MIT News Office (September 24, 2012) — MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically
creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is
moving. The prototype system, described in a paper slated for the
Intelligent Robots and Systems conference in Portugal next month, is
envisioned as a tool to help emergency responders coordinate disaster
response.
In experiments conducted on the MIT campus, a graduate student wearing the sensor system wandered the halls, and the sensors wirelessly relayed data to a laptop in a distant conference room. Observers in the conference room were able to track the student’s progress on a map that sprang into being as he moved.
Connected to the array of sensors is a handheld pushbutton device that the wearer can use to annotate the map. In the prototype system, depressing the button simply designates a particular location as a point of interest. But the researchers envision that emergency responders could use a similar system to add voice or text tags to the map — indicating, say, structural damage or a toxic spill.
Researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Seoul National University have created a robotic worm. “So what?” you ask. They’re also making robotic horses—and robot hummingbirds, for goodness sake. What’s promising about the new robot worm, though—the Meshworm, as it’s called—is that it’s a different kind of robot. Sangbae Kim, a mechanical engineer at MIT who led the Meshworm project, says he believes the technology could be used to make endoscopes and implants, among other devices. Read more at businessweek.com >>
The concept of medical devices that patients can use themselves is accelerating because consumers are accustomed to using the Internet to gather information. Adjustable prostheses and other high-tech devices may benefit patients who have a tendency to ignore or delay care, but they also raise concerns that they could give patients a false sense of security. Read more at online.wsj.com >>
Research led by Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University and the Department of Veterans Affairs allows a paralyzed woman to move a robotic arm with her mind!
Cathy Hutchinson has been unable to move her own arms or legs for 15 years. But using the most advanced brain-machine interface ever developed, she can steer a robotic arm towards a bottle, pick it up, and drink her morning coffee. The interface includes a sensor implanted in Cathy's brain, which 'reads' her thoughts, and a decoder, which turns her thoughts into instructions for the robotic arm. In this video, watch Cathy control the arm and hear from the team behind the pioneering study.
The Prize for Primary Healthcare is an annual national competition encouraging engineering students to develop creative technological innovations with great potential to catalyze and support improved delivery of care at the frontlines of medicine. It is open to graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in accredited engineering programs.
Technologies of particular interest are ones that could improve access to medical care, leverage the skill of caregivers, automate routine tasks, increase workflow efficiency, support patients managing chronic disease, increase compliance with care protocols, reduce medical error, or augment the physician-patient relationship.
This Prize for Primary Healthcare competition is sponsored by the Gelfand Family Charitable Trust. CIMIT is a non-profit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and engineering schools.
Check out the current medical research at WPT regenerating muscle tissue to help those who suffer major trauma and at WSU creating "bone-like" material using a 3D printer to repair injuries.
Regenerated Muscle Tissue Could Help Those Who Suffer Major Trauma
A team of scientists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and CellThera have regenerated functional muscle tissue in mice, opening the door for a new clinical therapy to treat people who suffer major muscle trauma.
Engineers Pioneer Use of 3D Printer To Create New Bones
It looks like bone. It feels like bone. For the most part, it acts like bone. And it came off an inkjet printer.
A 3D printer is being used to create "bone-like" material which researchers claim can be used to repair injuries. The engineers say the substance can be added to damaged natural bone where it acts as a scaffold for new cells to grow. It ultimately dissolves with "no apparent ill-effects", the team adds.
The Washington State University researchers say doctors should be able to use the process to custom-order replacement bone tissue in a few years time.
MITnews (November 14, 2011) — As the nation’s political leaders negotiate the future of the federal budget, a student group at MIT, the Science Policy Initiative (SPI), is entering the debate with a petition calling on members of Congress to preserve federal investment in research and development.
The effort, “Stand with Science,” is urging the national research community — and graduate students in particular — to demonstrate to members of Congress and the larger public that federal support for science and engineering plays a vital role in U.S. economic growth. The Stand with Science website features a video and online signature campaign that has garnered nearly 5,000 supporters in just its first week.
“As scientists, we tend to think our science speaks for itself, but it doesn't,” says Johanna Wolfson, SPI president and a doctoral student in the MIT Department of Chemistry. “We have to recognize that and learn to speak for the importance of our research. That's what this letter is about — not only getting scientists and engineers to answer the questions, ‘What has R&D done for the U.S.? What will it do for its future?’ but also to believe that it's their job to answer those questions. Those are the questions that matter to taxpayers and the people writing the checks.”
With federal funding for research and development accounting for less than 5 percent of the federal budget but innovation driving more than 60 percent of economic growth, Wolfson says, reductions in federal funding could have long-term impacts on the nation’s economic strength.
Founded in 2007, the Science Policy Initiative is a student-led organization working to foster civic engagement and policy awareness among scientists and engineers at MIT. The MIT graduate students who are leading SPI say that their voices as young researchers add a unique and important perspective to the national conversation.
“We saw that activity in Congress was reaching a head, and decisions were about to be made that would have lasting impact on all aspects of government and the nation,” says Nathaniel Twarog, an MIT doctoral student in brain and cognitive sciences who drafted the letter and video script for SPI. “The letter provides a focal point for the strong — but usually politically quiet — support for science in this country. It's also a chance for graduate students themselves to speak out and realize how the political landscape around them will affect their work.”
The Stand With Science leaders also say they believe the MIT community has a special obligation on this issue. Although cuts in research funding will directly affect grant money at MIT, they say, the Institute’s professors, students and alumni have a more significant reason to support Stand With Science. “MIT is a leader in the science and engineering community. In that role, MIT not only produces some of the world's finest research, but is also a model and a standard-bearer for the advancement and development of science, its application to industry, the arts, agriculture and commerce,” says Michael Henninger, a doctoral student in physics. “This letter is in perfect keeping with the broader directive of that mission, extending beyond our labs and into the life of our nation.”
The deadline for signing the online petition is Monday, Nov. 21, says Samuel Brinton, a master’s student in technology and policy and nuclear engineering who is leading the team’s outreach efforts and directing their social media campaign. The Science Policy Initiative will then submit the petition to the Congressional members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
Stand With Science is just one of the recent efforts by the Science Policy Initiative. At the end of last month, SPI sent nine student representatives to Washington, D.C., where they spent three days meeting with scientists and policymakers at the Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the National Academy of Sciences, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of State.
The students also received a briefing from William Bonvillian, director of MIT’s Washington Office, and visited the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During the visits, students learned about how scientists and engineers shape federal science policy and explore possible career paths in policy.
Other activities range from an Independent Activities Period course and Washington, D.C., visits to a journal club, discussions with policy experts and science communication workshops.
Northeastern University (October 14, 2011) — Northeastern University engineering researchers are developing new sensing technology that would provide doctors with dynamic tools to measure the progress of patients undergoing physical therapy from stroke and other injuries.
Under a separate grant from CIMIT, they will apply this technology to designing a customizable orthosis brace with embedded sensors to fit around the Achilles tendon and stabilize the ankle and foot, so patients who have just suffered a stroke can more safely walk and move around.
Are you part of a startup, spin-out or development team looking to the transfer-technology process from industry, university, and government research areas to commercialize a technology or idea?
The process of transferring technology has opened up new fields in medicine, engineering and information systems fostering innovation. To those engaged in the tech-transfer process a rich source of developing technologies and ideas becomes available to commercialize profitable and multi-million dollar ventures.
How do startups, inside or outside of research organizations bring developing technologies to market? How do startups and investors value and assess ideas to launch new technologies? What is the process for development teams to engage in launching a venture? What examples of successfully commercialized ventures can early startups look to for ideas and guidance with challenging issues? How do you effectively assess market viability of an idea? What are the process and pitfalls of working with universities, private and governments’ research areas?
On September 20 from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., the EntreTech Forum will delve into the process of Technology Transfer to answer these questions and more. Startups from all fields are encouraged to join us. We will discuss innovation in medical technology as a case study to illustrate the transfer process through to commercialization. The forum’s panel will draw from leaders in industry, academic and government fields. The panel’s goal is to help startups better understand, utilize and leverage their experience in commercializing the technology transfer process. Please join us at the Emerging Center at Foley Hoag the Bay Colony Corporate Center in Waltham for what will be an informative and interactive discussion.
In a pioneering approach to artificial organ development, engineers at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. (one of CIMIT's four founding consortium institutions), are applying semiconductor manufacturing technology to the development of artificial organs such as lungs and kidneys. Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein, the principal investigator in the tissue engineering research being conducted at Draper, is CIMIT's Co-Program Leader for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering.
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