News

R21 grant awarded to develop a tool to predict a patient’s risk of developing a metastatic brain tumor

An NIH grant has been awarded to the lab and Dr. Merajver’s lab to predict a patient risk of developing metastatic brain tumor. The Merajver lab and Oliver lab at the University of Michigan have been awarded an R21 grant by the National Institute of Health with the title “Artificial Intelligence driven prediction of brain metastasis from primary tumor sites at diagnosis”. The interdisciplinary team consists of Dr. Sofia Merajver, Dr. Ryan Oliver, Dr. Trisha Westerhof, Dr. Maria Castro, Dr. Aki Morikawa and Dr. Carlos Aguilar. The goal is to develop a technology that identifies patients at risk of developing […]

Promoted to faculty at the University of Michigan

Dr. Ryan Oliver has been promoted to a faculty member in the Internal Medicine Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In this position he will be developing a research program focused on the intersection of engineering (marco, micro, nano) and cancer research. Collaborations are welcome and can reach out at croliver@umich.edu.

AACR 2018 discussion on brain metastasis phenotyping using a blood brain barrier on a chip

The University of Michigan released a discussion between the press staff and Dr. Oliver discussing the blood brain barrier on a chip device developed with Professors Merajver and Takayama. The potential of this platform may aid in precision phenotyping of cancer cells both prior and after diagnosis of brain metastasis enabling tailoring of the therapeutics and treatment given to a patient.

Dr. Oliver at AACR 2018.

Dr. Oliver interviewed by BCRF at AACR 2018

We attended AACR 2018 this year in Chicago and had the opportunity to present our work during the poster session. I presented the most recent results in the development of our blood brain barrier on a chip system that we are using to parenthetically characterize different cancer cells and measure their impact on the blood brain barrier.

During the session I was fortunate to get to share our work with one of our sponsers the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

https://www.bcrf.org/blog/aacr-2018-highlights-novel-approaches-treating-brain-metastasis-metastatic-breast-cancer

Dr. Oliver speaking at AACR 2018.

Organ-on-a-chip: Blood brain niche (um-BBN) microfluidic device and algorithms to aid diagnosis of brain metastatic potential of breast cancer

C. Ryan Oliver et al. 2018 Keystone Symposium Organ on a Chip.

We presented work continued work on the blood brain barrier platform but were fortunate to get to learn from other experts in organ-on-a-chip systems. It was an honor to get to discuss the field and develop a roadmap for integrating academia, regulation and industry into the planning process for organ-on-a-chip systems so that they can solve real world problems.

Special thanks to our sponsors BCRF and the National institute of health.

Braint Mets Conference Presentation

I will be attending the Brain Mets 2017 Conference in Marseille, France October 6-7.  More information can be found at http://brain-mets.com/

If you are there I look forward to meeting you.  Abstract below:

Development of a blood brain niche microfluidic device and algorithms to aid diagnosis of brain metastatic potential

Brain metastasis is the most lethal complication from advanced cancer.  15% of breast cancers metastasize in the brain with a low one-year survival rate.  A critical step in reducing the lethality of brain metastasis is early detection of clones with high metastatic potential.  Models for characterizing metastatic potential include murine models and […]

Progress towards blood brain barrier chip to be presented at AACR 2017

We will be attending the annual AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) meeting in D.C. April 1-5 to present our progress towards an organ on a chip model to study breast cancer metastasis in the brain.

This work provides an important foundation to apply microfluidics in translational identification of breast cancer clones that may contribute to aggressive brain metastasis.  Please join us and I look forward to meeting you.

NIH T32 Cancer training fellowship awarded to Dr. Oliver

Dr. Oliver was awarded a T32 posdoctoral cancer training fellowship through the NIH at the University of Michigan Cancer Center.  This prestigious training grant will enable him to interact with and train under prominent cancer researchers and Bio-Engineers at the University of Michigan with collaborations aimed at preventing and treating breast cancer.

MBSTP Seminar Sept. 7 on additive manufacturing of cells and microbeads

Dr. C. Ryan Oliver
Department of Internal Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Michigan

Tuesday, 9/27/2016 at 11:30am
Boulevard Room at Pierpont Commons

 
An additive manufacturing approach to printing cells and microbeads within digitally addressed hydrogel matrices
 
Rapid prototyping of new hydrogel-based structures, including tissue scaffolds, organs-on-chip, and hybrid bioelectronic materials, requires flexible fabrication techniques capable of positioning multiple materials in 2D and 3D with micro-scale resolution and accuracy. Despite their impressive accomplishments, current methods for micro-scale additive manufacturing are limited to a single material (e.g. projection micro stereolithography) or require sequential or parallel use of multiple nozzles to deposit different materials.  An alternative approach would […]

Progress towards metastasis chip to be presented at AACR April 16-20

We will be attending the annual AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) meeting in New Orleans to present our progress towards an organ on a chip model to study breast cancer metastasis in the brain.

This work is being presented by Megan Altemus and was originally lead by Brendan Leung.  I hope to see you there or send me a message and I’ll be happy to discuss what we are working on.