Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), South Korea, has developed an ultra-lightweight wearable assistive device based on a tensegrity structure to help the physical activities of the older individuals, rehabilitation patients, and workers. The device is designed to deliver a sub-1 kg lightweight wearing experience, affordability, and sufficient physical assistive functions.

National University of Singapore (NUS) researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-guided workflow that combines with molecular simulations to identify potential drug candidates for diabetic wound healing, identifying folic acid as a top candidate. Their approach brought together AI-based literature analysis, molecular-level computational simulation, and laboratory experiments, screening nearly 3,000 existing drugs and reducing the time from literature review to lab testing by more than 70%.

A biomimetic smart insole system developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from China has achieved high-resolution plantar pressure sensing, energy self-sufficiency, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted gait intelligent diagnosis. Inspired by the hierarchical mechanosensory structure of the mantis leg, the research team designed a dual-microstructure capacitive pressure sensor, combining microstructured polydimethylsiloxane with compressible elastic foam.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), researchers have developed a new form of deep brain stimulation (DBS) that adjusts in real time as a person walks, helping improve gait and reduce falls in people with Parkinson’s disease. The study, published June 15 in Nature Medicine, demonstrates for the first time that an implanted brain stimulator can detect neural signals associated with each step and automatically adjust stimulation within fractions of a second. Much like a cardiac pacemaker responds to the heart’s rhythm, the new system responds to the brain’s rhythm of walking.

University of California, Riverside, researchers have developed an oxygen-delivering gel capable of healing injuries that might otherwise progress to limb loss. The new gel, tested in animal models, targets what researchers believe is a root cause of many chronic wounds: a lack of oxygen in the deepest layers of the damaged tissue. Without sufficient oxygen, wounds languish in a prolonged state of inflammation, allowing bacteria to flourish and tissue to deteriorate rather than regenerate. When oxygen from the air or bloodstream cannot penetrate far enough into injured tissue the result is hypoxia, which derails normal healing.

Researchers from the Army Medical University in Chongqing, China, have reported new insights into cartilage repair mechanisms. Using a combination of cellular experiments and mouse models of joint injury, the team investigated how lactate-dependent histone modifications influence collagen production in chondrocytes. Their findings reveal a metabolic-epigenetic pathway that connects glycolysis, histone lactylation, and transcriptional control of cartilage matrix genes, shedding light on potential therapeutic strategies for post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA).