A team of researchers from the School of Physics at the University of St Andrews have developed tiny lasers that could revolutionise our understanding and treatment of many diseases, including cancer. The research, published in Nature Communications, involved developing miniscule lasers, with a diameter of less than a thousandth of a millimetre, and inserting them in to live cells, e.g. immune cells or neurons. Once inside the cell, the...
BioFilm has secured a £2.5 million funding package which will be invested in new product development and laboratory facilities along with further state-of-the-art manufacturing technology at its premises in Blantyre, Scotland. Ian Stevens, CEO of BioFilm Ltd, said “This funding package will be instrumental in the expansion of our modern manufacturing equipment and product development facilities.” The firm which was originally launched as a subsidiary of food products firm Devro, specialises in fast...
New tests can diagnose ‘hidden’ heart diseases caused by problems with the small blood vessels supplying the heart, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference today in San Diego. The new tests are not yet standard in the NHS because, before now, there has not been enough evidence gathered about whether they would...
The city of Dundee welcomes the future of medical training in the form of surgical robots and virtual reality. It brings together Dundee University’s Clinical Skills and Surgical Skills Centres to form the first single site facility in Scotland offering both surgical and clinical training. The launch showcased the teaching and training provided at DIHS, along with opportunities for research and development. The Institute will...
Medical research will be translated into technologies to improve healthcare as part of a new collaboration between Chinese researchers and the University of Edinburgh. The Biomedical Translational Research Centre at Haining in Zhejiang province will be developed in association with the Zhejiang University – University of Edinburgh Institute. The centre will create commercial products and develop new ideas for innovative care. A memorandum of understanding...
Human eggs have been fully grown for the first time in a laboratory. The advance could safeguard the fertility of girls with cancer ahead of potentially harmful medical treatment, such as chemotherapy as immature eggs can be recovered from patients’ ovarian tissue could be matured in the lab and stored for later fertilisation. Conventionally, cancer patients can have a piece of ovary removed before treatment, but...