Healthcare
Spotlight on upconversion nanoparticles: finding the right chemistry to make life science applications “click”
Reimagining the future
Healthcare
What is a good innovation strategy in surgery… and is it robotics?
Robotic surgery is a hot topic: the concept is popular with patients, on the minds of industry leaders, and seen as the future of surgery by many investors. Too often, robotic-assisted surgery is equated with precision, and precision with improved clinical outcomes. Excitement is driving investment and a growing number of robotic-assisted surgery companies. But, in basic terms, what is a good innovation strategy in surgery… and is it robotics?
Healthcare
Beyond intravenous delivery: choosing better administration routes for oncologic drugs
Intravenous delivery remains the dominant paradigm in oncology, but even with precision medicine few drugs pass late stage clinical trials. Karthik Chellappan proposes that early exploration of better administration routes could make all the difference.
Healthcare
Human learning with machine learning: the game of Go and real-life applications
When working with machine learning tools and algorithms, we often assume that only the machine is learning. Not so, argues Mark Hsieh. To achieve maximum value, we need to learn from the results generated by algorithms to better understand the problem we are trying to solve, for example in predicting disease progression in diabetes.
Healthcare
Could technology help contain the next equine flu epidemic?
Humanity has endured infectious disease epidemics for as long as it’s existed. However, as global connectivity grows so does the rate at which they can spread and the number of people they can affect. The origin of epidemics is the random genetic mutation of pathogens so we have no control over their arrival but technology offers very real control over the way they spread.
Healthcare
New modes of drug action tackle intractable diseases
2018 was a busy one for the US Food and Drug Administration. Drug approvals hit a record high, with 59 novel drugs securing the agency’s permission to head to market. This included a number of drugs with modes of action that transcend the two main classes of drugs.
Healthcare
No pain, no gain: R&D challenges for the success of microneedle systems
Microneedle systems pose multidisciplinary R&D challenges—some because of and some despite the much smaller size of the needles involved. But microneedle systems also offer exciting new prospects for drug delivery and multiplex biomarker detection. This information could be used to guide personalised treatment or enable value-based healthcare.
Healthcare
The future of molecular diagnostics: Will isothermal amplification techniques steal PCR’s crown in the close-to-patient era?
PCR is still the go-to method in the molecular diagnostics industry but, with the rise of close-to-patient testing, isothermal amplification methods with their low power and potentially easier detection schemes look increasingly attractive.
Healthcare
Remote monitoring and telemedicine: a match made in digital health heaven?
It’s tempting to think that IoT infrastructure and AI make remote disease monitoring straightforward. But even when this is technically feasible, healthcare system innovation is necessary to make the most of opportunities created by digital health.
Healthcare
Can we imagine a future of personalised medicine based on the analysis of lipids and carbohydrates?
DNA to RNA to protein – from this simple but powerful concept was born first biotechnology and then personalised medicine. But are we missing something? Can we imagine a future of personalised medicine based on the analysis of lipids and carbohydrates?
Healthcare
Design for adherence: a model for predicting and improving medication adherence
Medication adherence is often studied after a drug or delivery device has been developed, but what if we were able to predict levels of adherence for a particular drug delivery device during development?
