Article 11 04/03/2010

New Technology in Medical Field

Over the past few years, I have heard a lot about stem cell research. It seemed to me that everywhere I drove I saw a road sign, every radio station I listened to, every charity I heard about had something to do with stem cell research. Now, please don’t get me wrong, its great to support organizations that are geared towards improving the lives of struggling and sick patients, but I never heard about many leaps and gains from the generous donations. Again, not saying gains were not made from the money provided, but I haven’t heard of anything revolutionary, but maybe that’s about to change.

Engineers from Stanford University have been working on creating better ways to attach nerves and cells to artificial limbs to allow for more lifelike movements. The new technology consists of 600-nanometer-long silicon probes which have three layers of metal, a gold layer pressed between two layers of chromium. This layer of three different materials is supposed to mimic the layers within a cell. This design will ultimately help to better connect the nerves and cells involved with attaching a prosthetic to create the best remedy to the less fortunate, and hopefully change the lives of suffering or sick people around the world.

Now, this revolutionary idea and product is not yet available, there are still a long line of testing that officials would like to put this new idea through, obviously. But I would expect great results; it seems that the engineers involved from beginning to end truly have put in the time and effort needed to positively change the lives of others. This is not an error proof procedure, there are still risks involved. To bring this full circle though, like I was talking about how I was looking for a viable product that really assists the researching involved in stem cell research, this may possibly be the tool that has been needed to advance to the next step. This may help researchers cut smoother to better understand the human cell, of which could assist to many medical advances!

Original Article:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/stealthy-nanoprobe-slips-seamlessly-cell-walls

Supporting Sites:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/darpa-orders-prosthetics-controlled-directly-through-brain-implants

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/neuron-computer-chips-could-overcome-power-limitations-digital

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

http://www.isscr.org/