Harvard Catalyst Profiles

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented medical student who is highly committed to developing research capacity with a focus area of bone infection. The existing medical approach for treating infected bone is encountering new challenges. The effectiveness of the current antibiotic application is critically limited by the evolution of bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics and the absence of bone devices that can effectively deliver antibiotics and boost bone regeneration. To solve this important problem, the goal of this scholarly project is to develop an innovative drug-device combination based on a novel dual-targeting antibiotic that can effectively retard bacteria resistance and an advanced device that can induce a sustained release of antibiotics and enhance bone regeneration. During this in-person scholarly project, the medical student will be mentored by the Co-Directors and faculty members at the Center for Engineered Therapeutics (https://cetbwh.org/), which is located at the interface of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Department of Medicine, within the rich ecosystem of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). The center will provide training in experiment design, result analysis, scientific writing, and other guidance for the career development. We are fully equipped for material synthesis and characterization, bioengineering, immunochemistry, synthetic chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, in vitro assays and in vivo studies. The Center for Engineered Therapeutics provides an interdisciplinary research environment where biomedical engineers, biologists, chemists, pharmacists, material scientists, and clinicians work together to solve biological challenges with holistic and creative approaches. We develop novel biotechnologies for clinical translation based on the understanding of biological mechanisms. We love addressing exciting and hard problems that will have a high impact on patients’ lives. Please check our publications (examples of our recent research article includes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00950-x.)

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented medical student who is highly committed to developing research capacity with a focus area of bone metastasis. Metastasis is the major cause of cancer mortality. More than 70% of malignant cancers metastasize to the bone, and the metastasized cancer cells disrupt bone homeostasis and cause debilitating pain to patients. However, there is no effective therapy for bone metastasis. The goal of this scholarly project is to bioengineer miniaturized human vascularized bone tissue in a microfluidic chip device and simulate metastasis of cancer cells into the engineered bone tissue at the cellular level in real-time. The proposed in vitro bone metastasis modeling system can help us to elucidate underlying pathological mechanisms underlying bone metastasis. We will also test the effectiveness and safety of novel immunotherapy agents in this in vitro human bone metastasis modeling system to increase its success rate during clinical trials. During this in-person scholarly project, the medical student will be mentored by the Co-Directors and faculty members at the Center for Engineered Therapeutics (https://cetbwh.org/), which is located at the interface of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Department of Medicine, within the rich ecosystem of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). The center will provide training in experiment design, result analysis, scientific writing, and other guidance for the career development. We are fully equipped for material synthesis and characterization, bioengineering, immunochemistry, synthetic chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology, in vitro assays and in vivo studies. The Center for Engineered Therapeutics provides an interdisciplinary research environment where biomedical engineers, biologists, chemists, pharmacists, material scientists, and clinicians work together to solve biological challenges with holistic and creative approaches. We develop novel biotechnologies for clinical translation based on the understanding of biological mechanisms. We love addressing exciting and hard problems that will have a high impact on patients’ lives. Please check our publications (examples of our recent research articles include https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-021-01000-4 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00950-x.)