The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ernest Soonho Kim

Jeffrey T Borenstein

Joseph L Charest

Michael J McKenna

Jason Oliver Fiering

Daniel I Harjes

Christopher M DiBiasio

Marcello Peppi

William Sewell

Erin Pararas

Mark Joseph Mescher

Eli J Weinberg

Vishal Tandon

Kevin Andrew Hufford

Peter Mack

Angela M Zapata

Guillermo Garcia-Cardena

Cristina E Davis

Ahmad S Khalil

Alla Epshteyn

Sharon G Kujawa

Melissa D Krebs

Ruwan Kiringoda

William J Adams, Jr

Priya Agrawal

Robert Samuel Langer

Marc Steven Weinberg

Stephen L Bellio

Mitchell L Hansberry

Abigail June Spencer

James Hsiao

James Gillett Truslow

Tatiana Kniazeva

Christopher Dibiasio

Vijaya Kolachalama

Andrew Ayoob

Erin E Pararas

William F Sewell

Michael J Mckenna

James C Hsiao

Kevin Hufford

William James Adams

The present disclosure describes a system for the delivery of therapeutic substances to the cavities of a patient. The system can include a wearable micropump that is fluidically coupled with a handpiece. The handpiece can be inserted, for example, into the middle ear via a surgical tympanotomy approach. The system can enable a controlled injection of a therapeutic substance directly into the patient's cavity.

Wearable micropump for therapeutic drug delivery

The present solution provides systems and methods for trans-round window membrane drug delivery. As an overview, a system can include a micropump that is connected to a flexible cannula. The cannula can be threaded through a handpiece that can be used to pierce the round window membrane of a patient. Using the handpiece, the cannula can be inserted through the round window membrane to improve the distribution of the delivered drug throughout the inner ear. The present solution can function as a small implantable or wearable device that can be used for both chronic and acute trans-round window membrane drug delivery. With this configuration, the micropump can constantly or intermittently deliver, over a period of days to months, small volumes of drugs from an internal reservoir.

Hand tool for aiding in insertion of a trans-round window membrane catheter for micropump-mediated acute and chronic inner-ear drug delivery

A system for the delivery of therapeutic substances to cavities of a patient. The system can include a handpiece tool coupled with a pump. The handpiece tool can include a shaft including a first portion of a channel coupled to a multi-input tubing. The handpiece tool can include an angled portion coupled with the shaft. The handpiece tool can include a second portion of the channel, wherein the angled portion positions a tip portion within a cavity, wherein the tip portion projects from the angled portion and includes an outlet and a third portion of the channel. The handpiece tool can include a collar a distance from the outlet, the collar configured to control a distance the tip portion projects. The handpiece tool can include a mixing chamber configured to receive the components of the drug and output the mixed drug via the third portion of the channel.

System for inner ear drug delivery via trans-round window membrane injection

The present disclosure discussed a handpiece for trans-canal delivery of a therapeutic substance to the inner ear. The handpiece can be inserted into the middle ear via a surgical tympanotomy approach. The handpiece can enable a controlled injection of a therapeutic substance directly through the round window membrane and into the inner ear. The direct delivery of the therapeutic substance to the inner ear can enable the delivery of a precise amount of therapeutic substance into the inner ear. Because the therapeutic substance is delivery directly to the inner ear the delivery of the therapeutic substance is not subject to limitations on molecule size and inconsistent diffusion rates that are present when therapeutic substances are diffused across the round window membrane.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for treating an auditory disease in a subject in need thereof comprising administering an effective amount of a gel-based precursor that includes an inner ear-specific therapeutic compound directly into the cochlea of the subject.

Method and process for quantitative evaluation of pharmacokinetics, therapeutic effects and safety of delivery of drug compounds to the inner ear for treatment of auditory disease

The systems and methods described herein relate to a high-throughput flow apparatus. The apparatus is used with an array of wells, and is configured to impart a predetermined shear stress on cells cultured within each of the wells of the array of wells. The apparatus includes a plurality of mechanical tips. The plurality of mechanical tips each includes a head with a hemispheroid shape. The apparatus also includes a motor associated with at least one of plurality of mechanical tips. The motor is configured to drive the plurality of mechanical tips to impart the shear stress pattern in each of the wells.

Systems and method for high-throughput testing

An compact hydraulic manifold for transporting shear sensitive fluids is provided. A channel network can include a trunk and branch architecture coupled to a bifurcation architecture. Features such as tapered channel walls, curvatures and angles of channels, and zones of low fluid pressure can be used to reduce the size while maintaining wall shear rates within a narrow range. A hydraulic manifold can be coupled to a series of microfluidic layers to construct a compact microfluidic device.

Compact hydraulic manifold structure for shear sensitive fluids

A compact hydraulic manifold for transporting shear sensitive fluids is provided. A channel network can include a trunk and branch architecture coupled to a bifurcation architecture. Features such as tapered channel walls, curvatures and angles of channels, and zones of low fluid pressure can be used to reduce the size while maintaining wall shear rates within a narrow range. A hydraulic manifold can be coupled to a series of microfluidic layers to construct a compact microfluidic device.

An implantable drug delivery apparatus for delivering a drug into a bodily fluid in a bodily cavity of a patient over a period of time includes a drug supply reservoir to supply drug into a delivery channel and an actuator for delivering the drug to a predetermined location in the bodily cavity of the patient, such as, for example, a cochlea of a human ear. The drug is loaded into the delivery channel while producing substantially negligible flow at an outlet of the delivery channel.

Drug delivery apparatus

The present disclosure describes a blood oxygenator that includes a checkerboard layout of fluid (e.g., blood) and gas (e.g., oxygen) channels. When viewed as a cross-section through each of the channels of the oxygenator, the checkerboard configuration includes alternating gas and fluid channels in both the x-axis (e.g., in-plane) and in the y-axis (e.g., out-of-plane) directions. The oxygenator described herein reduces manufacturing complexity by using first, second, and third polymer layers that include asymmetrical channel designs. The channel designs include 'open' gas channels, which are exposed to the ambient atmosphere. The oxygenator is placed within a pressure vessel to drive gas into each of the open gas channels, which in some implementations, negates the need for a gas manifold.

Blood oxygenator

A device and method for oxygenating blood is disclosed herein. The device includes a plurality of passive mixing elements that causes a fluid to mix as it flows through the device. The passive mixing elements continually expose new red blood cells to the portion of the flow channel where oxygenation can occur. Accordingly, in some implementations, the device and method uses less blood to prime the device and allows for the oxygenation of blood with a substantial shorter flow channel when compared to conventional oxygenation methods and devices.

Methods for reducing the blood priming volume and membrane surface area in microfluidic lung assist devices

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Ernest Soonho Kim