Media
From Food & Wine: A Coffee Hat Could Make Nose and Throat Surgery Easier
Jul. 10, 2017—Engineers at Vanderbilt University designed the coffee-filled swim cap. Coffee is having its moment in 2017: This year researchers have discovered that it repairs damage to the liver, its one of the best beverages to drink before working out, and even helps prevent your arteries from clogging. (Well, all of that is according to a few studies, anyway.) Now, apparently...
Researchers use coffee grounds to improve nose, throat surgery
Jun. 22, 2017—Engineers with the University of Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., improved the accuracy of a scanner used to map the skull of nose and throat surgical patients with six cups of ground coffee.
Vanderbilt engineers use coffee grounds to develop novel surgical tool
Jun. 21, 2017—Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery? In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated “GPS” system that surgeons use...
Magnetic capsule robot designed to explore the colon
May. 11, 2017—At Digestive Disease Week 2017, Keith Obstein, MD, MPH, FASGE & Piotr R. Slawinski, talked to DDW TV about the exciting new innovation in performing colonoscopies using a “capsule robot.” Obstein and Slawinski, both VISE affiliates, collaborated on the project with medical researchers from the University of Leeds. Watch the video here:
Alphabet’s new plan to track 10,000 people could take wearables to the next level
May. 3, 2017—Verily – the life sciences research arm of Google parent company Alphabet –announced April 19 that it was starting to recruit for Project Baseline, its initiative to track the health of 10,000 people. Over the course of four years, Project Baseline will sequence participants’ genomes, test their blood, survey them and track biometric data such...
Surgery of the Future
Mar. 13, 2017—Surgery of the Future is an interactive experience that highlights research technologies funded by NIBIB that improve surgical procedures. Move through a virtual operating room to learn about technologies including new imaging tools, robotics, biomaterials, and more. Robert Webster’s research is featured.
Brain Surgery Robots
Jan. 30, 2017—Ground breaking technology that enables robots to perform high-risk surgeries more safely shows that robotic surgical tools play a major role in the future of medicine. Robert Webster, PhD., explains the groundbreaking Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH robot) he and his MED Lab team are developing.
Fresh from company launch and I-Corps, Webster passes lessons along
Dec. 21, 2016—Robert Webster III launched his first company, Virtuoso Surgical, in April. He completed the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for new tech companies in early August.
Seven young faculty to watch
Dec. 8, 2016—Brett Byram, VISE affiliate and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, named one of the seven young faculty to watch.
NIH’s chief of translational tech is fifth annual VISE Symposium speaker
Dec. 7, 2016—An engineering symposium dedicated to translational technology will host a national figure in that field as its keynote speaker, plus give visitors a first look at the devices coming out of Vanderbilt’s labs.
Robots vs. Cancer: How Tech is Tackling Biden’s Moonshot
Nov. 16, 2016—The vice president has roughly two months left to continue leading the Cancer Moonshot initiative, an effort to significantly speed the pace of progress in cancer detection and treatment. It’s a personal mission for Biden, whose son Beau died from brain cancer in 2015. There’s no guarantee that Biden’s moonshot — which was announced at...
Vanderbilt is at the forefront of robotic surgery
Sep. 9, 2016—Robots are used in many large hospitals to deliver supplies and assist doctors with delicate surgical procedures. In the future, robotic surgery will become the routine rather than the exception. Some of those tools of tomorrow are being developed today at Vanderbilt University’s Medical Engineering and Discovery Lab (MED). It is one of several labs...
Cochlear implant team shares insights in Ireland
Aug. 26, 2016—An interdisciplinary team at Vanderbilt that developed an innovative method of programming cochlear implants to help people hear better recently presented at Deerfield Residence, the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland’s official residence in Dublin. The presentation was part of Creative Minds, a series of discussions started by Ambassador Kevin O’Malley to promote cultural and scientific exchange...
Voices of the NIH Community “It’s ok to love a patient”
Aug. 15, 2016—EB Jackson and surgeon Reid Thompson remember EB’s husband, Todd Jackson, who died from brain cancer in 2014. Reid, who had treated Todd ten years earlier, recalls his devastation when he learned about the re-occurrence and the futility of further treatments, and EB reflects on Todd’s passing. Todd’s battle against cancer inspired him and EB...
Six profs attract National Institutes of Health grants for wide-ranging research
Jul. 21, 2016—Five biomedical engineering professors and an electrical engineering and computer science professor are celebrating news about newly approved or resubmitted Research Project Grants (R01) from the Nationals Institutes of Health. With the grants, their teams – in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center — are performing groundbreaking research in areas as diverse as percutaneous heart...
WSJ names Webster’s surgical robot one of six technologies worth watching
Jul. 8, 2016—The Wall Street Journal names Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Robert Webster’s surgical robot one of six new medical technologies worth watching.
Tennessean article: Neurotargeting uses data to combat neurological disorders
Jul. 8, 2016—A Vanderbilt University neurosurgeon and two Vanderbilt engineers have launched a medical database that they hope will have a significant impact on addressing neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.