James Hickman,
Professor, Nanoscience Technology, Chemistry, Biomolecular Science and Electrical Engineering,
University of Central Florida; Chief Scientist, Hesperos
James J. Hickman is the Founding Director of the NanoScience Technology Center and a Professor of Nanoscience Technology, Chemistry, Biomolecular Science, Biomedical Engineering, Material Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Central Florida. Previously, he held the position of the Hunter Endowed Chair in the Bioengineering Department at Clemson University. Dr. Hickman has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Chemistry. For the past thirty years, he has been studying the interaction of biological species with modified surfaces, first in industry and in the latter years in academia. While in industry he established one of the first bioelectronics labs in the country that focused on cell-based sensors and their integration with electronic devices and MEMS devices. He is interested in creating hybrid systems for biosensor and biological computation applications and the creation of functional in vitro systems for human body-on-a-chip applications. He has worked at NSF and DARPA in the area of biological computation. He is also the founder and current Chief Scientist of a biotechnology company, Hesperos, that is focusing on cell-based systems for drug discovery and toxicity. He has 166 publications and 20 book chapters, in addition to 34 issued patents out of 50 total patent applications. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for 2 consecutive terms, the premier society for Biomedical Engineering of which he is a Fellow. He is also a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) and National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as well as BioFlorida’s Researcher of the Year (2022). Dr. Hickman along with Dr. Michael Shuler, won the Lush Prize, in the Science Category, which Supports Animal Free Testing in 2015.
Integration of Cells with Silicon Devices for the Development of Functional Organ-on-a-Chip Systems for Preclinical Drug Discovery and Toxicology
One of the primary limitations in drug discovery and toxicology research is the lack of good model systems between the single cell level and animal or human systems. In addition, with the banning of animals for toxicology testing in the EU, the development of body-on-a-chip systems to replace animals with human mimics is essential for product development and safety testing. Our research focus is on the establishment of functional in vitro systems to address this deficit where we seek to create organ mimics and their subsystems to model motor control, muscle function, myelination and cognitive function, as well as cardiac conduction and force generation. The idea is to integrate microsystems fabrication technology and surface modifications with protein and cellular components, for initiating and maintaining self-assembly and growth into biologically, mechanically and electronically interactive functional multi-component systems in a circulating serum-free medium. Our philosophy is to start with 2D systems and only add complexity as needed to address biological questions to keep cost of the system at a minimum. We are using this ability to manipulate biological systems and integrate them with silicon-based systems to create body-on-a-chip systems for high content drug discovery. Examples will be given of some of the more advanced body-on-a-chip systems including a recent 4-organ system, neuromuscular junction system, and integrated cancer subsystems that are being developed as well as the results of five workshops held at NIH to explore what is needed for validation and qualification of these platforms.
Add to Calendar ▼2016-07-07 00:00:002016-07-08 00:00:00Europe/LondonOrgan-on-a-Chip World Congress and 3D-Culture 2016Organ-on-a-Chip World Congress and 3D-Culture 2016 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
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