Adverse event reporting has a critical role in the evaluation of the safety of a drug or medical device during its testing.

FORBES: The Data On Drugs' Side Effects Must Be Reliable

The medical device giant Medtronic is testing a related technique called deep-brain stimulation, in which electrodes from a device in the chest are surgically threaded several centimeters into the brain to the site of damage.

FORBES: Rewiring the brain

Farlow's Scientific Glassblowing makes the glass organs and vascular models used by medical-device manufacturers in preliminary testing to determine whether their products will work in real-life situations.

CNN: Hearts of glass: Where medical science meets art

Philips plans to introduce a hand-held drug-testing device in 2009, in partnership with Cozart, a British medical-diagnostics firm.

ECONOMIST: Labs on a chip