blood vessel

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Non-invasive neck scan shows promise for detecting cognitive decline years in advance

Rich Haridy November 13, 2018

New research from University College London suggests a quick ultrasound scan examining blood vessels in the neck may be able to effectively predict a person's risk of developing cognitive decline more than 10 years before symptoms appear.

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Medical

Blowing bubbles in the blood could kill cancer with both barrels

Michael Irving June 6, 2018

Gas embolotherapy involves creating tiny bubbles in tumor blood vessels, which block the blood supply and starve the cancer out. Now, researchers from China and France have found that the technique could also deal a second blow as a drug delivery system.

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Medical

New type of stem cell produces two tissues for the price of one

Michael Irving February 27, 2018

If you wind back the clock on the different cells in our bodies, they’d all start life as one of just a few types of stem cells. Now, researchers have wound back the clock even further, and discovered a new type of dual stem cell that can produce certain tissues with built-in blood vessels.

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Health & Wellbeing

No sweat: Yoda1 molecule activates the body's exercise sensor

Michael Franco August 24, 2017

Researchers have taken us a step closer to the idea of "exercise in a pill" by examining a protein they call the body's "exercise sensor" and learning how to activate it with a molecule named after a Star Wars character.

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Biology

Lab-made mini-brains are sprouting their own blood vessels

Michael Irving February 5, 2017

“Mini-brains,” models created from 3D cultures of neural cells, could help reduce our reliance on animal testing. Now researchers have discovered the neural cells are growing their own blood vessels too, opening the door for better studies of stroke, Alzheimer’s and concussion.

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Medical

Camera-loaded catheter streams live from inside arteries, removes plaque at same time

Nick Lavars September 28, 2016

The latest example of miniaturizing electronics having an impact in the medical world is a tiny camera no bigger than a grain of salt, which can be fixed to the end of a catheter and fed into arteries to provide surgeons tasked with removing plaque a live view from within. ​​

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Medical

Spinning up artificial capillaries with a cotton candy machine

Michael Franco February 10, 2016

One of the hurdles in creating lab-grown organs is that the cells in such a structure need to be quickly and cheaply supplied with a way of receiving nutrients. Researchers at Vanderbilt University (VU) may have just leaped that hurdle using a most unexpected tool – a cotton candy machine.

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Medical

Functioning synthetic blood vessels become the real thing

Ben Coxworth April 29, 2015

When a vein or artery gets seriously blocked, a common course of action involves replacing it with part of another blood vessel harvested from elsewhere in the patient's body. Scientists have now developed an alternative – polymer fabric vessels that transform into biological ones, once implanted.

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Science

Silicon nanoneedles could lead to "super bandages" that help blood vessels grow and reprogram cells

Dario Borghino March 31, 2015

Researchers at the Imperial College London and the Houston Methodist Research Institute have developed biodegradable, silicon "nanoneedles" that can deliver genetic material to stimulate the growth of blood vessels. They could perhaps even be used to reprogram living cells as needed.

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Medical

Flipping the switch on cell conversion could better repair damaged hearts

Nick Lavars October 16, 2014

Fibroblast cells can cause complications following a heart attack, as they form scar tissue on the organ's walls. But new research suggests these cells could be converted to endothelial cells which actually assist in recovery, potentially minimizing the damage caused during a heart attack.

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