Biosensors have revolutionized home healthcare over the last two decades. Devices like wearable heart rate and blood glucose monitors are giving people with chronic health conditions the information and assurance they need to maintain an active lifestyle. But even the best sensors are limited by their ability to sustain skin contact through the rigors of physical activity. Researchers from Drexel University and Penn State University took on the challenge of improving the hydrogel material used in biosensors. And, in recently published research, they reported a new formula for making the gelatinous substrate that is versatile, durable and adhesive enough to make a stronger connection.

Uri Manor, inaugural faculty director of the Goeddel Family Technology Sandbox, is using advanced instruments to study Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a debilitating genetic neurological disorder. Such advancements are offering hope for six-year-old Jeremy and others who suffer from the disease.

Plant-based diets are good for you.

A new NIH-funded study led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center will use advanced brain imaging to identify which stroke survivors are most likely to benefit from a noninvasive spinal stimulation therapy for urinary incontinence. The team will map how stroke disrupts the brain networks that control bladder function and test whether imaging biomarkers can predict response to transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSCS), a therapy designed to restore communication between the brain, spinal cord, and bladder. By combining functional MRI, diffusion imaging, and clinical bladder testing, the study aims to move beyond trial-and-error care and enable more personalized treatment. The findings may also have broader implications for bladder dysfunction caused by other neurological conditions, including traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease.