There was a time when biology and technology were two discrete fields. But today, they are intertwined, expanding the burgeoning field of biotechnology. Medical engineering, life sciences... these terms were once unheard of, but they appear on the front page more and more, as bioinformatics, gene therapy, tissue engineering, and similar pursuits become a reality. What was once purely science fiction is becoming real science and technology, as researchers discover new ways to improve the quality of life. The projects below may be the next success stories in that effort.

• (active) indicates project we are currently funding
• (complete) indicates project has completed funding
• (spin-out) indicates project has formed a company

Angela Belcher and David Clapham: Nanotechnology process enables fast discovery of ion channel-targeting drugs
This nanotechnology-based approach to monitoring key proteins could open up new drug markets worth billions. (complete)

Sangeeta Bhatia: Human liver models for faster, safer drug development
This miniature human liver tissue could lead to safer, faster, and more cost-effective drug development by measuring toxicity at an early stage in the development process. (complete)

Vladimir Bulovic: Slim-format spectrometer
A rugged, slim-format spectrometer the size of a PDA and costing much less than current portable spectrometers could benefit field applications from point-of-care medical devices to environmental sensors. (complete)

Yet-Ming Chiang: Low-Cost Continuous Drug Delivery
This low-cost, compact, disposable, programmable delivery device using advanced materials technology could assist individuals with chronic diseases. (active)

Michael Cima : Medicine delivery method for bladder disorders
A new device to provide medicine over a period of time that treats bladder disorders, from overactive bladder to interstitial cystitis to cancer. (active)

Clark Colton: Finding early-stage cancers using novel contrast agents for enhanced MRI
This technology could help pinpoint early stage tumors, dramatically improving the chances of cancer survival. (complete)

Utkan Demirci: CD-4 T Lymphocyte-Counting Microchip
A disposable CD-4 T lymphocyte-counting microchip providing fast, cost-effective on-site HIV virus monitoring to improve patient care in the developing world. (active)

Patrick Doyle: Rapid Multiplexed Analysis for Molecular Diagnostics
A new method to perform multi-target bioassays using microparticles that may enable clinical bedside diagnostics and easier, less-costly diagnosis of disease. (active)

Elazer Edelman: Drug Delivery for Heart Surgery Patients
A unique means of safely administering perioperative drugs for heart failure patients. (active)

Rutledge Ellis-Behnke: Realizing modern medicine's dream of immediate hemostasis
A new transparent compound that not only stops bleeding instantly but can be operated through and breaks down harmlessly within the body has the potential to revolutionize surgery and trauma care. (complete, spin-out).

Gerald Fink: Compound to Enhance Immune Stimulation
A compound to stimulate a more powerful immune response to specific monoclonal antibodies, potentially enabling development of effective new disease therapies. (active)

Woodie Flowers: Powered limb braces to help the mobility impaired
A low-cost, easy-to-use medical device could help millions of disabled people achieve increased independence and save millions in out-of-pocket expenses for physical rehabilitation and assisted living. (complete, spin-out)

John Guttag: An accurate, inexpensive cardiac screening system
A computerized cardiac screening system that is as non-invasive, inexpensive, and fast as a stethoscope, but much more accurate, and it could be a boon to cardiac diagnostics. (complete)

Paula Hammond: Smarter drug delivery via tunable implant coatings
"Smart" drug coatings that can conform to medical devices of any shape (e.g. stents, bone implants, pills, and microparticles) and that allow the release of multiple drugs at varied times would make multiple surgical procedures and drug-dosing schedules a thing of the past. (complete)

Doug Hart: Digital Ear Canal Scanner
An in-ear, 3D digital scanner for custom fitting hearing aids, resulting in better hearing for hearing aid users. (active)

Doug Hart: High speed 3-D surface imaging
A novel 3D image-processing system could greatly enhance the medical procedure of endoscopy and enable robotic-assisted, minimally invasive surgery, in addition to a whole host of other applications. (complete, spin-out)

Timothy Jamison: From bulk compounds to fine chemicals in one step
A one-step process of coupling bulk chemicals to produce fine chemicals creates a new economic equation for the multi-trillion-dollar fine chemicals industry and one of its main customers: pharmaceuticals. (complete)

Klavs Jensen : High throughput cell microinjector
A new automated microinjector that promises high-throughput delivery of any molecule or nanoparticle into single cells to accelerate laboratory research. (active)

Robert Langer: Tissue engineering
Here's the $400-billion-a-year question: how do you create new human tissue supported by vascular structures? This project is preparing for clinical trials in one area of this big opportunity. (complete, spin-out)

Richard Lanza : Phase contrast X-ray imaging
A phase contrast approach to x-ray imaging that could impact a wide range of areas, from medical imaging to homeland security. (active)

Richard Lanza: Low-cost x-ray imaging systems
An inexpensive x-ray imaging system using off-the-shelf scanners and personal computers could be a boon to medicine in developing countries and could be used for homeland security and inspection applications. (complete)

Susan Lindquist: Developing Novel Strategies to Arrest Biofilms
The development of novel therapeutic strategies to combat difficult-to-treat bacterial biofilm infections. (active)

Scott Manalis: Label-free detection of proteins
If this project succeeds, it will develop a faster, easier way to detect proteins. And that could mean faster, easier ways to diagnose disease and study the dynamics of cellular signaling pathways. (complete)

Alexander Slocum, Omid Farokhzad and Jeff Karp: Device for Sensing Tissues and Tissue Compartments - A new device to assist in sensing tissue as catheter needles are inserted during common medical procedures.
(active)

Peter So: A 3 Dimensional Lithographic Microfabrication System
A 3D two-photon microfabrication system to rapidly build high resolution micro-scale structures. (active)

Peter So: A new device for non-invasive tissue biopsy
A new type of endoscope using two-photon imaging could diagnose disease without tissue removal and create a new market for non-invasive tissue biopsy. (complete)

Francesco Stellacci: Contact printing - bridging nano-lithography with industrial production
Much in the same way the printing press revolutionized the creation of reading matter, this nano-contact printing technology enables mass production of nano devices currently built one at a time. (complete, spin-out)

Todd Thorsen: Microfluidic platform for high-density multiplexed biological assays
Here is a cheaper, more productive platform for identifying genes and proteins that could capture share in a $1.5 billion market. (complete)

Ioannis Yannas and François Berthiaume: Drug delivery system to enhance healing of wounds and burns
Novel skin substitutes designed to accelerate blood vessel growth and improve wound and burn healing, and reduce the risk of infections. (active)

Related Projects

Marc Baldo: Exploiting Mollecular Conformational Changes for Data Storage
What do biological life and electronics have in common? Exploiting the nature of molecular conformation that is essential to life, this project could lead to transistors with faster read and write times and single-molecule data storage. (complete)

Klavs Jensen: Integrated, intelligent chemistry systems: revolutionizing the chemical lab
An innovative chemistry system, compact and capable of rapid discovery and development of new products, would revolutionize the chemical laboratory—and chemical research as we know it. (complete)