Alice Stanton is developing a biomimetic “brain-on-chip” to crack the code of neurological diseases and create a vehicle for more predictive therapeutic discovery. By engineering a brain-on-chip model with all the major cell types in the brain in a brain-mimicking biomaterial and with a functional vasculature, Alice plans to optimize treatments for Alzheimer’s and other difficult-to-treat diseases to improve patient outcomes.

Over the course of the Kavanaugh Fellowship, Alice is honing her brain-on-chip and running “clinical trials-in-chip” on cohorts of engineered brains constructed from reprogrammed patient cells. She is simultaneously preparing a strategy to commercialize the technology, with the goal of creating a startup company that will accelerate effective neuro drug development.