"Biomedical Micro- and Nanofluidics"

Shuichi Takayama, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Michigan

Micro/nanotechnology and regenerative medicine have the potential to synergistically advance science and enhance healthcare through more efficient development of therapeutics and diagnostics. This presentation will provide an overview of efforts to apply such technologies to cell therapies, drug testing, and advancing understanding disease physiology. The micro- and nanofluidic technologies to be discussed include microfluidic switches, aqueous two-phase system bioprinting, 3D cell cultures, and fracture fabrication of tunable nanochannels. Specific biomedical applications that will be discussed include organs-on-a-chip systems such as oviduct-on-a-chip for vitro fertilization and heartbeat-on-a-chip, 3D cultures technologies of cancer, chromatin analysis in fracture-fabricated nanochannels, and technologies to help develop protein diagnostics.

Prof. Shuichi Takayama’s research interests (B.S. & M.S. from the University of Tokyo, Ph.D. from the Scripps Research Institute) started with organic synthesis. Subsequently he pursued postdoctoral studies in bioengineered microsystems at Harvard University as a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fellow. He is currently Professor at the University of Michigan in the Biomedical Engineering Department and Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program, and Adjunct Professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in Korea. He is an associate editor of Integrative Biology. Research topics include microfluidic models of the body such as the oviduct, lung, gut, and cancer metastasis. He also develops aqueous two phase system micropatterning technologies, studies timing and rhythms of cell signaling, constructs self-switching fluidic circuits, and performs nanofluidic single strand chromatin analysis. Awards and honors include the NSF CAREER award, Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and AIMBE Fellow. Disclosures: Co-founder & shareholder PHASIQ, Inc; Some stock options and licensed technology to 3D Biomatrix.