LEAD STORIES
According to recent reports, Apple has hired Divya Nag, a high profile medical device expert, to its ever-growing team of health-related researchers, developers, and industry strategists.
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Powering Medical Devices With Heartbeats And Breathing LungsAn interdisciplinary group of researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Arizona have developed a flexible medical device capable of capturing enough electrical power from the natural motions of a beating heart or a breathing lung to power pacemakers, defibrillators, and heart-rate monitors.
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Researchers Regenerate A Living Organ For The First TimeA team of scientists at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, successfully regenerated a living organ for the very first time — an accomplishment that could prove groundbreaking in the field of tissue regeneration.
ARTICLES
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Validating Medical Heat Sealers: Process Control That Goes Beyond Time, Temperature, And PressureValidating the heat sealing process is thus critical both to comply with regulatory oversight and to be confident in the overall quality of the final product.
Choosing The Right Resin For Your Design — A Reference Guide
There are more than 85,000 commercial options for plastic materials listed in materials databases, and within those, there are 45 polymer families which can be broadly classified into two categories: thermosets and thermoplastics.
10 Tips For Successfully Addressing FDA Warning Letters
Each year, the FDA issues hundreds of warning letters to medical device companies for reasons ranging from manufacturing practice violations to breaches in labeling and misbranding. By Maria Fagan, President, Regulatory & Quality Solutions LLC
LED Component And Assembly Miniaturization
The trend towards miniaturization in the electronics world is on‐going and is fueled by a variety of factors including the consumer’s desire for portability as well as improved efficiency and reductions in costs. By Vincent C. Forte, Chief Technology Officer, Marktech Optoelectronics
How To Choose The Right Marking Technology For Your Application
Choosing the right part marking technology is becoming more and more important in manufacturing, in response to a growing desire among original equipment manufacturers to trace products over their complete lifecycle. The general thinking among manufacturers is that cradle-to-grave traceability will improve product quality, ensure that suppliers meet quality standards, prevent part counterfeiting, and minimize part recalls. By Dr. Geoff Shannon, Miyachi Unitek Corporation
FROM THE EDITOR
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The Toxic Killers Of Innovation — And 3 Simple Rules For Avoiding ThemMeet Pete Rosencrans. Pete's an R&D design engineer at a medical device maker, and he’s been tasked with overseeing the research, ideation, and design for a new medical device. He’s faced with gathering input from numerous stakeholders and incorporating it into a final design that pleases everyone. Oh, and his boss wants the device to look great and be fully functional within a matter of months. Sound familiar?
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Photonics And The Future Of MedicinePhotonics West serves as the perennial indicator of market trends for the photonics and optics industries. At this year’s event, held last month in San Francisco, one of the pervasive themes I observed in both the technical conference and the exhibition was the increasing role photonics and optics are playing in the development of advanced biomedical technologies. That trend is poised to continue well into the future.
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3D Printing In Medicine: 4 Questions That Need To Be AnsweredAlmost everyone would agree that 3D printing has a bright future in the medical device industry. So what’s holding it back? This article poses four questions the industry must answer before 3D printing can reach its full potential in medicine.
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES
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4 mHealth Trends That Demand Higher Attention To User ExperienceThe upsurge in mobile healthcare devices and software — and their use by healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers — proves that mHealth has entered the mainstream. No longer just a novelty, mHealth has been embraced by the entire healthcare industry for its potential to improve patient outcomes, increase productivity, and render cost-effective care. By T. Grant Leffingwell, Principal Usability Researcher, Human Centric Design, Battelle
PRODUCT SHOWCASE
Benchtop Laser Controller: EM595
The EM595 is a benchtop device used to control Gooch & Housego’s line of 14-pin DFB lasers or single-mode lasers. It combines a laser driver and a TEC controller into a 111 mm x 73.5 mm x 169.2 mm (with elements) package and weighs just 1.0 kg.
Imaging Couplers
These imaging couplers are designed to connect to an endoscope in order to provide high resolution and high definition images. This is particular useful in medical procedures like surgery, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract observation, and more.
Medical RF & Microwave Semiconductors
Skyworks offers low noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, general purpose amplifiers, mixers, modulators, demodulators, switches, attenuators, detectors, directional couplers, and other components and subsystems from the antenna connection to the baseband input. These products are used in blood sugar (glucose) monitoring, defibrillators, hearing aids, heart monitors/pacemakers, MRI scanners, patient monitors, and other medical devices.
Micro Optics
Ross Optical’s line of micro optics includes achromats, plano convex lenses, and bi-convex lenses. They’re typically used in compact or miniature optical systems, medical devices, and in optical fibers. These optical components allow for shorter focal lengths in compact systems and feature diameters from sub-millimeter to 6mm.
Optical Thickness Gauge: 157 Series
The Model 157 Optical Thickness Gauge uses proven optical interferometer technology to measure the absolute thickness of specialty plastic films, medical membranes, and ophthalmic products. High accuracy and exceptional repeatability results in the most reliable measurement available. Straightforward operation and rugged design satisfy the needs of the R&D scientist and the manufacturing engineer.
2.8MP/6MP Scientific CCD Camera for Low Light Applications: Kingfisher
This digital monochrome 2.8MP/6MP scientific CCD camera features a the new family of ICX CCD sensors from Sony (ICX674 is 1940 x 1460 and ICX694 is a 2750 x 2200). Both have extremely low dark current, 4.54μm x 4.54μm pixels, and high quantum efficiency, giving the Kingfisher Scientific CCD Camera high spatial resolution, long exposure times (perfect for staring applications), a large field of view, and ultra-sharp resolution.
LATEST HEADLINES
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Apple Adds Another Medical Device ExpertAccording to recent reports, Apple has hired Divya Nag, a high profile medical device expert, to its ever-growing team of health-related researchers, developers, and industry strategists.
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Intuitive Surgical Announces FDA Clearance Of da Vinci® Sp™ Surgical System
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISRG), the global leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery, today announced it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the da Vinci Sp Surgical System, which is designed to expand the Company's single-incision product offering.
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Cloaked DNA Nanodevices Survive Pilot MissionIt's a familiar trope in science fiction: In enemy territory, activate your cloaking device. And real-world viruses use similar tactics to make themselves invisible to the immune system.
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Silly Putty Impacts Stem Cell ResearchA team of researchers at the University of Michigan has found that the physical environment in which embryonic stem cells are grown plays a crucial role in the type of specialized cells they eventually become.
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Inexpensive Hardware Could Enable Affordable Tricorder DesignA group of British researchers is working to make the “tricorder” — a fictional handheld device from Star Trek capable of scanning, recording, and analyzing data — a feasible and affordable reality.
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Update On Medtronic-Edwards Court Battle Over CoreValve; Court Agrees to Expedited Appeal
Medtronic, Inc. recently issued an updated statement on the recent ruling by Federal District Court of Delaware.
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Global Market For Neurostimulation Devices To Grow To Nearly $4.1B In 2018; Chronic Pain Segment To Reach $2.8B
BCC Research (http://www.bccresearch.com) reveals in its new report, NEUROSTIMULATION: TECHNOLOGIES AND GLOBAL MARKETS, the global neurostimulation device market is expected to grow to nearly $4.1 Billion by 2018, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.5%.
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$588M In Venture Capital Dollars Invested In Medtech During Q12014Venture capitalists invested $9.5 billion in 951 deals in the first quarter of 2014, according to the MoneyTree™ Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), based on data provided by Thomson Reuters.
FEATURED SUPPLIERS
Canon USA, Inc.
Canon Optoelectronic Components, Integrating the Latest Technologies. Canon has been developing industrial components with super-high levels of precision and accuracys using its optical technologies gained and accumulated for over half a century.