By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Healthcare’s Most Disruptive: Next-Gen Genomics, Memory Implants
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Healthcare’s Most Disruptive: Next-Gen Genomics, Memory Implants
Business

Healthcare’s Most Disruptive: Next-Gen Genomics, Memory Implants

Deanna Pogorelc
Deanna Pogorelc
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

future health technology

Originally published on MedCityNews.com.

future health technology

Originally published on MedCityNews.com.

More Read

High Quality, Low Cost HealthCare Video Interview Series: Dr Ricardo Bello Talks Reducing Readmissions @MontefioreNYC
Lab Tests in Health Risk Assessments Help Spot Diabetes, High Cholesterol and Kidney Disease (transcript)
Clinics, Free Clinics, and the Future Uninsured – Interview with Erika Viccellio
4 Barriers to Private Practice for Med School Graduates
Best Practices for Healthcare Call Centers Should Follow in 2023

If you’re visiting this site, you’re probably pretty aware of some of the technological advances that healthcare experts think will change the industry (here’s looking at you, 3D printing and sensors).

But there are a few technologies in particular that tech and business experts think everyone should know about, from general consumers to policymakers, to better understand how technology will shape society and the economy over the next decade. MIT Technology Review and McKinsey have (separately) put their picks forward this spring in the form of “most disruptive technologies” lists.

Both of these lists are broad and include technologies applied to other fields including manufacturing, energy, automotive, etc., but here we’re focusing on health. MIT Technology Review’s annual list of 10 breakthrough technologies this year includes prenatal DNA sequencing and memory implants.

As a point of reference, Technology Review’s list 10 years ago included injectable tissue engineering (still a work in progress), molecular imaging (yep) and glycomics (still considered an emerging field).

Citing Illumina’s acquisition of Verinata earlier this year, Technology Review called prenatal genetic screening “the next frontier of the genome revolution.” The companies that launched tests for genetic disorders like Down’s syndrome and Tay-Sachs disease have now figured out how to get a fetus’s entire genome from a mother’s blood sample, which they could use to spot other chromosomal abnormalities that could indicate disease. Although it’s still too costly to be mainstream, the idea of fetal genome screening has already given way to ethical debates.

The list also includes the work of a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist at USC – Los Angeles by named Theodore Berger, who has spent more than two decades creating silicon chips that mimic the signal processing of neurons in the hippocampus that are damaged in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, stroke or other brain injuries that impede long-term memory. These chips have never been tested in humans, but studies in rats and primates have suggested their potential in correcting long-term memory.

In an editorial, deputy editor Brian Bergstein referred to the similar report by the McKinsey Global Institute, which doesn’t get quite as granular, but highlights some big trends the consulting company thinks will be “disruptive” in the next decade.

McKinsey also chose next-generation genomics as a disruptive technology but stretched it a little further to include “fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced big data analytics and synthetic biology.” McKinsey posits that low-cost bench top sequencing machines will become part of use in routine diagnostics, and sequencing will also be used to match treatments to patients. “The next step is synthetic biology – the ability to precisely customize organisms by ‘writing’ DNA,” the report’s authors wrote.

Another disruptive technology that the firm chose which has applications in healthcare is advanced robotics, a field that its analysts think could have a potential economic impact of $800 billion in the healthcare industry by 2025, in the form of improving quality of life through robotic surgery and robotic prosthetics.

[Photo credit: dream designs]

TAGGED:health start-ups!
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

a woman walking on the hallway
6 Easy Healthcare Ways to Sit Less and Move More Every Day
Health
September 9, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Healthcare at a Crossroads: Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Global Healthcare
September 9, 2025
travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025

You Might also Like

BusinessMarketing

How Dental Trends Can Help Differentiate Your Practice

August 1, 2019
social media healthcare
BusinesseHealthSocial Media

Ways to Make Your Images Work for You

March 10, 2014

Health Care Buzz Today

June 15, 2011

Hospital Robot Disinfects Rooms

January 5, 2012
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?