The Power of Miniaturization in Medicine: Engineered Hepatic Tissues and Cancer Nanotechnology
Event details
| Date | 29.03.2017 |
| Hour | 10:30 |
| Speaker | Prof. Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Massachussets Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (USA) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Abstract:
Our laboratory studies how micro- and nanoscale systems can be deployed to understand, diagnose, and treat human disease. In this talk, I will describe our progress in two application areas: liver disease and cancer.
In the area of hepatic tissue engineering, we are developing microtechnology tools to understand how ensembles of cells coordinate to produce tissues with emergent properties in the body. We have used this understanding to fabricate human microliver tissues in both '2D' and '3D' formats that enable us to study host-pathogen interactions in hepatitis and malaria.
In the area of cancer, we are developing nanotechnology tools to meet the challenge of delivering cargo into the tumor microenvironment where transport is dominated by diffusion. Our strategy is to design nanotechnologies which emulate nature's mechanisms of homing, activation, and amplification to deliver cytotoxic drugs, diagnostic tools, imaging agents, and siRNA to tumors.
Thus, using nature as a guide, we are establishing a framework for building systems from micro- and nanoscale components that function collectively to treat human disease.
Bio:
Trained as both a physician and engineer, Dr. Bhatia has pioneered technologies for interfacing living cells with synthetic systems, enabling new applications in tissue regeneration, stem cell differentiation, medical diagnostics and drug delivery. Her multidisciplinary team has developed a broad and impactful range of inventions, including human micro livers which model human drug metabolism, liver disease, and interaction with pathogens, and a suite of communicating nanomaterials that can be used to interrogate, monitor and treat cancer and other diseases. Her work has been profiled broadly such as in Scientific American, the Boston Globe, Popular Science, Forbes, PBS’s NOVA scienceNOW, The Economist, and MSNBC.
Dr. Bhatia trained at Brown, MIT, Harvard, and MGH. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she is a fellow of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She has been awarded the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment; the 2014 Lemelson-MIT Prize; the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship given to “the nation’s most promising young professors in science and engineering;” the NSF CAREER Award; the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the Young Investigator Award of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology; and the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal. She also was named a Merkin Fellow of the Broad Institute.
Abstract:
Our laboratory studies how micro- and nanoscale systems can be deployed to understand, diagnose, and treat human disease. In this talk, I will describe our progress in two application areas: liver disease and cancer.
In the area of hepatic tissue engineering, we are developing microtechnology tools to understand how ensembles of cells coordinate to produce tissues with emergent properties in the body. We have used this understanding to fabricate human microliver tissues in both '2D' and '3D' formats that enable us to study host-pathogen interactions in hepatitis and malaria.
In the area of cancer, we are developing nanotechnology tools to meet the challenge of delivering cargo into the tumor microenvironment where transport is dominated by diffusion. Our strategy is to design nanotechnologies which emulate nature's mechanisms of homing, activation, and amplification to deliver cytotoxic drugs, diagnostic tools, imaging agents, and siRNA to tumors.
Thus, using nature as a guide, we are establishing a framework for building systems from micro- and nanoscale components that function collectively to treat human disease.
Bio:
Trained as both a physician and engineer, Dr. Bhatia has pioneered technologies for interfacing living cells with synthetic systems, enabling new applications in tissue regeneration, stem cell differentiation, medical diagnostics and drug delivery. Her multidisciplinary team has developed a broad and impactful range of inventions, including human micro livers which model human drug metabolism, liver disease, and interaction with pathogens, and a suite of communicating nanomaterials that can be used to interrogate, monitor and treat cancer and other diseases. Her work has been profiled broadly such as in Scientific American, the Boston Globe, Popular Science, Forbes, PBS’s NOVA scienceNOW, The Economist, and MSNBC.
Dr. Bhatia trained at Brown, MIT, Harvard, and MGH. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she is a fellow of the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She has been awarded the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment; the 2014 Lemelson-MIT Prize; the David and Lucile Packard Fellowship given to “the nation’s most promising young professors in science and engineering;” the NSF CAREER Award; the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the Young Investigator Award of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology; and the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal. She also was named a Merkin Fellow of the Broad Institute.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI, Christina Mattsson)