Archive for category: News

By Jennie Smith

ORLANDO, Fla. — In 2009, Thanh-Nga Tran, MD, was a dermatology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston when she traveled to Vietnam — the country of her birth — for a clinical rotation.

There, Tran found that children with vascular and pigmented birthmarks were being treated not with energy-based devices, as had long been standard in the US, or propranolol, which was emerging an effective treatment for hemangiomas at the time.

Instead, they were treated with a topical paste containing phosphorus-32 (P-32), a radioactive isotope. The practice was introduced by French doctors there in the 1950s, and Vietnam’s cancer hospitals had continued using it since that time.

The treatment with P-32 left children worse off than the lesions themselves in many cases, with severe scarring and depigmentation of the treated areas.

When Tran returned to Boston, she consulted with her mentor, dermatologist and laser medicine pioneer R. Rox Anderson, MD, director of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, about bringing pulsed-dye laser technology to Vietnam and training physicians in its use. “I begged Rox to help me find a way to help treat these children,” Tran recalled. Top specialists, including the late Martin Mihm, MD, also at Massachusetts General; Thuy Phung, MD, a dermatologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston; and J. Stuart Nelson, MD, PhD, medical director of UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute, Irvine, California, lent their support.

More than 15 years later, the Vietnam Vascular Anomalies Center (VAC), the Ho Chi Minh City clinic that arose from this collaboration, has treated more than 10,000 children, at no cost to their families, with more than $1 million of laser technology donated by device manufacturers.

Vietnam VAC has produced data useful both to clinicians in developed countries and to industry. And it has inspired other laser-based humanitarian startups in countries including Lebanon, Pakistan, and Armenia — and soon, Cambodia.

This last April, at the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) 2025 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, physicians involved in these international efforts brought their colleagues up to date on their projects. During the conference and in interviews afterward, they reflected on their accomplishments and on the many challenges that remain.

A 15-Year Success in Vietnam

 Infantile hemangiomas are benign vascular tumors affecting about 4%-5% of newborns and are more common in girls. Though most will resolve spontaneously, they can be disfiguring; when they are especially aggressive, they can harm vision and interfere with breathing or feeding.

“The pulsed-dye laser allows for a nonscarring improvement or even removal,” Anderson said in an interview, but in 2009, Vietnam lacked any skin lasers at all. A device donated by Candela Corporation became the first to be imported and used in that country.

On the day the clinic opened, 500 children were waiting with their parents. They had not only vascular lesions but also lymphatic malformations, congenital nevi, nevus of Ota, and “myriad other disfiguring birthmarks that would otherwise go untreated in Vietnam,” Tran said at the meeting. And of course, many had scars from prior treatment with P-32.

Tran, Anderson, and their colleagues quickly realized that the clinic would need different types of devices, including lasers to treat scars and pigmented lesions. Over time, more manufacturers, including Lumenis, Lutronic, and Cutera, donated devices. Teams of interventional radiologists and pediatric plastic surgeons from Texas Children’s Hospital also traveled to Vietnam to treat patients with the most severe presentations. The VAC clinicians began hosting annual conferences in Vietnam to train local physicians there in laser medicine and dermatology.

About 5 years into the program, Tran, Anderson, and their colleagues, including Minh Van Hoang, MD, PhD, the clinic’s director, began publishing their findings. Their first reports described the harmful effects of P-32 treatment and a technique for combining laser treatments and epidermal grafting to improve scars in children treated with P-32. The same technique is currently being investigated in people with radiation dermatitis following breast cancer treatment.

Between 20 and 40 children are seen on every treatment day at the VAC’s Ho Chi Minh City clinic. Children with infantile hemangiomas may also receive propranolol, which the VAC team helped introduce in Vietnam.

Though Vietnam VAC is a nonprofit organization registered in the US and supported by donations, its physicians may use lasers at designated times for paying patients, creating another source of revenue. Physicians at the high-volume clinic have contributed many case studies of rare presentations and other findings of value to specialists worldwide and manufacturers.

“There’s a lot of talk at this conference about treating skin of color,” Tran told attendees at the ASLMS meeting. In Vietnam, she said, “we treat skin of color every day with [a Q-switched alexandrite laser]. We can manage congenital nevi, café au lait, and other conditions very safely.”

Anderson noted at the meeting that the VAC’s efforts also helped create a market in Vietnam for laser treatments, bolstered by a rapidly expanding local economy. Hundreds of clinicians in Vietnam and other parts of Asia have attended its annual training and CME sessions. This has changed local practice: The cancer center in Ho Chi Minh City, which had formerly administered P-32, dropped its use and acquired a pulsed-dye laser.

At training conferences, “we talk about how to treat kids, but we also talk about cosmetic stuff,” Anderson explained in an interview. “The companies that donated the equipment are happy because they get to sell products. All boats rise when the tide comes in.”

Vietnam VAC still faces challenges. “Lasers break,” said Tran, now a researcher at the cutaneous biology research center at the Mass General Research Institute, Boston. “We have to find help when they do.” Fundraising is another challenge. “I’ve been hosting an annual benefit for the last 15 years — it’s like doing a wedding every year. We don’t raise a lot of money because, in the end, we’re still small.”

And despite many years of targeted outreach campaigns in the media and with doctors, the team has yet to fully eradicate the use of P-32 in Vietnam. Two remote clinics are rumored to be holdouts.

“Next year when I go, we’re going to visit them,” Anderson said. “We’re going to put together a conference about phosphorus. You can’t just get angry. You have to create a forum where people can really talk about it.”

Lebanon: Tragic Blast Spurs a Laser Charity

 Energy-based medicine specialist Zeina Tannous, MD, a dermatologist who also was trained with Anderson, was an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard when, in 2011, she made the decision to return to her home country. She became the founding chair of dermatology at Lebanese American University in Beirut.

Eight years later, Lebanon was hit by a dramatic financial crisis and currency devaluation that affected all sectors of society. Healthcare services were severely affected even among people with means, as people could not withdraw money from banks.

Then, in August 2020, the unthinkable occurred. Thousands of tons of stored aluminum nitrate accidentally ignited at the port of Beirut, causing a massive explosion that killed hundreds and injured thousands. Tannous, who had just left the port zone at the time of the blast, returned immediately to aid in the emergency response, and spent days suturing victims.

Blast survivors were left with severe, disfiguring scars. “They were itchy, red, hypertrophic lesions resistant to treatment with injections of steroids,” Tannous said at the conference, “probably because of the presence of the glass in them: a foreign body that was constantly inducing inflammation.”

For 2 years, Tannous offered discounted laser treatments on her own and through aid organizations. But she did not own the type of laser needed to treat these glass scars, and the hospital that did “needed to be paid,” she recalled.

As in Vietnam, where the VAC doctors were able to get underway with a single donated device, one laser changed everything for Tannous: A fractional carbon dioxide laser provided pro bono by the Italian manufacturer Deka. That allowed Tannous to treat blast victims at no cost to them.

Tannous’s charity is not yet incorporated as a US-based nonprofit — “we’re working on that,” she said, but has nonetheless expanded, supported by her students and fellows and the recent donation of a vascular laser from Lutronic.

The addition of that device has allowed Tannous to treat more vascular lesions in people who could not otherwise pay — including refugees from the war in Syria, many of whom struggle to meet their families’ basic needs. “These [vascular] birthmarks can bleed. They can obstruct vision. They can obstruct breathing. But in a time of war and a bad economy, people don’t have the luxury of treating them, because the focus is on survival,” she said.

Tannous, who continues to work closely with Anderson and others at Harvard, described in an interview how her personal mission has evolved far beyond her clinical research and practice. “I would never refuse a patient if he or she doesn’t have money,” she said, adding that she hopes that more energy-based medicine specialists will donate the monetary equivalent of even one treatment per year to efforts like hers and Tran’s.

“Everybody has to do something for the people. Even if you’re working for free. That’s the message of medicine,” she said.

Inspiring Others

 All over the world, free laser clinics are now emerging that follow a similar model with donated equipment and committed physicians, both local and visiting, who are generous with their time. Most of these international efforts share connections to Harvard and to Anderson, who has fiercely championed them and has not been shy about asking industry for help.

“The Pakistan clinic came about because one of my students was Pakistani and saw what we were doing,” said Anderson, who also works closely with a clinic in Armenia. In Cambodia, a physician is planning a clinic modeled after VAC, and another is being planned in Brazil. A newly formed umbrella group, called the Dream Beam Foundation, links all these global efforts and seeks to recruit more specialist volunteers.

“The clinics have different needs,” Anderson said, in terms of patient populations, predominant problems, and the technology and expertise available in each country. “In Pakistan, for example, one of the most useful devices there is the fractional laser for scar revision.”

But in each case, it is the human effort and dedication that will determine a clinic’s success, he stressed. “The lasers don’t just stand alone. They’re just tools.”

Click here to read full Medscape article.

Before Michelle Khine co-founded Makani Science, she was just a mother trying to hold her newborn son. He was in the NICU, hooked up to a constellation of wires and monitors, but none of them caught what turned out to be a collapsed lung. Hours passed before clinicians discovered the problem.

By Jill Kato/UCI Beall Applied Innovation

May 23, 2025 – As a biomedical engineering professor at UC Irvine’s Samueli School of Engineering, Khine knew she could design something better. And she did.

That failure planted the seed for what would become Makani Science, a UC Irvine-born startup that’s developed the first wireless, wearable continuous respiratory monitor. About the size of a Band-Aid, the device tracks how a person breathes in real time—even while in motion.

The technology hinges on a strain gauge so sensitive it can detect movement down to 20 microns—less than half the width of a human hair. Unlike traditional systems, it doesn’t rely on tubes, wires, or bulky belts. And, perhaps most importantly, it delivers respiratory data faster than the clinical tools most hospitals rely on today.

“I’ve spent my career trying to improve the health of individuals,” says Dr. Greg Buchert, Makani’s CEO and a former ER pediatrician and healthcare executive. “I believe this device could transform how we think about respiratory care.”

Makani Science was co-founded in 2019 by Khine and her former doctoral student, Michael Chu. The technology they developed addresses one of medicine’s most persistent blind spots: respiration.

That transformation is long overdue. Despite being one of the body’s most essential functions, respiration remains one of the least well-monitored vital signs. Most hospitals infer breathing status through pulse oximetry (which measures oxygen saturation) or capnography (which tracks exhaled CO₂).

But both methods have drawbacks. Pulse oximeters are considered lagging indicators—by the time oxygen levels drop, a patient may already be in distress—and they perform less reliably on individuals with darker skin tones. Capnography is more direct but requires nasal tubing and often malfunctions during movement or sedation.

In contrast, Makani’s wireless sensor sidesteps those limitations. It works wirelessly—whether you’re walking, playing sports, or sleeping—and streams real-time respiratory data to a mobile device. The sensor captures breathing as a continuous waveform, creating a signature for every inhale and exhale.

“Under routine conditions, a five- to twelve-second lead time over existing monitors might not seem like much. But when someone is deteriorating? That’s huge,” Buchert says.

Combining that kind of functionality with real-world momentum is no small feat. Neither is Makani’s pace: in just six weeks, the startup cleared three major milestones—FDA clearance, a critical round of funding, and a competitive $1.1 million NIH Catalyze grant.

Makani’s aim is to make that kind of early detection possible not just in the ICU, but anywhere someone is breathing. A second-generation model is already underway. The upgraded version will be smaller, with longer battery life, and will have additional features like heart rate monitoring, and a two-week lifespan to match other market-ready wearables like Continuous Glucose Monitors and Zio Patches.

The most urgent testbed for the technology is neonatal intensive care. Backed by their $1.1 million NIH Catalyze Grant, Makani is developing a version of the sensor for premature infants at risk of apnea of prematurity—episodes where a baby stops breathing for 20 seconds or more. These episodes, especially when frequent or prolonged, are linked to long-term developmental delays.

“The frequency and duration of these apneic events is associated with delays in intellectual, motor, and language development,” Buchert explains. “These kids will be compromised for life. If we can interrupt or prevent the apneic events, it’s not just life-saving — it’s life-changing.”

Makani is currently collaborating with clinicians at CHOC Children’s Hospital to trial the device in this context.

“If we can detect early signs of deterioration in someone with asthma, COPD, or sleep apnea, we can help keep them out of the ER”

– Dr. Greg Buchert

The company also sees wide-ranging applications in adult respiratory care, outpatient sedation, and athletic performance. Biofeedback from continuous breath monitoring could help athletes fine-tune endurance or improve recovery. The Department of Defense has expressed interest in monitoring stress in pilots, soldiers, and veterans exposed to environmental hazards. But Makani Science’s biggest impact may come from helping people avoid the hospital all together.

“If we can detect early signs of deterioration in someone with asthma, COPD, or sleep apnea, we can help keep them out of the ER,” Buchert says. “The goal is to help people stay healthy, and at home.”

This mission to improve lives and reduce hospitalizations is rooted in research that began at UC Irvine. The sensor’s core technology was developed in Khine’s lab and supported by a Proof of Product (PoP) grant from Beall Applied Innovation. The grant helped Makani turn its sensor into a product ready for the real world. The team tested its sensitivity, strength, stickiness, and safety on skin to make sure it could hold up in medical settings. They also ran usability studies, began weaving in machine learning to interpret breathing patterns, and started building relationships with potential partners to bring the device to market.

Beyond funding and lab space, the university has also helped raise the company’s profile.

“UC Irvine has helped champion Makani at conferences and in the community,” Buchert says. “That’s been really important for our visibility.”

“Makani is deeply committed to advancing their technology—they’re in the lab consistently, putting in the work to derisk and validate each step”

– Sandra Miller, Executive Director, University Lab Partners

Today, Makani is housed at University Lab Partners (ULP), a non-profit wet lab incubator and accelerator located just minutes from campus at UC Irvine Research Park. Buchert credits Makani’s location—and the ecosystem around it—with accelerating their development.

“ULP has been an incredible place to grow—having access to a wet lab, being surrounded by other startups, and learning from teams just a step or two ahead of us has made a huge difference,” Buchert says.

From the incubator’s side, the feeling is mutual.

“Makani is deeply committed to advancing their technology—they’re in the lab consistently, putting in the work to derisk and validate each step,” says Sandra Miller, Executive Director at ULP.

She notes that Buchert and Chu are not only building a promising company—they’re also building community.

“They show up, they support other founders and invest their time mentoring students through our STEM outreach programs. That kind of leadership is exactly what we strive to foster at ULP,” Miller says.

Makani has also secured early-stage funding from Tech Coast Angels, Koa Accel and the Cove Fund, three influential backers in the Southern California medtech scene. Their early support signals confidence not just in the technology, but in Makani’s potential to capture a share of a rapidly growing space. The global market for respiratory monitoring and disease management is projected at $153 billion. It’s a staggering figure, and one that reflects just how much room there is to innovate.

Respiration has long been overlooked in the vital sign hierarchy. As wearable health tech goes mainstream, Makani’s small, data-rich sensor may have arrived at exactly the right time.

With FDA clearance in hand, the company is preparing for commercial launch by the end of 2025. They’ve already had to turn down pilot requests—from Olympic trainers to military partners—simply because they don’t have enough devices in production.

“I know our sensor will save lives and improve the health of many people,” Buchert says. “That’s what I find the most exciting.”

And if Makani succeeds, the device might not just improve how we monitor breath—it could redefine what we expect from vital signs altogether.

Click here to read full article on the UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering website.

As life expectancy increases, the question of whether people can continue to perform at their best in demanding jobs into their sixties and seventies is more relevant than ever. But is there a point when age makes working less feasible? Recent research has provided some insights into this ongoing debate.

When Is It Time to Step Down?

In recent decades, life expectancy in developed countries, including France, has increased significantly. This has led to a growing average age across populations, with more people holding major positions of responsibility. But with this rise in age, comes the question: Are they too old for such critical roles?

The debate has been particularly prominent around positions that demand cognitive sharpness, such as professors, doctors, and politicians. Some voices in the public discourse, including advocates of age limits for certain political positions, argue that cognitive abilities decline with age, and it’s crucial to consider this when making decisions about who should be in charge.

Studies indeed show that cognitive functions can begin to decline as we age. A study from Cambridge University found that a significant number of individuals over the age of 65 showed a decline in executive function, with mental processing speed slowing down around the age of 60. Mark Fisher, who leads the Neuropolitics Center at the University of California, Irvine, commented on the topic, stating, “I think 65 is a reasonable age to consider as a general breaking point.” He added that there is “huge individual variability,” meaning the effects of aging vary widely from person to person.

The Debate on Setting an Age Limit

Those advocating for age limits argue that the risk of making critical mistakes increases significantly as cognitive abilities decline. They propose establishing an age limit for leadership positions, similar to the suggestions made in the United States by Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. She has called for politicians over 75 to undergo mental competency tests, a proposal that has sparked considerable controversy.

While these tests might seem like a way to ensure that leaders are still fit for their roles, critics argue that they could be politically motivated and potentially discriminatory. Moreover, determining who should take the tests and how they would be administered could present logistical challenges.

Additionally, some argue that older individuals bring invaluable experience and wisdom to the table. In fact, many seniors have sharper cognitive abilities than younger people due to their extensive life experiences, which can be incredibly beneficial in leadership or business contexts.

Lifestyle Matters More Than Age

While the age of 65 often serves as a rough consensus for when cognitive decline begins to affect work performance, this is by no means a universal truth. The relationship between age and work capacity is complex. Factors such as lifestyle, environment, and overall health play a significant role in maintaining cognitive abilities.

A study published in the journal Neurology highlighted that individuals who maintain a healthy lifestyle, including regular physical activity, good nutrition, and mental engagement, tend to retain their cognitive functions for longer. This suggests that with the right lifestyle choices, many older individuals can continue to work at full capacity long past traditional retirement age.

Conclusion

Ultimately, determining when someone is too old to work effectively is not just about hitting a certain age. Instead, it’s about the individual’s health, lifestyle, and overall mental sharpness. Age is only one factor in the equation, and with the right support and mindset, many people can continue to contribute effectively into their seventies and beyond. The debate is far from over, but what’s clear is that age alone should not be the sole determinant in whether someone can still excel in their work.

Click here to read the full article on the WECB website.

LASER FOCUS

UCI Beckman Laser Institute specialists, led by Dr. J. Stuart Nelson, invented and patented pioneering laser surgery cooling technology in 1992. The invention made possible the early, painless, safe and effective treatment of disfiguring birthmarks in infants and young children. The technology is now the standard of care and is incorporated into more than 25,000 laser systems worldwide; it is also the top revenue producing patent at UC Irvine, earning $60 million.

Click here to read full article in the Irvine Standard.

UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic Engineers Develop Safe, Paint-On Electronics for Skin-Based Health Monitoring

Researchers at UC Irvine have pioneered a groundbreaking nontoxic, ultra-flexible silver ink that can be applied directly to the skin, creating wearable medical devices, such as heart monitors and wireless communication patches in minutes. This innovative technology, inspired by child-safe slime and utilizing simple materials like glue and borax, brings high-performance health monitoring closer to everyday use.

The project was led by Dr. Michelle Khine of the UC Irvine Department of Biomedical Engineering and Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic. Her team developed a water-based ink that uniquely combines high conductivity, stretchability, and skin safety—characteristics that are typically challenging to achieve simultaneously. Unlike conventional wearable devices that rely on rigid wires and potentially irritating adhesives, this ink forms a soft, seamless layer that flexes with the body, maintaining functionality even during activities, such as running, swimming, or bending.

In laboratory tests, the ink was successfully used to create flexible ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors and NFC (near-field communication) antennas. These devices performed comparably to commercial monitors but offered superior comfort and resistance to motion artifacts—signal distortions caused by movement. The waterborne nature of the ink, free from toxic solvents, enhances the safety for skin contact and sustainability for widespread use.

Dr. Khine’s research exemplifies the translational approach championed at UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, focusing on the development of fast, accessible technologies that could reduce healthcare costs and improve patient comfort. By transforming a simple material into a powerful health monitoring tool, the researchers are paving the way for personalized, on-skin electronics in clinics, homes, and various other settings.

Click here to read full article published in Sensors (Basel).