artificial intelligence Archives - Page 6 of 11

Mayo Clinic develops AI childbirth risk prediction tool for women in labor

Dr. Abimbola Famuyide is a Mayo Clinic OB-GYN studying AI algorithms for childbirth. [Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic]

Mayo Clinic researchers are using AI algorithms to calculate childbirth risk while women are in labor in an effort to reduce the rate of cesarean delivery and complications.

The machine learning algorithms — a type of device known as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), where the software is the device rather than a mechanical device — analyze patterns of changes for women in labor.

ADVICE: How to pass the patent eligibility test for Software as a Medical Device

“This is the first step to using algorithms in providing powerful guidance to physicians and midwives as they make critical decisions during the labor process,” senior author Dr. Abimbola Famuyide said in a news release. “Once validated with further research, we believe the algorithm will work in real time,…

New semiconductor design boosts AI computing efficiency

The NeuRRAM chip [Photo by David Baillot for the University of California San Diego]

Medical devices could one day get a boost from a new energy-efficient semiconductor designed with AI computing in mind.

Stanford engineers have developed a new resistive random-access memory (RRAM) chip called NeuRRAM that does AI processing within the chip’s memory, saving the battery power traditionally spent moving data between the processor and storage.

“The data movement issue is similar to spending eight hours in commute for a two-hour workday,” Weier Wan, a recent graduate at Stanford leading this project, said in a news release. “With our chip, we are showing a technology to tackle this challenge.”

They say their compute-in-memory (CIM) chip is about the size of a fingertip and does more work with limited battery power than current chips. That makes the new chip a potential space-saver for medical de…

Contract manufacturer Minnetronix Medical launches its first in-house product, MindsEye

Minnetronix Medical’s MindsEye expandable port [Photo courtesy of Minnetronix Medical]

Minnetronix Medical has launched MindsEye, making it the first medical device that the contract developer and manufacturer has conceived and commercialized.

St. Paul-based Minnetronix Medical’s MindsEye is the first expandable brain access port on the market. The FDA cleared the device under the 510(k) pathway in August 2020.

The minimally invasive device gives neurosurgeons deep brain access and visualization as they treat strokes, cancer and other conditions. The device features a flexible sheath made of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and an aluminum obturator. MindsEye won the Minnesota Technology Association’s TEKNE award for best medical technology and device in 2021.

“Its benefits to neurosurgeons — such as expandability, easier insertion and removal, and transparency that minimizes glare …

GE Healthcare picks AI imaging startups for inaugural Edison Accelerator

GE Healthcare has selected seven companies to test their AI imaging technologies with GE’s Edison Digital Health Platform. [Image courtesy of GE Healthcare]

GE Healthcare and Nex Cubed have selected seven companies focused on artificial-intelligence-augmented medical imaging for the first cohort of the Edison Accelerator in Canada.

The companies will be matched with mentors and test their technologies with GE’s new Edison Digital Health Platform over the next three months. The program will end with innovation showcase presentations to potential investors and customers, and some startups could have their products distributed through the GE Healthcare Marketplace.

The cohort’s six startups are:

16 Bit, a physician-founded startup that uses routine chest, spine, pelvis, knee or hand x-rays with computer-aided detection and notification software for low bone mineral density prescreenin…

AI-enabled 3D printer watches and improves material handling on the fly

Two computer vision cameras monitor this 3D printer to detect errors and adjust in real time. [Photo courtesy of MIT]

An AI-enabled additive manufacturing system allowed a 3D printer to monitor and adjust material handling in real time, cutting down the trial-and-error process of learning how to print with new materials.

The technology could make it easier for engineers in medtech and other industries to use new materials in 3D printed products for special electrical or chemical properties, cutting down on the time and materials spent on trial-and-error. It could also help manufacturing equipment adjust to changes in the material or printing environment.

The MIT researchers behind the research project said it could have applications for manufacturing processes beyond 3D printing.

“This project is really the first demonstration of building a manufacturing system that uses machine learning to learn …

Drug discovery isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.

Early in my career, my manager used the phrase in the above headline to highlight the difficulty inherent in drug discovery. Over the ensuing years, I have seen that statement repeatedly confirmed by the brutal attrition in the discovery and development of new drugs. There are so many variables that can kill a drug discovery project — ranging from target validation and hit generation to off-target effects and formulation challenges — and that’s before even entering the clinic, where a whole new set of attrition factors arise. The number of variables to be simultaneously optimized is immense. One is never quite sure if it is even possible to thread the needle and arrive at a global optimum. It is a testament to the grit and persistence of drug discovery scientists that we have found as many lifesaving drugs as we have.

As a multiparameter optimization problem, drug discovery is perhaps the most challenging example we face. But recent advances in computational power and…

Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer

Bakul Patel in 2016, when he was the associate director for digital health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health [FDA photo by Michael Ermarth]Former FDA Chief Digital Health Officer of Global Strategy and Innovation Bakul Patel has started a new job with Google after 13 years with the regulatory agency.

Patel became senior director, global digital health strategy and regulatory for Google Health earlier this month, he said on LinkedIn.

Patel recounted highlights of his “incredible journey since 2008” at the FDA, including the introduction of functionality-based regulations in the FDA’s mobile medical apps guidance, working with international agencies to define and regulate software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD), developing the Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Program and launching the Digital Health Center of Excellence.

Patel had only been in his latest role at FDA since February, previously serving as director of the FDA…

Google Health hires FDA’s chief digital health officer

Bakul Patel in 2016, when he was the associate director for digital health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health [FDA photo by Michael Ermarth]

Former FDA Chief Digital Health Officer Global Strategy and Innovation Bakul Patel has started a new job with Google after 13 years with the regulatory agency.

Patel became senior director, global digital health strategy and regulatory for Google Health earlier this month, he said on LinkedIn.

Patel recounted highlights of his “incredible journey since 2008” at the FDA, including the introduction of functionality-based regulations in the FDA’s mobile medical apps guidance, working with international agencies to define and regulate software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD), developing the Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Program and launching the Digital Health Center of Excellence.

Patel had only been in his…

Stryker leaders talk medtech trends at DeviceTalks Boston: ‘If you’re slow, you’re going to lose’

The first day of DeviceTalks Boston closed with a panel of Stryker (NYSE:SYK) executives discussing new tools, technologies and strategies in medtech.

Digital VP Tracy Robertson, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies President Robert Cohen and Surgical Technologies VP of Digital Innovation Siddarth Satish offered their thoughts on industry trends in healthcare and at the Kalamazoo, Michigan–based orthopedic device giant.

It was only the first question posed to the panel, which also featured Dave Lively — SVP of Product Management, Vocera (now part of Stryker) — and was moderated by Orthopaedics and Spine Group President Spencer Stiles. Watch for more from the discussion at Medical Design & Outsourcing.

The following has been lightly edited for space and clarity.

Tracy Robertson is VP of Digital at Stryker. [Photo courtesy of Stryker]

Tracy Robertson: “The one that I think a…

Here’s where Harvard’s engineering dean sees medtech research going

Harvard University constructed a 500,000-square-foot Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) for SEAS in Boston’s Allston neighborhood in 2020. [Image courtesy of Harvard SEAS]

Surgical robotics, artificial intelligence, and combatting climate change are but some of the priorities that have Harvard’s engineering school dean excited.

Speaking today at DeviceTalks Boston, Frank J. Doyle III described the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences as a “well-kept secret” historically. But Harvard engineering is staking out a strong position when it comes to medtech innovation.

Doyle noted that the school he runs has 5% of the faculty — and produces 40% of the startups out of Harvard.

Get the full story at our sister site, MassDevice.

The cloud is transforming medtech: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, J&J, Philips and GE Healthcare leaders explain

[Illustration via Adobe Stock] Leaders in medtech and cloud computing discuss payoffs and potential in device connectivity, product development and cross-industry partnerships.

If knowledge is power, that power comes from a steady stream of information, and we know there’s no shortage of that in healthcare.

The challenge has long been how to capture that information, store it, analyze it and deploy it to improve medical product design, manufacturing and the health of patients.

Then came the cloud, and with it a host of acronyms: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and — following the same convention — software as a medical device (SaMD).

Over the past few months, Medical Design & Outsourcing connected with leaders in medtech and cloud computing, including the three largest providers of cloud computing services: Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL).…

The cloud is transforming medtech: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, J&J, Philips and GE Healthcare leaders explain

[Illustration via Adobe Stock]

Leaders in medtech and cloud computing discuss payoffs and potential in device connectivity, product development and cross-industry partnerships.

If knowledge is power, that power comes from a steady stream of information, and we know there’s no shortage of that in healthcare.

The challenge has long been how to capture that information, store it, analyze it and deploy it to improve medical product design, manufacturing and the health of patients.

Then came the cloud, and with it a host of acronyms: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and — following the same convention — software as a medical device (SaMD).

Over the past few months, Medical Design & Outsourcing connected with leaders in medtech and cloud computing, including the three largest providers of cloud computing services: Amazon (Nasda…