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Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Benjamin Miller, University of Rochester Medical Center

Ben Miller
Date
Wed November 6th 2024, 3:00 - 4:00pm
Location
Sapp Center Lecture Hall 114

About the Seminar 

“Watch the whole movie: Integrating photonic sensors with microphysiological systems to accelerate drug development and reveal previously unknowable biology”

Microphysiological systems (MPS), also known as “tissue chips” or “organs-on-a-chip”, are a rapidly growing field of research. These microfluidic cell culture devices incorporate multiple cell types in a defined three-dimensional configuration to model complex human biology in ways that are not possible with simple monocultures. The promise of MPS has been recognized by Congress: the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 mandates that the FDA begin to consider data from MPS as an alternative to animal data in the drug development process.

A significant issue with MPS is that analysis of the system usually involves immunofluorescence microscopy (a single timepoint that kills the chip), or off-chip analysis of culture media (reducing quantitative fidelity and temporal resolution). To address this problem, we are integrating photonic biosensors with MPS. These integrated systems enable real-time, continuous, and quantitative analysis of molecules of interest in MPS, with temporal resolution of a few seconds and measurement time extending to several days. This talk with discuss our progress with sensor integration (including antibody-based analyte capture sensors and Waveguide-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy) into several MPS, with a particular focus on tissue barrier models including a human Tendon-on-a-Chip (hToC).

For a summary of Professor Miller's research, please click on the following link.

About the Speaker 

Prof. Benjamin L. Miller received his undergraduate degrees from Miami University (Ohio) in Chemistry (B.S.), Mathematics (A.B.), and German (A.B.) in 1988, and a Ph. D. in Chemistry in 1994 from Stanford University, where he completed his thesis research under the direction of Prof. Paul Wender. Following a stint as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, he joined the University of Rochester faculty in 1996. He is currently Dean’s Professor of Dermatology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science, and Optics. His laboratory works on novel optical chemical and biosensors, with particular interests in sensor integration with microphysiological systems (“tissue chips”) as well as integrated photonics and sensors for cost- and resource-sensitive diagnostic applications. Miller served as the Academic Lead for Integrated Photonic Sensors in AIM Photonics, a National Manufacturing Institute. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, Optica, and AIMBE, and is a member of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also an active entrepreneur, having founded 5 companies to date based on his group’s research.

Host: Paul Wender