May 2024 edition: Intuitive’s DV5, pediatric device design and diabetes tech



 

The Intuitive da Vinci 5’s top design changes: ‘This is groundbreaking for robotic surgery’ Small patients, big design challenges: Pediatric device experts guide engineers on solutions The biggest diabetes tech news out of ATTD 2024 5 things that will shape surgical robotics over the next decade All eyes on Intuitive’s da Vinci 5

It’s hard to think of a product update with higher stakes for a device developer — and the medtech industry — than Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci 5 robotic-assisted surgery system.

All eyes are on the world’s leading surgical robotics developer as it rolls out the next generation of its flagship system after winning FDA clearance. Will the new features and long list of design changes put even more distance between surgical robotics and conventional laparoscopy? Is Intuitive advancing its technology rapidly enough to maintain or expand its lead ahead of larger device manufacturers, maturing surgical robotics developers and fas…

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3D-printed ventricles made from fiber-infused gel ink mimic heartbeats

The tissue-engineered 3D ventricle model. Image credit: Harvard SEAS

Researchers have found a way to use fiber-infused ink to 3D-print a functional heart ventricle that mimics the beating of a human heart.

The team included researchers from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. They reported on their new hydrogel ink infused with gelatin fibers in a paper published in Nature Materials.

This fiber-infused gel (FIG) ink allows heart muscle cells printed in the shape of a ventricle to align, beating in coordination like a human heart chamber.

“People have been trying to replicate organ structures and functions to test drug safety and efficacy as a way of predicting what might happen in the clinical setting,” said Suji Choi, research associate at SEAS and first author on the pape…

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A new mechanically active adhesive fights muscle atrophy

Mechanically active gel-elastomer-nitinol tissue adhesive (MAGENTA) device prototypes made with a nitinol spring and elastomer insulation, with a penny for scale [Photo courtesy of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University]

Harvard bioengineers have created a mechanically active adhesive that can prevent muscle wasting and support atrophy recovery.

They call it MAGENTA, an acronym for mechanically active gel–elastomer–nitinol tissue adhesive. Researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences successfully tested MAGENTA in an animal model and published their study in Nature Materials.

“With MAGENTA, we developed a new integrated multi-component system for the mechanostimulation of muscle that can be directly placed on muscle tissue to trigger key molecular pathways for growth,” senior au…

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Harvard researchers are closer to human heart fabrication

A biohybrid model of a four-chambered heart engineered with focused rotary jet spinning (FRJS) technology [Image courtesy of Harvard SEAS]

Harvard University researchers used focused rotary jet spinning (FRJS) technology to fabricate polymer fibers that mimic the helical structure of heart muscles.

They created ventricle structures with the method and then seeded them with rat cardiomyocyte or human stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte cells, according to a news release from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Roughly a week later, they had several thin layers of beating tissue covering the scaffold. The cells in the beating tissue followed the same helical alignment as the fibers underneath.

The bioengineers, who were from the Wyss Institue and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), were then able to run experiments that comp…

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They said it at DeviceTalks Boston

Proximie CEO Nadine Hachach-Haram [Photo courtesy of Proximie]Medtech insiders convened at DeviceTalks Boston 2022 in May to discuss device design, innovation and trends shaping the industry now and in the years and decades ahead.

Here are some of the most quotable insights from panelists and speakers at our live event.

And make sure to save the date — and save your seat — for DeviceTalks West in Santa Clara, California on Oct. 19 and 20.

Get the full story at our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

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They said it at DeviceTalks Boston

Proximie CEO Nadine Hachach-Haram [Photo courtesy of Proximie]

Medtech insiders convened at DeviceTalks Boston 2022 in May to discuss device design, innovation and trends shaping the industry now and in the years and decades ahead.

Here are some of the most quotable insights from panelists and speakers at our live event.

And make sure to save the date — and save your seat — for DeviceTalks West in Santa Clara, California on Oct. 19 and 20.

Read on to hear what medtech leaders had to say at DeviceTalks Boston 2022.

Next >>

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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.

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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 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.

The university constructed a 500,000-square-foot Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) for SEAS in Boston’s Allston neighborhood in 2020. Other exciting developments include a $500 million gift from Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg …

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