UCLA Researchers Develop Wearable Kidney

Researchers at UCLA have developed a wearable kidney-like device that would eliminate the need for dialysis. Unlike dialysis, though, the device functions continuously, avoiding the buildup of toxins that occurs in between traditional treatments.

UCLA–VA has also signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the Singapore-based company AWAK Technologies Pte. Ltd. to develop [the] commercial wearable kidney based on the design by Martin Roberts, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a dialysis consultant with the VA Healthcare System, and David B.N. Lee, a professor of medicine at the Geffen School and a consultant nephrologist at the VA.

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The design for the peritoneal-based artificial kidney — which is "bloodless" and reduces or even eliminates protein loss and other dialysis-related problems — is summarized in an article published in the current issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Nephrology...

Amazing. What's even more amazing is that, according to the story, the two funded the research that led to the invention out of their own pockets.

Bravo to doctors Lee and Roberts.

[Hat tip: Levi Beckerson, Daily Tech]