On November 18, 2019, the acclaimed MIT Professor and member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Linda G. Griffith, will visit Bioinnovation Institute to give an exclusive talk at BII’s ‘Talks at the Square’ event series.
“Mice are not little people” – a refrain becoming louder as the strengths and weaknesses of animal models of human disease become more apparent. At the same time, three emerging approaches are headed toward integration: powerful systems biology analysis of cell-cell and intracellular signaling networks in patient-derived samples; 3D tissue engineered models of human organ systems, often made from stem cells; and micro-fluidic and meso-fluidic devices that enable living systems to be sustained, perturbed and analyzed for weeks in culture.
This talk will highlight the integration of these rapidly moving fields to understand difficult clinical problems, with an emphasis on translating academic discoveries into practical use. Technical challenges in modeling complex diseases with “organs on chips” approaches include the need for relatively large tissue masses and organ-organ cross talk to capture systemic effects, as well as new ways of thinking about scaling to capture multiple different functionalities from drug clearance to cytokine signaling crosstalk. Examples in gynecology and metabolic diseases will be highlighted.
Program of the day:
14.30-15.00 Doors open
15.00-15.05 Introduction
15.05-15.35 Dr. Linda Griffith: How organs on chips and systems biology can transform drug development
15.35-15.50 Q&A session
15.50-16.30 Informal networking and closing reception.
Please note, that the event has free admittance with 100 tickets available. Please sign up quickly to secure your seat.
About Dr. Linda G. Griffith
Prof. Linda G. Griffith received a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgia Tech and a PhD degree from the University of California at Berkeley, both in chemical engineering. At present, she is based at MIT, School of Engineering Professor of Teaching Innovation, Biological Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Griffith is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Popular Science Brilliant 10 Award, NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the MIT Class of 1960 Teaching Innovation Award, Radcliffe Fellow and several awards from professional societies.
About the Talks at the Square event series at BioInnovation Institute
‘Talks at the Square’ is an event series by BioInnovation Institute (BII) with a key focus on spreading ideas and knowledge in life science entrepreneurship to inspire researchers to bring science out of the lab and into the economy. The events feature high-level international speakers with topics that emphasize innovations and inspirational topics within biotech, medtech and pharma. The Talks at the Square events are hosted by BioInnovation Institute at the Square event space of the new BII facilities in Copenhagen Bio Science Park (COBIS) in Copenhagen. Read more about upcoming and past events here.