News

Neurosensing the Consumer Advances in neurotechnology have given clinicians some powerful tools to diagnose and treat individuals with neurological diseases and disorders. Much of the same technology now offers marketing professionals some interesting new capabilities for understanding their customers and the neurological basis for consumers’ behavior. It’s not out of the question that these nonmed…

Gold Electrode Awards Announced at 2010 Neurotech Leaders Forum The editors of Neurotech Reports selected recipients of the 2010 Gold Electrode Awards in five categories. The awards were presented at the 2010 Neurotech Leaders Forum in San Francisco, CA earlier this month. The award for Most Promising Startup went to Spinal Modulation, Inc., a pain neuromodulation firm in Menlo Park, CA. Medtronic Inc.

The Decade of the Product As the decade comes to a close, it’s worth noting that some of the newest neurotechnology products to reach the market were probably in the incubation process 10 years ago, prior to the millennium. And that means that entrepreneurs who are just now developing new neurotech devices will not see their products hit the market until the end of the next decade. In all likelihoo…

Brave New Neuroscience Researchers and executives involved with neurotechnology products and therapies have always had to concern themselves with issues of ethics, as is the case with most all healthcare industry and biomedical research applications. But as was pointed out by Prof. Hank Greely of Stanford University at the recent Society for Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego [see conference report…

The Forest for the Trees Researchers and clinicians involved with the goal of restoring function to individuals paralyzed as a result of spinal cord injury need all the support they can get. So at first blush, the functional electrical stimulation community might have been encouraged October 26 Wall Street Journal about neurotechnology aiding people with paralysis. Unfortunately, the reporter, like…

Neurotech Executives Discuss Past and Future at 10th Annual Leaders Forum Staff report About 65 executives and investors from neurotechnology companies attended the 10th Annual Neurotech Leaders Forum, held in San Francisco, CA earlier this month. Though attendance was down from last year, the two-day conference featured lively discussion among panelists and attendees on a number of issues affecting the industry.

Chronic Pain Market Looks to Dorsal Root Therapies Researchers and commercial firms involved with treating chronic pain are investigating new forms of neuromodulation to treat the condition. Several teams and a startup neurotechnology vendors are looking at the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord as an alternative site for neuro­stimulation, which could expand treatment options for patients with chronic pain who have no other alternative and for whom spinal cord stimulation is not effective.

Turning Payers Into Payees Reimbursement of neurotechnology devices has always been a significant issue for executives in our industry. But the matter has taken on added urgency and concern as the U.S. economy continues to struggle, as federal budgets in general and CMS funding in particular continue to be stretched thin, and as a new healthcare reform law takes effect. Many of theses issues were d…

Nanowires Increase Fidelity of Neural Interfaces , senior technical editor Nanotechnology is permeating fields as diverse as fabric coatings and telecommunications, and neurotechnology is no different. Last year we reported on the use of carbon nanotubes as a substrate for cultured neurons [NBR Mar09 p1]. Remarkably, neurons cultured on the carbon nanotube substrates exhibited greater excitability as a result of an electrical short circuit along the neurons produced .

New Research Priorities Spur Alzheimer’s Market The neurotechnology market for diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and related cognitive disorders received a boost recently with the publication of new research and new initiatives to identify biomarkers for the disease. The National Institute on Aging, in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Association, earlier this month released reports from three workgroups convened to update diagnostic criteria for the first time since 1984.