Oliver Jonas, PhD: An Engineering Approach to Precision Medicine using Implantable Microdevices

Oliver Jonas, PhD
Director of the Laboratory for Bio-Micro Devices
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Department of Radiology
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Medical Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Abstract

Precision medicine for human disease will require new tools to predict drug response and monitor disease progression, plus a method to test therapeutic hypotheses arising from novel biologic insights. We have developed a novel technology built upon implantable microdevices that allow massively parallel characterization of the functional responses of healthy or diseased tissue to a range of therapeutics or molecular probes. These devices release ~100 distinct agents from microreservoirs into a single tumor or other tissue and characterize the functional response to each, all without systemic toxicities to patients. Moreover, integrated miniaturized optical elements allow measurement of responses to occur in real-time for each of the reservoirs, providing unprecedented insight into phenotypic tissue responses by allowing in situ readouts of drug efficacy, signaling pathways, metabolites and other molecular markers.

Short Bio

Oliver is Director of the Laboratory for Bio-Micro Devices at BWH and Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research focuses on new technologies for precision medicine, particularly through the development of microscale implantable drug delivery and sensing devices and miniaturized robotic endoscopes for interventional procedures. Others aspects of his research include the application of these technologies towards discoveries of fundamental mechanisms of cancer biology, and the translational application of the technologies in early stage clinical trials. Prior to his work at BWH, Oliver was a postdoctoral fellow in the Langer Lab at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. He holds a PhD in Biophysics.