(4fd) Tissue Interfacing Robotic Therapeutics

We live in a generation where the computational power available to us allows high quality patient data to support personalized and automated medical decision making, but current polymeric drug formulations are unable to achieve the necessary complex release patterns required for sensor-mediated, personalized medical treatments. I aim to transform the field of drug delivery by replacing non-specific, extended-release systems with tissue interfacing devices that collect and utilize physiological data to support a new generation of “Online Therapeutics”. My goal is to develop drug delivery devices that chemically and mechanically interact with tissue to enable rapid, controllable, and localized drug delivery.

Research Experience:

Currently, I am an NIH F32 Postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University working with Prof. Zhenan Bao, the late Prof. Sam Gambhir, and Prof. Joseph Desimone. During my postdoctoral research, I developed stretchable electronic strain sensors capable of continuously monitoring tumor volume progression in real-time. Unlike traditional imaging and mechanical methods of characterizing tumor volume progression, which require days to weeks to discern a cancer treatment’s efficacy, these sensors can continuously assess multiple treatment responses on the order of hours. Utilizing advances in flexible electronic materials, this conformal sensor continuously measures, records, and broadcasts the growth and shrinkage of a tumor at a 10 μm scale resolution, approximately the size of a single cell. Throughout my postdoctoral experience, I have successfully applied for and received funding from the NIH and the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiate to pursue this work.

As an NSF GRFP graduate fellow at MIT, I earned my Ph.D. in chemical engineering under the direction of Prof. Robert Langer and Prof. Giovanni Traverso. During this time, I developed ingestible capsules that systemically deliver macromolecules such as insulin with a comparable efficacy to subcutaneous injection. Traditionally, nucleic acids, antibodies, and peptides need to be injected rather than ingested because they are rapidly degraded by intestinal enzymes and are too large to fit through the tight junctions of the gastrointestinal wall. Our new orally dosed devices work by autonomously localizing to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and inserting drug directly into the vascularized layer of the tissue wall, effectively translating a diffusion limited mass transfer problem into one that utilizes convective transport. In collaboration with Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals and the Harvard School of Public Health, I demonstrated that these pills can provide a cost-effective replacement to injections. After finishing my PhD, I worked with Novo Nordisk to bring these pills closer to entering clinical trials.

Teaching Interests:

My classwork in graduate level Chemical Engineering at MIT and undergraduate level Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins has prepared me teach any class in the Chemical Engineering curriculum at any level. Moreover, my pursuit of concentrated studies in bioengineering, mechanical engineering, and public health will allow me to draw connections between Chemical Engineering and other departments, helping to provide color, collaboration, and purpose to the concepts I plan to teach. For example, while I was a TA for Mass Transfer, I wrote many homework problems that mirrored the issues faced in drug delivery. In addition to teaching the core curriculum, I hope to develop an elective class that pushes students to draw connections between subjects as they learn about the chemical engineering principles behind drug delivery devices and biosensors.

One of the greatest opportunities as a professor is to serve as a mentor to the next generation of scientists and engineers. I have had the privilege of mentoring over 10 different trainees in the laboratory, spanning 5 different majors, who contributed to the success of our projects. These trainees are specially marked in the publications below with a (+). Moreover, during my training, I have committed myself to increasing scientific literacy and promoting scientific careers throughout the greater communities I have lived in. Through weekly volunteer tutoring programs and active participation in diversity initiatives at my universities, I have learned via first-hand experiences how to increase student performance by using equitable teaching strategies and by including diverse perspectives on teaching topics.

Selected Publications

A Abramson, E Caffarel-Salvador, M Khang⁺, D Dellal⁺, D Silverstein⁺, Y Gao⁺, MR Frederiksen, A Vegge, F Hubalek, JJ Water, AV Friderichsen, J Fels, RK Kirk, C Cleveland, J Collins, S Tamang, A Hayward, T Landh, ST Buckley, N Roxhed, U Rahbek, R Langer, G Traverso, “An Ingestible Self-Orienting System for Oral Delivery of Macromolecules.” Science, 363.6427 (2019): 611-615.

A Abramson*, E Caffarel-Salvador*, V Soares, D Minahan, X Lu⁺, RY Tian⁺, D Dellal⁺, Y Gao⁺, S Kim⁺, J Wainer, J Collins, S Tamang, A Hayward, T Yoshitake, HC Lee, J Fujimoto, J Fels, MR Frederiksen, U Rahbek, N Roxhed, R Langer, G Traverso., “A luminal unfolding microneedle injector for oral delivery of macromolecules.” Nature Medicine, 25.10 (2019): 1512-1518.

A Abramson, D Dellal⁺, YL Kong, J Zhou, Y Gao⁺, J Collins, S Tamang, A Hayward, J Wainer, R McManus, MR Frederiksen, JJ Water, B Jensen, N Roxhed, R Langer, G Traverso, “Ingestible transiently anchoring electronics for microstimulation and conductive signaling.” Science Advances, 6.35 (2020).

A Abramson*, MR Frederiksen*, A Vegge*, B Jensen, M Poulsen, B Mouridsen, MO Jespersen, RK Kirk, J Windum, F Hubálek, JJ Water, J Fels, SB Gunnarsson, MWH Ley, X Lu⁺, J Wainer, J Collins, S Tamang, K Ishida, A Hayward, P Herskind, ST Buckley, N Roxhed, R Langer, U Rahbek, G Traverso. “Ingestible robotic capsule injectors for oral delivery of systemic monoclonal antibodies, peptides and small molecules.” Nature Biotechnology, (Accepted, In press).

A Abramson, F Halperin, J Kim, G Traverso, “Quantifying the value of orally delivered biologic therapies: A cost-effectiveness analysis of oral semaglutide.” Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 108.9 (2019): 3138-3145.

E Caffarel-Salvador*, A Abramson*, R Langer, G Traverso, “Oral delivery of biologics using drug-device combinations.” Current opinion in pharmacology, 36 (2017): 8-13.

C Steiger, A Abramson, P Nadeau, A Chandrakasan, R Langer, G Traverso, “Ingestible electronics for diagnostics and therapy.” Nature Reviews Materials 4.2 (2019): 83-98.

A Abramson, A Mermin-Bunnell⁺, C Escarmant⁺, Z Bao. “Increasing the clinical value of flexible electronic medical devices by utilizing health decision analyses.” (Under Review).

Alex Abramson, Carmel Chan, Yasser Khan, Alana Mermin-Bunnell⁺, Naoji Matsuhisa, Netra Unni Rajesh, Parag Mallick, Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, Zhenan Bao, “A flexible electronic strain sensor for the real-time monitoring of tumor progression.” (Under review).

(*Indicates Co-first Author, ⁺Indicates Undergraduate Mentee)