Plenary Speakers
Roger D Kamm
MIT
2018/5/28 22:58:13
Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor
Dept. of Biological Engineering;
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Website: http://meche.mit.edu/people/faculty/rdkamm@mit.edu#professional-service
Email: rdkamm@mit.edu
Biography:
A primary objective of Kamm's research has been the application of fundamentals in fluid and solid mechanics to better understand essential biological and physiological phenomena. Past studies have addressed issues in the respiratory, ocular and cardiovascular systems. More recently, his attention has focused on the molecular mechanisms of cellular force sensation, cell population dynamics, and the development of new microfluidic platforms for the study of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, especially in the context of metastatic cancer. This cumulative work has led to over 290 refereed publications. Recognition for his contributions is reflected in Kamm's election as Fellow to AIMBE, ASME, BMES, AAAS and the IFMBE. He is also the 2010 recipient of the ASME Lissner Medal and the 2015 recipient of the Huiskes Medal, both for lifetime achievements, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Abstract:
Microphysiological models of neurological function and disease and their application to drug screening
The capability to produce in vitro models of normal physiological function and disease is rapidly expanding, and it is now becoming clear that these microphysiological sys-tems (MPS) will soon find their place in the multi-step process of identifying and val-idating new drugs, and testing for their potentially toxic side-effects. In order to gain acceptance by the pharma and biotech industries, however, these systems will need to be further developed, validated, and methods developed to fabricate them at high throughput and consistency. In this presentation, we focus on systems being devel-oped to model neurological function, disease, and the process of transport of drugs across the tight blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat neurological disorders and cancer. These MPS are each derived entirely from human cells, produced in microfluidic plat-forms of different design, and include models of the BBB, Alzheimer’s Disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In the BBB model, we demonstrate the capabil-ity to generate in vivo levels of permeability, and to discern between paracellular and transcellular transport. Using a monolayer system, we explore interactions between the amyloid-beta protein and vascular permeability, related to cerebral amyloid angi-opathy. Our ALS model, consisting of a motor neuron cell cluster activating a skeletal muscle strip, all in a 3-dimensional environment, is used to demonstrate the potential for drug screening. In the context of cancer, the BBB model is used to test for organ specificity of brain-targeting breast cancer cells, and to address the apparent contra-diction that the brain, while the tightest vascular barrier in the body, is also a preferred target for metastatic cancer.
Support from the US National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, and the US National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged