Building the Brain: Marrying Engineering and Medicine in the Fight Against Dementia

Jan 20, 2016

Speaker:Vikramaditya G. Yadav is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at UBC. His research group pursues green engineering and medical biotechnology research, and their work in this domain primarily focuses on pharmaceutical nanotechnology, drug delivery and tissue engineering.
Abstract:Neurodegenerative dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease incur high caregiver costs, greatly diminish economic output of society, and exact a huge emotional toll on the families of patients. Treating these diseases should be an urgent, national priority. Sadly, there are no treatments available. The biggest stumbling block to the development of drugs targeting neurodegeneration is the absence of a reliable methodology to test their safety and efficacy. This has resulted in unsatisfactory clinical outcomes. We propose to address this issue by developing a process for the manufacture of engineered tissue that mimics the architecture and environment in human brains exhibiting neurodegeneration and subsequently use this tissue – which we refer to as ‘cerebroids’ – to discover new drugs. We will apply key concepts and insights from stem cell bioengineering, organoid biomanufacturing and neurology to achieve our aims, and our work will potentially open new frontiers in biomedical engineering.
Please register for this free event. Refreshments will be provided for registered guests. For more information, see the poster.
Listen to preview of Dr. Yadav’s talk live on January 19, 2016 at 10:00 am with Roundhouse Radio at 98.3 FM or online.University Centre, Seminar Room (307), 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver