News & Comment

The world needs mass at-home serological testing for antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2, and rapid and frequent point-of-care testing for the presence of the virus’ RNA in selected populations.

The European Union’s new regulatory framework for medical devices has central implications for the development of new devices, particularly by start-ups.

Progress in fluorescence-guided systems and contrast agents for real-time intraoperative assistance during tumour-resection operations should benefit patient outcomes.

The integration and miniaturization of components in electronic and photonic devices for interfacing with neural tissue allow for ever more precise neural recording and stimulation.

As an intermediary between cells and scaffolding biomaterials, the extracellular matrix secreted by the cells offers challenges and opportunities for the design and fabrication of engineered tissues.

The editing of single DNA bases in the genome is being optimized for higher editing precision and versatility.

The physical properties of living tissues are a compelling source of biomarkers of health and disease.

The discoveries of this year’s Nobel laureates in Physiology and Medicine have improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies relying on oxygen sensing.

Broadening access to personalized medicines will require scalable and efficient manufacturing processes that help decrease production costs.

Translational cancer nanomedicine needs to increasingly exploit newly discovered tumour-targeting strategies as well as the further optimization of proven means to selectively increase the concentration of cytotoxic drugs in solid tumours.

Soft biomaterials for implantation in the body are increasingly designed to be functional for a finite time and to then disappear via degradation or resorption.

Modelling human tissues in microphysiologically relevant ‘chips’ will increasingly help to unravel mechanistic knowledge underlying disease, and might eventually accelerate the productivity of drug development and predict how individual patients will respond to specific drugs.

The safety and security of medical devices driven by software, the software-development processes, and the need for data collection and privacy, all offer challenges and opportunities for device regulation and clinical care.

Steady innovation in device design for diagnostic assays provides substantial performance gains.

The development of implantable electrode arrays that broadly and seamlessly integrate with brain tissue will require innovation that responsibly considers clinically relevant neuroethical concerns.

The development of imaging technology for the quantification of optical biomarkers of pathological processes should involve the validation of the biomarkers’ biological accuracy.

Autoimmune diseases should benefit from treatments that piggyback on the successes of cancer immunotherapies.

Peer review relies on organized scepticism and implicit trust. A healthy balance of both qualities should also prevail when peer review fails.

Immunotherapies developed to treat cancer can be adapted to treat autoimmunity.

The simplicity and powerful capabilities of CRISPR have led to an explosion of genome-editing applications. Their continued development should be nurtured by scientific and legal environments that discourage and penalize irresponsible uses of the technology.