MEDICUS MARCH 2016

T E C H N O L O G Y

Wearable technology can be defined as a category of gadgets that usually tracks information on health and wellness, such as counting the number of steps one has walked in a day, or the calories burnt over the past 10 hours. Seemingly overnight, the wearable tech industry has grown from niche market to a global powerhouse worth billions. The popular Fitbit activity tracker was the most downloaded app on the Apple store in December

In terms of impact on the medical world, arguably the most exciting development to watch out for this year is 3D printing. Over the course of four years, huge strides have been made in the scope, design and affordability of 3D printers. For example, paediatric surgeons in Toronto are using 3D printed hearts made out of photopolymer resin to improve training for cardiac surgeries in children, allowing the practice of complex operations in a safe and sustainable manner.

2015, and the industry as a whole raked in more than $10 billion over the course of the year. With huge advancements in tech and design, as well as a more health conscious population, medical wearables are expected to do even better in 2016. Significant steps have been made to improve the aesthetic design of wearable tech,

The advancement of 3D nanostructures is also incredibly exciting – new techniques to make complex nanostructures out of DNA could

dramatically change the way medical

treatments are delivered on a molecular level.

3D printed prosthetics

The OMbra is the first ‘intelligent sports bra’.

have already dramatically lowered the cost

resulting in a number of dazzling concepts unveiled at CES. One to watch is the Misfit Ray, a gorgeous piece of ‘smart jewellery’, perfect for the fashion conscious. The pick of the bunch however, was the OMbra, the first ‘intelligent sports bra’. The OMbra does what all other wearable tech does, namely track distance, heart rate and calories burnt. However, it can also gauge the state of cumulative fatigue your body is in and the level of effort you have invested in a particular workout session. What’s truly exciting about the OMbra is the huge step towards ‘smart’ clothing – regular day-to-day clothing capable of providing these metrics without the need for any hardware.

of prosthetics, but the next step up from replaceable limbs is replaceable organs. While it sounds far-fetched, researchers at Russia’s Skolkovo Innovation Centre successfully printed a functioning thyroid gland and transplanted it into a mouse. While it is an incredible breakthrough, Skolkovo Foundation Vice President Kirill Kaem did concede that the printing of human organs was more than a decade away. ■

For more tech breakthroughs, look out for the second part to this story in the next edition of Medicus .

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