Biomolecular Devices for the Treatment of Diseases

Project acronym: ION
Topics: neurological disorders, drugs, organic electronics, neuroscience
Disciplinary fields: health & life sciences, sciences & advanced technologies
Summary: Diseases are most often treated with ingested drugs. Drugs tend to diffuse in healthy regions that do not need to be treated, thus generating deleterious side effects. An ideal solution would be to deliver drugs when and where they are needed. The overarching goal of ION is to provide such a solution with an integrated organic electro-molecular device, and prepare the transfer of the device to the clinic. It will be tested in the specific case of epilepsy, the most common neurological disorder after migraine, since epilepsy remains drug-resistant in 30% of the cases. Preliminary testing will be performed in patients in the operating room. Previous work conducted by the same team led to major breakthroughs in the field of organic electronics applied to neuroscience. In order to address the question of when and where to treat, two major technological breakthroughs are necessary. In epilepsy, the ideal solution is to deliver drugs only when they are needed. The first goal will be to engineer reliable organic molecular sensors. The second goal is to create a material able to store and deliver large molecules at high speed. After integrating the sensor and the pump into a unique device, the third goal will be to provide the proof-of concept that seizures can be stopped before they occur in animal model.
Project Interlocutor: Christophe Bernard, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes (UMR_S 1106)
Project duration: 06/01/2018 – 05/31/2021
Call for application: Interdisciplinarité 2016
Photography credits: Photography by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash, Licence