American nanotechnologist
Sangeeta N. Bhatia
(born 1968) is an American
biological engineer
and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at
MIT
’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
, United States. Bhatia's research investigates applications of micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and regeneration. She applies ideas from computer technology and engineering to the design of miniaturized biomedical tools for the study and treatment of diseases, in particular
liver disease
,
hepatitis
,
malaria
and cancer.
[1]
In 2003, she was named by the
MIT Technology Review
as one of the top
100 innovators
in the world under the age of 35.
[2]
[3]
She was also named a "Scientist to Watch" by
The Scientist
in 2006.
[4]
She has received multiple awards and has been elected to the
National Academy of Sciences
,
[5]
the
National Academy of Engineering
,
[6]
the
National Academy of Medicine
,
[7]
and the
National Academy of Inventors
.
[8]
Bhatia's dissertation became the basis for
Microfabrication in tissue engineering and bioartificial organs
(1999).
[9]
Bhatia co-authored the first undergraduate textbook on
tissue engineering
,
Tissue engineering
(2004), written for senior-level and first-year graduate courses with
Bernhard Palsson
.
[10]
She was a co-editor of
Microdevices in Biology and Medicine
(2009)
[11]
and
Biosensing: International Research and Development
(2005).
[12]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Bhatia's parents emigrated from India to
Boston
, Massachusetts; her father was an engineer and her mother was one of the first women to receive an
MBA
in India. Bhatia was motivated to become an engineer after her 10th grade biology class and a trip with her father into an MIT lab to see a demonstration of an
ultrasound machine
for cancer treatment.
[13]
Bhatia studied bioengineering at
Brown University
where she joined a research group studying
artificial organs
which convinced her to pursue graduate study the field.
[14]
After graduating with honors in 1990,
[15]
Bhatia was initially rejected from the
MD-PhD
program run by the
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
(HST) but was accepted into the
Mechanical Engineering
masters program. She was later accepted to the HST MD-PhD program where she was advised by
Mehmet Toner
and
Martin Yarmush
. She received a PhD in 1997 and an MD in 1999, and completed postdoctoral training at
Massachusetts General Hospital
.
[13]
[15]
Career
[
edit
]
Bhatia joined the faculty at the
University of California, San Diego
(UCSD) in 1998.
[16]
As an assistant professor, Bhatia was awarded a five-year Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering from the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
in 1999.
[16]
She was named a 2001 "Teacher of the Year" in the Bioengineering Department at the
Jacobs School of Engineering
,
[17]
and was named an Innovator under 35 by
MIT Technology Review
in 2003.
[3]
In 2005, she left UCSD and joined the MIT faculty in the Division of Health Sciences & Technology and the
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
. Bhatia was named a "Scientist to Watch" by
The Scientist
in 2006 and became a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigator in 2008.
[4]
[18]
[19]
Bhatia currently directs the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies at MIT and is affiliated with
Brigham and Women's Hospital
and the
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
.
[20]
Bhatia is a strong advocate for gender equity and inclusivity in
STEM fields
.
[21]
Bhatia helped to found the Diversity Committee of the
Biomedical Engineering Society
, and is involved with MIT's
Society of Women Engineers
.
[1]
While at MIT, she helped to start Keys to Empowering Youth, a program that brings middle-school girls to visit hi-tech labs as a way to encourage them in science and technology.
[22]
Bhatia and her husband, Jagesh Shah have two daughters.
[13]
[22]
In 2015, Bhatia was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
for tissue engineering and tissue regeneration technologies, stem cell differentiation, and preclinical drug evaluation.
Research
[
edit
]
Bhatia's doctoral work focused on the development of a way to keep liver cells functioning outside of the human body.
[23]
She adapted ideas from computer chip design and engineering to the microfabrication of a substrate for liver cells.
[24]
She successfully applied techniques from
photolithography
to
petri dishes
, to create a substrate that would support growth of a functioning microliver in a dish.
[1]
[24]
[25]
Bhatia also used co-cultures of more than one cell type to prevent
dedifferentiation
of the liver cells, building on the work of
Christiane Guguen-Guillouzo
in France.
[24]
She and her coworkers have also used techniques from
3D printing
to create a lattice of sugar as a framework for a synthetic
vascular system
with the goal of supporting larger tissue structures such as an artificial liver.
[26]
Her work was one of the first projects at MIT in the area of biological micro-electromechanical systems, or
Bio-MEMS
.
[24]
[27]
She is interested in using arrays of living cells as high-throughput platforms to study fundamental aspects of Bio-MEMS in
stem cells
.
[27]
[28]
Bhatia's research in the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies (LMRT) continues to apply micro- and nanotechnology ideas to tissue repair and regeneration.
[29]
She studies the interactions between
hepatocytes
(liver cells) and their microenvironment and develops microfabrication tools to improve cellular therapies for liver disease in an approach referred to as hepatic tissue engineering.
[30]
[31]
The goal is to maximize hepatocyte function,
[32]
[33]
facilitate design of effective cellular therapies for liver disease,
[30]
and improve fundamental understanding of liver physiology and pathophysiology.
[34]
The approach has been used to study diseases including
hepatitis
and
malaria
.
[1]
[35]
Since 2008, with assistance from the
Medicines for Malaria Venture
(MMV), and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
her lab has worked on the development of
Plasmodium falciparum
and
Plasmodium vivax
cell-based assays. These are used to support the study of parasites and explore possible differential drug sensitivity and identify new anti-relapse medicines for
malaria
.
[36]
[37]
Bhatia's laboratory is also involved in a multidisciplinary effort to develop
nanomaterials
as tools for biological studies and as multifunctional agents for cancer therapies.
Interests center around
nanoparticles
and
nanoporous materials
that can be designed to perform complex tasks.
They may be able to home in on a tumor, signal changes in cells or tissues, enhance imaging, or release a therapeutic component.
[38]
In 2002, Bhatia worked with
Erkki Ruoslahti
and
Warren Chan
to develop phage-derived peptide-targeted nanomaterials, or
quantum dots
, for
in vivo
targeting of tumors.
[24]
[39]
[40]
By adding tumor-enzyme molecules to nanoparticles she has also created specialized nanoparticles that can react with diseased tissue to create synthetic
biomarkers
detectable in blood or
urine
samples.
[41]
Another project involves engineering beneficial
probiotics
with the ability to detect or treat cancer cells.
[1]
Bhatia holds a number of patents for both clinical and biotechnological applications of engineering principles.
[38]
In 2015, her company Glympse Bio received initial funding from
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
and
Theresia Gouw
at Aspect Ventures. In 2018, Glympse received $22 million to further develop “activity sensors” to identify diseases and monitor patient response to drugs.
[42]
Books
[
edit
]
- Bhatia, Sangeeta (1999).
Microfabrication in tissue engineering and bioartificial organs
. Microsystems. Vol. 5. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
doi
:
10.1007/978-1-4615-5235-2
.
ISBN
978-1-4613-7386-5
.
- Palsson, Bernhard; Bhatia, Sangeeta (2004).
Tissue engineering
. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
ISBN
0-13-041696-7
.
OCLC
52960378
.
- Nahmias, Yaakov; Bhatia, Sangeeta (2009).
Microdevices in biology and medicine
. Boston: Artech House.
ISBN
978-1-59693-405-4
.
OCLC
542050628
.
- Schultz, Jerome; Mrksich, Milan; Bhatia, Sangeeta N.; Brady, David J.; Ricco, Antionio J.; Walt, David R.; Wilkins, Charles L., eds. (July 15, 2006).
Biosensing: International Research and Development
. Springer Science & Business Media.
ISBN
978-1-4020-4058-0
.
Awards
[
edit
]
Bhatia is the recipient of a number of awards and honors including the following:
- 2023, Overseas Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
(FTSE)
[43]
- 2019,
Othmer Gold Medal
,
Science History Institute
and others
[44]
- 2018, honorary Doctorate,
Utrecht University
[45]
- 2017, Catalyst Award, Science Club for Girls
[46]
- 2015,
Heinz Award
,
Heinz Family Foundation
, in the Technology, the Economy and Employment category "for her seminal work in tissue engineering and disease detection, including the cultivation of functional liver cells outside of the human body, and for her passion in promoting the advancement of women in the STEM fields."
[47]
- 2014,
Lemelson-MIT Prize
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"for her dedication to the next generation of scientists, and groundbreaking inventions to improve human health and patient care on a global scale."
[48]
[1]
- 2011, BEAM (Brown Engineering Alumni Medal) Award,
Brown University School of Engineering
[49]
- 2008,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
investigator
[18]
- 1999, Packard Fellowship,
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
[16]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Vickmark, Bryce (September 9, 2014).
"Cancer-Fighting Inventor Sangeeta Bhatia Wins $500,000 Prize"
.
Science News
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"2003 Innovators Under 35"
.
MIT Technology Review
. 2003
. Retrieved
August 15,
2011
.
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a
b
"Innovators Under 35: Sangeeta Bhatia, 35"
.
MIT Technology Review
. 2003
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
Nadis, Steve (February 1, 2006).
"Sangeeta Bhatia Looks at Life's Architecture"
.
The Scientist
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
"National Academy of Sciences elects six MIT professors for 2017"
.
MIT News
. Retrieved
May 11,
2017
.
- ^
"Eight from MIT elected to National Academy of Engineering"
.
MIT News
. Retrieved
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2017
.
- ^
"Two from MIT elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2019"
.
MIT News
. Retrieved
October 21,
2019
.
- ^
"Four MIT faculty named 2015 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors"
.
MIT News
. Retrieved
May 11,
2017
.
- ^
Bhatia, Sangeeta (1999).
Microfabrication in tissue engineering and bioartificial organs
. Microsystems. Vol. 5. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
doi
:
10.1007/978-1-4615-5235-2
.
ISBN
978-1-4613-7386-5
.
- ^
Palsson, Bernhard Ø.; Bhatia, Sangeeta N. (2004).
Tissue engineering
. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.
- ^
Nahmias, Yaakov; Bhatia, Sangeeta N., eds. (2009).
Microdevices in biology and medicine
. Boston: Artech House.
- ^
Schultz, Jerome; Mrksich, Milan; Bhatia, Sangeeta N.; Brady, David J.; Ricco, Antionio J.; Walt, David R.; Wilkins, Charles L., eds. (July 15, 2006).
Biosensing: International Research and Development
. Springer Science & Business Media.
ISBN
978-1-4020-4058-0
.
- ^
a
b
c
Seftel, Josh; Lewis, Susan K. (2009).
"The Many Sides of Sangeeta Bhatia"
.
NOVA Science Now
.
Public Broadcasting Service
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
"Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, PhD Investigator / 2009?Present"
. Howard Hughes Medical Institute
. Retrieved
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2009
.
- ^
a
b
"People: Sangeeta N. Bhatia"
. Harvard-MIT Health Science & Technology. Archived from
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on September 19, 2008
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
c
Hagen, Denine (December 1, 1999).
"UC San Diego Bioengineering Professor Receives Prestigious Packard Foundation Fellowship"
. UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.
- ^
"Keiko Nomura Named Teacher of the Year"
.
Pulse Newsletter
. No. Winter. UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. 2002
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
Other 2001 Teacher of the Year award recipients include: Sangeeta Bhatia Bioengineering
- ^
a
b
"The 2008 HHMI Investigators"
. Howard Hughes Medical Institute. May 27, 2008. Archived from
the original
on February 27, 2009
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
"Indian chosen for prestigious scientists' body"
.
India Abroad
. July 9, 2008.
- ^
"Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, PhD"
. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. Retrieved
September 12,
2009
.
- ^
"Sangeeta Bhatia: the biotech entrepreneur advocating for gender equity in STEM fields"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
March 12,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Wood, Martha Crosier (May 26, 2015).
"Scene and Herd: Bhatia wins Heinz Award, focuses on tissue engineering"
.
Lexington Local
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
Rinde, Meir (July 9, 2019).
"Interview: Sangeeta Bhatia Distillations talks to the 2019 Othmer Gold Medal winner about her work using nanotechnology to detect and treat disease"
.
Distillations
. Science History Institute
. Retrieved
December 6,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Scudellari, Megan (May 1, 2013).
"The Organist When molecular biology methods failed her, Sangeeta Bhatia turned to engineering and microfabrication to build a liver from scratch"
.
The Scientist
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Engineering Artificial Organs"
.
NOVA
. June 1, 2009
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"3D-printed sugar network to help grow artificial liver"
.
BBC News
. July 2, 2012
. Retrieved
March 12,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Chin, Vicki I.; Taupin, Philippe; Sanga, Sandeep; Scheel, John; Gage, Fred H.; Bhatia, Sangeeta N. (November 5, 2004).
"Microfabricated platform for studying stem cell fates"
(PDF)
.
Biotechnology and Bioengineering
.
88
(3): 399?415.
doi
:
10.1002/bit.20254
.
PMID
15486946
.
S2CID
18023873
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
Borenstein, J. T.; Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (November 2011).
"Engineering Tissue with BioMEMS"
.
IEEE Pulse
.
2
(6): 28?34.
doi
:
10.1109/MPUL.2011.942764
.
PMC
3414430
.
PMID
22147066
.
- ^
Thalmann, Nadia (2014).
3D Multiscale Physiological Human
. London: Springer. p. 39.
ISBN
978-1-4471-6275-9
.
OCLC
867854892
.
- ^
a
b
Bhatia, S. N.; Underhill, G. H.; Zaret, K. S.; Fox, I. J. (July 16, 2014).
"Cell and tissue engineering for liver disease"
.
Science Translational Medicine
.
6
(245): 245sr2.
doi
:
10.1126/scitranslmed.3005975
.
PMC
4374645
.
PMID
25031271
.
- ^
Shan, Jing; Stevens, Kelly R.; Trehan, Kartik; Underhill, Gregory H.; Chen, Alice A.; Bhatia, Sangeeta N.
"HEPATIC TISSUE ENGINEERING (ca. 2010)"
(PDF)
. Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Bhatia, Sangeeta N. (1999).
Microfabrication in Tissue Engineering and Bioartificial Organs
. Springer US.
ISBN
978-1-4613-7386-5
. Retrieved
March 7,
2019
.
- ^
Hui, E. E.; Bhatia, S. N. (March 27, 2007).
"Micromechanical control of cell-cell interactions"
.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
.
104
(14): 5722?5726.
doi
:
10.1073/pnas.0608660104
.
PMC
1851558
.
PMID
17389399
.
- ^
Park, J.-K.; Lee, S.-K.; Lee, D.-H.; Kim, Y.-J. (February 11, 2009).
"Bioartificial Liver"
. In Meyer, Ulrich; Meyer, Thomas; Handschel, Jorg; Wiesmann, Hans Peter (eds.).
Fundamentals of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
. Springer. p. 407.
ISBN
978-3-540-77755-7
. Retrieved
March 7,
2019
.
- ^
"Tracking dormant malaria Novel technology could allow researchers to develop and test new antimalaria drugs"
.
Science Daily
. February 22, 2018
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Discovering new molecules to target the relapse Prof Sangeeta Bhatia Prof Sangeeta Bhatia, Director, Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies, MIT"
.
MMV
. 2013
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
March, Sandra; Ng, Shengyong; Velmurugan, Soundarapandian; Galstian, Ani; Shan, Jing; Logan, David J.; Carpenter, Anne E.; Thomas, David; Sim, B. Kim Lee; Mota, Maria M.; Hoffman, Stephen L.; Bhatia, Sangeeta N. (July 2013).
"A Microscale Human Liver Platform that Supports the Hepatic Stages of Plasmodium falciparum and vivax"
.
Cell Host & Microbe
.
14
(1): 104?115.
doi
:
10.1016/j.chom.2013.06.005
.
PMC
3780791
.
PMID
23870318
.
- ^
a
b
"Sangeeta Bhatia Core Faculty"
.
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
Akerman, M. E.; Chan, W. C. W.; Laakkonen, P.; Bhatia, S. N.; Ruoslahti, E. (September 16, 2002).
"Nanocrystal targeting in vivo"
.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
.
99
(20): 12617?12621.
Bibcode
:
2002PNAS...9912617A
.
doi
:
10.1073/pnas.152463399
.
PMC
130509
.
PMID
12235356
.
- ^
Mann, AP; Scodeller, P; Hussain, S; Joo, J; Kwon, E; Braun, GB; Molder, T; She, Z; Kotamraju, VR; Ranscht, B; Krajewski, S; Teesalu, T; Bhatia, S; Sailor, MJ; Ruoslahti, E (2016).
"A peptide for targeted, systemic delivery of imaging and therapeutic compounds into acute brain injuries"
.
Nat Commun
.
7
: 11980.
Bibcode
:
2016NatCo...711980M
.
doi
:
10.1038/ncomms11980
.
PMC
4931241
.
PMID
27351915
.
- ^
Trafton, Anne (December 17, 2012).
"Earlier Detection of Cancer May Be Enhanced by MIT Discovery with Biomarkers Collected in Urine"
.
Senior Journal: Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens
. New Tech Media
. Retrieved
March 12,
2019
.
- ^
Carroll, John (October 9, 2018).
"MIT spinout from Sangeeta Bhatia's lab gets a $22M round to develop new disease and drug sensors"
.
Endpoints News
. Retrieved
March 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Sangeeta Bhatia FTSE"
.
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
. Retrieved
October 11,
2023
.
- ^
"Othmer Gold Medal"
.
Science History Institute
. May 31, 2016
. Retrieved
March 7,
2018
.
- ^
"Utrecht University to present two honorary doctorates"
. February 16, 2017
. Retrieved
April 3,
2018
.
- ^
"Announcing our 2017 Catalyst Award Winners!"
.
Science Club for Girls community
. Retrieved
March 12,
2019
.
- ^
"The Heinz Awards :: Sangeeta Bhatia"
.
www.heinzawards.net
. Retrieved
April 3,
2018
.
- ^
"Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia - Lemelson-MIT Program"
.
lemelson.mit.edu
. Retrieved
April 3,
2018
.
- ^
"BEAM Award Winners"
.
Brown School of Engineering
. Retrieved
March 7,
2019
.
External links
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