Microphysiological Brain Models for Therapeutic Development for Newborns and Children

Abstract:

Therapeutics for neonatal and pediatric populations often lag years behind adult treatments, leaving clinicians to rely on off-label use of adult drugs. This gap underscores the urgent need for technologies tailored to the unique physiology of newborns and children, particularly for conditions involving the brain. Our research addresses this challenge by engineering microphysiological models that replicate the complexity of the brain microenvironment and enable systematic evaluation of therapeutic strategies.

We have developed living brain tissue platforms—organotypic whole hemisphere slices and microfluidic blood-brain barrier models—that capture regional heterogeneity and developmental variability. Using these platforms, we integrate experimental and computational approaches to study therapeutic transport and behavior, including nanotherapetuics, and cellular and extracellular interactions under injury and treatment conditions. Our work combines multiple particle tracking, machine learning, and non-destructive imaging pipelines to quantify cellular morphology and microstructural changes, advancing our ability to predict therapeutic outcomes. In this talk, I will highlight how these physiologically relevant models inform the design of neuroprotective strategies for neonatal and pediatric brain diseases. By bridging engineering, neuroscience, and data science, our goal is to close the technology gap for children’s therapeutics and improve neurological health across the lifespan.

Biography:

Elizabeth Nance is the Steven R. & Connie R. Rogel Endowed Associate Professor & Department Chair of Chemical Engineering at UW, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, and Adjunct Professor in Radiology. Elizabeth received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from NC State University, and her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering with Dr. Justin Hanes, with a focus on nanotherapies for brain cancer. She completed a postdoc with Dr. Sujatha Kannan in Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with training in neuroscience and animal model development. Elizabeth’s research program supports the training of scientists in engineering clinically relevant models and technologies for brain delivery and pediatric brain disease.  She has  received the Presidential Early Career Achievement in Science & Engineering (PECASE) award, the UW Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, an NIGMS R35 MIRA award, and the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award. She was a finalist for the 2025 Blavatnik National Award for Life Sciences and was named to the College of Fellows for the Controlled Release Society. Elizabeth serves as the Editor in Chief for Bioengineering & Translational Medicine, is a UW president-appointed faculty conciliator, and is a mentor with Invent@Seattle Children’s to support commercialization of therapeutics for kids.