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Oncoviruses entering clinical practice
Here in Ottawa, research continues to follow exciting avenues towards the goal of treating cancer. Innovative and elegant solutions are being applied in clinical trials. One such approach is the use of oncoviruses, viruses that target and destroy cancer cells leaving normal cells in peace. At the Ottawa Health Research Institute and the Ottawa Hospital…
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Specialized ultrasound technology can image the inner ear
Original broadcast date: February 8, 2009 For many people with inner ear problems, the ability to diagnose the anatomical changes due to damage or disease is problematic because of the resolution limitations of the imaging technology in use today. A new technology is in development at Dalhousie University in Halifax that circumvents these litigations using…
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SciFi Biotech coming closer to reality
Original broadcast date: January 6, 2008 When we last spoke to Dr. Ulli Krull, he talked about the development of a device that could be used to detect chemical substances in a given environment. For lack of a better analogy, it was like a Star Trek Tricorder. His present projects include developing biosensors that are…
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Brain waves help severely impaired interact with environment
Original broadcast date: January 4, 2009 Although it seems to be a device out of Star Trek, for people with severe neurological impairment that prevents them from communicating or moving, it is a device that can literally expand their world and reduce unfathomable frustration. The system uses patients’ brain waves and eye and muscular movements…
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Constructing the artificial eye
One of the biomedical engineering bottlenecks in constructing an artificial eye is that the eye is a curved object or hemispherical providing it with the ability to view a wide field of view without distortion. This is a feat that, up to now, electronic microchip technology has not been able to mimic. Researchers at the…
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FISHing for cancer
As cancer research continues apace, there is a growing understanding of the genetic abnormalities that are intimately involved in the pathophysiology of the disease process. Understanding the mechanism of the disease allows clinical research to develop targeted treatments to better control or eradicate the tumours. A new diagnostic test created at the University of Alberta…
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Developing a cardiac pacemeker that can survive an MRI
People who can’t have life-saving diagnostic tests because of their pacemakers might have a scan-worthy device in years to come. An international clinical trial of a pacemaker system, the Medtronic EnRhythm MRI SureScan pacing system, will be conducted at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, Foothills HSC in Calgary, Hopital Laval in Quebec, Montreal Heart…
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New surgical technique to replace defective heart valve in children
Is there another method to repair a child’s defective heart valve other than invasive surgery? Two Montreal cardiologists went to London, England to learn a new technique that accomplishes just that. The procedure, called percutaneous pulmonary valve implant, replaces open-heart surgery, and was performed in February this year by Montreal cardiologists Giuseppe Martucci and Adrian…
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Transplanting insulin producing cells or islet cells into people with type 1 diabetes
About 10 to 15 million people around the world have type 1 diabetes and require insulin to make up for the pancreas’ inability to produce enough for the body’s use. In the September 28, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine researchers from the University of Alberta studied how the clinical outcomes of…