MIT researchers have developed a portable system that could produce biotech drugs on demand, reports Lisa Rapaport for Reuters. “The table-top machine has the potential to one day produce proteins to treat any number of a wide range of conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, and hemophilia,” writes Rapaport.
A portable device developed by MIT researchers uses programmable yeast to create drugs on demand, reports Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. The device “could be a lifesaver for doctors working in vulnerable conditions, such as the battlefield, a remote village, or even an ambulance,” writes Ducharme.
Popular Science reporter Samantha Cole writes that MIT researchers have developed a laptop-sized, portable device that can produce biopharmaceuticals for doctors in remote locations. Cole explains that the device can “produce a single dose of treatment with a series of steps, using genetically engineered yeast cells as a mini 'factory' for a variety of customizable drugs.”
Boston Herald reporter Lindsay Kalter writes that MIT researchers have developed a portable pharmacy that can manufacture biopharmaceuticals and modify treatments. “Instead of relying on a cocktail that already exists, you can reprogram the reactor on demand to customize the treatment,” says Prof. Timothy Lu.
In this video, BBC World News reporter Adam Shaw learns about the stretchy, water-based hydrogel MIT researchers developed that could be used as a smart bandage to sense temperatures and deliver medication. “This is a new way to think about this interface between the human body and electronic devices,” explains Prof. Xuanhe Zhao.
The Economist reports that Prof. Daniela Rus and Dr. Shuhei Miyashita have developed a tiny origami robot that can be swallowed and used to collect dangerous items that have been accidentally ingested. “The device is based on foldable robot technology that their team of researchers have been working on for years.”
Prof. Daniela Rus speaks on Marketplace Tech about the origami robot that her group developed to serve as a microsurgeon. “This robot is ingestible in the form of a capsule,” explains Rus. “Once the robot reaches the stomach, the robot unfolds and can do interesting tasks.”
In an article for USA Today, Mary Bowerman writes that MIT researchers have “developed a tiny robot that can unfold itself from a biodegradable capsule once ingested, and then crawl across the stomach to remove swallowed items like button batteries.”
K.G. Orphanides writes for Wired about an ingestible origami robot developed by MIT researchers to patch wounds in the stomach and remove foreign objects. “The robot is swallowed in a capsule and unfolds once in the stomach as its container dissolves,” Orphanides explains.
A pill-sized origami robot developed by MIT researchers could be used to help retrieve swallowed items, such as button batteries, reports Kate Baggaley for Popular Science. “The origami robots could help to move the battery through the digestive system faster, before it has time to break down and start leaking,” Baggaley explains.
Huffington Post reporter Thomas Tamblyn writes that MIT researchers have developed a tiny, origami robot that can be ingested liked a normal pill to retrieve swallowed items from the stomach and to patch small wounds. Tamblyn writes that once the robot “reaches the stomach the acids break away the outer shell allowing the robot to expand.”
In an effort to address the problems associated with children swallowing button batteries, MIT researchers have created an ingestible origami robot that can retrieve swallowed items and patch stomach wounds, reports Shanika Gunaratna for CBS News. Gunaratna explains that once “inside the body, the robot opens itself up and is steered by external magnetic fields.”
Prof. Daniela Rus and her team at CSAIL have developed an ingestible origami robot that can unfold itself in the body and retrieve items that may have been swallowed accidentally, like batteries. “The only thing a patient would have to do, in theory, is swallow — a bit like gulping down a spider to catch a wayward fly,” according to Ben Guarino at The Washington Post.
Jamie Ducharme at Boston Magazine writes about the new ingestible origami robots from researchers at CSAIL, University of Sheffield, and Tokyo Institute of Technology “that could be used to remove swallowed objects, patch stomach wounds, and deliver medication.”
Melinda Moyer of Scientific American reports that researchers have found that people who used acid blockers to treat heart burn are at increased risk for developing intestinal infections. Moyer explains that the blockers “may limit the gut's diversity by reducing its acidity and thus creating an environment that is more or less amenable to certain microbes.”