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NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a 3D-printed scaffold coated in aggrecan, a native cartilage component, to improve the regeneration of cartilage tissue in joints. The scaffold was combined with a common microfracture procedure and tested in rabbits. The University of Maryland researchers found the combination of the implant and microfracture procedure to be ten times more effective than microfracture alone.

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NIBIB-funded researchers are literally breaking barriers using ultrasound waves emitted from a flexible patch to accurately measure central blood pressure and help detect cardiovascular problems earlier.  For a while now, smart, wearable devices have had the ability to capture how many steps we take in a day or measure our heart rate, but researchers are starting to take it a step further.

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NIBIB-funded researchers have created a novel, low-cost biosensor to detect HER-2, a breast cancer biomarker in the blood, allowing for a far less invasive diagnostic test than the current practice, a needle biopsy. Scientists at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut and funded in part by NIBIB, combined microfluidic technology with diagnostics, including electrochemical sensors and biomarkers, into a powerful package that can give results in about 15 minutes.

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TB meningitis causes life-threatening inflammation of the brain, which is difficult to treat due to the inability of drugs to penetrate the blood brain barrier. Researchers used PET imaging to measure antibiotic concentrations in infected brains with the goal of optimizing TB meningitis treatment.

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A team of NIH-funded researchers at the University of Arkansas have demonstrated the novel use of multiphoton microscopy to monitor wound healing in live animals. The scientists measured metabolic changes that occur during healing at the wounds’ surface using autofluorescence imaging. In the future, doctors could use the images to non-invasively diagnose the type of chronic wound and determine the best treatment strategy.

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NIBIB-funded researchers recently validated a rapid STD test that delivered accurate results in about 30 minutes for chlamydia, allowing patients to receive treatment immediately, thereby stemming the further spread of disease. Other analyses showed most women preferred the easy self-collection method the test offers.

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NIBIB funded researchers have developed laser-activated nanomaterials that integrate with wounded tissues to form seals that are superior to sutures for containing body fluids and preventing bacterial infection.

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NIBIB-funded researchers have transformed T cells into drug factories engineered to find cells carrying specific diseases in the body--and then produce therapeutic proteins localized to the diseased cells.

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Researchers at the University of Minnesota, with support from NIBIB, used a 3-D bioprinting technique to print photordetectors onto a curved surface. Through the combination of design innovation and the use of materials—including synthetic conducting polymers, functional electronics, and biological tissue—the team is creating prototypes of multiple replacement body parts, including skin, ears, spinal cord, and now a bionic eye.

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Researchers generated stable lines of spinal cord neural stem cells in culture. Transplanted into a rat model of spinal cord injury, the cells enabled robust regeneration of functional neurons along the length of the spine.

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NYU School of Medicine's Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research, supported by NIBIB, will collaborate with Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research on an imaging project, called fastMRI, that will use AI to make MRI scans up to 10 times faster.

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National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., has selected Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., as director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). A pioneering leader in the field of biophotonics, Dr. Tromberg is currently a professor at the University of California at Irvine.

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In the first study of independent in-home use of a brain-computer interface by a group of advanced ALS patients, the BCI system was found to be reliable; and of the eight individuals who completed the study, seven chose to keep the device for future use.

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Pulmonary fibrosis is one of the most common and serious types of lung disease. Now researchers have developed an in vitro lung tissue-on-a-chip system that mimics lung fibrosis, offering rapid testing of potential new anti-fibrotic treatments.

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Projects focused on providing simple, low-cost modifications to surgical techniques that could reduce pain or damage from these procedures dominated this year’s Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) challenge.

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NIBIB-funded researchers at Stanford University used dual PET and MRI technology to detect increased bone remodeling in the injured knees of patients likely to get osteoarthritis. This increased bone activity was often seen next to areas of early cartilage tissue degradation, suggesting an important link between degenerative changes in neighboring tissues in the disease.

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Shape Memory Medical recently announced FDA clearance for U.S. marketing of their IMPEDE Embolization Plug, a technology funded by NIBIB and created to block irregular blood vessels.

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NIBIB-funded researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created an ingestible sensor to non-invasively monitor indicators of disease in the stomach and intestines.

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Brain activity is driven by encounters with external stimuli and situations, simultaneously occurring with internal mental processes. A team of researchers from Stanford University, with funding from the NIH BRAIN Initiative, has discovered how the brain dynamically handles cognitive tasks while it also is engaged in internal mental processes.

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A research team with funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has developed an advanced computing technique for rapidly and cost effectively improving the quality of biomedical imaging. The technology, called AUTOMAP finds the best computational strategies to produce clear, accurate images for various types of medical scans.

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Up to 50% of women skip potentially life-saving mammograms often because they can cause extreme discomfort. Now researchers have developed a painless, light-based, non-radioactive, 15-second procedure that could revolutionize breast cancer screening and save lives.

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Bioengineers have developed a portable, non-invasive monitor that can determine, in one minute and without drawing blood, whether chemotherapy patients have a reduced number of white blood cells that could lead to infections.

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Obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer often begin with early, subtle changes in cell metabolism. Now researchers at Tufts University have developed a non-invasive optical imaging technique that detects these changes, providing an early window of opportunity for new research and potential therapeutic development.

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Products are available to quickly seal surface wounds, but rapidly stopping fatal internal bleeding has proven more difficult. Now, biomedical engineers at Texas A&M University are developing an injectable hydrogel bandage that could save lives in emergencies such as penetrating shrapnel wounds on the battlefield.

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A team of Cornell University engineers and nutritionists with funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of NIH, have designed and tested a small, portable diagnostic system that can be used in the field to test blood for vitamin A and iron deficiencies.

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Bioengineers have developed micro-technologies that capture extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by brain tumors. The vesicles carry samples of the mutated genetic material and proteins causing malignancy that researchers can analyze to optimize precision cancer treatment.

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Scientists at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have combined two different microscope technologies to create sharper images of rapidly moving processes inside a cell.

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Chronic bladder pain affects millions with abdominal discomfort that increases as their bladder fills, causing excessive urinary urgency and frequency. Neuroscientists used optogenetics in experiments with mice to switch on and off the neurons that signal bladder pain.

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Researchers are now able to use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to form a model of human adult-like cardiac muscle by introducing electric and mechanical stimulation at an early stage.

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Tissue-engineering technique based on a novel cylindrical scaffolding design seeded with collagen-secreting cells yields grafts for articular cartilage repair with superior mechanical strength and durability.

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Yarn weaved from carbon nanotubes monitors brain control of organ functions in rats, paves way for disease diagnosis and treatment at single nerve level.

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To treat cardiovascular disease, surgery can remove blockages in large vessels in the heart or legs but is not possible in small vessels. To address this problem, researchers designed 3D-printed patches seeded with vessel-inducing endothelial cells. In a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia, the researchers identified specific patch patterns that induced growth of organized, tissue-saving blood vessels, demonstrating the potential for the novel technology to address this significant public health problem.

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NIH-supported researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital are studying an alternative to current contrast agents used for magnetic resonance imaging. In a recent study, they showed that the experimental alternative, which is a manganese-based compound, performs as well as approved contrast agents. Their study appeared online Nov. 15, 2017, in Radiology.

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Creating an artificial implantable kidney would be an epic advance in medicine and could address a chronic shortage of donor kidneys needed for transplant. Researchers who have been at this quest for the past 15 years face the challenge of how to keep the blood flowing smoothly through the artificial device without clotting. They are combining expertise in artificial kidney development and in computer simulation of blood flow to surmount the problem.

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Clinical application of cancer fighting nanovaccines has been hampered by complications in large-scale manufacturing, quality control, and safety. Biomedical engineers developed nanovaccines that bind to the albumin protein naturally present in the body. The albumin protein then delivers these nanocomplexes to the lymph nodes, resulting in potent immune activation against multiple tumor types in mouse cancer models. The use of natural albumin as a universal vaccine shuttle is a significant step towards the application of cancer nanovaccine immunotherapy in humans.

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Researchers funded by the National Institute Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have developed florescent nanoparticles that light up to track the progress of breast cancer metastasis. They are currently testing the particles in mice with the hope of someday being able to use them in humans.

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Using an approach that combines ultrasound imaging and genetic engineering of bacterial microbes, a team from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), with funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), has created a powerful new system to track bacteria dispatched to deliver therapies deep inside the body.

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Sutures and staples can be inadequate in complex surgeries and cannot make an air-tight or liquid-tight seal on a lung or artery wound or incision. Now researchers have created a surgical glue that sets to form an elastic air-tight or liquid-tight seal in just one minute. Successfully tested in animals, the sealant has enormous promise for life-saving use in humans.

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NIH researchers have devised a biochemically formulated patch of dissolvable microneedles for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The biochemical formula of mineralized compounds in the patch responds to blood chemistry to manage glucose automatically. In a proof-of-concept study performed with mice, the researchers showed that the chemicals interact in the bloodstream to regulate blood sugar for days at a time.

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NIBIB-funded scientists have developed a new technique for 3D-printing patient-specific organ models – here the prostate gland -- using polymers that accurately model the prostate’s dimensions and physical properties, while also providing quantitative tactile feedback, or response to pressure, incisions, and suturing.

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Researchers at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering have developed a synergistic cancer nanovaccine packing DNA and RNA sequences that modulate the immune response, along with anti-tumor antigens, into one small nanoparticle. The nanovaccine produced an immune response that specifically killed tumor tissue, while simultaneously inhibiting tumor-induced immune suppression to block lung tumor growth in a mouse model of metastatic colon cancer.

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Hari Shroff, Ph.D., chief of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering’s lab section on High Resolution Optical Imaging (HROI), and his team have spent the last few years developing optical microscopes that produce high resolution images at very high speed. After his lab develops these new microscopes, they release the plans and software for free, so any researcher can replicate the advances made at NIH. This latest microscope builds on previous improvements that Shroff’s lab had made with selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM).

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More than 50 million Americans have food allergies and often just trace amounts of allergens can trigger life-threatening reactions. Now, researchers have developed a $40 device that fits on a key chain and can accurately test for allergens, like gluten or nuts, in a restaurant meal in less than 10 minutes.

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Researchers combined the immune response created by injection of potato virus nanoparticles with doxorubicin to halt melanoma progression in a mouse model. It is the first demonstration of an anti-tumor response using potato virus nanoparticle vaccination—a novel treatment further enhanced with doxorubicin chemotherapy.

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Researchers have developed a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent with safe-to-use, metal-free compounds. The organic nanoparticles illuminated tumor tissue in mice just as well as metal-based contrast agents

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Biomedical engineers have developed a microfluidic test that could enable rapid diagnosis and early intervention for sepsis, which accounts for the most deaths and medical expenses in hospitals worldwide.

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Researchers have developed a photoacoustic imaging technique that uses lasers to create detailed ultrasound images in live animals. The method allows for complete internal body scans with enough resolution to see active organs, circulating cancer cells, and firing neural networks.

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Tools to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and latent tuberculosis are among the winning projects in the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) challenge, a biomedical engineering design prize competition for teams of undergraduate students. The teams developed prototypes of devices that advance technology and improve human health.

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Researchers have developed a new method for thawing frozen tissue that may enable long-term storage and subsequent viability of tissues and organs for transplantation. The method, called nanowarming, prevents tissue damage during the rapid thawing process that would precede a transplant.