Cancer on a chip: From new technologies and basic science to
translational medicine
Wednesday, November 8th, 2017 at 11:00am
Johnson Center, Room C
Dr. Nitin Agrawal
Department of Bioengineering,
George Mason University
Despite the medical advancements of the 21st century, cancer has
remained a formidable disease exceeding 8 million annual deaths
worldwide. Due to heterogeneity of cancer cells from patient to
patient, and their adaptability to hostile microenvironments (e.g. low
oxygen or ‘hypoxic’ conditions), it is incredibly difficult to develop a
universal anticancer approach for a broad population. These challenges
highlight the need to better understand cell functions and develop new
technologies for personalized medicine.
Hypoxia alters cellular metabolism and leads to acquisition of drug
resistance and metastatic progression. In most solid tumors, these
hypoxic conditions exist as gradients of oxygen with the tumor core
being most hypoxic due lack of vascularization. In the m-SCALE
(Microfluidic Single Cell Analysis Laboratory in Engineering) group, we
have developed a novel lab-on-a-chip strategy to establish linear
gradients of dissolved oxygen and study cancer cell behavior under
biomimetic conditions. We have also identified a novel molecular
mechanism, that regulates transformation of breast epithelial cells to
stem-like phenotypes, necessary for metastasis. The focus of our
research revolves around breast and brain cancers as model disease
systems. In addition to the above projects, we are also concentrating
our efforts towards developing liposome based immunological techniques
to engineer cytotoxic T lymphocytes for increased efficacy against cancer.
In this seminar, development and functionality of the microfluidic
hypoxia platform as well as its utility to explore cellular responses in
real-time will be demonstrated. In addition, the unique capability to
establish overlapping hypoxia and drug gradients and the potential for
personalized diagnostics and treatments will be discussed.
_Biography_: Dr. Nitin Agrawal is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Bioengineering at George Mason University. He received his
PhD in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2006 and
Postdoctoral training from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts
General Hospital in the field of Bioengineering in 2009. He worked at
the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for 2.5 years before joining
GMU. Dr. Agrawal’s research spans across three critical scientific
areas: i) Development of chip based technologies for disease diagnostics
and therapies, (ii) Fundamental understanding of the molecular
mechanisms of cancer, and (iii) Translation of lab-on-a-chip
technologies for clinical and personalized medicine. His research is
supported by multiple NSF awards in the areas of nanobiosensing, and
biomanufacturing of therapeutic cells. He has authored/co-authored 20
peer reviewed journal articles and several refereed conference articles.
Besides research, Dr. Agrawal has served on multiple NSF review panels.
He is also actively involved in student mentoring at all levels and was
nominated for the OSCAR mentoring excellence award in 2017 at GMU.
--
===============================================================
Stephen G. Nash
Senior Associate Dean
Volgenau School of Engineering
George Mason University
Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 2500
Mailstop 5C8
Fairfax, VA 22030
[log in to unmask]
Phone: (703) 993-1505
Fax: (703) 993-1633
https://volgenau.gmu.edu/profile/view/10248
|
