“Transparent” mice allowed researchers in Japan to study how cancer travels through the body, their colleagues in Switzerland developed a smart bandage that monitors healing in chronic wounds, and a designer in London 3D-printed a robotic “third thumb.” That’s a big tumbs up to tech!
Transparent Mice Display Cancer’s Ways
What is it? Scientists working at the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center in Japan and the University of Tokyo have found a way to turn organs in mice transparent and use them to build 3D maps showing how cancer cells travel, or metastasize, through the body.
Why does it matter? Metastasis is the point when cancer cells split away from the original tumor and spread through the body via blood or the lymphatic system, escalating the disease. “One of the biggest difficulties in studying cancer is that tumor metastasis is started by just a few metastasized cells,” said Hiroki Udea, one of the team’s leaders. “Our new method makes it possible to image the whole body down to the individual cell level, and therefore we can detect cancer at spatial resolutions beyond what is possible using other current imaging techniques.” Although the technology cannot be applied to live animals, the team reported they “were able to quantify metastatic cells very early in formation. This will be a very powerful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs.”
How does it work? The team developed a “clearing agent” called CUBIC-R that determines how light bends when it travels through the body. Next, they use a light microscope to image the rodents.
Top GIF credit: Hiroki R. Ueda/Kohei Miyazono/RIKEN. Video credit: ZME Science.
Changes in pH affect the color and the intensity of the fluorescent glow emitted by sensor, which staff can monitor with an ultraviolet light. Image credit: Empa/CSEM
What is it? Researchers in Switzerland have developed a sensor-enabled bandage that allows medical staff to monitor chronic wounds “from outside” and alerts them when they start “healing badly.”
Why does it matter? The bandage could help nurses care for patients witch chronic wounds, which require changing the dressing regularly to monitor the healing process. “Not only does this irritate the skin unnecessarily; bacteria can also get in, the risk of infection soars,” according to Empa, the Swiss research center involved in the project. “It would be much better to leave the bandage on for longer and have the nursing staff ‘read’ the condition of the wound from outside.”
How does it work? The special fluorescent sensors embedded in the bandage detect changes in pH level of the wound, as well as changes in glucose and oxygen level. The pH number indicates the acidity or basicity of liquid compound. “The pH level is particularly useful for chronic wounds. If the wound heals normally, the pH rises to 8 before falling to 5 or 6,” Empa wrote. “If a wound fails to close and becomes chronic, however, the pH level fluctuates between 7 and 8.” Changes in pH affect the color and the intensity of the fluorescent glow emitted by sensor, which staff can monitor with an ultraviolet light.
What is it? Engineers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands developed Stormram 4 — “the world’s smallest and most accurate 3D-printed biopsy robot.”
Why does it matter? Although Stormram 4 is still just a proof of concept, the university reported that the robot can perform a biopsy — remove a small tissue sample — with a special needle during an MRI scan which “significantly increases accuracy” of the procedure. The device also could be equipped with special hot or cold needles and “possibly” used to “destroy tumor cells close to the tip of the needle. This enables the treatment of cancer without the need for invasive surgical procedures.”
How does it work? The robot 3D printed from plastic uses small stepper motors to direct the needle or an “MRI-compatible biopsy gun” to a lesion or a suspect area with “sub-millimeter precision.”
Video credit: University of Twente.
Graduate student Nicholas Davy holds a sample of the “smart glass.” The window can “block more than 80 percent of light” when darkened, according Princeton University. Caption credit: Princeton University. Image credit: David Kelly Crow
What is it? Researchers at Princeton University have developed self-powered “smart window” technology that can change the window tint and reduce the demands on heating or cooling inside the building. The system “promises to be inexpensive and easy to apply to existing windows.”
Why does it matter? Smart windows could save “up to 40 percent in an average building’s energy costs,” Princeton reported. “We wanted the smart window to dynamically control the amount of natural light and heat that can come inside, saving on energy cost and making the space more comfortable,” said Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and one of the authors of a paper published in Nature Energy.
How does it work? The smart window uses a new type of solar cell that absorbs near-ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun to power “chemical reactions that lighten or darken the glass as needed.” The tint of the glass “controls the transmission of visible light and infrared heat into the building,” Princeton said. “This new technology is actually smart management of the entire spectrum of sunlight,” according to Loo. “Using near-UV light to power these windows means that the solar cells can be transparent and occupy the same footprint of the window without competing for the same spectral range or imposing aesthetic and design constraints.”
What is it? Dani Clode, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, has developed a robotic “third thumb” that gives users a sixth finger on one hand. “The origin of the word ‘prosthesis’ meant ‘to add, put onto’, so not to fix or replace, but to extend,” Clode, who hails from New Zealand, told the magazine Dezeen. “The Third Thumb is inspired by this word origin, exploring human augmentation and aiming to reframe prosthetics as extensions of the body.” She added: “It is part tool, part experience, and part self-expression. It instigates necessary conversation about the definition of ‘ability.'”
Why does it matter? Clode won the RCA’s Helen Hamlyn Design Award for Creativity this year. Wearers already have used the device to play the guitar, pick up objects and do other common tasks. The school wrote that the Third Thumb “strengthens and enhances natural dexterity through wearable and robotic technical innovation, not only addressing limb loss for disabled people but allowing people from all abilities to extend their capabilities.”
How does it work? The 3D-printed thumb is attached to the palm with a plastic cuff and extends out just below the pinkie. Users control it with a pressure sensor on the sole of their shoe that transmits the signal via Bluetooth to a wristband equipped with a motor. The motor then flexes the thumb with a plastic filament.
Video credit: dezeen