Microsystems have
dramatically changed how we interact with the world, from tracking
fitness-related activity to improving transportation safety, yet microsystems
have failed to live up to their potential in biomedical and clinical settings.
In this talk, I review my efforts at addressing this issue and detail my
journey from state-of-the-art microsystem development to cutting edge
biological and clinical research. Beginning with a discussion of advanced
microsystem design, I highlight the exceptional capabilities of today’s
microsystems, including some of my own work on high-performance automotive and
ballistic sensors. I demonstrate that these microsystem tools have enormous
potential in biomedical research and clinical settings, but that fully
realizing the capabilities of this established field lies in designing new
robust microsystems capable of answering clinically relevant problems. As a
case study, I examine the creation of the platelet contraction cytometer, a
tool that has led to important insights into our understanding of the process
of hemostasis. By applying a microsystems-based toolset to a challenging
biomedical question, I show how we have started to better define the mechanical
behavior of clots, which is pathologically linked to bleeding and thrombosis.
Moreover, I discuss how our microsystems-based approach may represent an
entirely new class of biophysical biomarker for bleeding that is independent of
existing tests. Finally, I conclude with how quantitatively defining the
platelet has led to interesting new insights into biomechanical structures.
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