Medical Mouse

The particles that ferry cholesterol through the bloodstream are popularly known as “bad” or “good”: bad if they deposit cholesterol on vessel walls, potentially clogging them; good if they carry the cholesterol on to the liver for excretion.

“Stem cells could create new skin to help burn victims,” BBC News reported. It said that French researchers have duplicated the biological steps that occur during skin formation in embryos. This could potentially provide an unlimited source of temporary skin replacements for burn victims while they wait for grafts from their own skin.

Researchers have demonstrated a tiny chip based on silicon that could be used to diagnose dozens of diseases

Today, diabetics monitoring their blood sugar sometimes have to endure multiple needle pricks every day. But biomedical engineer Heather Clark of Draper Laboratory is developing a less invasive way to measure blood glucose. She describes it as a ‘nanotech tattoo.’

Explore Health Don Margolis Stem Cells 101 #4

Needles hurt. Worse, they can spread disease. PowderMed's new vaccine gun, the PMED, requires no sharps. The flashlight-shaped device relies
on pressurized helium to shoot microscopic DNA vaccine particles just below the skin's surface at 1,500 miles an hour. The shot is painless because it hits just above nerve endings, where immunity-producing cells gather in large numbers. As a result, the PMED requires one thousandth the dose of a needle injection&8212;a major cost savings. And the powders don't need a fridge, so they're easier to store and transport. Vaccine powders for influenza and hepatitis are in the works.