Sept. 30, 2015
Schulich's 'organ-on-a-chip' researcher wins prestigious award
Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航
Amir Sanati Nezhad, a researcher developing technology that could revolutionize testing pharmaceuticals for neurodegenerative brain diseases, has been awarded the . Each year, CMC Microsystems awards the Douglas R. Colton Medal for Research Excellence to a Canadian researcher for developing new understanding and novel developments in microsystems and related technologies.
Sanati Nezhad, assistant professor of mechanical and manufacturing engineering in the , is developing organ-on-a-chip platforms by using tissue engineering, microfabrication and microfluidics 鈥 a technology for miniaturizing environments.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a platform use for drug discovery,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e make tissues inside a chip to mimic their function in the body. You have control over how the cells behave and then you can test them with different drugs and see how the tissue is responding.鈥
Chip will eventually allow researchers to test effectiveness of pharmaceuticals
Using a chip to test pharmaceuticals could dramatically reduce costs and speed up approving drugs 鈥 a process that can take up to 10 years and includes testing on single cells, then animals and finally humans.
The organ-on-a-chip will eventually allow researchers to see the effects of a drug on a single organ, before layering in other systems, says Sanati Nezhad, a member of the Centre for Bioengineering Research and Education and principal investigator, BioMEMS and Bioinspired Microfluidic Laboratory.
鈥淚f you want to test one drug, let鈥檚 say on the liver of an animal, the liver will be interconnected with all other organs in the body so it鈥檚 really difficult,鈥 he says. 鈥淏ut here we can have one organ in the chip and you can do systematic analysis and test drugs only on liver tissue and not have cross-talking with all the other organs.鈥
Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航
Next phase for research is to mimic brain cells on the chip
In his postgraduate work at Harvard, Sanati Nezhad worked with organs such as the heart and liver. Now he is working with biologists, physicians and other members of the biomedical engineering program and to mimic brain cells on the chip.
鈥淥ur focus is now mainly on the brain and how neurodegenerative diseases are related to different organs,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the main goal of our lab, to see how the brain is interconnected with the liver, skin and vascular system and see how they cross-talk to each other.鈥
Every year, CMC Microsystems awards the Douglas R. Colton Medal for Research Excellence to a Canadian researcher who is developing 鈥渘ew understanding and novel developments in microsystems and related technologies.鈥
Sanati Nezhad is thrilled to receive the unexpected honour.
The 草莓污视频导航 is a global leader in , producing unprecedented insights into complex, global health care challenges. Using engineering approaches to advance knowledge and solve problems in biology, medicine and health care, researchers from engineering, medicine, kinesiology, veterinary medicine, science and nursing are at the forefront of advancing diagnostics, neurosurgery, joint repair, and stem cell production.