Investigators say their smart scalpel could assess the force users are applying during surgical procedures and quantify how they control the device over time.

Digital transformation, long a mission for aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, and food processing, has now become an essential component for medical device designers and developers.

Medical and surgical instruments are utilized daily to save and improve lives. Because of this, they demand an exact level of accuracy and infallibility in their manufacture.

Hydrogels are soft, hydroactive materials that have many applications within healthcare. The medical device industry, in particular, has long used hydrogels as integral components in wound dressings. Hydrogels can be cooling to treat burns, absorptive to manage exudate, and transparent enough to easily monitor wounds.

To learn more about what causes the body to reject biomedical implants, a team at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson identified a protein that appears to help drive this response, and hopes their discoveries will improve the design and safety of biomedical implants.