David Myers, Ph.D.*

Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics
Emory University/Georgia Institute of Technology

Monday, March 25, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Emory University, Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB)
Room E160

Videoconference
Georgia Tech: UAW 3115 / Georgia Tech: TEP 208
https://bluejeans.com/809850842

“Moving MEMS into Medicine: A Microsystems Journey from Ballistics to the Bedside”

ABSTRACT
Microsystems have dramatically changed how we interact with the world, from tracking fitness-related activity to improving transportation safety, yet microsystems have failed to live up to their potential in biomedical and clinical settings. In this talk, I review my efforts at addressing this issue and detail my journey from state of the art microsystem development to cutting edge biological and clinical research. Beginning with a discussion of advanced microsystem design, I highlight the exceptional capabilities of today’s microsystems, including some of my own work on high-performance automotive and ballistic sensors. I demonstrate that these microsystem tools have enormous potential in biomedical research and clinical settings, but that fully realizing the capabilities of this established field lies in designing new robust microsystems capable of answering clinically relevant problems. As a case study, I examine the creation of the platelet contraction cytometer, a tool that has led to important insights into our understanding of the process of hemostasis. By applying a microsystems-based toolset to a challenging biomedical question, I show how we have started to better define the mechanical behavior of clots, which is pathologically linked to bleeding and thrombosis. Moreover, I discuss how our microsystems-based approach may represent an entirely new class of biophysical biomarker for bleeding that is independent of existing tests. Finally, I conclude with a high-level overview of strategies that are key to translating microsystems from the cleanroom to the clinic.

BIOGRAPHY
David R. Myers is currently an Assistant Professor of the Research Track in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University. David’s varied interests have fueled an unusual educational background that fuses engineering, microsystem design, biology, and clinical research. David received a BS in physics and mechanical engineering (dual major) from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, in 2004. Inspired by the amazing capabilities of and size of microsystems, David pursued an MS and PhD in mechanical engineering in 2007 and 2010, respectively from the University of California at Berkeley under the tutelage of one of the early microsystems pioneers, Albert P. Pisano, PhD. Motivated by a desire to see advanced microsystems used in biological research, David undertook a postdoctoral fellowship with Wilbur A. Lam, MD, PhD, in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology where he learned to conduct both biomedical and clinical research.

Host:  Jaydev Desai