Medlinker Secures $40 Million Series B Funding Led by Tencent

1Medlinker Secures $40 Million in Series B Funding, Led by Tencent

According to Tencent Technology on September 7, mobile internet medical community company Medlinker has secured $40 million in Series B financing, led by Tencent and followed by Yunfeng Capital. The exact amount of funding has not been confirmed.

Medlinker was founded in Chengdu in 2014. It aggregates physicians through social networking features, including case sharing, open Q&A, polls, anonymous rants (“Late-Night Ward”), and Physician Circles (a feature similar to WeChat groups, launched in version 2.1).

It is reported that Medlinker will primarily use this round of financing to consolidate its online operations, aiming to expand its physician network from the current 100,000 to between 400,000 and 500,000. Additionally, Medlinker seeks to evolve beyond a purely social platform toward more comprehensive collaborative workflow solutions.



2, Novartis CEO: Google's Contact Lens to Undergo Human Eye Wear Trials Next Year

The smart contact lens, jointly developed by global pharmaceutical giant Novartis of Switzerland and Google, is expected to undergo human trials next year, according to Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez.

This test will not evaluate the diabetes-detection feature of Google’s smart contact lenses, but will primarily assess their efficacy in treating presbyopia.

This smart contact lens was originally designed to help patients monitor their blood glucose levels in real time. The circuits and chips embedded in the lens can measure a patient’s blood glucose level by analyzing the glucose concentration in their tears. According to media reports from May of this year, Google’s smart contact lens has met medical standards and entered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process.

Although the blood glucose monitoring function of the smart glasses was not tested this time, Google, which has been actively expanding into the diabetes field recently, still considers diabetes monitoring the ultimate goal for this product.



33D-Printed DNA “Rabbits” May Be Used for In Vivo Drug Delivery

According to Yeeyan, scientists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute have constructed a DNA-folded “rabbit,” with the hope that this technology can be used in the future to build structures that do not degrade within the human body, thereby enabling precise drug delivery.

Of course, this “rabbit” is not intended for a party trick performance, but rather aims to evolve into a fully automated, 3D printing-based method for folding DNA.

Scientists primarily construct "DNA origami" structures by attaching short DNA strands to longer ones and artificially folding them at the junctions. However, even with software assistance, this laborious process of creating specific shapes requires designing strand by strand. With this new technology, scientists can first design their desired shapes and then let the software determine how to construct them. The software’s algorithm identifies a method for connecting DNA bases; if a connection is not feasible, it generates a new edge—mirroring the approach computers use to build complex 3D models.



4、Application of Digital Medical 3D Printing in Tumor Treatment

Recently, the Beijing Engineering Research Center for Digital Medical 3D Printing, established at Beijing University of Technology, has made new progress in “3D Printing-Based Reconstruction Technology for Maxillofacial Tumor Lesions” and applied it to tumor treatment.

The Engineering Technology Research Center has developed a digital medical 3D-printed tumor target therapy template technology. This technique involves three-dimensional reconstruction of CT scan data to determine the size and shape of the tumor, followed by computer-simulated puncture of the lesion tissue. Subsequently, a 3D conformal guide plate is printed using 3D printing technology based on the surface contour of the lesion. Puncture needles are then inserted into the lesion tissue through each puncture channel provided by the computer-generated template, enabling precise patient puncture guided by digital equipment and the 3D conformal guide plate.

Compared with the previous approach of relying solely on CT- or ultrasound-guided puncture and implantation, this method not only significantly improves accuracy but also substantially reduces operative time. Furthermore, it simplifies the surgical procedure and lowers costs, thereby facilitating the widespread adoption of radioactive seed implantation for tumor treatment in primary care hospitals and holding broad prospects for future application.