Applications of Biosensors Biosensors can evaluate analytes in biological samples, allowing them to differentiate between diseased and healthy stages. On the other hand, several clinically useful biomarkers exist in biological samples in small amounts that need ultrasensitive biosensors to be measured. In recent years, biosensors with the ability to detect analytes at the single-molecule level have aroused [...]
Evidence is mounting that Omicron’s new sister variant, known as BA.2, is more transmissible than the original strain but at this stage does not appear to be more vaccine-evasive. The subvariant BA.2 is one of at least three sub-lineages of Omicron, the strain of COVID-19 first spotted in Africa in late November and now [...]
In a potential game changer for COVID-19 pandemic control efforts, a new cell phone app and lab kit have transformed a smartphone into a COVID-19 / flu detection system. The detection system is among the most rapid, sensitive, affordable and scalable tests known—and can be readily adapted for other pathogens with pandemic potential including [...]
To understand how the coronavirus keeps evolving into surprising new variants with new mutations, it helps to have some context: The virus’s genome is 30,000 letters long, which means that the number of possible mutation combinations is mind-bogglingly huge. As Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, told me, that number far, [...]
A robot has successfully performed "keyhole" intestinal surgery on pigs without any aid from humans, according to a study from John Hopkins University (published in Science Robotics). What's more, the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) handled the tricky procedure "significantly better" than human doctors. The breakthrough marks a significant step towards automated surgery that could one day [...]
It's called the "stealth" variant, but there's nothing particularly stealthy about it. Researchers are working to parse whether it is a new threat. As coronavirus case numbers in the U.S. show early signs of tapering, scientists are keeping a watchful eye on a newly identified version of the omicron variant, nicknamed "stealth omicron," that is [...]
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the University of Basel have developed a rapid test for COVID-19. Its novel functional principle promises reliable and quantifiable results concerning a patient's COVID-19 disease and its course—as well as evidence concerning other diseases and COVID variants that may be present. Before it can go into [...]
A group of researchers proposed an optimized electroforming strategy to achieve a bioinspired nano-holed TiO2 coated Ti6Al4V alloy, according to a study published in the journal ACS Applied Material Interfaces. Near-infrared (NIR) energy plays a critical part in directed exterior stimulation treatments, and it is increasingly used in spine treatments. As a result, biomaterials with NIR-activated characteristics [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 2.8 million Americans experience antibiotic-resistant infections each year; more than 35,000 die from those infections. To address this critical and worldwide public health issue, a team of researchers led by Hongjun (Henry) Liang, Ph.D., from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) [...]
Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Northwestern Medicine have identified natural extracellular vesicles containing the ACE2 protein (evACE2) in the blood of COVID-19 patients that can block infection from broad strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus in preclinical studies. The study was published today in Nature Communications. The evACE2 act as decoys [...]
