Subject: PARC Forum Friday, September 28, 2007: "Silicon Microchips as Implantable Drug Delivery and Biosensing Devices", John T. Santini

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:26:17 PDT

PARC Forum

Please note the different day:
Friday, September 28, 2007, 4:00-5:00 PM

George E. Pake Auditorium

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
This forum is OPEN to the public.

TITLE: " Silicon Microchips as Implantable Drug Delivery and Biosensing Devices"

SPEAKER: John T. Santini, Jr., Ph.D., President & CEO MicroCHIPS, Inc.

ABSTRACT:

As pharmaceutical drugs become more potent, targeted, and complex, the importance of systems designed to precisely control the delivery of those drugs to the body increases. In addition, the lifetime of many implantable biosensors is limited by degradation of reagents or fouling of membranes and electrode surfaces. Therefore, our research and development efforts have focused on materials and devices that can: (1) store multiple drugs or biosensors, (2) protect them from the body until they are needed, and (3) controllably release the drugs from the device or expose the biosensors to body fluids on demand.
Microfabrication technology has enabled the creation of reservoir-based drug delivery and biosensing devices that meet these criteria. Microchips containing an array of sealed, drug-filled reservoirs have been developed and can be implanted in the body. Precise control over the release of drug from the device's reservoirs is enabled by integrating the device with pre-programmed microprocessors, wireless telemetry, or biosensors. Our group was the first to demonstrate both in vitro and in vivo, chronic on-demand release of drugs stored inside a microchip device.
This presentation will review the evolution of our implantable microchip technologies from prototypes created in an academic lab at MIT to products in commercial development.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

John Santini is an entrepreneur, scientist, and founder of MicroCHIPS with over a decade of experience in drug delivery and biosensing. Under Dr. Santini's leadership, MicroCHIPS has achieved a number of significant milestones including fundraising from top tier venture capital investors, the addition of two major corporate partners, and the first long-term in vivo demonstration of an implantable drug delivery microchip. He is a recognized expert on the use of microtechnology in healthcare and has authored or co-authored over 60 issued/pending patents and several technical papers. Dr. Santini was honored by Technology Review Magazine as one of the Top 100 Young Innovators in the world. Prior to founding MicroCHIPS, he obtained his PhD in chemical engineering in the laboratories of Professors Robert Langer and Michael Cima at MIT as a National Science Foundation Fellow. Dr. Santini also graduated with a BSE in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

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UPCOMING FORUM:

October 4: "Electronics sustainability challenge: Miles to go before we sleep ...", Ted Smith, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition

October 11: "Know the Bread You Break: Kneading the Issues of Sustainable Food Choices", Jesse Ziff Cool
There will be book signing for "One Pot Cook" from 3:15 - 4:00pm before the talk.

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