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 

Compared with receiving a kidney from a deceased donor who did not undergo dialysis, receiving a kidney from a deceased donor who underwent dialysis prior to kidney donation was associated with a significantly higher incidence of delayed graft function, but no significant difference in graft failure or death at follow-up.  Source: Eureka News Alert 

A team of scientists have developed a noninvasive alternative to current weight-loss options—an oral capsule containing a tiny vibrating motor that is designed to stimulate the stomach to produce the same sense of fullness people experience after eating a large meal.