PERTH, Australia – Ferronova Ltd. has developed an injectable magnetic and fluorescent tracer that can map the spread of cancer in the lymph nodes more accurately for improving the staging of complex cancers. The polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles show more detailed assessment of sentinel lymph nodes and detect micro-metastasis and isolated tumor cells that would otherwise not be detected.

The animal world is full of species that can perform astonishing, and sometimes disgusting, feats. Take vultures, for example. “They eat this rotten meat that is full of pathogens and toxins, and they stay healthy,” Neta Raab told BioWorld. Raab is the co-founder and CEO of Wild Biotech Ltd., an Israeli startup that is seeking to understand gut microbiome contributions to these animal superpowers, and harness them for therapeutic use.

Medi-Scan Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with cloud-based software that converts the data on ultrasound analog 2D grayscale images into a digital 3D high-definition (HD) format in less than two minutes. The company is currently focusing its efforts on the heart and lungs, with the aim of providing quick, point-of-service evaluation and triaging of patients with heart disease and other conditions, including COVID-19.

TORONTO – Novel. Unique. Revolutionary. Terms too often used to indiscriminately describe medical devices that have yet to prove their stuff. Not so at France’s Ministry of Health which takes care to deem winning devices under its Forfait Innovation (FI) program “truly innovative, not simply incremental developments.” Last week the FI awarded Vancouver, British Columbia’s Evasc Neurovascular Inc. €2.76 million (US$3.37 million) to test its CE-marked Eclips for treating intracranial bifurcation aneurysms during a 119-patient trial at 20 French sites in 2021.

Bionaut Labs emerged from five years in stealth mode raising $20 million to develop Bionauts, microrobots designed to deliver therapies to treat brain disorders. The financing will support the company’s therapeutic program in glioma through preclinical development and further research and development in Huntington’s disease. Khosla Ventures led the financing with participation by Upfront Ventures, Revolution LLC, BOLD Capital Partners, and Compound.

If Marvel’s Peter Parker had chosen to apply his graduate work in biochemistry and his web-shooters to medicine, he might have created something like Nanomedic Technologies Ltd.’s Spincare system. The system uses a hand-held medical gun that prints a flexible, transparent layer of artificial skin directly on a wound or burn. The Electrospun Healing Fiber (EHF) technology creates a waterproof, protective nano polymer matrix.

PERTH, Australia – About seven years ago, Australia’s George Institute for Global Health conducted a study to find out how many people require dialysis for end-stage kidney failure compared to how many people receive treatment.

Opticyte Inc., a medical device startup, is planning the first clinical trial of its cellular oxygen monitor, a new device that could help emergency physicians diagnose sepsis faster and prevent organ failure. The prospective, observational trial is set to launch in mid-2021.

Two-Photon Research Inc. (TPR) has launched a diagnostics platform it said improves coronavirus detection via aptamers, small molecules that change shape when binding to a protein at the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 molecule that causes COVID-19. Light shone onto a vial containing a patient’s saliva and the Aptamer Molecular Photonic Beacon (AMPB) generates negative or positive results that are instantly displayed on a smartphone and stored for planning purposes by public health officials.

Neurotech startup Nēsos Corp. has emerged from stealth with a novel approach for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Using wireless earbuds, the technology delivers electrical fields to targeted areas of the brain to help regulate immune function. The company recently raised $16.5 million in a series A round to advance clinical development of its first e-immunotherapy product.