Product Inspiration

Stitches could soon be a thing of the past, as this new surgical tape promises to heal wounds better and less problematic than conventional wound closure tools. The tape uses a combination of adhesives and nano pillars to create a strong bond, and is bio-degradable so that an internal (or external, for that matter) wound can be left untouched without any need to go back later and remove stitches.

In addition, the tape has micro-pockets built in that can hold medication, which could further speed the healing process and prevent infections.

This gecko tape concept has been making lots of news lately, and while its not yet really cheap enough to manufacture in large quantities, it will make a significant splash someday.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20301/

Electronic noses are devices which can identify particular molecules and elements in air (or in some cases, in liquids), allowing for the digital measurement of air (and breath) quality. This is a pretty new technology, with a lot of potential benefits down the road, but not a whole lot of practical applications today due to price and lack of developmental maturity. Once it is fully developed, we will be able to monitor and control air quality with an insanely high degree of accuracy, sense bombs and explosives from a long way away, and generally have the use of a highly accurate digital bloodhound to sniff out any airborne agent with remarkable accuracy and sensitivity.

One practical application is the diagnosis of diseases. The presence of certain organic molecules in your breath could indicate a bacterial infection, or certain antibodies could signify a cancerous growth.

While its still a bit early to see much from the electronic nose, lets keep an eye out for new developments which bring this technology closer to mass commercialization. For now, as the article below states, we can look forward to improved early diagnosis of some particular disorders and diseases.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=electronic-noses-could-make-diseas es-something-to-sniff-at

In the last few years of doing research for medical companies, I’ve been amazed how many medical electronic and wireless monitoring devices are coming out It seems almost daily that there’s some new monitor, expected to blow the doors off the industry with wireless insulin monitoring or remote EEG capabilities. The problem is that very few have more than one function, and many are bulky and require the users to not get the device wet and charge it frequently.

So, while this is a very crowded market, this particular device seems a bit stronger than much of its competition. It is small and unobtrusive (the size and shape of a band-aid), provides multiple sensing capabilities, and sends the data without requiring the patient to carry a purse-sized battery pack or plug into a phone line for 15 minutes.

http://www.physorg.com/news116599667.html

With this gadget, doctors can remotely monitor various things about their patients remotely. Instead of the bulky machines that are currently used in hospitals, this product condenses ECG, temperature, repiration and physical activity monitoring into a small band-aid size device. It uses active radio frequency transmission to send the data to a base station wirelessly.

Honestly, while I think this is a cool new device, it seems that there is some new wireless medical monitoring gadget coming out every day. They range from highly impractical mini-purses that you have to carry around with you, to small unnoticeable pads such as this. Similarly, the data they collect range from insulin levels (a VERY hot area) to alcohol abuse.

At any rate, these new devices are here to stay, and should grow pretty steadily in use over the next 10 years. Let’s hope our doctor insurance company prescribes us these pads over the bagphone models!

While contact lenses have been around for a long time, this new product actually replaces the cornea, repairing vision problems permanently. Quite a few scientific advancements came together for this product, such as the ability to prevent biofilms from forming on the lens (which cause clouding/fouling) and biofriendly, strong and forgiving materials.
http://www.fraunhofer.de/fhg/EN/press/pi/2007/10/ResearchNews102007Top ic3.jsp via engadget