NSF CAREER Award-winning Northwestern University biomedical engineer is developing new polymer-based bioelectronic materials that could enable next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Aix-en-Provence, FRANCE, and Toronto, CANADA, December 5, 2017. Bioelectronic medicine company Panaxium SAS today announced that NSF CAREER Award-winning Northwestern University biomedical engineer Dr. Jonathan Rivnay will join the company as Scientific Advisor.
Bioelectronic medicine is an emerging scientific field that aims to tackle many debilitating and degenerative medical conditions and injuries by leveraging the newest bioelectronics and building imperceptible devices at the microscale dimensions of individual cells. There is significant potential to treat a wide range of diseases such as Traumatic Brain Injuries, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and even peripheral nerve damage.
Rivnay’s primary research focuses on the understanding of and designing for new polymer-based bioelectronic materials that can conduct an electrical current and easily interact with water and ions in order to measure bio-signals or to affect change in a biological system. Because these new materials offer vastly improved integration between traditional existing electronic devices and biological tissues, they could be the key to facilitating next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Rivnay was recently awarded the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the foundation’s most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. He is also the recipient of the Materials Research Society Postdoctoral Award (2014), William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award (2013), Melvin P. Klein Scientific Development Award (2011), and was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (2009-2011) and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow (2006-2009). Rivnay earned his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, College of Engineering (California) and his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University, College of Engineering (New York).
Dr. Brad Schmidt, CEO of Panaxium, says of Rivnay joining the team, “Jonathan’s research is a driving force on the future of the field of bioelectronics, and our team is truly thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with him on creating new therapeutic devices that will facilitate the seamless integration of sensing and actuation technologies with cells and tissues. His research is enabling dramatic improvements in diagnostics and therapy, and we are excited to see how together we will be able to bridge the gap between existing, traditional microelectronics and optical tools with biological systems.”
ABOUT PANAXIUM
Founded in 2016, Panaxium is a new and rapidly-growing bioelectronic medicine company aiming to fundamentally change the way disease is treated. The company is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of internationally-renowned scientists, including world experts in organic bioelectronics and leaders in the fields of chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering, systems design, electronic engineering, data science, biology, biochemistry, and nanotechnology. Together they are working to solve some of the most difficult and important problems in medicine.
For further information, please visit http://www.panaxium.com